Smooth sailing

About 5am the breeze came up enough to allow us to shut off the engine
and go sailing. SInce then it's built steadily and clocked a little.
Right now we've got about 10 knots of true wind at 50 degrees so we're
hard on the wind with16 knots and moving nicely. The water is up to 77
so the air is warm and it's a beautiful day!

Later on the wind should back and build as we get into the trades,
giving us about 20-25 knots apparent on the beam. If all of that was
just mumbo-jumbo, then it translates to fast sailing for our last 36
hours!

Fay is deep into "The log of the Sea of Cortez" by Steinbeck, but
currently making nachos for lunch. We checked the AP ram again this
morning and it was still tight, but we backed off the locking nut and
added some blue Locktite just for insurance.

I think we'll both take another shower this afternoon to freshen up.
WIth all the motoring, and wind, and sun, we've got an abundance of
power and water.

If all goes well we should be checking into customs in Virgin Gorda
late morning on Tuesday.

Warm, flat, and a little excitement

We're about 300 miles south of Bermuda and 550 miles away from BVI.
Yesterday was slow progress as we sailed mostly east in light air
(8-12 knots from aft the beam) to position ourselves for the winds we
expect on Sunday and Monday.

Our weather is currently dominated by a high pressure which is right
on top of us, so no wind. We motored all night and we'll motor today
and maybe tonight until the high moves a little further east and we
move south of the high. Then we should begin to pickup the southern
end of the high which will have some SE winds, after that we should
reach the trades which ought to be 15-20 knots from ESE. Since we're
pretty far east, we'll be able to turn towards the west and have a
nice ride into BVI for the last 36 hours. Or that's the theory anyway!

Just after I came on watch at 4am the autopilot quit working and the
boat started making left hand circles until I could get to the
throttle and slow things down. It was too dark to do much so I had
steered until 7am when it was light and Fay was up. To make a long
story short, the autopilot ram had backed out of the fitting that
attaches it to the rudder. With Fay's help, and about an hour and a
half of work we were able to get it reattached and working again.

It's really nice and warm, the water is up to 73 and we're looking
forward to a nice breeze tomorrow.

Departing Bermuda

Commanders just gave us the go on the weather and forecast mostly
light winds for the trip. We're cleaning up from breakfast and
departing shortly. Track our progress on the "Where's New Morning" page.

More pictures

New pictures from Newport and Bermuda.

Thanksgiving departure

Commanders Weather has advised us that Thanksgiving Day would be a
good day for our departure to the BVIs. We've decided to make the
passage without additional crew so we're busy making preparations and
getting New Morning ready for the trip. It's roughly 900 miles almost
due south so we expecting a 5-6 day passage, faster if the winds are
good and seas are fair.

Billy Black photos

I posted a few pictures from Billy Black in the About New Morning section. We'll have many more to display in a month or two.

Bermuda passage photos

There are a few photos from the passage in the "Where we've been" section titled Passage to Bermuda.

Major reorganization

Now that we've moved out of construction and we're underway I decided
it was time to reorganize the site. There are lots of new photos in
the "Where we've been" section. Please don't hesitate to let me know
if I've also broken something in the process.

Arrived!

We came through the cut into St. George about 6:30am Bermuda time.
We're waiting for customs and then we'll move to Hamilton for the next
couple of weeks. The showers feel great!

Nice day of sailing

Today has been a really nice day of sailing. Early in the morning we
had some squalls and rain which washed away some of the heavy coating
of salt we acquired two nights ago. Since then we've had 10-20 knots
of true wind roughly on the beam. The seas are down and everyone is
up and around, feeling great.

JB set the speed record today at 11.2 while being serenaded by Jerry
Garcia, I was second with 11.1. We cranked off a steady 9-10 knots
for about 7 hours, but now we're down to a more leisurely 7.5-8.5.

We've got 90 miles to Bermuda and should arrive in the early hours of
Tuesday. Fay is fixing haddock for dinner!

Warm, Wham, Wild!

We reached the Gulf Stream last night and the water jumped up to 73
degrees. At the same time a cold front met the GS and gave us a wild
ride. We had 30-40 knots of true wind just off our starboard bow all
night in very confused seas. This morning is backed down to 20-30
knots and about 20 knots now. The seas are still very confused,
making for a bouncy, lumpy ride, poor sleep and unsettled tummies.
But the sun is out and the air is warm.

The breeze is expected to taper off over the next 24 hours so we
expect to arrive in Bermuda early Tuesday morning.

The sun is out

A bumpy night, motoring into sloppy seas, unhappy tummies all the way
around. The wind came around about 4am and we started sailing which
settled things down considerably. At noon today we have 9-10 knots,
pretty much on the nose, but the water temp is up to 67 and the sun is
out. We're cutting the corner a little on the route to cross the gulf
stream. Expecting lots of wind tonight, a little less tomorrow, then
lighter as we approach Bermuda.

Fwd: Grey and dreary

Visibility about a mile, overcast, grey, light wind from astern.
We're motoring along into a sloppy SE sea so it's noisy and bumpy.
Fay has a nice pasta dinner for tonight and Justin brought baguettes
from the Atlantic Bakery in Rockland! ** First sent at 5pm on Friday
night.

Bound for Bermuda

The weather window is open so we're departing later today for
Bermuda. We're joined by JB and Justin from Lyman Morse and should be
in Bermuda by Tuesday or Wednesday. We're looking forward to the
warmer weather!

Moving on

Rainy today as a low is moving up the coast. After almost four weeks
in Newport we're planning to depart for Bermuda tomorrow, right behind
the low. We should to be in Bermuda by Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday
if we're delayed. The tanks are topped, the freezer is full and we're
looking forward to some warmer weather.

Final Specification

I updated the Specification (under Design) with the "final"
specification. It's probably 98% accurate and now we're out of the
building process so I doubt it will be further revised.

We're waiting for a weather window to depart for Bermuda, hopefully on
Friday.