I wish I knew something sailor-y or ocean-y but I’ll make one up. May the wind fill your sails and the ale fill your bellys, but never shall the two reverse. Yeah that was a failure.
I hope the wind is good and ocean is calm! Safe travels!
Have you seen a lot of other vessels? Commercial shipping? Private sailors and motorboats? Military vessels? And aircraft? Or is your horizon usually empty?
Horizons usually empty. See a few tankers each day on AIS, saw one today in person, though at 10 miles. No other vessels or aircraft spotted for days. Big ocean!
The Limey lady who rowed across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans went for days at a time without seeing any other vessels.
Isn’t 35 knots a gale? Aren’t ten-foot seas common with you? Is your heel over 15 degrees? Looks like it. Cecilia gets anxious when I get anywhere near 15 degrees of heel when Brian lets me drive his Capri 26. And they seldom go out on Aransas Bay when the winds get over 15 knots.They don’t use their jib when it gets windy.
Fair-size tropical depression, likely cyclonic, coming into Austin soon, driven by the high pressure over Tennessee. Better here than there!
35 knots is technically a gale, but I am glad you asked after we are through it. The boat handled like a dream, just a matter of reducing sail to match the winds. Remember we were saling with the wind, at 10 knots plus, so our apparent wind was lower. We loved it, felt secure all through. A favorite story of mine is of WF Buckley, who upon boarding his new sailboat noticed that his wife Pat had penciled in by the 25 degree mark on the clinometer “Pat gets off here”. We are all pretty tolerant, but avoid excessive heel as dangerous and slow. Since we are not racing we are using a conservative sail plan. We are all surprised how much speed we retain with one and two reefs.
As you’ve said, your speed is limited to your hull speed.The pics show at least a 20 degree heel. And the horizontal-setee says mucho heel, too.
Bill Buckley spoke extemporaneously in the AC (later HRC) when I was a freshman in ’63. He seemed very high-strung. His fiction, idolizing the CIA, was not very interesting to me. But he was among the first conservatives to call for legalization of cannabis.
What is your position now?
Tropical Storm Bill is hitting the Texas coast now. 90% rain chances in Austin today. Again, better here than there!
I meant your current location, which you explained in your groovy post. If the map at the head of the blog is to scale, then you are about a third of the way to Sotogrande. Is that where you expected to be by now? Or have you made better speed than expected?
I read a book by Stewart Woods about his crossing the Atlantic from England in his 24, alone, in a race with many other sailboat entrants. His brand-new limey-engine conked out after only a few days, so he couldn’t recharge his batteries to use his radio. He had no GPS navigation, not set up then, so relied solely on his sextant. He finally made it to an East coast port in about three months, blown off course and then becalmed several times. He had several harrowing close calls with merchant vessels, usually in dense fog. He writes the Stone Barrington and Ed Eagle novels, mostly Playboy-like literary confections, which I gobble as soon as they appear in my Twin Oaks Library’s Recent Fiction shelves. His book about his solo crossing was in the Recent Nonfiction shelf, as was the rowboat lady’s.
Love those pics! Didn’t see that rainbow, but a couple gave me glimpses of some massive waves, which seem to be pretty much ignored by the subjects of the pics. The dolphins are part of your lucky passage. I love them!
It would be hard for me to sleep with all the noise and motion, but, I guess, like you, I’d get used to it when I got tired enough.
Did you not have room for extra fuel?
I saw the radar mast on your bow. That will be very helpful if you hit fog.
We are ahead of schedule but giving up ground, as we are headed into low winds. We should be in Horta on Sunday or Monday. We have 150 gallons of diesel tankage on Moondance (to feed our 100 HP Yanmar). We also brought 65 gallons of fuel in jerry cans strapped to the deck. This is enough fuel for 5-7 days of motoring, depending on speed and how much we use for watermaker (which we run twice a day) and charging batteries. Noise doesn’t bother us too much, though we often awaken if something changes.
Those jerrrys are discreetly stowed, I didn’t notice them in any pics.
I like to season my rice with coconut oil and tamari (soy sauce). Remember how Dad used to season his with milk and sugar and eat it from a bowl, like cereal? I think we got our love of Grape Nuts from him. Dad’s Day, this Sunday, also the first day of Summer, has me thinking about him.
My friend said that the WindJammer cruise ships always have a motor hammering in the background, mostly the generator for the AC. Your motor made a discreet hum when you ran it, in your Swan, to refill the RO tank.
TS Bill was pretty much a rain-event here in Austin, with the winds at normal speeds. I guess the vortex missed us. Dallas had 35mph winds. One of the last rain-bands is passing through now. The rain was shower-temperate yesterday. Does your boat have a water heater? Propane?
So, no hot water when the engine is not running, right? But it makes good use of the 90% of usually-wasted heat the engine produces. You might also have a nice big tank for hot fresh water that will stay pretty hot until it is pumped out.
Glad to see you adding the older fuel from the storage containers to the tank so you won’t be plagued with old-fiel woes, which, I hope. are less severe with diesel than gasoline,
St. Martin -> Newport 
Good Luck All!!! ox
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All the best sailing waters and cheerful adventure to all!!
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Smooth sailing!!! We are excited for your adventure!
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I wish I knew something sailor-y or ocean-y but I’ll make one up. May the wind fill your sails and the ale fill your bellys, but never shall the two reverse. Yeah that was a failure.
I hope the wind is good and ocean is calm! Safe travels!
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Happy sails indeed!
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Have you seen a lot of other vessels? Commercial shipping? Private sailors and motorboats? Military vessels? And aircraft? Or is your horizon usually empty?
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Horizons usually empty. See a few tankers each day on AIS, saw one today in person, though at 10 miles. No other vessels or aircraft spotted for days. Big ocean!
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Glad to read you’ve had no fog! and only a bit of rain. And only one above-35-knot gale. May it continue!
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Sounds great…I love fish and ocean mammals!
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For your Sunday morning at sea, I thought I’d share this verse sent by a friend.
“Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea – the LORD on high is mighty.” Psalm 93:4
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Great writing MJ! (Mike or Matt?)
The Limey lady who rowed across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans went for days at a time without seeing any other vessels.
Isn’t 35 knots a gale? Aren’t ten-foot seas common with you? Is your heel over 15 degrees? Looks like it. Cecilia gets anxious when I get anywhere near 15 degrees of heel when Brian lets me drive his Capri 26. And they seldom go out on Aransas Bay when the winds get over 15 knots.They don’t use their jib when it gets windy.
Fair-size tropical depression, likely cyclonic, coming into Austin soon, driven by the high pressure over Tennessee. Better here than there!
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35 knots is technically a gale, but I am glad you asked after we are through it. The boat handled like a dream, just a matter of reducing sail to match the winds. Remember we were saling with the wind, at 10 knots plus, so our apparent wind was lower. We loved it, felt secure all through. A favorite story of mine is of WF Buckley, who upon boarding his new sailboat noticed that his wife Pat had penciled in by the 25 degree mark on the clinometer “Pat gets off here”. We are all pretty tolerant, but avoid excessive heel as dangerous and slow. Since we are not racing we are using a conservative sail plan. We are all surprised how much speed we retain with one and two reefs.
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As you’ve said, your speed is limited to your hull speed.The pics show at least a 20 degree heel. And the horizontal-setee says mucho heel, too.
Bill Buckley spoke extemporaneously in the AC (later HRC) when I was a freshman in ’63. He seemed very high-strung. His fiction, idolizing the CIA, was not very interesting to me. But he was among the first conservatives to call for legalization of cannabis.
What is your position now?
Tropical Storm Bill is hitting the Texas coast now. 90% rain chances in Austin today. Again, better here than there!
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Seems to be working for Colorado.
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I meant your current location, which you explained in your groovy post. If the map at the head of the blog is to scale, then you are about a third of the way to Sotogrande. Is that where you expected to be by now? Or have you made better speed than expected?
I read a book by Stewart Woods about his crossing the Atlantic from England in his 24, alone, in a race with many other sailboat entrants. His brand-new limey-engine conked out after only a few days, so he couldn’t recharge his batteries to use his radio. He had no GPS navigation, not set up then, so relied solely on his sextant. He finally made it to an East coast port in about three months, blown off course and then becalmed several times. He had several harrowing close calls with merchant vessels, usually in dense fog. He writes the Stone Barrington and Ed Eagle novels, mostly Playboy-like literary confections, which I gobble as soon as they appear in my Twin Oaks Library’s Recent Fiction shelves. His book about his solo crossing was in the Recent Nonfiction shelf, as was the rowboat lady’s.
Love those pics! Didn’t see that rainbow, but a couple gave me glimpses of some massive waves, which seem to be pretty much ignored by the subjects of the pics. The dolphins are part of your lucky passage. I love them!
It would be hard for me to sleep with all the noise and motion, but, I guess, like you, I’d get used to it when I got tired enough.
Did you not have room for extra fuel?
I saw the radar mast on your bow. That will be very helpful if you hit fog.
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We are ahead of schedule but giving up ground, as we are headed into low winds. We should be in Horta on Sunday or Monday. We have 150 gallons of diesel tankage on Moondance (to feed our 100 HP Yanmar). We also brought 65 gallons of fuel in jerry cans strapped to the deck. This is enough fuel for 5-7 days of motoring, depending on speed and how much we use for watermaker (which we run twice a day) and charging batteries. Noise doesn’t bother us too much, though we often awaken if something changes.
LikeLike
Those jerrrys are discreetly stowed, I didn’t notice them in any pics.
I like to season my rice with coconut oil and tamari (soy sauce). Remember how Dad used to season his with milk and sugar and eat it from a bowl, like cereal? I think we got our love of Grape Nuts from him. Dad’s Day, this Sunday, also the first day of Summer, has me thinking about him.
My friend said that the WindJammer cruise ships always have a motor hammering in the background, mostly the generator for the AC. Your motor made a discreet hum when you ran it, in your Swan, to refill the RO tank.
TS Bill was pretty much a rain-event here in Austin, with the winds at normal speeds. I guess the vortex missed us. Dallas had 35mph winds. One of the last rain-bands is passing through now. The rain was shower-temperate yesterday. Does your boat have a water heater? Propane?
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Hey David. WE have a water heater driven off the engine. All that great cooking done with propane stove and oven.
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I love your captions!
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I like the way your spare fuel is discreetly squared away.
And I saw that your radar mast is in the stern, not the bow.
Nice hat!
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So, no hot water when the engine is not running, right? But it makes good use of the 90% of usually-wasted heat the engine produces. You might also have a nice big tank for hot fresh water that will stay pretty hot until it is pumped out.
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Love those pics! Looking forward to pics of Sotogrande!
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Glad to see you adding the older fuel from the storage containers to the tank so you won’t be plagued with old-fiel woes, which, I hope. are less severe with diesel than gasoline,
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Bienvenidos al Espana!
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