Normally I’m the cool, laid back guy in this family… But no word from the boat for almost 48 hours had me a little concerned. I was wondering what was going on that I hadn’t heard from them. So what do you do when your own parents aren’t “checking in” with you? Ground them? Call their cell phone? …. So I emailed them (never a fast solution), called the sat phone with no answer, then went to the next obvious step: calling Herb! He’s been mentioned many times before on the blog and he’s the boat’s weatherman. I dropped him an email this morning and he’s been in contact with them all along:
Hi Ben.
I had contact this morning at 1400Z with Marnie and Jake at 34:07N, 69:24W, still under heavy weather with strong winds from the NW and large sea over night, now squally…On Thurs at 2030Z they were at 38:41N, 70:48W in NW 20 -25kt and gusty wind though out the day
Friday was a better day and at 36:01N, 69:34W (2030Z) they had moderate conditions as they had crossed the Gulf stream, with squalls starting to develop as avalanche was getting ready for an approaching cell to pass close and east of them within a few hours as it tracked NE at 30 kts..All is well, except one autopilot is not working anymore. Conditions will be improving later today. They will stop in Bermuda for a rest, and send a report as soon as condition settle down.
Best Regards
No, that doesn’t sound like fun, but they’ve been in worse. Herb’s awesome as usual, both for the boat regarding weather, and now for me to know what’s going on. Sorry if this all sounds a bit dramatic. Rest assured they’re fine and boat has seen worse. They just try to avoid it whenever possible. Be sure to click the waypoint links above or location page at top to see where they are.
Also, I’ve just received an email from M&D saying similar thoughts. The weather isn’t ideal, but they’re fine. With one autopilot down and large seas they’re hand steering a lot. They tried to send a blog post Friday, but for some reason it didn’t make it through.
Entries (RSS)