Year: 2017

Having now surveyed the damage to Resolute, I came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be prudent to continue the delivery to Plymouth for the start of the race. I've sent an email to the OSTAR Race Committee letting them know. The more I look at the mainsail, the more issues I find. It might be repairable, but only with some major surgery. Plus I've mentioned my concern about the rig. Nothing's visible from the deck, but going another 2000nm (or even 500 or so to the Azores) doesn't seem like a good bet. And there are numerous smaller issues below--no single one of which is a significant issue, but collectively... So I've rigged my storm trysail above the delivery main (which is lashed to the boom) and am heading…

I think I last wrote about the relatively strong wind forecast for the next few days. Well, the forecast was correct, sort of. I did see 30 kts from the north, which was great. It led to speeds of 10-11kts over the ground and much higher--like 18 kts for short bursts. But then the wind shifted to the east--dead on the nose. So you'll see my track tacking back and forth as I tried to make some headway while, at the same time, waiting for the system to pass and the wind speed and direction to become more favorable. Didn't happen. Instead, the wind built to 40kts, still on the nose. Throw in the third reef. Ah, says I, this must be the front coming through that will trigger the…

The forecast for the next three days is pretty straightforward—30 kts from the north. Should be good for speed; bad for crew comfort. Not as bad as going closehauled into such winds, but the seas are likely to get quite big over three days. I would have considered sailing around this weather, but it's basically everywhere. So, grin (or grimace) and bear it. The storm jib went up yesterday; the second reef will go in as soon as I post this note (I'm likely to get a bit wet on deck, so I decided to do this first). Had a close encounter with another sailboat around 2am today. Tamarind's AIS was only visible for 4 nm, so we came within a mile or so of each other (she didn't show…

The weather has changed 100% since this time yesterday. Then it was cold and windy—the wind eventually topped out at 30kts. Around 2am, I put a second reef in the main and dropped the jib entirely. Strangely enough, the boat handled well, so I didn't use my storm jib. I was exhausted. But by 5am, the wind was easing. By 6am, I'd shaken out both reefs and raised the full jib. Since then it's been steady winds, warm temperatures and a following current. My only issue is that the seas are still a bit lumpy, so there's a gentle washing machine motion on the boat. Makes it a bit difficult to relax. I am trying to relax, while also doing some chores: recharging batteries more fully than my hydrogenerator does…

After a bit more than two days at sea, I'm settling in to my routine—mostly: Reading and listening to audiobooks (I'm working on Red Notice now) Checking the chartplotter (for AIS vessels) and radar screen (vessels and/or anything else that might show up) every 20 minutes Eating (when I feel like it)

Snapped a quick photo of Scott setting off for England this morning. A special thank you to Tom Babbitt for getting the word out about his departure. So many of Scott's sailing buddies showed up to wish him well. It was truly a wonderful send off. Thanks guys!  Ruth

So I finally got started—about an hour later than I expected. I'm currently in a nice puff of wind from145 True and doing 8.5 knots (a bit more than 9kts over the ground thanks to a following tidal current). This morning was more craziness—mostly stress over making sure that I have everything I need, have taken care of business at home, made good on all the promises I made (I think!), and so forth. Fortunately, I've done pretty much everything on my checklist so, whatever hasn't been covered would likely have been omitted even if I delayed another week. If I promised you something and didn't get it done, I'm sorry. It truly slipped my mind. The folks at Lyman-Morse in Camden gave me a nice send-off—cannon, air horn, logo…

I mentioned in my last post that the icebergs are much further south than they have been in recent years. If you want to see what the “international Ice Patrol” is saying, here’s their site and here’s today’s iceberg map. So, what does that mean for routing? Well, if you look at the last few days’ reports, you’ll see that the ‘bergs are migrating south at a pretty good rate. So I plan to leave at least 1° of latitude (60 nautical miles) between me and the limit when I start, so there’s a cushion for 1) iceberg sighting error and 2) the expected drift over the next few days. (I’ll continue to check the iceberg situation and will change my route if necessary.) Here’s my current routing plan (without…

Yesterday, I took Resolute out for a final "instrument calibration—sail check—hydrogenerator test" sail. All went well, so it looks like I'll be leaving for Plymouth tomorrow morning. The weather looks pretty benign for the next week, with winds forecast to range from 5kts to 25kts (mostly from abaft the beam, so it should make for a comfortable ride), which is all good. The only issues on the horizon are: Air temperature: it's generally still pretty cold at night—close to freezing. Crossing the Atlantic in July 2015 I was pretty cold at night (and some days). So I'm very focused on trying to stay warm, especially before I cross the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream. Icebergs: the so-called Iceberg Limit (marking the area of risk for icebergs flowing down with…

After a winter of planning and making a few systems changes, Resolute was launched on March 17. But the new standing rigging (I had already put a lot of miles on the old stuff) wasn't installed until a week later, March 24. Since then, Lyman-Morse has been fine-tuning the installation of the batteries and charging system. But I did have a chance to bend on my racing mainsail, which I didn't use at all last year, so I could take a look at it and (more importantly) make sure that I had all the requisite bits and battens on board. On March 30, I sailed Resolute together with Glenn Cook from Doyle Sails and local Camden J-Boats aficionado Tom Babbitt, for the first time in 2017. We tested the racing main, a…