Category: Caribbean 2017-18

As soon as I finished writing my last blog post (the one about how the wind strength and direction was great and I was making fantastic progress), everything changed. The wind shifted dead astern and fell to less than 10 kts. If I were racing, Id harden up my course to a broad reach to hit my optimal downwind speed. In those conditions, thats something like 4.5-5.0 kts made goodtoo slow! But Im not racing, so I can take advantage of Resolutes engine. Which brings me to the end of the propeller story... Many of you have asked about how the prop issue from my delivery to Antigua was ultimately resolved. Ive forgotten exactly where I left off, so please forgive any overlap. Upon being towed into Falmouth Harbor, my…

I left Antigua as planned Sunday morning just before 8am. It felt a bit rushed, since I had arrived on the island only 18 hours earlier. But I was able to get everything I could think of completed, and I generally like to navigate around islands, shoals, reefs, etc. in the daylight, so off I went. That was almost 48 hours ago. Since then, the winds have generally been idealjust abaft the beam and 12-20 kts. So Resolute has been cruising along in the 8-9 kts range. Sometimes we surf to more than 11 kts; sometimes we slow to the high 6s. About half of the time Ive had a reef in the mainsail to keep the boat relatively flat and comfortable. All told, Ive been averaging 7.8 kts made…

Im back in Antigua, getting ready to sail Resolute back to Maine. So far, the weather looks pretty good, so Im working toward a departure tomorrow morning. I cleared out (customs and immigration) less than an hour after clearing in. Then spent the afternoon swapping anchors, grocery shopping, bending on the jib and installing jack lines (to keep me attached to the boat when I go to the foredeck). Now Im checking systems (charging, watermaker, communications, nav lights) and stowing gear. Unless something unexpected happens tonight, all Ill need to do tomorrow will be to top up water tanks, retrieve a stern anchor and cast off. Well see...

I’ll start blogging about my return trip from Antigua to Maine starting Saturday. The current plan is to depart Falmouth Harbor on Sunday morning.

Ive been trying to slow down,but its hard! All was going according to plan until 3:30 this morning, when I felt the wind die (to les# than 10kts) and come forward. On deck, I could see a huge thunderstorm ahead. Since these can bring very strong winds, I decided to drop my main entirely and sail with jib alone. After a half hour of rain, I decided it was a false alarm and raised the main again (with two reefs) in 18kts of wind. But the wind kept building, and I kept going faster. Typically 8.5kts, but often 9.5-10. By daylight, I had spun out a couple of times and was heeled over 30 degrees when going over waves. So I decided to take the main down again, and thats…

Several folks have emailed to get an update on the prop. So here goes: When I arrived on Thursday, I was all ready to be hauled out, since the prop was supposed to be delivered by FedEx that same day. The haul-out was scheduled—all we needed was the part. End of day Thursday: no prop. The FedEx tracker said it was in Antigua, but no one could locate it. In fact, I was told that our customs broker went to the FedEx customs house to pick up the prop but, even though the tracker records said it was there and available, it wasn't. I spent the night on the boat at the boatyard (which has far fewer services like, uh, water and toilets, than a marina). Friday, late morning: Still…

With the last post, Ruth explained that I'd arrived in Antigua waters, but was waiting for daylight before heading into port. If you zoom in on the Google map associated with the tracker, you'll get an indication of how I spent the night—sailing up and down the leeward (in this case, west) side of the island, outside of the worst of the waves and wind. I sailed back and forth something like eight times, tacking 180° every time the wind built to 20+ kts and/or the seas got big. So I didn't get much sleep that night. Since I was sailing as close to the coast as I felt comfortable (less wind/waves), I had a shallow depth alarm set. At first I used 30'. But the alarm went off a…

Scott called about an hour ago to say that he was heaving to outside of Antigua for the night.  The winds are up to 20knts, so he will not be sitting still in the water.  He has a tow scheduled for 7:30am our time.  Hoping for a quiet night.  Ruth

I have 390nm to go. With winds forecast to remain around 20kts for the next two days, I could reasonably average 8kts over the ground, which puts my ETA at roughly 5pm Wednesday. But it starts to get dark by 4pm (all times EST), and I wouldnt sail into the harbor at night (remember, I have no way to stop on short notice). So I figure Ill plan my speed around arriving no later than 8am Thursday. That extra 15 hours means I only have to average 6.1kts. Should be easy. So, why does this matter? Well, to do 8+ knots, I was heeled 20 degrees, with the autopilot scalloping in the wind and wavesslowing as it turns toward the wind and up the wave, then accelerating rapidly as the…

Let me1 set the stage a bit. Last time I wrote about my lack of propulsion, I thought I had narrowed the possibilities down to three: 1) Something wrapped around the prop, restricting the blades from opening. This is the best caseit is easily fixed, costs nothing, no need for a tow in Antigua. All very straightforward. But unlikely. Its certainly possible if the prop were spinning, but I lock the transmission in reverse while sailing, which causes the blades to fold closed. So I heavily discounter this possibility. 2) The prop fell off. As you may recall, this was my bet for most likely. Its a bit expensive (Volvo props arent cheap) and would involve a tow and a short lift of the boat out of the water to…