We left Myrtle Beach with warm clothes on, but it’s wasn’t nearly as bad as a New England departure.  I stood watch with Dad for my first two hours, then Leo for my second two.  We motorsailed for the first day, then shut off the motor (unless we needed it for fishing) for the rest of the trip enjoying some nice sailing.  The fishing was almost the highlight of the trip though with 5 fish caught, 2 tuna then 3 mahi including our massive ~80lb beast at the end.   That was a team effort to catch!  Once we got to the Bahamas I only had ~24 hours for playing before I had to fly home.  We went to the dive shop immediately to get spears since they’re legal and we’ve never used them.  Then we went immediately into the water where Pete got 5 fish and I got a lobster (and one fish that got in the way!).  Pete Leo and I then went off to shoot the sunset that night before an amazing dinner on the boat.  The boys also joined me on a sunrise shoot (those images will come later as they require a bit more attention when processing) the next morning which was a blast.  Then one more snorkel (and another lobster!) in the morning and I was off to the airport.  I’ll be back with my family in ~2 short weeks though, which should be amazing.

Enjoy the shots!

[Show as slideshow]

Hello Everybody,

We made it! We’re here! But not at Marsh Harbor, rather Green Turtle Cay
and overnight tonight at Manjack Cay. This Abacos area of the Bahamas is a
little like Narragansett Bay–huge, so it’s as if instead of heading into
Newport we tucked into Pt. Judith. I haven’t been ashore yet, but Jake, Ben
and Peter all went in to have a look around and do the final check in with
customs. They all report that the people are incredibly friendly. They
stop what they’re doing to wave. The customs lady gave Jake a hug and
wished him Merry Christmas (of course that might have been because he gave
her some of our Mahi). The water is a little shallow–less than a foot
under the keel is nerve wracking to say the least. We simply proceeded
slowly and backed up a couple of times (without hitting anything), but that
was at low tide. When we moved the boat at high tide we had a whopping 4
feet below the keel.

Last night was nerve wracking, too. We had about 50 miles to go overnight,
coming onto reefs in the dark, with 10-12 hours to go. The guys all think
of that as a great adventure. I’m more conservative, it just makes me
nervous. Jake instructed Pete not to slow down, so when I got up at 2000
with 43 miles to go and we were making 8 knots, that would have put us into
the reefs at 0300-0330 with 4 hours of darkness left. Peter and I discussed
rolling up sail to slow down for 90 minutes before we finally acted on it.
Good thing, because we slowed down to about 4 knots. At that rate we
arrived at the waypoint at exactly 0700 the target time, just 15 minutes
after the sun came up. We navigated in through the reefs, rocks and the
islands and breaking waves. It was everybody on deck as look out, Jake
driving and me hiding out below at the computer with the charts to verify
our course. (I still don’t know exactly what this place looks like.) We had
a very narrow space to motor through with breaking waves coming through with
us. Pete was watching behind for the breaking waves, and there were a few,
while Ben and Leo watched ahead for a clear path. A wave broke just behind
us as we came in, but luckily didn’t impact us. Now the guys are all
talking about the waves they didn’t mention to Jake. Once safely in and
after 2 tries we finally were anchored in 7.5 feet of water at 1015.

After the business of checking in and buying pole spears to hunt for fish
legally, we moved to a more remote anchorage, Manjack Cay. The guys all
took off: Ben shot a lobster, which we just enjoyed as an appetizer. Pete
returned with half a dozen fish for breakfast tomorrow, and Leo missed.
Jake went kayaking, and I took a shower. The hunters snorkled over a wreck
in 4′ of water and are still talking about how much fun they had.

Ben has great photos on his camera, so we’re hoping he’ll put them on the
web site once he gets back home.

All the best from the crew of avalanche, celebrating our arrival,
friendship,hunting skills and the wonders of the Bahamas.

Hello Everybody,

First thing this morning, before anyone else was out of bed, Ben and Leo
caught a 10-12 pound Mahi. Ben reeled it in on the young guys side, so they
were feeling really proud of themselves. Geezers 2, youngsters 1. Then
about 0900 after Ben had gone to bed, he was awakened by the jib car
rattling on deck over his head, which meant the sail was flogging, so he got
out of bed to see why. He discovered that Pete and Leo each had a fish on!
As he climbed on deck he called out that there were 2 fish on, which woke
me. Ben quickly rolled up the sails to slow the boat, then started the
engine as I joined the group on deck. Starting the engine woke Jake, who
joined the rest of us on deck for the excitement. The 2 lines were
seriously crossed, tangled and covered with Sargasso weed. Leo had to hand
his rod off to Ben so he could go down on the back deck to get the lines
straigntened out and allow Pete to reel in a nice little Mahi for the
Geezers, about 8 pounds. Then the work began. It turned out that Leo’s
fish had taken all but about 2 wraps of line around the reel, almost
spooling him. He had been cranking it in, but the fish continued to take
line, so it was a difficult battle. When Ben took the rod most of the line
was still out there. As Ben fought the fish, the fish took some line, Ben
reeled some in, the fish took more, Ben got more in, and still the fish was
along way away. Jake began driving the boat to take the pressure off the
line. It took a while, but helped enough that finally Ben got the fish
close to the boat, only to have the fish see the boat and take off again.
More cranking. As Ben finally got the fish close enough to the boat to
consider gaffing it, Peter jumped down on the back deck with Leo. Leo got
the line in his hand and managed a perfect gaff, but then called to Peter
for help. He couldn’t lift the fish out of the water by himself. And no
wonder! The guys had caught about an 80# bull Mahi. It measured 62″ long
(that’s only 1″ shorter than I am) and 32″ in circumference. When they laid
him across the back deck he filled the whole width. As they filleted him,
1/2 the length of his filet took the entire length of our fish cleaning
table. We got 15 packages of meat, each packaged to feed 3. And we saved
the head for fish water. The entire adventure took over an hour. We got
some good phots of the fish and fishermen, which we will try to post when we
have internet. After adding 3 Mahi to our larder, we thought we would then
go to a catch and release program, but there was so much weed around that
we finally called a moritorium on fishing for the day. So at the end of the
day it”s Geezers 3, proud young pups 2.

Planning our arrival into Marsh Harbor was the other important issue of the
day. The sun rises at 0715 and we can’t head in around the reefs until it
is daylight, so we don’t want to get there too early. We had been making 7
and 8 knots, but as we get closer we need to slow down. We now have about 8
hours until daylight and 27 miles to go. We’ve put a big reef in the main
and had reefed the staysail as well for a bit, which has us sailing at just
under 4 knots. We have to just creep along slowly enough to meet the time
frame, but fast enough to maintain steerage. It’s an ususual problem,
that’s for sure.

All the best from avalanche, looking forward to whatever sunrise brings and
many new adventures in the Bahamas.

Hello Everybody,

About 0630 this morning Jake and I turned off the engine, and we have been
sailing ever since. The wind has built during the day and at one point
during my watch our SOG was over 10 knots, helped by about a half a knot of
favorable current. The wind is aft so the ride is comfortable, sleeping is
great and the cockpit is comfortable. We haven’t caught any fish today, in
fact we havent’t even had a strike. The reasons are two: we were going too
fast and our lines collected masses of Sargasso weed. We finally just gave
up and
reeled in the lines. You should not, however, feel the least bit sorry for
us. We have had fresh
tuna sashimi for dinner last night and for lunch today. Jake will prepare
more for dinner tonight. It is delicious!

I have learned the details and now can tell you the fishing
contest score: Pete and Jake, aka the geezers or old guys or old men, have
caught 2; Ben and Leo, aka the boys or young pups or thirty-somethings,
have caught 0. Unfortunately Leo has to take credit (or is that blame) for
losing their only hit. He got the fish to the boat, but it got away befoe
he could land it. So the score is Geezers 2, young pups 0, fish 1.

Since I wrote those first paraagraphs the wind has gotten crazy! It
oscillates from 345 to 30 degrees with the wind from 18 to 30 knots. It’s
an adventure to steer, an even greater adventure to make a salad in the
galley as the boat careens from wave to wave. But good! The weather is
warm and the sky is clear. Pete was the only taker for a shower on the back
deck. He is always upbeat and positive, so when he admitted that although
the sea water was lovely and the shower water was hot, it was quite chilly
when the wind hit his wet skin.

Once again I must say goodnight since I have to be up from midnight until
0400.

All the best from the crew of avalanche looking forward to catching fish
again tomorrow, bathing on the back deck, and getting closser to the
Bahamas.

Hello Everybody!

Our goal was to leave the dock this morning as the sun came up, and I guess you could say we did if you believe that sunrise is at 1010.

As we turned from the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club into the Intracoastal Waterway we were greeted by several dolphin, who swam by to bid us farewell. Another mile down the ICW a bald eagle flew over, perhaps the
same one we saw when we arrived a month ago. Our trip out to the ocean was uneventful but very scenic: beautiful golf courses along the waterfront, lots of condominiums, several large plantation-type homes,
marshlands, and shallow bays. We retraced our route in, following the same line on the chart.

Yesterday I was still in Jamestown, Jake was in Minnesota, and Leo was on the boat. I had done the bulk of
the provisioning previously, but needed produce, dairy, bread and some meat. Fortunately, Ben Jacobsen and Peter Vaiciulis, who are sailing with us on this leg, were able to get to Myrtle Beach by noon and willingly
provisioned from my list. They did an outstanding job. They found everything we needed and even had it all unpacked, repackaged and stowed! (I’ll have to ask for help more often. After all, how bad would it
be if there were mistakes, it’s only dinner.)

Unlike the trip around Cape Hatteras when we had 3 knots of foul current, on this leg we’ve had the current with us and are making wonderful SOGs of about 8 knots, even 8.5. We should get to the Gulf Stream within the next hour or so. The water is currently 75.9 degrees and the air is 60. The entire trip to Marsh Harbor is 442 miles,so we should be there on Tuesday.

The fishing contest has begun. I’ve been told that it’s the men against the boys, but we won’t know which is which until we learn who wins. Currently the ‘geezers’ (that would be Jake and Pete) have 2 black fin tuna reeled in by Jake and by Ben. (We’ve already had sashimi beautifully prepared by Peter) There have been other hits and some lost fish, but I don’t have good details, so you’ll have to wait for tomorrow’s update.

Because we are only 5 I am standing watch in the rotation this trip. That means I stand watch 4 hours, sleep 6 and do it again. (Just like everyone else) But right now I’m 45 minutes into my 6 hours of sleep and I have to get up at 0330. So, please excuse me for tonight. I’m going to bed!

All the best from the crew of avalanche looking for warm water, sunny skies, lots of good fishing, and baths on the back deck tomorrow.

The photos are divided into 4 sections, although you won’t know it by looking at them. I tried to include descriptions of each photo, but they didn’t appear in the blog. So…. first is the beginning of the trip: leaving Jamestown and Jake’s safety lecture on deck. Then comes fishing: Leo, Pete and Ted are shown fighting their fish and proudly showing them off. The third section is entering and navigating the ICW. The final photo with the lighthouse has the fin of a dolphin swimming between us and the lighthouse. And the final photo of all is of the crew at MBYC just before the crew left for home: Jake, Marnie, Dave Riel, Ted Green, Leo Bontiff and Pete Largess.

Hello Everybody and Happy Black Friday!

I apologize for taking 3 days to get the final word posted, but we’ve been busy!

We arrived at the Little River Inlet (into the Intracoastal Waterway) at 0600 Tuesday morning. The crew had done a fantastic job overnight, steering a course over Frying Pan Shoals, never deviating from the safe course. (There are areas on that shoal that are only 2 and 5 feet deep. Since we draw 6 feet, we wouldn’t want to go near those areas.) When we arrived, it was still dark, but the wind was calm and the seas were flat. We had a dolphin swimming alongside, as if welcoming us. At 0630 there was enough light to see the day markers so we could head in. The passage was well marked, if shallow in places, and we had been in there 4 years ago, so it was familiar. The guys on deck helped Jake with depth, markers and interesting information. I was below watching the chart plotter. Once we felt comfortable with the passage I was on deck as well to see the beautiful homes, the golf clubs right on the waterway, the marinas and gambling boats. A bald eagle flew overhead as we neared the yacht club. A dolphin literaly lead us into the marina. We got to the fuel dock at 0830–4 days and 22 minutes dock to dock. The crew quickly showered, packed their gear, helped us move the boat from the fuel dock, and got into their rental truck for a departure at about 1030. The poor guys didn’t get home until about 0400 the next morning. Dave had the worst watch on arrival, coming up at 0200 and then staying up. I hope he got a little sleep before it was his turn to drive.

It was a fine trip in many ways: we had sunshine the entire way, only a few drops of rain. We caught 1 Bonita and 4 Black fin tuna, so we (almost) all had sushi onboard and the crew all had a hearty portion to take home with them. The sailing the first day was exhilarating and fun. As usual, we had very experienced and competent crew who cared about doing the job properly and safely. On the other hand, having the wind on the nose for all but the first 10 hours was unpleasant. The only good news there was that the velocity was 10-15 knots so we could motor into the wind, something we regretably had to do because of the timing of the Thanksgiving holiday. Of course, carrying enough fuel to be able to motor all that way was a big help!

Leo, Jake and I spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday morning cleaning up the boat, doing laundry and reorganizing it into a living/cruising yacht instead of a delivery yacht. Wednesday afternoon we picked up our daughter, Jessica, and her husband, Ben, at the airport and went to Grandma’s house for the Thanksgiving holiday. Jessica prepared a full blown and truly outstanding Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, our first on dry land in many years. We usually eat our Thanksgiving meal out of plastic bowls on avalanche underway to Antigua.

Until we get under way about December 18th for the Bahamas and our next stop, all the best from the crew of avalanche enjoying our “turkey coma” and the company of family. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Check back over the weekend for photos.

Hello Everybody,

Well, last night held no excitement. The complaint at breakfast (which Jake
whipped up for the crew) was that after dancing around with the destroyer
the night before, last night’s watches were just plain dull.

This morning, however, came through with lots of excitement and plenty of
fun. Every man on the boat has caught a tuna this trip! Jake caught his
bonita yesterday and we enjoyed it in fish stew for lunch. Today between
breakfast and lunch we had 5 hits. Dave lost the first (and undoubtedly the
biggest), Leo reeled in an 18# Blackfin tuna, then Pete had his turn with a
15 pounder. Ted was next with a 20-22 pounder, and finally Dave had another
chance and caught a 15 pounder. All Blackfin tuna. Leo was kept busy on
the back deck cleaning fish for at least 2 hours. But as a result every
member of the crew will be taking beautiful tuna home for Thanksgiving. We
had sushi as a mid afternoon snack– “coketail hour”. In addition to
collecting all these fish, the fight was lots of fun. It was really hard
work cranking the fish in and took 5-10 minutes. As each guy worked to keep
the fish on the line and continue cranking the rest of us were all giving
advice, shouting encouragement and generally having a fine time. Every time
we hooked a fish a pod of dolphin came cavorting through the water to the
boat. They swam near and around the hooked tuna, swam under the boat, came
right alongside the transom where the fish was gaffed. They seemed to hover
as the fish was reeled in, almost as if they were watching the process.
Then, once we boated the fish, the dolphin disappeared, only to return with
the next hooked tuna. We wonder if the fishing boats around here have
trained the dolphin to expect something after a fish is boated–perhaps the
fishermen toss them baitfish…..?

Yesterday afternoon and evening we were making painfully slow speed because
of the foul current (3.5 knots for a long period), today we had similar
problems with lack of mileage, but it was primarily because we stopped 5
times to fight and boat tuna! No one is complalining about that. We have
had some foul current today, too; but once we rounded Cape Hatteras we were
able to get closer to shore and away from the strongest current.

The computer tells us that we will be at the Little River Inlet about 0600
tomorrow, which is perfect. We can’t get into the inlet to the Intracoastal
Waterway in the dark, so arriving before dawn would just mean having to
wait. Once in the inlet and into the ICW we have about 5 miles to motor to
the North Myrtle Beach Yacht Club, where we’ll keep avalanche during our
stay in Myrtle Beach visiting Jake’s Mom. (We can’t get any further south
because just a couple hundred yards further along the ICW is a bridge with
68′ clearance. The top of our mast is 80′ above the water.) If all goes as
planned we will have a rental car at 0830 so Ted, Dave and Pete can begin
their drive home to R.I. for Thanksgiving.

This has been a strange trip. I’ve checked the log book and find that we
only sailed for the first 10 hours of the trip. The engine has been running
for the rest of the time (75 hours at this point). We’ve had sails out most
of the time, generally at least the main for whatever boost it would give
us, but often either the staysail or yankee as well. Except for those first
10 hours the wind has been on the nose for the entire trip. Every time
we’ve been able to alter course the wind has shifted with us. The good news
is that for the past two days (except for Dave and Jake’s bout with 25-30
knots) the winds have been generally between 10 and 15.

I’ll write another blog tomorrow to let you know the end of the story, until
then

All the best from the crew of avalanche navigating the shoal water off North
Carolina, looking forward to dawn tomorrow and the adventure of entering the
ICW.

Hello Everybody,

It turns out that the 0400 to 0600 watch was extra exciting over night.
Jake and Ted were on watch together as the wind built to 25-30 knots (on the
bow, of course). They spent significant time trying out sail options that
would give us a comfortable ride without too much banging in the seas.
After 3 configurations they finally settled on the full main and staysail.
As they were furling and unfurling they located the Gulf Stream,
distinguished by the 73 degree water and their greatly diminished boat
speed. While battling the increased wind and the counter current of the
Gulf Stream, they encountered a US Navy destroyer about 5 miles away. At
first it seemed dead in the water, then it began moving on a course toward
avalanche. When Jake hailed the ship and finally got an answer they
reported that they would pass “port to port”. At this point they were to
starboard of avalanche and starboard to starboard would have been the
simple, straightforward maneuver. When Jake questioned “port to port” and
suggested starboard to starboard they replied that avalanche should hold her
course, that they were turning and then they turned to starboard (toward
avalanche). Next they told avalanche to turn drastically and immediately to
port to avoid a collision (which avalanche did). Ted thought the destroyer
had been within 200 yards before she turned and steamed away into the night.
At that point Dave appeared on deck for his watch and neither Jake nor Ted
could believe how quickly two hours had passed.

The next event of note was the unscheduled MOB drill. We have one almost
every trip. We wear ManOverBoard watches which will sound an alarm if they
are immersed in salt water (as they would be if the wearer fell overboard).
Sometimes salt spray while cleaning a fish, bathing on the back deck while
wearing the watch, taking a wave over the deck full on, or even just
sweating a lot will set the alarm off. This morning Pete and Leo were on
watch while the rest of us slept, when Pete’s alarm went off. The alarms
are in the staterooms and sound just like school fire drills. There is no
way to sleep through them. We were all alert and on deck in seconds before
learning that it was a false alarm. Fortunately Ted was able to get the
alarm turned off quickly.

Otherwise the best news is that the air temperature got up to 79.8 degrees.
The guys on watch still wore long pants and long sleeves, but the hats,
gloves and heavy coats were gone. Off watch the guys were wearing t-shirts
and swim suits. And the answer is, yes, there were bathers on the back
deck. Both Jake and Pete had showers out back. Ted had already showered
below before learning that the back deck was being put to use. Dave and I
are holding out for even warmer weather.

We are just 15 miles off the outer banks of Cape Hatteras and only 11 miles
west of the Gulf Stream. It’s a pretty narrow passage. We are amazed at
the traffic through here. We have constant encounters with ships, a recent
tug and barge at less than a mile, plus a lot of sport fishing boats during
the day. Pete and Dave, on watch now, are constantly watching the radar and
the AIS, plus keeping a lookout on deck. Ted had to call the tug and barge
that passed less than a mile away. We should make our turn at the Cape
Hatteras light about 2200. We’re currently fighting a 3.5 knot current.
Hopefully that will disappear after the turn.

The final bit of news is that we caught a fish. Jake reeled in a small
bonita. We plan to have it in fish stew for lunch tomorrow. Usually we
have teams and a contest between them, but this trip the guys haven’t really
gotten into it. (I think it’s the cold.)

All the best from the crew of avalanche, appreciating the warming weather,
hoping that tonight’s watches won’t be exciting, hoping the foul current
will turn fair, and wishing you all a good night.