Archive for June 2021
Are we having fun yet?
Wednesday Afternoon, June 30, 2021 Latitude 44o 32’ N Longitude 46o 21’ W 1528 nautical miles to Fastnet Light, Ireland (2/5 of the way there) Is it fun sailing across open ocean? This is a question that I often get asked (especially by my wife) and my response is to search for another word to…
Read MoreFowl Weather
Tuesday Morning June 29, 2021 Latitude 44o 19’ N Longitude 50o 02’ W (1674 nautical miles to Fastnet Light, Ireland) Sunday evening Dick Hiatt sent the following message from his home in Huntsville, Alabama using our Iridium based e-mail: “Heads up. Winds your vicinity SW 25 to 35 as of Monday 15 UTC becoming N…
Read MorePilot Charts
Sunday Afternoon, June 27, 2021 Latitude 43o 28’ N Longitude 55o 21’ W (1917 nautical miles to Fastnet Light, Ireland) Pilot Charts The choice of the route and timing of our trip across the North Atlantic is not arbitrary. We are sailing based on the hard-won experience of sailors from hundreds, perhaps thousands of years…
Read MoreDaily Routine
Saturday, June 26, 2021 Headed to 45 45 Latitude 42o 44’ N Longitude 59o 47’ W (2108 nautical miles to Fastnet Light) We input data into a computer log after each watch. These data let us keep track of critical information such as whether the barometer is rising or falling, when to charge the battery…
Read MoreWednesday Evening, June 23, 2021 South of Nova Scotia Latitude 42o 57’ N Longitude 68o 13’ W Heading for Warmer Water After two nights at Hurricane Island the final preparations for the boat were complete and we motored out in a deep fog at 5 am Tuesday morning. There are ledges and rocks just off…
Read MoreJune 21, 2021 Hurricane Island Latitude 44o 02’ N Longitude 68o 53’ W Technically we did depart on June 20, Summer Solstice, as planned. My sisters organized a small bon voyage gathering with friends and family at the Rockport Boat club to wish us well and around 1:30 pm we cast off our lines and…
Read MoreYou would never cross the Atlantic Ocean by Boat
In the Summer before COVID, my niece and her finance held a pagan Scottish wedding ceremony at my younger sister’s farm in Maine. The gathering, complete with kilts and a traditional tying of the knot, was a warmup for the official wedding scheduled to take place in Scotland the following Fall. Family and friends were…
Read MoreThe Last Push
Tuesday September 30, 2014 (46o 21’N 66o 10’W): Off the Southwest Coast of Nova Scotia By Tuesday September 23rd, we’d spent four nights in Lark Harbour, Newfoundland waiting for the gale and storm-force winds to break their hold and blow from any direction other than southwest. We still had more than 100 miles to go to the…
Read MoreFriendly “Eh?”
Friday September 26, 2014 (45o 20’N 60o 50’W): East Coast of Nova Scotia It is probably an old joke, but new to me. It goes by some variation of “How do you get 20 Canadians out of your living room?” The answer is simply to say “Please leave.” I’m not sure if everyone will appreciated the above…
Read MoreLark Harbour
Monday September 22, 2014 (49o 05.771’N 58o 22.721’W): Lark Harbour Coast Station Dock We have been at Lark Harbor, Newfoundland for three nights and expect to remain for at least one more, avoiding wind and waves. Friday’s weather report read: Winds – Wind northwest 15 to 20 knots increasing to northwest 30 early this evening. Wind increasing to …
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