Final Day, 11, June 3, 2008

I’m happy to report that tonight avalanche is tied to the dock in Jamestown!   The beautiful sail I reported at 0400 ended at 0630 when we reached Newport, where we tied up to wait for Customs & Immigration.  The officer was late, but we made good use of the time, first with the huge breakfast we had been looking forward to.  (Anything we eat I don’t have to carry to the refrigerator at home.)  Then everyone pitched in to clean the boat.  All 6 of us worked until 1130 and made a major dent in getting rid of the salt.  The deck and hull look sparkling clean, and the interior has been wiped down and polished.  The adage “Many hands make light work.” couldn’t be more apt.  It was another example of teamwork.  After a quick lunch everyone dispersed for home.

I will write a summary of the trip, incidentals and whatever comes to mind sometime within the next week or so.  Please keep checking the web site, and please send us your comments.

All the best from the now disbanded crew of avalanche.

June 2, 2008

As dawn came today we had multiple wind shifts, and wind velocity changes.
I was in on about 5 sail changes during my 4 hour watch. In the end we
started the engine. We have finally just finished a seemingly endless
battle with the Gulf Stream! It’s 1245 and we’ve just now been released by
the awful current that was keeping our speed over the ground at 4.2 knots.
Aaargh! Now we’re motoring directly toward home with our SOG increased to
6.5 knots (still not the 7.5 or better that we’re accustomed to).

We have a bright clear sunny day. The water temperature has dropped to 61
degrees (as we exited the Gulf Stream), but the air temp is 73 degrees.
During the afternoon all the guys have had a rousing card game going. We’re
finishing up all the produce on board (we’re not allowed to bring foreign
produce into the U.S.). We’ve been eating fruit all day. There’s a huge
salad planned for dinner, a big breakfast for tomorrow morning with fried
potatoes, and I’ll make onion soup for lunch. Anything else we’ll have to
throw overboard.

This period approaching and coming up on the shelf is when we have seen most
of the wildlife in the past. Unfortunately, because we were delayed so long
by the foul current, we will come up on the shelf about 2000-dark.
However, ever the optimists we’re all keeping our eyes peeled for something
exciting. The Rookie had the first sighting: a humpback whale about 30′
away from the boat. Everyone on deck had a good look at him. Unfortunately
he didn’t perform by breaching or slapping his tail. He merely sank out of
sight. Next were 2 sightings of Atlantic spotted dolphins in the distance,
followed by an ocean sunfish about 50 yards away. Next came 2 different
pods of common dolphins dancing through our bow wave. One pod stayed for
about 15 minutes and Rookie took lots of photos. Later we saw another large
pod of dolphins about half a mile away, but they didn’t come close. And
finally we saw a pod of about a dozen pilot whales surfacing and swimming
about 200 yards away.

As for fish, the score remains the same: Jake 0, Peter 1, Fish 5. The
fishermen are disgusted and discouraged. They only caught one fish, and it
was that barracuda just off Antigua.

I’m writing this at 0400. It’s a beautiful clear starry night with a light
breeze. It’s not too cold. (But perhaps I say that because I am wearing so
many layers that I look like the Michelin man!) We’re flying the main,
Yankee and staysail and motoring, making 8.5 knots. We can see the lights
of the Newport Bridge, we’re picking up the light on Beavertail. This is a
lovely way to make landfall. The computer predicts that we’ll be in
Jamestown between 0630 and 0700 in the morning, and then we’ll have to clear
customs.

All the best from the crew of avalanche, looking forward to our big
breakfast and being home!

Monday June 2 Latitude 39 37.72 N Longitude 70 28.92 W (111 miles)

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Saturday, May 31, 2008

We have had a beautiful vacation day, unless of course we wanted to sail:
blue sky, calm wind, flat seas. The overnight temps have been in the high
60s, the daytime temps in the mid 80s. That’s a big change from the weather
south of Bermuda, when it was in the high 90s, even 100, during the day and
80s at night.

We’ve been visited by lots of wildlife. We had a couple of dolphins on the
bow just after dawn. Leo and I saw a bottle nosed dolphin mid morning, and
later in the day we had about a dozen dolphins feeding nearby. We think
they were feeding because they paid no attention to us, but circled and
surfaced together as if chasing lunch. There have also been many many
Portugese man-o-war. But no fish, and the fishermen have tried every trick
they know.

Saturday May 31 Latitude 34 29.9 N Longitude 67 36.0 W

Sunday June 1, 2008

We’ve had a long day. Ever growing seas began in the middle of the night.
When Leo and I were on watch at 0400 we had to furl the Yankee and set the
smaller staysail and then roll in some main as the winds crept up to 30
knots. As the morning passed the wind intensified and the seas grew. When
I left the deck the winds were gusting to 40 knots Jake saw a steady 40
knots with gusts to 50. The seas were enormous: 15-20′. We reefed down,
used the motor for additional control and had to hand steer through the
waves. Rookie (Pete L) did a fine job of steering and really seemed to
enjoy it. Finally after 5 hours the wind began to decrease to about 35
knots, so we could roll out some sail. Gradually the seas lessened and we
turned off the engine and begin to sail. It was wet and a lot of work, but
we made our way through it. Apparently it was a precursor to a low.
Definitely it wasn’t much fun.

The question now is where is the Gulf Stream? We’ve been through part of
it. We were swept 30 degrees right and the water temp went up to 80
degrees. We’re now able to make our course good, and the water temp is down
to 70. Herb tells us we have to cross another branch of the stream before
we’re done. So we have our work cut out for us tonight.

We’re 250 miles from Jamestown and the computer predicts arrival at 0600 on
Tuesday June 3. Of course the computer assumes we’ll be doing a constant
speed, and that can vary wildly, especially with the Gulf Stream in the
picture.

Sunday June 1 Latitude 37 39.18 N Longitude 69 23.62W (at 2000 instead of
1600) (175 miles)

All the best from the wet and tired crew of avalanche, looking forward to
our arrival in Jamestown.

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