Our current position is 39 18.088 N 71 06.792W

Hello from the bumpy North Atlantic!  We left yesterday afternoon after talking with Herb.  We were underway at 3:50, but we switched our clocks to Caribbean time.

We had a cold but beautiful night.  The winds were from the NNW, a very favorable direction and mostly in the 25 to 30 knot range.  So we enjoyed some very fast, but a little rolly sailing.  The night was clear, with only a partial moon late.  The phosphorence was the brigtest we have seen especially before we cleared Mauntauk. Jake and Leo had dolphins on 3 different occasions. They leave beautiful topedo like wakes of light as they shoot out from under the boat.  The first pod stayed with us for more than 20 minutes.  What a way to start a trip!

Today we are getting a little more than we bargained for.  The winds are 10 knots or more than forecasted and we have overcast.  But the sea temperature has increased from 54 in Jamestown to 69.6 now.  We saw cockpit temperatures as low as 34.7, but it is 46 now.  Occasionally we get a few snow showers but everytime we wake Leo up to see the snow, it goes away.

We are eagerly looking to talk to Herb tonight.  He warned us of some tough sailing on Friday night so we are making preparations.

Our crew is composed of Jake and Marnie Jacobsen, Peter Vaiciulis, Leo Bontiff, Danielle Healy, and of course our latest Rookie, Pierre Pages.  We were lucky to get Danielle to join us, she has lots of offshore experience on large yachts as Executive Chef….if Marnie only knew we were having such talent before she cooked (with the help of Peter, and Michele Pages) and froze 14 dinners!

Our rookie is having a little trouble adjusting to the motion of the boat, so we have adjusted our watch schedule to a 5 man rotation, we will go back to 6 when Pierre gets his sea legs.

Marnie will send more either today or tomorrow.

Jake

Well, they managed to get the dock lines off and leave before dark this year!  I (this is posted by Ben) came down to drop off their laptop and sat phone in time to “help” with some last minute preparations (I helped clean out their condo fridge, aka eat lunch).  Then Jake listened to Herb, we untied the lines and unhooked the cord, and off they went.  It was a chilly 28ºF in the car when I got to it.  In the pictures you can actually see the heat rising out of the water because it’s still over 50º.  They’re in for a cold night for sure with the wind, but they’re also looking good weather wise in terms of maybe skipping a fuel stop in Bermuda.  Time will tell for that.

[Show as slideshow]

Testing the email writing system before the boat leaves. They’re
packing avalanche as I type with a weather window today. It’s looking
like a 2pm departure time. Lets see if this get’s posted.
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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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