Here is a very quick post from the first day of our trip south:
Peter B., Don C., and Jay P-A departed Marion at 1006 and arrived at Block Island buoy at 1620, then at a mooring in New Harboar at 1706. 52 nm door-to-door in 7 hours. Nice!
Before we left we spent an hour cleaning cormorant poop off of the boat. The only consolation is knowing that the lovely but poopy birds won't find us there until next May!
We left in NE20-25, flat seas, running wing-on-wing with a single reef until we started turning up after West Island. Marion sailors know the drill. By the time we passed Hen and Chickens, we were broad reaching in the 8s. After a lull of little wind, we shook the reef and the wind came back from the N at 22 gusting up. We hit 11.5 knots SOG off of Newport, seeing 9s and 10s the remaining time to Block. Yee hah. The swell from hurricane Joaquin became noticeable near the Sakonnet and where occasionally huge as we passed Point Judith (my nemesis boating area). So we had a wicked blast surfing on a beam reach to the Block Island buoy, eventually doing a screaming chicken jibe and entering the harbor under main alone.
It's cold and windy, but after the first 53 (of 400) nautical miles behind us, and with the heat on and wine and cheese on the table, we are happy sailors. Tomorrow, if the forecast holds, we head outside of Montauk for an overnight passage directly to Cape May. Cheers.
Monday, October 5, 2015
Sunday, June 17, 2012
We're baaaack.
Last night Heron and Freestyle arrived back on their moorings in Marion. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
I promise to post descriptions and pictures of our last two legs, from St. John to Virginia then home... within a few weeks. The track for those legs is accessible from the column to the right.
I promise to post descriptions and pictures of our last two legs, from St. John to Virginia then home... within a few weeks. The track for those legs is accessible from the column to the right.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
T-1 Day and Counting
Tomorrow we’ll be in the air on the way back to St. John to begin the trip back to the Chesapeake. Once again Heron and Freestyle will be sailing together, trying to see who will catch the biggest fish. We will be covering 1570 nm in 14 days. Unlike the cruise of the eastern Caribbean, which covered 1200 nm in 7 weeks, this will very much be a sailing trip, with minimal time ashore. We will continue to use the SPOT tracker, so you can follow us on the link on the right-hand column of this blog.
To summarize it in three sections:
1) 498 nm from St. John to Provo over 6 days, two overnights.
2) 422 nm from Provo to Marsh Harbor over 4 days, two overnights.
3) 650 nm from Marsh Harbor to Little Creek over 4 days, three overnights.
The long range forecasts is still great –downwind sailing with mild seas.
Here are some of the weather sites that we like:
www.passageweather.com
Here is the latest plan-of-record, subject to weather etc.
29 April: fly to boats in St. John.
30 April: sail to Bahia De Sardinas, Culebra (31 nm, 4 hrs@7.5kn)
1 May: sail to Club Nautico, San Juan PR (52 nm, 7 hrs@7.5kn)
2 May: layday in San Juan
3-5 May: sail to anchorage near Turtle Cove Marina, Providenciales (Provo)
Turks & Caicos (416 nm, 56 hrs@7.5kn)
6-7 May: sail overnight to Port Nelson, Rum Cay (188 nm, 25 hrs@7.5kn)
8-9 May: sail overnight to Marsh Harbor, Great Abaco (234 nm, 31
hrs@7.5kn)
10 May: lay day in Marsh Harbor
11-15 May: sail from Marsh Harbor to Little Creek VA
(650 nm, 87 hrs@7.5kn)
--520nm on a heading of 021M to the Hatteras waypoint--we’ll use Commanders or Chris Parker weather routing services.
-- weather permitting ETD is 0800 May 11; ETA is May 14, 2245 if 7.5kn, 1720 if 8.0kn.
It's been very tricky to plan a route through the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas. Both boats draw 7.5 ft --deeper or close to the limit of draft for many of the harbors there. It is critical to arrive in good light to navigate on the banks and in the harbors. This will be interesting!
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