Hello Everybody,

Today we thought we’d let you readers select your own favorite title for the blog, and here are a few ideas from which to choose: “The starter didn’t”, “Nice place to visit, let’s stay “, “Backing into Newport”, “Drifting along”, or the crew’s favorite “ETA never”.

If that doesn’t give you some sense of what we’ve been doing since we all fell into bed exhausted at the end of yesterday, let me provide details. We weren’t able to get the engine started, so we are under sail power only. From 8 pm yesterday when we gave up on the engine starter until 6 am we had about 16 knots of wind and the crew had lovely, if chilly (think Ruleo), sailing covering about 84 miles. From 6 am until 10:30 we made 1 mile good toward Jamestown in 5-9 knots of wind. Part of that time we were actually drifting stern first toward Narragansett Bay and a drifting Portuguese Man ‘O War was passing us! When we checked our waypoint on the computer it read “ETA never”. We were so flummoxed that we took a photo of the screen. During our 4 pm to 4 pm period we made 134 miles, a far cry from our normal 180. In the final 10 hours from 6 am until 4 pm, that’s most of today, we managed 22 miles. Through it all everyone has remained in good spirits. There was at least one ‘final’ shower on the back deck; Ruleo practiced his cribbage; several games of solitaire were either lost or cheated on; Brian & Leo demonstrated card tricks; Jake & Leo watched the first half of “The Bucket”; we had reasonable satellite phone coverage so lots of calls were made; Jake caught up on sleep; we enjoyed the 80 degree temperature in the sunshine on deck; Dave and I were both reading, most of the others have finished their books. Currently our wind is about 15 knots and we’re making 5+ knots with 100 miles to go. However the prediction is for 15-20 from the SW tonight into tomorrow, so we’re hoping for better speed.

There is new information on the fishing contest. We had a hit on Dave & Brian’s line. Dave jumped up to get it, Ruleo was closer and ran for it too with some of us saying that Dave (who had reeled in the 3 fish we’ve caught) should give someone else a shot. Jake hollered that Brian, who happened to be below in his stateroom and as far from the rod as he could be, should reel it in because it was on his side and he hadn’t caught a fish yet. Meanwhile during all this dithering Ruleo grabbed the rod and hesitated thinking he should let Brian have it. And…..the fish got away! Afterward during the would’ve, could’ve, should’ve discussion it was determined that the proper action would have been for Ruleo to set the hook and hang on to the fish while Brian came running up to finish the job. Unfortunately that isn’t what happened. So the score is now Jake and the West Indian lads 0, Dave & Brian aka the engineers 3, fish 1. At our current speed we should come up on the shelf tomorrow, so perhaps we’ll have some good catching! That’s where we generally see wildlife and we’re looking forward to it.

We had at least 3 pods of dolphins today, all just after sunrise. Since then only mylar balloons, although yesterday Ruleo thought he saw a shark in the wild seas.

All the best from the crew of avalanche, looking forward to discovering sealife on the shelf, creeping toward home, and arrival!

Hi Everybody,

It’s been a long tough day for the crew of avalanche. The sun rose on blustery windy squally weather with wild seas in the Gulf Stream. The boat and crew got totally soaked both by breaking waves and by rain. In the early afternoon we finally began breaking free of the stream and of the heavy winds and waves. The winds lessened and the waves diminished, but we were in a foul current of 2 knots or more. We just were not getting very far very fast. Jake started the engine so we could make better speed, but the engine overheated: something had gotten caught in the engine intake line. Jake, Leo and I worked to blow the line clear while others sailed the boat. On attempting to restart the engine the starter failed. In the meantime the bilge pump came on and stayed on and on and on. So Leo and I began pulling up floorboards, checking the engine strainer we had just had open, checking all the systems that were running. Long story short the bilge strainer (which we carefully cleaned before leaving Antigua) was full of stuff so although the bilge pump was running, it wasn’t pumping. After cleaning the strainer the bilge pump is performing normally. As we were looking for sources of water in the bilge Jake noticed water coming from the air conditioning evaporator pans. It turns out that the pans have a drain line on only one side, not both. So when we heel to one side the water runs through a hose into the bilge, when heeled the other way the water simply spills over onto whatever is beneath it. That was an easy fix: we bailed the water from the pan, turned off the air conditioning, and plan to put in a second drain when we get home!

Back to the starter: we have checked all the terminals, removed the start motor and cleaned it. (Sounds simple, I know, but it involves pulling up most of the floorboards in the salon and removing pumps and blowers to get to the affected parts. We have run out of daylight without a repair and are now sailing just as we would have in any case. The entire crew was up from noon on, so they are all exhausted. At this point whoever isn’t on watch is sleeping and whoever is on watch wishes he was sleeping! We’ll get back to the starter in the morning.

Meanwhile we’re 215 miles from home, sailing happily (if somewhat cold, especially Ruleo) under a beautiful starry night. Our ETA is difficult to predict at this point.

All the best from the crew of avalanche, hoping the engine starter will do its job tomorrow!

Hello Everybody,

Today is Ruleo’s 20th birthday, so I’ll start with the attention he garnered. The fun began at midnight when Dave and Brian convinced Leo to awaken Ruleo and be the first to wish him “Happy Birthday”. The quote was “Happy Birthday, Captain Morgan”, and the reason has to do with Ruleo’s attire the night before. As it began to get just slightly chilly Ruleo appeared for a night watch with a long sleeved shirt, shorts and his spiffy Dubarry boots. His watch mates dubbed him “Captain Morgan” after the picture of the pirate on the rum bottle. Once the sun rose and the whole crew got up it became apparent that Ruleo was COLD. The outdoor temperature was 67 and Ruleo, fisherman par excellence, determined that it was too cold to put out his team’s fishing line because he didn’t want to get his feet wet on the back deck if they caught a fish. Gradually the temperature rose until it got to the mid 80s in the afternoon. Then Ruleo took a shower on the back deck (wet feet and all) and retired to the shade of the dodger because it was too hot in the sun. The rest of us get a big kick out of this because what seems a totally normal range of temperatures and would require just an extra layer (sox perhaps or long pants or a sweatshirt) is so uncomfortable for Ruleo and the decision about what to put on is so foreign to him. He has to put up with a lot of good natured kidding. We had a gourmet birthday luncheon buffet and Ruleo had first choice (of the leftovers). He chose the lasagna, but the rotis, salad, chicken casserole, cucumbers and ice cream bars quickly disappeared with help from the rest of the crew. For dinner Ruleo selected shrimp scampi, a favorite of everyone. Fortunately by dinner time the wild seas had calmed and I was able to fulfill his wish. We rounded out dinner with an off key rendition of Happy Birthday accompanied by a fat emergency candle and chocolate cake and ice cream brought for the occasion from Antigua.

The wild weather calmed overnight. Jake and Leo got to roll out the Yankee and enjoyed a beautiful sail in the moonlight, but as the wind continued to drop they had to turn on the engine again. We’ve had it on ever since and gradually the seas flattened to almost calm except for a 3-4′ swell. The calmer seas and sunshine gave us a chance to make water, which we needed to do, and dry out damp clothes and towels. Apparently this will be the situation into Sunday, but then we’ll get wind again to cross the Gulf Stream. As I reported the temperature got into the upper 60s overnight and the watch was quite chilly. The water temperature had dropped to about 68 as well. Now, however, as we approach the stream the water temp is rising again, to 76 at the moment. Perhaps it won’t be so cold tonight. Usually it is comfortable crossing the stream, but the cold temperatures come for the last 24-36 hours north of the stream. We’re hoping for sunshine!

Today we had several visits from dolphin! Around mid day we had a pod of 20 or more feeding nearby. They were leaping, pirouetting and circling about 100 yards from the boat with fish jumping and birds circling. They paid no attention to us. Both Ruleo and I tried to get movies of them so we can put a link on the web site to show you how they look out here in the wild. Filming them is really difficult in the bright sun because you can’t see what you are filming–it’s the real definition of point & shoot (and cross your fingers). We had a second visit by about a dozen dolphin who wanted to play with the bow wave of the boat. Ruleo got some fine film of them underwater approaching the boat. The water is so clear that the dolphins look as if they are on the surface. Once we get home we’ll get the video on line, so please watch for it.

The day ended with a quick racor change (10 minutes tops). The engine indicated that it wasn’t getting good fuel, so we switched to the inline spare. Then, because the conditions are benign we changed the clogged filter so if there is another problem we can switch again. Of course that makes everyone wonder: why did we clog a filter? Bad fuel in Bermuda? Crud from the bottom of the tank shaken loose in the wild waves? In any case, we’ve had this 2 racor system for years and this is the first time we’ve ever had the opportunity to use it. Hurrah!

All the best from avalanche and her crew, hoping for a smooth Gulf Stream crossing and interesting wildlife as we climb up on the Continental Shelf on the way home.

Hello Everybody,

Our fuel stop in Bermuda was carried out even more efficiently than we had imagined. Instead of slowing down as threatened we continued at speed because we had a string of squalls coming at us. It seemed a better idea to get into Bermuda and out of the squalls even if it meant anchoring for a few hours than to dawdle along getting wet. As it turned out we steamed through Town Cut just before 5 am (which was 6 am Bermuda Daylight Saving Time). Customs was open for us so we went directly to the Customs dock where we cleared both in and out. From there we were directed to tie up at the gas dock and wait the 15 minutes until they opened at 7 am. The nice guys at the gas dock were just opening and allowed us to begin pumping immediately. Brian needed to get a case of beer to Bermuda Radio but the liquor store didn’t open until 9 am. We had several cans of Heineken aboard, threw in a bottle of Antiguan rum to make up the difference and Brian and Ruleo took that to Bermuda Radio, returning just as we finished fueling. There was little wind so we didn’t have any adventures getting out of the fuel dock, and at 6:15 our time, 90 minutes after entering Town Cut, we headed back out through it! Talk about efficiency!

Unfortunately Mother Nature had plans that she hadn’t shared with anyone. There was a low around Bermuda (that’s where our squalls came from last night), but it was dissipating. The rest of the forecast all the way home looked quite benign. We expected to head north, get clear of the gray clouds and do some lovely satisfying sailing. Well, that isn’t how it turned out. We had winds of 25-30 until about 8 pm and they were accompanied by a strange lumpy bumpy wave pattern. We assume that some sort of current was at work. The wind has now dropped to about 22 knots and the ride has smoothed out. Herb tells us that tomorrow should bring winds in the 15-20 knot range. That will be much more pleasant!

I don’t know what our 24 hour “Herb to Herb” mileage at 4 pm was, but we have gone 112 miles since leaving Bermuda, leaving 537 miles to home. The computer has said that we will arrive any time from noon Monday to noon Tuesday, but experience tells us that it usually takes 3 and a half days so sometime around sunset on Monday would be a good guess. We’ll see as we get closer.

All the best from the crew of avalanche, hoping for some fun tomorrow!

Hello Everybody!

What a difference a day makes! The wind crept in during the night. Jake and Leo were able to fill the sails and motor sail starting at midnight and by 2 am they turned the engine off. Sweet silence! We had a lovely sunny warm day with a 15 knot breeze to cut the 90 degree heat and to push the boat. There were no waves, the boat was sliding along and the crew, previously frustrated by all the motoring, enjoyed every minute on deck. We made 172 miles by our 4 pm check in with Herb, and incredibly, Jake was able to both hear him and speak to him! What a difference a day makes!

We have about 65 miles to go to Bermuda and we’re slowing down (yep, slowing down) so we will arrive around 7 am for Customs instead of 4 am. We plan to fuel and go. That is, we’ll check in with Customs and pay our $210 fee for the privilege of paying $8 or $9 a gallon for diesel. Our rookie, Brian, plans to run the traditional case of beer up to Bermuda Radio and Dave will check the SSB connection on the backstay. Then we’ll be off to Jamestown.

On the fishing front: no news. All we caught was seaweed, some of which Dave ate. (Dave has an unusual diet. Among other things, he doesn’t eat anything that had a mother.) The water temp has dropped to 73 and the air temp in the cockpit is 75 degrees. The layers are beginning to come out: long sleeves yesterday, sweatshirts tonight. Even the boots have made an appearance. The marlin spike seamanship lessons continue and Leo has successfully created a “monkey’s fist”. (A monkey’s fist is put on the end of a long heaving line to facilitate the throw.) He has also made a nice looking key fob.

All the best from the crew of avalanche, looking for the glow of lights over Bermuda on the horizon and looking forward to making landfall!

Hello Everybody!

The first item tonight is to wish Herb Hilgenberg a Happy Birthday! Herb is our weather guru in Toronto with whom we wish we could talk daily via SSB. Unfortunately we are all totally frustrated because Herb can’t hear us, and we can only occasionally hear parts of what he says to other boats. We’ve been checking every connection on our SSB and will send someone up the mast to check those connections once we get into Bermuda. We hope we can solve the problem because we really miss Herb’s presence over the airways each day. Herb, we’re sorry you missed hearing our off key rendition of Happy Birthday and we hope you have a great birthday dinner!

On the sailing front–there hasn’t been any. Nor has there been any wind. So we have been motoring and motoring, yesterday with a foul current of about 1.5 knots against us, which frustrated the heck out of the whole crew. We had made 188 miles for the second dayat 4 pm yesterday, but at 4 pm today it was only 161 miles (darned foul current). We have 223 miles to go to Bermuda, but fuel only until tomorrow mid day sometime. When we get to 30 gallons we’ll have to sail in whatever wind comes our way. We are hopeful that a southwest wind of 10-15 might come along tonight or tomorrow to stretch the fuel. On Friday reports are that we’ll have up to 20 knots from the ENE to carry us into Bermuda. Wish us a nice breeze to go sailing.

While we’ve been motoring the crew has been finding ways to entertain themselves. Everyone has been reading. Jake finished his book, I’m working on my fourth, Brian has finished CHARM SCHOOL and now Leo is reading it. Dave has finished at least 2 books and we’ve all delved into magazines. Ruleo is reading something on his computer while listening to his music. No fish were caught, but the West Indian team had a fine tuna dinner preceded by sashimi, while the engineers ate the side dishes. Brian is teaching both Leo and Ruleo marlin spike seamanship, which involves bits of line and extremely complicated knots. Dave and Jake have taught Ruleo how to play cribbage, so if we don’t get any wind there may be a tournament.

The water temperature has dropped from 85 degrees in Antigua to 76 degrees today. And, fortunately for me, the galley temp was in the low 80′s, down from yesterday’s 101 when I prepared dinner. There is a lot of moisture in the air, so we don’t have great visibility (4 miles this afternoon) and it’s clammy on deck at night. Ruleo has pulled out his long sleeved shirt already and both Ruleo and Leo head for the hot chocolate at night.

All the best from the crew of avalanche, once again wishing for some wind to fill the sails and keep up some speed once we have to turn off the engine.

Hello Everybody!

It looks as if we got what we wished for! The squalls disappeared last night–along with the wind. (We definitely need to be more specific about our wishes.) We’ve been motoring in leftover swells under an unrelenting sun. We put up our motoring awning to provide some relief, but it was 101 degrees in the salon when I started preparing dinner. Unfortunately the forecast doesn’t show much wind until Friday, about the time we should reach Bermuda. So, once again, we’re sweating the fuel situation.

On a brighter note, we got part of another wish–that one for fish. Dave reeled in a chubby Little Tunny Tuna, about 3 feet long and 15-20 pounds right in the middle of lunch! Unfortunately for the West Indian team it was on the engineers’ side of the boat, so they get another score: 3 to 0. The funny thing is that the engineers haven’t eaten the fish. It seems we have a fish catching team and a fish eating team. Tonight the eating team enjoyed tuna sashimi, tomorrow night it will be more sashimi and grilled tuna as a main course.

Other items of interest are the hard hat and 5 gallon bucket that floated by plus several Portuguese Men O’War. Yesterday we saw 2 sailing vessels, the first a 3 master about 5 miles off heading on a reciprocal course, and the second a sloop probably heading for the Med.

All the best from the crew of avalanche enjoying an unremarkable day, wishing that we’ll get just the right amount of wind to allow our fuel to get us to Bermuda.

Hello Everybody,

We’ve sailed and motored 188 miles today, 447 from Antigua with 562 miles before we get to Bermuda.

Last night and most of the day today it was rainy with frequent squalls. I practically threw the deck crew’s BLT’s at them at noon so they could inhale lunch before the next cloudburst hit. After talking to Herb we altered course and as a result we got some relief with a couple glimpses of blue sky, and this evening we somehow avoided an imminent squall. We now find ourselves under a clear sky with a bright moon and stars. Unfortunately, the wind has dropped and we have to motor. We’re really hoping most of the wet weather is behind us.

Last night during one of our big squalls with heavy rain we saw something really strange. Dave and Brian spotted lights about 5 miles ahead and to port. Ruleo and I were below checking the radar, but could see only heavy rain. We couldn’t find a radar contact. The AIS (which receives signals from all ships above a certain size–and our ship would have qualified) showed nothing. Our calls on the VHF were not answered. Dave and Brian concluded that it must have been a military ship–they can block radar and I suppose they can omit an AIS signal. While they were watching, the ship seemed to explode. There was a great white light and Dave and Brian said they could feel a concussion afterward. They really thought the ship had been hit by lightning. Then there was a second and a third great white explosion from the ship. Could they have been shooting? Later, when he had a better view Dave reported that he thought the lights were those of a sub.

Today’s big event wasn’t that strange, in fact it was downright ordinary, but the choreography made us very proud. After a particularly big roll in seas accompanying a squall the motor on the pump for the freezer burned up. We heard an odd and unusual noise, so we spent 5 minutes identifying it as the pump. Then we all went into action: Dave began removing the pump, Ruleo and I dove under the heavily packed forward bunk to bring out the replacement pump, and Ruleo helped Dave install it. About 45 minutes start to finish and the freezer was running again! What a team!

The guys did have at least one fishing line out today, but didn’t catch anything, and for part of the time it was a good thing. The squalls and rolly seas would not have made the back deck a good place to either land or clean a fish! So after three days it’s stll the engineers 2, the West Indians 0.

All the best from the crew of avalanche, hoping that Herb’s advice remains valid this evening and tomorrow! And hoping the West Indian team catches some fish.

May 23, 2010 Day 2

20 28.2N 61 15.4W

Hello Everybody,

I had planned to say this has been an ordinary day at sea: sun, clouds, motoring, sailing, motorsailing, making water, bathing on the back deck, reading, napping, fishing, sweating. Nothing to make the day noteworthy.

It has now become noteworthy by virtue of the ugly rain squalls all around us. For the last 3 hours the crew on deck has had the opportunity to roll sails in, roll sails out, motor through squalls, sail afterward. Unfortunately it looks as if that will be the situation into the evening. The radar shows squalls all around us.

We have sailed 229 miles from Antigua, 164 miles in the 24 hour period between our 4 pm talks with Herb. Unfortunately we haven’t even had a strike on the fishing lines.

All the best from the crew of avalanche, hoping tomorrow will be a sunny sailing/fishing day.