Day 1 November 15, 2009 5:15 AT.

40 31 .98 N and 70 39.78 W

Well we did it.  We got underway at 6:54 AM this morning.  Left Jamestown in the fog in the aftermath of IDA and the Assault on the Atlantic.  We just finished talking to Herb.  The seas are slowly calming down, but we are still rolling around a lot.  We are still in fog with about 1 mile visibility.  The winds are too light to even motor sail so we will be rocking and rolling until tomorrow night when the winds fill in.  Herb predicts that the seas will mitigate through the night.  We would all love to get our sails up since they stabilize the boat in this kind of sea.

Everyone is doing fine.  This trip we are trying something new.  We have upgraded to a proper yacht!  We have a chef! And our chef is an Admiral! After all these trips we all realized that it might be a lot better for Marnie if she removed herself from the watch (as only Admirals can) and did only 2 jobs instead of 3.  She is the official boat admiral and chef.  Since she has prepared almost all the meals, with wonderful help from Peter and Kim and Nikki Jacobsen, and she know exactly how she wants them served and exactly where everything is stored, she was more than happy to give this new watch a try.  This will keep our boat much better organized, keep the sailors happy and on watch, and allow Marnie to finally get her fair share of rest.  So far so good, or really so far so great!  We had a wonderful lunch with Kim’s mushroom, leek,and potato soup and beautiful roast pork sandwiches.  She is preparing beef stew as this is being written.  So we are all looking forward to the change.  The crew still has to sort out breakfast on its own, and one of us is assigned to help with the galley clean up, a very small price to pay for a wonderful meal.  And then there is all the organization and housekeeping and constant unpacking of all our stores, food, beverages and supplies that Marnie has always done off watch.  This is another big job and now she can it done on a more routine basis, rather than when she is supposed to be sleeping.

We hope to be fishing and sailing tomorrow.  The sea temp has risen from 56 to 60 and in another 3 hours or so we should drop off the continental shelf into deep water.  This too should help the seas to lie down.

All the best,

From the Rolly Polly crew of Avalanche