“Long Were The Nights”

Sunday Evening, July 11, 2021 Latitude 52o 18’ N Longitude 19o 36’ W We survived last night’s running the gauntlet of high winds and waves noted on the Pilot Charts. Yesterday, by late afternoon the seas had built to over 10 feet and the winds would occasionally gust to 45 knots. During the day, those…

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Change of Plan

Friday Evening, July 9, 2021 Latitude 50o 49’ N Longitude 24o 36’ W 738 Miles to Mallaig, Scotland Yesterday we were within 700 miles of landfall at Bantry, Ireland. That put us six days away from laundry and a hot shower on solid ground. Six days may sound like a long way to go, but…

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Feast it was

Wednesday Afternoon, July 7, 2021 Latitude 49o 02’ N Longitude 29o 10’ W As reported in the last blog on Monday evening, July 5th, we were prepared to concede that there was no hope for wind and let the boat drift through the night. No sooner had that blog been sent than the winds returned,…

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Feast or Famine

Monday Evening, July 5, 2021 Latitude 47o 46’ N Longitude 35o 40’ W 1035 nautical miles to Fastnet Light, Ireland The pilot charts indicate an average of 3 calm days in July at our location out in the middle of the North Atlantic. If that be the case, we’ve already experienced two out of the…

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No Great Shakes!

Friday Evening, July 2, 2021 Latitude 44o 46’ N Longitude 41o 37’ W 1308 nautical miles to Fastnet Light, Ireland ( 2/5 of the way there) In the middle of the North Atlantic, thirteen hundred miles from Ireland and nearly as far from Rockport, Maine, we came upon three men in a rowboat. Our AIS…

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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…

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Fowl 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…

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Pilot 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…

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Daily 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…

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Wednesday 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…

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