Yeah, they’re NOT in any danger WHAT SO EVER from the tropical depression that’s out in the Atlantic right now (it made our local RI news). It is the reason they stopped in Bermuda, but they stopped so they could slip out behind it and everything is going exactly as planned. They’re sailing along in about 25kt of wind, and they’ve put 204 miles in in the last 24 hours. They’re flying along making “9s” over the bottom most of the time. They’re now saying they’ll be home “sometime Saturday” but they’re thinking after dark (the GPS says as early as noon when they’re really flying). It’s a bit squally at times now and Pete and Nancy finally got wet on a watch today. I guess they had 9 squalls on the radar (the rain shows up just like on the weather channel) and 2 actually got them wet. No big deal, but they’d managed to miss getting wet until that point. They think they’ll be in the stream at around 6am and through it in around 12 hours.

Their current position is 35.29N 69.09W.

Well, the sat phone is now working for data, but somehow the Mac has it’s auto update turned on, so as soon as it sees a data connection, that hogs everything basically blocking their ability to send an email. So you’re likely stuck with me blogging whatever I get called with for the rest of the trip…

Well, they’re at 34.11N 68.17W. That’s in roughly 16,700 feet of water. Yes, sixteen thousand, seven hundred FEET! So they better not drop anything important. They had a school of dolphin around the boat yesterday. They left Bermuda at 6am (getting up at 5am to do so). They’re expecting to be in Rhode Island “sometime Saturday”. They’re thinking they’ll be crossing the gulf stream at some point tomorrow. Also, the guys took the usual case of beer up the hill to BHR making the rookie (Ruleo) carry it up the hill.

Sorry for the short message, but it was left on my voicemail at work today as my desk is getting moved so my phone was out of service.

Just got a call tonight (9:15pm eastern). They’re at 33.03N 66.46W. They’re 115 miles “mostly west” of Bermuda. They’re headed that way to get the best crossing of the stream. They’ve got ~25kt of wind aft of the beam and Jake’s having a great time driving. They reported 9s SOG currently. Mom said she’d try to email a post in using the phone tomorrow, but I figured I’d add something so everyone would know they’ve left Bermuda.

Late Monday night, May 25, 2009, Day 6 Antigua to Jamestown
News from on board Avalanche

30.46 N latitude, 65.08 W longitude, 100 miles south of Bermuda

A quick apology to all those we invited to read about the tales of our adventure, whom we have disappointed by not producing the promised daily reports. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to send emails to the web site due to a glitch in our satellite data system. We have tried to keep you up to date by phoning information to our son Ben who has been passing it along via blogs, a difficult process because the satellite cell phone is only infrequently and briefly available. A big thank you to Ben for keeping you up to date for us.

We discovered the problem with the data system shortly after leaving Antigua, so we detoured to St. Martin, where we hoped the electronics service people there would be able to solder a wire and fix the problem. We did a fine job of sailing the boat into the anchorage at 7:30 a.m. precisely, so Jake could go to Customs & Immigration and immediately to the electronics company. Unfortunately, the repair never got made. Thursday, May 21st was a holiday in St. Martin. So Jake had the pleasure of spending 3 hours and $47 to check us into and out of St. Martin, and all we got to show for it was a couple hundred flies!

Since then we have had wonderful sailing. The first two days were overcast as we worked our way through a trough, but that kept the heat down somewhat. Once we passed 23 degrees N latitude the sun came out and since then the weather has been delightful. The winds have been steady between 8 and 18 knots day and night. We’ve had a few fair weather clouds, lots of stars and shooting stars. Only 4 of us have gotten wet, and then in only a light rain or sprinkle. So far no squalls but that will change with the passage north of Bermuda. The seas have been almost calm. We’ve been sailing except for 13 hours. Two of those were getting into and out of harbors, and the rest was motorsailing. This has been an incredibly fine trip. The whole crew takes a bath and shower on the back deck each day. The water in the “pool” on the back deck has gradually dropped from 83 degrees to 75, but during the day the sun brings temperatures in the 90s. The nights are cooler–mid 70s, but clear.

We’ve finally had some success with our fishing. Early on a brown booby tried to attack Jake’s lure at least a dozen times before finally succeeding, and later he caught a barracuda. Yesterday Peter caught an amber jack, and today Ruleo (on Jake’s team) caught a Mahi Mahi, which we’ll eat for dinner tomorrow in Bermuda. We’ve had 2 Marlin take the hooks, but lost them and 4 others. So the score is Peter 1, Jake 2 (plus a bird), fish 6.

The first day out we spotted a large turtle, and Jake saw a king mackeral jump as high as our first spreader, about 20 feet above the water; at first he thought it was a bird. The fish jumped 3 more times to the delight of those who saw it. Today the a.m. watch counted 56 Portugese men o’ war. Otherwise it’s a big barren ocean. We haven’t seen another boat or ship in two days, but saw 3 or 4 ships before that.

All the best from the crew of Avalanche looking forward to a weather and fuel stop in Bermuda tomorrow afternoon & overnight followed by a dash home.

Just got the call from Mom. They sound like they’re having a blast! They’ve gone 173 miles in the last 24 hours. They’ve got the whomper, staysail and main out (usually the whomper goes to bed at night unless it’s perfect sailing).  They’ve got starry skies and wonderful temps.  They’ve, and I quote, “never had such wonderful weather”!  They’ve had 10~18kts of wind the entire trip.  They’ve still aimed at Bermuda until they know otherwise.  It sounded like they might be planning on going to Bermuda because Mom commented on how she’ll make a post via WiFi when there.  That and they also were seeing more power getting to the handset, so they might try email posting tomorrow.  So you might not be stuck with me for much longer!

Their current position is 30.30N 65.13W.