It’s hard to believe that Pandora is back in Antigua and I am here in NYC visiting family for the holidays. The fall was a whirlwind getting Pandora ready for the big run south to Antigua and after less than a week of fun, back home…

I have been doing the whole “snowbird” thing for a decade now and I’ll admit that I am tiring of the process, the weeks of back and forth each spring and fall. It’s a big bite out of our year.

With that in mind, this coming summer I will be taking Pandora to Trinidad where she will have some much needed repairs and maintenance. The good news is that I will have much less time consumed with running her back and forth and hopefully can do more of what Brenda wants to focus on instead of me being gone for a month, or more, each spring and fall.

Our plan is to spend a few weeks in northern Europe in September, which should be fun.

So, after a chilly start for the run south. a shot of Pandora’s crew on the dock in Essex prior to departure.

A little more tropical in Antigua.

Pop quiz: Can you tell for sure, which photo was taken in Antigua?

The passage was not particularly bad or good, just sort of average. We took about 12.5 days and sailed 1,850 miles from when we left Essex CT until we arrived in Antigua. We were bucking strong adverse currents much of the way until we passed Bermuda so that accounted for the additional miles, about 250 more than the actual point to point distance.

This is a highlighted graphic of our actual track, along with all of the other boats in the 96 strong fleet. Notice that everybody jogged to the east for a few days. This was to avoid a nasty low with very strong winds.

We often struggled to keep our speed up due to very light winds behind us but for the last 700 or so miles we really flew, logging nearly 200 miles each day. All and all, in spite of the fact that I am pretty sick of the run, we had a very successful passage.

We arrived around midnight last Sunday and picked our way into Falmouth harbor. After anchoring we had rum punch, two actually, and went skinny dipping. After two rum punches who wouldn’t?

Early the next morning we moved over to English Harbor and anchored to wait to be called to the dock. It is a lovely harbor. The building in the background dates to the time when the Royal Navy called the harbor their home in the Caribbean.

And then onto the dock.

The view. That place is the Galley Bar, a very popular watering hole. However, we didn’t drink water…

We stayed on the dock for much of the week, along with some local wildlife. Glad that they weren’t pooping on Pandora. I believe that the scientific name of this particular species is “pooping plovers, Exodosus”. Not confirmed but aptly named I think.

While I had to leave Antigua before the events were over, I did enjoy a number of them.

One highlight is the happy hour at The Admiral’s Inn. A group photo. 135 in attendance, a record.

Our boats completely filled Nelson’s Dockyard. Not an open spot to be had. A big contrast to a week prior when the place was basically empty.

The arrival of our fleet begins the season for Antigua a few weeks early and they just love having Salty Dawg in town. It is very rewarding to me to know that they want us there as much as we want to be with them.

Lot’s of fun, with events every day for nearly two weeks. Check out this link to the latest on what’s planned. And, I’ll be preparing more events for December and January to keep everyone in sync. After mid January much of the fleet scatters, and there are many other events in planning for elsewhere in the Caribbean and Bahamas during the season.

The run this season was not without challenges. One of our boats tried to bail into Oregon Inlet, near Cape Hatteras, ran aground and was damaged. This is a terrible inlet and unfortunate that they tried to get in that way.

Another boat tried to leave from Florida, bound for Antigua and was forced to turn back, for the second time in two years. Even though he wasn’t able to make Antigua, there are worse places to spend the season than the Bahamas. We do encourage boats to head to Hampton before heading south, as the wind direction from that departure point is much more favorable. Leave from points south of Hampton or Beaufort, just south of Hatteras, and you will end up sailing NE to Bermuda anyway, so better to start from farther north and avoid a lot of issues. It is pretty much a case of “you can’t get there from here” when it comes to a south east US departure. Better luck next year for him.

And yes, we did have a number of “issues”, which is expected when you are running nearly 100 boats into the ocean for a long voyage. However, this year we had an unfortunate “first” a death at sea. One of the crew fell ill and died on passage. I suppose that after 13 years, something like this is bound to happen but it does not make it any easier. In this case, the cause of death is not totally clear.

After several days of nausea, the crew member seemed to be recovering only to pass away in his sleep. Fortunately, tragedies like this are very rare but tragic.

I was very involved in the process of dealing with the arrival of the boat and crew, interfacing with the local authorities, a complex process that involved many on the ground in Antigua. Happily, the local authorities were very efficient and supportive and I can’t imagine things running any smoother, a testament to our contacts in Antigua and their goal to do what they could to ease a very difficult situation.

News of the death has been reported widely and I am proud of how the many volunteers in Salty Dawg helped with questions from sea and also assisting the family once the boat arrived in Antigua.

Boats in the rally are supported by our “shoreside” group around the clock for the duration of the rally.

On a brighter note, and in closing, it is important to note that what participants in the rally have accomplished, completing a major ocean voyage, is not to be understated.

With perhaps 70,000 sailboats in the US that are over 30′ long, only about 1,000 attempt to make a long run like our Caribbean Rally every year. And, the nearly 100 boats and upwards of 400 sailors that participate in our rally each year are part of a very elite group, and represent a vanishingly small number of sailors that can say that they have completed such a voyage.

One thing that is certain that those who complete the Salty Dawg Caribbean rally are truly “one in a thousand” and that is something to be proud of.

The fleet underway…

Congratulations to all the hearty souls that successfully completed an impressive run.

It is hard to believe that we are only 100 miles from Antigua.  We are into our 12^th day at sea and it feels like it has been even more than that.  Can you say “forever?”

Frankly, I have had quite enough of sunrises at sea but for consistency, here is one more…

And, as there is not a lot to take photos of:  So, from the cockpit… Forgive me but there is not a lot to do at 6:00 in the morning on watch…

And speaking of 190+ mile days, proof of speed.  From right to left.  Wind speed, boat speed, wind direction and apparent wind and depth.  However, depth is not correct as it is more than a mile deep here. Depth instruments often read stuff in the water or even changes in temperature.

As we rock along at 8+kts, we do leave a bit of a wake.  Sadly, this does not do justice so you so suspend disbelief and go with me on this.  It is a big ocean out there/here.

When we left Essex the water temperature was a chilly 61 degrees and it was downright cold at night.  We even ran the cabin heat to keep things above 60 down below. 

Fast forward nearly two weeks from our departure, and 1,700 ocean miles later, it is plenty hot and humid and the ocean has warmed considerably, into the 80s. 

Each day the temperatures have climbed steadily but things did not really get unpleasant until two days ago when temperatures down below really climbed, into the high 80s.  Even with fans blowing on us, it has become hard to sleep. With waves breaking over the boat regularly, we cannot open any hatches lest we end up with buckets of water below.  A slow drip is bad enough.  Years ago I left a small hatch open in the gally and had to mop up several gallons of water that came cascading down in an instant.   I will not make that mistake again.

Since we entered the trade winds, we have not had to turn on the engine and have consistently reeled off over 190 miles a day.  Alas, never 200 but 190, 196 and such is quite respectable.  It is always a good thing when our speed picks up toward the end when we have all had just about enough sea time, thank you very much.   When will we get there?  Sooner than if we were going slower…

We expect to arrive in Antigua around midnight and we have not yet decided if we are going to go directly into English Harbor or perhaps duck into nearby Falmouth, anchor for a few hours and then move over to English Harbor once it becomes light.

The entrance to English Harbor is narrow and entering in the dark is daunting, well to me at least.  The idea of going nearly 1,800 miles and ending up on a rock ledge in the middle of the night is not my idea of a good way to “end” the run so perhaps Falmouth makes sense.

The simple fact is that at midnight we will be tired after a long run and that alone suggests that the prudent thing is to “do easy”.

So, as we reel off the last 100 miles all I can say is that I am very much looking forward to toasting our arrival with Matt and Peter and then for a swim.  Sans clothes?  That’s my plan.  Besides, it will be dark…

It feels good to be “almost there” but what I am looking forward to even more is “we have arrived”. 

Not to jinx it as we are not there yet, but next post, from English Harbor…

And, on a more random note, Brenda, who I can not wait to see when I get home later this week. I wonder if she would have said “I do” had she even suspected what lay ahead…

It is Saturday afternoon; the sun is out and Pandora is bounding along on a very close reach in about 17kts.  Of course, that means wet…

After yesterday’s post about the illusive 200 mile day, it is worth noting that our run from 10:00 yesterday morning till 10:00 today was a very respectable 196 miles. Not 200 but not bad.

I have mostly given up on trying to mop up the drips which seem to be coming from a few new places.  The problem is that leaks generally do not show up unless we are really pounding.  I think that the biggest leak is still coming from the mast fitting on the deck which needs to be removed, cleaned and rebedded.  I have not decided if I will tackle that myself or if I will ask a rigger to address it. 

The other leaks, a minor drips from the hatch near the galley and in the forward head are probably simple to fix but I will not go into that right now.  We will see.

Anyway, we are bounding along and I’d say it’s safe to say that conditions are “sporty”, or “salty” as Chris Parker, our weather router, likes to say.

I received a note from my friend Tom who has an Oyster in the eastern Mediterranean where he sails with his wife Sarah.  I understand that he helped deliver a friend’s Oyster from the US to English Harbor, where he is now.  Sadly, I will not see him as he will be flying back to his home in Florida before I get there.

There has been a lot of back and forth between me and others as we plan the arrival events for the next ten days or so.  It has been a bit of a challenge with intermittent connectivity with Starlink but way easier than in past years.   However, despite some schedule changes, and a lot of back and forth, I think that most events are now scheduled. 

We are 250 miles from Antigua now, with 85% of the run behind us.  It feels good to know that we will be there soon but it is now a case of the “longest mile” as we INCH toward our destination.

It’s always hard to say exactly when we will be there but the closer we get, the clearer it becomes.  At this point, it seems likely we will likely arrive somewhere between 10:00 on Sunday evening and early morning Monday, not to put too fine a point on it.  That will have made the run in 12 days, not my longest but LONG, never the less.

The biggest uncertainty is that we are sailing fairly hard on the wind now and if the wind were to shift even 10 degrees to the south, we will have trouble making landfall on the eastern side of Antigua.  If we must head to the western side, we will then have to motor directly into the wind and waves for hours to make English Harbor. I really hope that does not happen.

So, now that I am somewhat, kind of, reasonably, certain about the timing of our arrival, I am starting to think about all that I will NOT have to do aboard for much longer, like cleaning the head, moping up leaks along with dreaming up and cooking meals.  I have tried hard to make sure that meals are not particularly repetitive and I think it is going well but the pickings are beginning to get a little slim so it is a good thing we are getting close.

Sailing fairly close to the wind, is rough and it is quite hot and sticky down below, with everything all buttoned up, so I really don’t want to do much cooking.  When I asked what the guys wanted for dinner tonight, they both suggested egg salad wraps, exactly what I prepared last night.  That will be easy and I can spiff them up a bit so they are somewhat different than last night.

Brenda thinks I am a completely uninspired cook but after watching her spin her magic in the kitchen over the years, I am not quite the luddite that she imagines. Just almost, but not quite.  Besides, culinary expectations are not high when at sea, so everything tastes better.

After tonight, only one more dinner and then…

So, that brings me to the title of this post and what happens when we get to Antigua.  I have no interest in posting yet another photo of a sunrise, although I did try and get a shot of a beautiful rainbow this morning but, alas, it faded quickly.  No luck.

What I really want to think about now is being tied up in Nelson’s Dockyard, English Harbor, becoming reacquainted with the “Tot Club” (I am a member, you know.) and then going out for perhaps pizza or a burger.  Did I hear someone say “rum punch?” I don’t think that I will get much pushback from the guys.  They are ready too…

And, from top to bottom… Antigua courtesy flag, Tot club and Salty Dawg rally flag. A great combination.

And, in English Harbor, what awaits when the fleet arrives. Pandora tied up with a bunch of other Dawg boats.  Tom tells me that the Dockyard is basically empty now but I expect that in three days’ time, they will be filled nearly to capacity. 

Pandora with her boarding passarelle in place.

It’s going to be great. 

As we basically start the season for the island, as there are no boats there now, everybody will be as happy to see us as we will be to see them.

I can’t wait to be back in Antigua!

It is Friday morning and we are about 450 miles from Antigua and solidly in the easterly trade winds.  After enduring days of slow going and motoring for what seemed like forever, it is good to be sailing along at a less leisurely pace.

We encountered a number of squalls overnight and shortly after dawn, one left a rainbow in it’s wake, just a sliver that went up behind the low clouds.

Or, a bit closer…

You may recall that when we were north of Bermuda, we had to delay our southward track to allow for a low near Bermuda to dissipate.  This meant that we had to sail to the east, making very little mileage south to our destination.  Over an 18-hour period we only made 60 miles toward our destination.  It was very frustrating.  And, to make matters worse, the constant slatting of the mainsail caused some damage to the gooseneck, the fitting that connects the boom to the mast.  I will have to get that repaired or replaced when I get to Antigua. 

After motoring for days in very light wind, we finally entered the trades last night and our speed picked up a lot.  We can only motor at a pace of less than 6kts and when motorsailing with a little wind to give us a boost, upwards of 7.5kts.  Under sail things get a lot better and for hours now we have been averaging 8kts+ with a few periods of 9kts+.  It is nice to see the miles reel off as we make our way south.  ]

While the trades filled in yesterday evening, we continued to motorsail for a few hours and finally were able to turn off the engine.  It is common for skippers to track their daily miles and see how many miles they cover in a 24 hour period and as I log our location and mileage every two hours, I can see how we are doing.  So, for the last 24 hours we covered 182 miles with a mix of sailing and motorsailing, a very respectable distance.  Now, as we are deep into the trades and under sail alone, our speed has crept up and if we keep up the pace of the last 12 hours we will have covered 192 miles in a day.  

I mention all this as 200 miles in a 24 hour period is a “mythical goal” for cruising boats and to be even close to this is an impressive feat.  And, one that Pandora has come close to but never achieved. 

My friend George Day, editor and publisher of Blue Water Sailing magazine as well as a number of other publications, publishes a weekly newsletter, “Cruising Compass”, and in this weeks’ issue reflects on just how hard it is to push a cruising boat to cover 200 miles in a single day. 

George had crewed with me on my last run to Antigua and here is what he had to say about the “200 mile goal” and his time aboard Pandora.

“Last weekend, American solo sailor Cole Brauer, who is racing in the non-stop Global Solo Challenge, notched a 220 mile 24-hour hour run aboard her Class 40 First Light. She is the first skipper in this event to do so, despite the fleet being comprised of many super light offshore racing monohulls. To reach a 200-mile day, you have to average 8.33 knots for 24 hours. This is commonplace for maxi racing boats, IMOCA foiling monohulls, high speed performance cats and super racing trimarans. But in mere mortal monohulls and most cruising multihulls, averaging 8.33 knots is mighty hard to achieve. A year ago, sailing in the Salty Dawg Rally from Hampton, VA to Antigua with SDSA president Bob Osborn aboard his Aerodyne 47 Pandora –a very slippery and fast Rodger Martin design—we had plenty of wind from good angles and saw four days over 190 miles. But 200? Wasn’t to be. And a few years ago, sailing transatlantic aboard Steve McInnis’s Hanse 50 Maverick, another fast cruiser with a powerful rig that seems to sail at 8 knots all the time, we didn’t crack 200 miles once. It’s the “average for 24 hours” part of the equation that is so hard to do.  So, hats off to Cole Brauer –all five foot two and 100 pounds of her– and here’s to all of you who strive but most often fail to crack that ever elusive 200-mile day. If you have a 200-mile day story you’d like to share, send it to me at george@bwsailing.com.”

When Pandora really gets going, even if she does not go a full 200 miles a day, she is wet boat with water coming over the decks nearly constantly.  Unfortunately, there remains a persistent leak near the mast and in spite of my best efforts, water is still getting below.  Not a lot, but enough to damage the woodwork if I let it go. For those who follow this blog, I spent the summer chasing leaks and have made a lot of progress but have not completely solved the problem. Alas, one more job for the guys in Trinidad to attend to next summer. 

So, here we are, me mopping up a few drips here and there and Pandora reeling off the miles toward Antigua.  Not to jinx it, but it looks like we might arrive during daylight on Monday, a day sooner than we had expected.

That would be nice.  Let us hope that nothing breaks and that the leaks slow.

Looking forward to a rum punch and a burger, medium please, when we arrive.

*P.S.  I stole George’s title too. 

It’s hard to believe that we are into our 9^th day at sea and are still 640 miles from Antigua.   Think going from NY to Chicago at 6kts.  That’s a long way.

The good news is that we are inches, feet, miles, a degree of latitude, well, at least some distance from the trade winds.  The wind was VERY light overnight but now it is beginning to fill in from the NE.  According to Chris Parker, our weather router, and the most recent GRIB files, we should begin to see sailable wind from the east within the next 40-80 miles, hopefully sooner.

As soon as we have wind on the beam (perpendicular to our course) of around 10kts, we should be able to sail.  That would be great as I will admit that I am a bit sick of listening to the drone of the engine.  Having said that, I am SO pleased to have enough fuel to handle all of the light wind.

Have I mentioned that we have been motoring a lot?  “Yes, Bob, you beat that drum FOREVER, on every passage.”

It is now becoming pretty, sort of, fairly, a little bit clear that we will be arriving either late on Monday or sometime overnight Monday/Tuesday.   Who knows, “we will be there when we are there”, as my Dad used to say.

Of course, what is a post at sea without a photo of the sunrise?  Another very pretty one. 

Zoom out and it looks a lot different. “Bob, Bob, it’s the same photo. Gimme a break!”

No, it’s not…

To prove that we were there. Pandora in the frame… Work with me on this…

And, as we motor along, really calm.

Other than that, not a lot to report.

I have been spending a lot of time refining the details of our arrival events for Antigua and while much of the schedule was in place months ago, there have been some shifting and additional events.  In some cases, frustration for some as plans change.  However, we get so much support from those who host our events in Antigua, I cannot complain and am grateful to everyone for helping to make the fleet feel welcome.

Oh yeah, Starlink has been working but is not flawless.  It sometimes takes forever to boot up and tends to drop the signal regularly.  However, having it, boogers and all, is so much better than any prior method of staying in touch.

The simple solution would be to purchase their high-performance antenna but it is twice the size of what we already have and draws more than 2x the power.  I have heard that there will soon be a new HP dish out and that it is about the same size as what we currently have.  It is worth it to me to wait and endure less than perfect connectivity for now.  Poor connectivity or not, it is AMAZING to have such technology aboard Pandora.

Sure, we are still a long way to Antigua but the wind should soon be with us and it will be great to turn off the motor and enjoy the last distance to our destination. 

So, we will continue to plod along and Antigua is still a long way off.  However, it does feel like we are on the home stretch… well almost.