November 26, 2011

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.

November 25, 2011
Myrtle Beach Yacht Club
North Myrtle Beach, S.C

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.

November 21, 2011, Day 4
33.49 N Latitude, 77.27 W Longitude
584 miles from Jamestown
67 miles to go to Myrtle Beach

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.

November 20, 2011 Day 3
35.25 N Latitude, 75.10 W Longitude
424 miles from Jamestown
221 miles to go to Myrtle Beach

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.