Sail Pandora

It’s Tuesday mid-day and we are on our way.  We left the dock at 08:00 this morning and are now off of Cape Henry and about 100 miles from the Gulf Stream.  We were given our entrance and exit points for the Stream from Chris Parker but when we put them into the plotter they don’t really make a lot of sense.  Oh well.   I checked his messages to us and they are indeed the numbers he provided.  Perhaps I’ll check with another SDR boat and see what they have as waypoints.

I didn’t sleep much last night as I was constantly mulling over last minute details of what I might have missed.  After a week in Hampton, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had missed something, or many somethings, that I needed to do.

Speaking of “somethings”, I went up the mast yesterday, in the rain, to check and see if I could find out where the cotter pin might have come from that we found on top of the dink that’s lashed on the cabin top.  I still don’t know where it came from for sure but there isn’t a pin missing anywhere on the boat, of that I am certain.   My best guess is that it was tangled up in a bundle of straps that I used to tie down the dink and that it was left on the dink after we were finished tying it down.

We are moving along fairly well on a beam reach in fairly lumpy seas at between 6-7 kts.  Once we are further offshore and in deeper water I expect that the wave period will spread out and we will likely have a bit more wind to steady the boat.  Jerking around is a bit unpleasant when the wind fluctuates less.

There are plenty of boats heading out today and I’d say that at least a dozen are within sight as I write this.  It will be interesting to see how our speed compares to others as the fleet spreads out.  Those boats that don’t leave today will probably have to wait another week as there is a strong cold front exiting the coast later this week and going through the GS would be quite nasty with near gale force winds out of the NE.  Not a good time to be in the Gulf Stream for sure.

Speaking of “weather”, we will be watching a system that may be developing about half way between Africa and the Caribbean.  It may become a late season tropical storm or, more likely, will just dissipate.  It’s hard to say at this juncture, but if needed we will bail out to Bermuda or perhaps the Bahamas. I really hope that doesn’t happen but it will be a few days till we know more.   With all the changes in the weather this time of year, I can’t imagine doing a trip like this without regular communication with a weather router.

Speaking of communication, we have two check in times each day on the SSB radio, once at 08:30 and the other at 17:00 where we are to provide our coordinates as well as the wind speed and wave height.  There will be 60 or more boats checking so the boats have been divided into two groups, one at 08:00 and the other at 08:30.  I expect that check-ins will take quite a long time.

I guess that’s about all I have to say for now.  I’ll likely post tomorrow after we exit the eastern point of the Gulf Stream.  We’ll probably be running the engine after that as I believe that the wind might be a bit light.  Not sure though.

I’ll learn more in the morning when we listen to Chris Parker again.

Nope, we aren’t even close to “there” but it’s good to be underway.

Stay tuned and wish us luck.   Pandora out…

It’s Monday mid day and all crew is present and accounted for.  We had a last minute provisioning trip and with a cart flowing over you’d never know that I had done any provisioning along the way.  For sure, we won’t run out of food.

“Do you have enough yogurt?  What brand?  No, I don’t eat that.  I like this kind?  Granola bars?  Not those, what about protein bars…”  Hell, I don’t even know how to spell protein…

I am pretty confident that, if we should decide to divert to Spain, we will arrive with plenty of food left over.  Brenda and I are going to have a LOT of dinner parties, or should I say “snack parties”, this winter if we plan to come back to the States with less than a season of food.  “Would you care for a protein bar with that glass of wine?”

Unfortunately, it’s raining now and it is expected to continue for the rest of the day.   That’s problematic only because I have to go up the mast to see if I can find out where that cotter pin I found on top of the dink when we arrived here.  I doubt that it fell from the top of the mast and just landed there, but I HAVE TO BE CERTAIN.   I expect that it just landed there in a bunch of tie-down straps that I used on the dink.

We will have another weather briefing later this afternoon and will then make a final decision on a go-no-go.  I expect that it will call for an early to mid day departure Tuesday.   According to Chris Parker’s net this morning, that’s the way it looks, for now.

Chris just sent out this information a few hours ago so I thought that I’d repeat it here.  He said…

DEPARTURE RECOMMENDATION for vessels yet-to-depart Chesapeake/BeaufortNC:
I think Tue3 is the day I’d recommend most folks depart. What’s changed some since yesterday is a better-defined HI shifting SE from Maine toward Bermuda Wed4-Fri6…and this supports more clocking E<SE<S wind…so the opportunity to make South-ing to get clear of GulfStream is for 36hrs from Tue3 morning thru Wed4 afternoon.

During Wed4 night-Thu5, wind clocks E<SE, and allows vessels to TACK and sail ENE-E near 33N Thu5…and continue sailing E along 33N in SSE wind Fri6…and sail ESE-SE in SSW wind Sat7. This may get vessels to within 100mi-or-so W or SW of Bermuda before S wind dies late Sat7, and you can motor S for 2 days to (hopefully) reach the Trades.

Delaying departure till Wed4 or Thu5 may make it difficult to get far enough S to avoid heavy weather ahead of (and behind) the strong ColdFRONT exiting Coast Sat7 night.

There is a small front/trof exiting right over us this afternoon and a shift north or south, even a little, will have a large impact on the wind direction.  If we are south of the trof, the wind will be from the SW and if we are north of the trof, from the north.  Of course, heading out into the Gulf Stream, with 15-20kts of wind opposing the current will make for a very rough crossing with waves in the 10-15′ range, with a short period.  Sort of like a washing machine.

Oh yeah, don’t forget to check “where in the world is Pandora” for several options on tracking our progress.

So, that’s my report for now.  More to come.

It’s Sunday morning and it doesn’t look like the Salty Dawg Rally is going to get off on time, after all.   We had a weather briefing last evening and Chris Parker’s assessment of the forecast is that there is a “low” or at least something that looks a lot like one, that will migrate off of the coast near Hampton and head to the NE in the next day or so.  This will bring very strong NE winds about the time that we would be traversing the Gulf Stream.  And if there is one thing that’s clear is that NE winds and the Gulf Stream are a really nasty mix and when the wind opposes the current it kicks up big and steep seas.

Actually, the best time to have left was a few days ago as the conditions were very good but alas, we weren’t ready anyway.  Such is life.

So, what’s a Dawg to do?  The current forecast points toward a departure in a “few” days, perhaps as far off as later this week if we want to sail for the first 500 miles or perhaps sooner if we are willing to just head out with no wind behind the low and motor for the first few days.  I am not too keen on this option as it would burn up a lot of my fuel and leave little reserve for the end of the trip when we might need it.

However, I know from many of Chris’s forecast that things can change quickly so perhaps we will find that the favorable winds will fill in sooner than not.  Hopefully, we will only be delayed by a few days.  More to come on that.

On Friday morning we had visitors from US Coast Guard Norfolk who talked to us about safety and what to expect from them if we get into trouble.  They showed us some videos and also provided some insight from their experiences with those that they had to assist in the SDR rally that got into trouble a few years ago when participants left Hampton and got caught in a low that came through faster than expected.  These guys make it clear that they would do everything that they could to help us in the event of an emergency but that it costs the US taxpayer plenty.  In the case of the 2013 rally “experience”, the price tag was something like $1.6 million, a tidy sum that would buy at least couple of toilet seats or perhaps a nice package of nuts and bolts for the guys at NASA.   Editor note:  He did have his eyes open for most of the presentation.  Want give them a call yourself to request a lift?  What no Twitter?
Meanwhile back at the “Dawg House” yesterday, we had a live life raft demonstration, a sobering discussion, to say the least, of what can happen when things go badly.   It’s the whole jumping into a raft and having someone in a wet suit say “I’ll be your rescue swimmer today”, that makes deciding when to leave so important.  As much as I want to get going, I REALLY, REALLY don’t want to try out my raft any time soon.    But, it’s nice to know that it’s there is a raft if and when I need it.  On that point, I am going with the “if” part as I am hoping that there won’t be a “when”. It gets even better.  How about a video of the deployment?  It’s amazing how quickly the raft blows up. I’d hate to have one go off in my salon.  So, with another briefing tonight we wait and see what the weather will do and while we are ready, we’re not, at least not yet.

For now, you will have to settle for a shot of a good portion of “the fleet” in Hampton Harbor as shown on the tracking program.  There are 80 boats participating in the rally and this is only a part of the group, as some, including Pandora, are not in the host marina.  Don’t forget that you can track our progress in the “where in the world is Pandora” section of this site.  There will be several options, one for Pandora alone, updated every four hours, and the other for the fleet overall, updated twice a day.  For now, we wait.  I guess I’ll have to wash the boat again today.  Have to keep busy.

Ok, so the shopping is done and everything is stowed in anticipation of our Monday departure for the Caribbean and crew will arrive on Saturday.    Brenda arrives today so it will be nice to see her for a bit before things get crazy.

As an aside, I am pretty happy with myself for being able to spell Caribbean.  Until recently, I thought that it had two “r”s and one “b”.  Don’t ask me how I used to spell Bahamas.   Anyway, one more word, properly spelled, in my vocabulary.  Check…

So, back to food…

One of my loyal readers, actually, I am confident that I have at least three, asked me to talk a bit about what I cook on passage so here’s a few examples.

I am not a big fan of freezing already prepared dinners for the entire trip.  This is primarily because the freezer is already filled with meat for me and Brenda to have while we are aboard so while there’s plenty for the crew that’s frozen but it’s not in aluminum pans (aluminum is yet another word that I have struggled with), which take up a lot more room and generate tons of trash that we have to carry with us.

I try to rely on simple dishes that I can make up that day.  An example is pasta with Italian sausage on some sort of short pasta.  By sauteing the sausage links in a deep sauce pan with some onions until everything is brown and setting them aside while I boil the pasta, I can use a single pan and by the time the pasta is done, the pan is pretty clean.  And, it’s a one dish diner.  Of course, we eat in bowls.

For lunch, grilled cheese or sloppy joe sandwiches from a can are good.  I think that hot meals are a must, if possible.  A breakfast favorite for crew has always been fresh biscuits.   They sound like a pain to make but I can whip them up in a few minutes.  Here’s the recipe.

Two cups of flower, a tablespoon of baking powder and a half tsp of salt along with 1/2 cup of powdered milk.  Mix the dry ingredients together.  Work in, with your fingers, a half stick of butter.  If your heart can handle more, it’s even better that way.  Work the butter in until it’s in small pea size pieces.

Preheat the oven to 450.  When the oven is hot, add in about 1 cup of water to the mix and lightly mix the mess together.   It should be fairly sticky but not slump in the bowl.   Use two spoons to scoop the soft mixture onto a cookies sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Bake until brown and serve hot with honey drizzled on top in a small bowl.  It makes about 8-12 depending on the size you ladle out.

The key is to use good flour.  I like King Arthur unbleached all purpose.  Also, don’t overwork the mixture once you add the water as it will make them tough.  And, finally, like the whole Goldilocks thing, don’t make the dough too soft or too firm.  It’s a practice thing.  So far, everyone asks for seconds, a good sign.

Anyway, my cooking for crew s simple and always focused on a single pan.

Another good example is to saute some sort of meat, cut it up and add the chunks to a can of vegetable soup.   It makes a sort of light stew and with the meat, is much better than just plain soup.  And, it’s easy to cook the meat in advance and add it to the soup, even frozen.

Of course, I also always have fruit and granola bars along with bite size candy out on the counter for them to munch on as they feel the urge.

Sound good?  I hope so and if the answer is yes, congratulations, you could be crew on Pandora.

On another note, since Tuesday (It’s early Friday morning) participants in the Salty Dawg Rally have been meeting several times a day to hear lectures on a variety of topics.   There was a particularly interesting one entitled “a view from the bridge” presented by a retired ship tanker.  He talked about how the “big guys” look at us little tiny sailboats and how someone on a 1000′ container ship wants to interact with us.   The simple answer is that they don’t want to run over us but it’s more complicated than that.  Anyway, you had to be there…

We meet in a place that is amusingly called the “dawg house”.  Nice size crowd and most of the crew haven’t yet arrived.  By Friday and Saturday evenings (we hope to leave on Monday) there will be about 200, nearly doubling of the group, in yesterday’s meetings.   It’s a very nice group of people.As you can imagine, the logistics for an event like this are pretty overwhelming.  And the amount of free stuff is quite impressive. They have over $6,000 of donated raffle items.  I am sure that they will sell a lot of tickets.  Of course, they have a dedicated group of volunteers.  Really great people. With only a few days till we depart, weather permitting, I have decided to pull off the steering pedestal and fix, hopefully once and for all, some loose bolts that continue to cause an alarming “clunk” when we are underway.  This showed up at the survey back in May but I haven’t been able to figure out how to fix it until now.  I found an exploded drawing of the system online yesterday and now I get what has to be done.  Fairly simple, he said.  Well, we’ll see.

Still asking “what’s for dinner?”.   Well, for dinner last night I had Chinese food.  Of course, the next question that follows is “what was my fortune?”  Well, I had two as they assumed that I wouldn’t be eating alone.  But I was…so I got two. I expect that they both apply but let’s hope that life doesn’t get too “interesting”.  Not too keen on the second one, given the whole steering thing, but I am “relentlessly enthusiastic” so that’s got to count for something.

That’s all for now.  Got to get on with it, with ENTHUSIASM!.

I know that there are lots of folks that are obsessed with food.   You know,the kind of person who “lives to eat”?  As I have said in the past, I am more of the type that “eats to live”.  If I am hungry, I eat and it doesn’t make that much difference to me WHAT I EAT, a source of continual frustration to Brenda.  Most anything tastes good when I am ready.

But, that’s not what I mean by my being “nervous” about food.  In this case, it’s all about WHAT AM I GOING TO FEED MY CREW!  With the four of us aboard, it’s going to be crowded and perhaps the most important part of making passage is the whole question of “when is my next meal and what are we going to have captain?”.

As past posts have outlined in nauseating detail, we have a lot of food on board for me and Brenda to use over the winter aboard and I am not too keen on having it all vacuumed up in the ten days or so that it takes us to make our way to the BVI.

Anyway, I was going to wait till at least Cathy, one of my crew, arrived on Friday to begin getting the major supplies but now realize that to wait that long is making me just too worried about getting everything ready in time.  So, today it will be, shopping SOLO with the knowledge that what I have on board to feed my crew will have a lot to do with how well the trip goes.  Of course, weather and keeping things from getting broken is job #1 but keeping them fed is right up there.

However, for reasons that have always baffled me, I have found that when someone is on a boat they are somehow less gastronomically sensitive and that a meal they would send back in disgust at a fine dining establishment brings them to near-rapture when it’s served to them on the high seas.   As the late Andy Rooney might have said, “why is that”?  Who knows…   But, I cling to the hope that this trip will be no different.

An additional source of anxiety for me is the fact that our trip  is probably going to take us a week to ten days (I sure hope it’s not two weeks) and I have never had to provision in advance for that many meals in a single voyage.   To date, the longest trip I have taken without a stop was a week and 1,100 miles, from Nassau Bahamas to Essex CT.  And that was with two crew that I knew have the the discerning taste of your typical feral canine.    This crew?  They are a bit more high-brow.

Well, wish me luck today as I try to sort through all of this.  For sure, pasta will be high on the list.  “Ok Crew, repeat after me, I love carbs, I love carbs”  And the funny thing is, they will.  Well, at least that’s what they will probably say.  Perhaps they just want to encourage me for fear that the food will get worse if they don’t gush.  Whatever…  Works for me and I am sticking with that.

Enough about food.  How about a few cool boats.  The marina is full of boats ready to cruise.  Not a lot of day sailors in these parts now and a few really stood out to me.

How about this aluminum one?  My friend Chris, who doesn’t want to go to sea in anything that can’t be dropped into the water from 100′ and live to tell the tale, would love this one.  Very powerful. It was fun to run into our old friends Rick and Julie who recently took delivery of a brand new, really red, French built catamaran.  “Rick, your boat is really, really red and amazing.”   They took delivery in France, sailed in the Med for a bit and then brought her to the US.  Ten thousand miles of sailing and they have only had her for a year.  Love the “lawn furniture” on the side deck.  Not too exposed to the weather.  Right?And, perhaps the “belle of the fleet”, this terrific Gunboat.  She looks like she is screaming along standing still at the dock.  Not even sure if “she” applies unless she is one tough woman, and she is.  What a remarkable machine. Yesterday I posted a shot of a “Hampton/Salty Dawg” burgee.  I thought that it was pretty neat.  However, through some sort of quirk of the rally, you can participate in the rally and not technically be a “Salty Dawg” by membership.   And frankly, the additional benefits of membership are a bit blurry to me.  However, being the “I want to be part of the club” sort of guy that I am compelled me to join as an “official” member.  And, I got this terrific burgee.  Now, that’s a burgee.  And it’s big, which is good as I have always been a bit peevish about boats sporting a teeny tiny 8″ burgee on their starboard spreader.  Now, this is a proper burgee and I am happy to be a “dawg”.   Nice, shiny and new.  We’ll see how it looks after 4,000 miles of sailing come spring. So, enough of that for now.  In a few days I’ll have a pack of hungry “dawgs” aboard.  Yikes…  I’d better get my yellow pad out and start making a grocery list.

Besides, I have a reputation to uphold.

It’s Tuesday afternoon and the first day for folks taking part in the Salty Dawg Rally to connect with one another as we all prepare to make our run offshore to the BVI in about a week.   There are plenty of boats that have not yet arrived here in Hampton yet but I would expect that many will begin coming into town in the next few days.  The marinas are full and Pandora is snug on the dock.  I have to say that it’s very convenient to have power, sort of unlimited (hot) water and all the comforts of home, albeit, without Brenda.  I even did a few loads of laundry in our washing machine.  Our own washer/dryer.  How decadent.

The good news is that Brenda will be visiting for a few days beginning Friday to meet some of the folks and participate in the activities (read: Parties).  This group knows how to have a good time and there is a cocktail party every night for the next week.  And, it’s BYOB, just my speed.

There are folks at all levels of experience participating in the rally although it’s pretty clear that this sort of voyaging is mostly done by those that are, shall we say, “mature”.   Me too, as much as that pains me to admit. “Bob, is that grey hair on your temples?”.  My mother calls it “dirty blond”. I’m going with that.   She also tells me that I’m big.  Hmm…

I did meet a young couple that are taking a year off from work to cruise for a year or so and it will be interesting to learn where they end up as their current plans take them to the Panama canal by March.  After that?  Who knows.

This came in my welcome bag. I  will proudly fly this SDR/Hampton burgee on the run south.   This isn’t the “real” SDR burgee.   I don’t have one of those yet as I haven’t actually joined the rally as a member, only as a participant.  Perhaps a subtle difference so I’ll have to learn more.

Our run from Deep River was uneventful with great sailing for the first half and then a motorboat ride after that.  As Chris Parker, the weather router, predicted, we did end up with head winds for the last 8 hours or so as the wind shifted to the south.  While NOAA was predicting much stronger winds to fill in, which they did, Chris was able to fine tune the forecast to let us know how much time we had till the headwinds got strong.   Good job Chris.

Many folks that were making the run from New England opted to stop in Cape May, something that we considered andI am glad that we didn’t as I heard on the SSB radio net that the harbor was just jammed with cruisers hiding from the weather.   Tight anchoring, short scope and strong winds make for a messy mix.

All and all, it was a good run, allowing us to cover the 350 miles or so in a bit over two days.    As we came within the last 10 miles of the mouth of the Chesapeake on Sunday we were greeted by a beautiful sunrise that was true to the adage, “red sky in the morning, sailor take warning”.  Glad that Chris was right with his forecast as that made the final part of our trip much easier.

As soon as we pulled into the marina, Gregg and Roger got to work up on deck getting Pandora all spiffed up while I worked down below.  Showers followed along with a nice dinner and a few well earned beers to celebrate our successful voyage.  The next morning, a nice crew shot on Pandora’s bow and off they went.  I enjoyed having them aboard but it was nice to havePandora back to myself.  As Brenda has often said, six for cocktails, four for dinner and two sleep over.   Not sure exactly how that applies to crew but cooking three meals a day and being responsible for the boat does tire one out, congenial crew or not.   They were certainly congenial and I appreciated their help in getting Pandora here.

So, with a good night sleep it was time to catch up on the projects that I didn’t get to prior to leaving CT.  One issue that I had debated was bringing my sewing machine with me.  It’s really robust and HEAVY.  However, in the end, I opted to toss it (carefully) below.  Really glad I did as on day one in Hampton I had a sewing project to attend to.  Pandora’s main is loose footed and has a heavy velcro covered strap that holds the clew securely against the boom as the out-haul moves in and out.  The material was badly sun damaged so I needed a new one.  Fortunately, my “stash” included 5′ of Velcro and after re-purposing a sail tie I made up a new strap.  Here’s my “sewing nook”.  Worked well.  And the finished piece in place at the end of the boom. Very natty, if you can get excited about Velcro.  Absolutely!   It would have taken longer to find someone to sew this for me than it took to set up and do it myself.

A few weeks ago Brenda and I splurged and ordered custom area rugs for Pandora.   It was easier to have them shipped to VA so I was excited to pick them up at the marina office when I arrived.  They fit beautifully and do a nice job of bringing blue into a generally green boat.   There are a number of rugs that fit specific areas.We also had one made up for the aft cabin.  However, dark blue does show every crumb.  Perfect, one more thing for me to be anal about.  I may put them away for the run to the BVI.  One less thing to clean when I get there.

Brenda has made some wonderful pillows as accent in the main cabin.   The cost of having them made professionally was over $200 per pillow.  Granted, the fabric was luscious but that’s a very steep price.  I like what she made up yesterday and they cost WAY LESS.   Great job Brenda!!!Well, the week is young but I can’t believe that I am perhaps a week away from leaving on my long run south.  Happily, most of the “issues” that I have had with a “new” boat are behind me so, unless something unexpected comes up, I won’t have to worry about anything more complex than changing the engine oil.  Fingers crossed.

However, that’s a new feeling for me as just a few weeks ago as I was struggling to get ready to begin heading south, this is more of the sort of image that came to mind.  “What, that is going to cost how many boat dollars?”   Today I visited a rally participant to help him set up his SSB e-mail.  He has only owned his boat for a few months and I am sure that he can relate to this image perfectly.  He told me that yesterday cost him plenty with a parade of “fixit guys” on and off the boat all day.  Unfortunately, some of the fixes didn’t take and with our departure about a week away, the pressure is mounting.   I can relate to that.

Editor note:  Yes, this is a real car in a nearby neighborhood that I saw when I was walking yesterday.  I am not absolutely certain that the “guy” is real.  Hard to say as  Saturday IS, after all, Halloween.

That’s all for now.

It’s Saturday morning and we have just passed Atlantic City on our way to Hampton VA.   When we left Deep River yesterday we plotted a course for Cape May on the chance that we would opt to stop there for a night while a small front passed through, bringing adverse winds for a day.  However, after speaking with Chris Parker today on the SSB radio, it seems that those winds, while they will be from the south and on our nose, won’t be particularly strong,likely 10kts or less,until later on Sunday.  So, provided that we can keep moving along in the 6-8kt range, as we are doing now, we should arrive in Hampton by mid-morning Sunday.

The trip has been quite good so far with really spectacular 20kt winds yesterday pushing us along at around 8-10kts on a beam reach for much of the day.  As the night progressed, the wind began to shift to the NE and then to the East as it is now getting lighter.  I don’t expect that we’ll be able to keep sailing for much longer and will have to use the motor again but it’s fun for now.
We did motor-sail much of last night with the wind directly behind me.  The jib wasn’t doing much and slammed around quite a bit.  I should have dealt with that as I found that the sheet had chafed quite a bit so I will have to replace the line. It’s a good thing that I have plenty of extra lines aboard to address chafe problems and am thankful that I brought more lines from home at the last minute before shoving off.  I believe that I have extras for just about every line aboard.   That’s comforting.   It’s amazing how much wear and tear there is on a boat when things get bumpy.

The temperatures overnight were plenty chilly and it was a chore to stand watch, even though we were under the cover of the hard dodger.  I stood watch from midnight to 04:00 and was quite happy to crawl into my sleeping bag and warm up at the end of my watch.  I slept like a “bowling ball”, you know, “toss it onto a bed, it rolls to the center and never moves an inch”.  That was me and I didn’t get up till nearly 07:30.

It’s a lot warmer today, which is very good news.  It’s also beautifully sunny with sea birds flying around us.  Speaking of birds, we had a small bird land on board last night around nightfall, something that seems to happen on nearly every ocean passage.   He hopped all around, even in the cockpit and I think that he stayed the night somewhere up forward, probably near the dink, which is lashed on the cabin top.  I always wonder what happens to these little birds when they need to stop and rest and there isn’t a boat nearby.  I expect that a lot just get exhausted and, well… you know.   They must be quite desperate to land in the cockpit with three “giants” gawking at them.

Today got off to a beautiful start as documented by Gregg.  I guess that he just instinctively knew that I love to post photos of sunrises.  I was listening to the weather at the time and he had the presence of mind to grab my camera and take a few shots.  Thanks Gregg.

I guess that’s about it for now.  I’ll likely post again when we are heading into Hampton, hopefullytomorrow.
From the high seas… SV Pandora

It’s mid-morning Friday and we are nearly to Montauk having left Deep River at 07:00 this morning.  My crew and good friends Roger and Gregg are settle in and it’s a pleasure to have them aboard.   I have sailed with them both before and have known each of them for many years.

We are really cooking along with the wind on the port quarter at between 8-9 and sometimes more than 10kts over the ground.

The last few days of getting Pandora ready to head south have been a whirlwind with a seemingly endless list of chores onboard and at home.   As I won’t be home for nearly a month, I had to attend to things such as cutting and fertilizing the lawn (yesterday morning actually).  Something that I would have loved to put off until I got back.  However, the maples had dropped many of their leaves and I can only imagine what the condition of the grass would have been by the time I return in mid-November if I didn’t clean things up prior to my departure.   Love that yard work stuff…

Between moving final things aboard and shopping for the last minute groceries, along with yard work, I have to say that I was wondering if life really needed to be this hectic.  Brenda for sure feels that way.  And, I really didn’t sleep very well last night as I was so keyed up from such a hectic day.  However, now that I am aboard and making tracks south toward Hampton, it all seems worth it.

As is always the case when you step aboard for a long run, we had a bit of a shocker this morning.   When I turned on all of the instruments to get going, surprise!  No autopilot.  Not good.  However, after a few frantic moments, I realized that the problem might be a loose connection in the instrument pod.   The bow thruster guys had had the pod open to check wires on the joy stick control and I wondered if perhaps they had just dislodged the power cord from the pilot control.  Yup… Simple fix and we were on our way.   Whew!

I don’t even want to think of what I would have done if the problem was serious.  Not my first choice to hand steer for 350 miles.

So, preventers are run, jack lines in place and a cup of hot coffee.  Life is good.

The weather, as I have mentioned in my last post, won’t provide us with favorable winds for the entire run to Hampton.  However, today’s grib wind files seem to suggest we might be able to motor/sail the last 8 hours and still make Hampton prior to any real adverse winds settling in.  So, for now, we’ll continue to head for Cape May and consider bearing off as we learn more.

Heading down the CT River this morning was beautiful.  The color is at it’s peak and it was nice to make one more run down the river knowing that I wouldn’t be back till next spring.   I will be covering a lot of miles between now and May. Seeing the CT River Museum from the water as we motored by was a beautiful sight.  I have been volunteering there for a year or so and I enjoy working with the gang there.   Actually, I have to edit a grant application before we get to Hampton as it’s due at the end of the month.  No rest for the weary.We also saw a bald eagle as we passed Hamburg Cove.  Is that a good or bad omen for our trip?  I am going with “good”. Well, I guess that’s about it for now.  If things are settled enough, and my Pactor Modem on my SSB radio is working, I will likely do another post on Saturday.

Yes, after months of saying “we’re going south”, it looks like I am actually heading out tomorrow, Friday morning.  Crew arrives tonight and we will head out at first light tomorrow morning.

I spoke with Chris Parker, the weather router, this morning and he told me that we should have excellent north winds to take us south for the first 24 hours or so.  After that we will see southerlies but under ten knots.  This is what the GRIBs look like for Friday.  Should be a very nice run.  Note that the wind is coming from the direction that the “flags” are pointing and that each “feather” means 10kts, but you probably knew that anyway.  This is our route plan if we stop in Atlantic City to wait for favorable winds once the northerlies shift to the south on Saturday.    We’d only have to wait there for about a day until things shift again to the north, so that wouldn’t be so bad. Alternatively, we might opt to continue on directly for Hampton and motor into what will likely be 10kts or less on the nose.  This is what the winds will likely do after the good northerlies go away on Saturday.  Not horrible to motor into light winds.  I guess we will have to see how things progress and I’ll likely check in with Chris again in the morning.   Yes, I am sure that you are on the edge of your seat too about all this.  If so, of course you can follow along with us by clicking on “Where in the World is Pandora” at the top of the page and see us on a Google Map.  Such are the wonders of technology.  

Yes, it’s very exciting to be on my way, finally and I am very much looking forward to visiting with folks in Hampton for the next week.  After that, on to the BVI.

The next flag that I fly from Pandora’s starboard spreader will be this one.  Very exciting.  

Looking forward to seeing the “Queen’s subjects” very soon.

South it is…

Well, the weather sure has turned.  It seems like only yesterday, or a few weeks, that I was working on the boat in a short sleeve shirt.  Not now!  We had our first killing frost yesterday and it’s PLENTY COLD.  I can’t believe how quickly the season changed and the temperatures have dropped.   When Labor Day arrives, you hear the iron doors of summer slam shut and now we are getting close to the time when you had better be sure not to touch your tongue to those doors as it might stick.  I don’t know if you heard the same thing, but I was always told that if I touched my tongue to cold metal in the winter that it would stick till spring.  I have no idea if this is true or not as I have never tried it.  Have you?  Well, if you feel the urge, an opportunity is just around the corner  Never mind.

Anyway, it’s high time for me to “get out of Dodge” with Pandora and begin my run south.  First stop, Hampton VA and if the weather cooperates, I will shove off on Friday morning.  There is a front, one of many these days, coming through which should provide some good NW winds for at least a day.  We might have to stop in Cape May or Atlantic City to wait a day for another quick front to come through but it seems that we should be in Hampton by the weekend or Monday. Fingers crossed.

Pandora’s about ready, the pantry is loaded and the freezer is stocked with meat. The fridge is a lot bigger than on “old” Pandora and the freezer is so deep that I have to use one of those “geriatric grabber thingies”, you know the kind that old folks use to pick up things off of the floor?  Anyway, even if I lay on the counter top I can’t reach the bottom of the freezer.  Now, that’s an image… But if you want a sirloin steak, you do what you have to do.

It’s tricky to guess how much we will need of each item to last the winter as most things cost more in the Caribbean so it makes sense to buy them here. Well, it seems like a good idea to us and my Scottish heritage and thrift make it a necessity.  So, how many rolls of toilet paper do you need to last for five months? Brenda says “you can never have too many rolls of toilet paper”.  She said 50 so that’s the number.  Ok…

Under the category of “random segues” how about a sunrise photo?  Our frined Gail (of Gail and Al fame) sent us this great photo of the sunrise in Essex a few days ago.  It’s been a while since I posted a sunrise photos, something that I do a lot of when I am aboard Pandora so perhaps this will get everyone in the mood for what’s to come when we get to warmer climes.  Here you go.  Thanks Gail. Amazing shot.  Give that girl a gold star!And, speaking of the CT River.  We were treated to a ride on the river aboard Pastime, a beautiful 1960s vintage Lyman runabout this past Sunday.  It was a beautiful “crisp” day on the water.  “Crisp” is code for “It was frigging cold”, complete with snow flurries.  What  a glorious day.  We headed up the river to Middletown and back.  Pastime’s owners, Steve and Irene, were the perfect host and hostess.  What a fun time. Even though they had just met, Brenda and Irene were like old friends as they kept warm with some of Irene’s chili.  Get it?  Chili on a chilly day?It’s going to be a while till we have another cruise on the CT River so the “last gasp” for the 2015 season will stick with us.

Oh yeah.  Almost forgot.  My crew had inquired about lee cloths for Pandora. Voila!  Made em.  Wasn’t that easy?   All installed.  Three bunks plus the aft cabin are now ready for occupancy.  Here’s the one to starboard. I put one up in the forward cabin but I’ll only use it when it’s fairly calm. However, it’s also a great way to keep stray gear out of the way and in place, when things get rough.  I think that just about everything is ready to head south.  I just hope that the weather cooperates.  Based on the low temps these days, it’s high time that Pandora “flies the coop”.

Friday departure?  I sure hope so.   I’m freezing!