February 22, 2012 Day 1 of Leg 4
27.09 N latitude
17.17 W longitude
91 miles out of Miami, 1419 to Antigua

Hello Everybody!

This is the first day of the 4th leg on this year’s trip from Jamestown to
Antigua, which usually takes place within 2 weeks in November. If you have
been following this season’s trip, you know that we made the first leg from
Jamestown to Myrtle Beach, SC in November with Dave Riel, Ted Green and Pete
Largess just in time for a family Thanksgiving celebration, which even
included Jessica and Ben Tidswell, who made the trip from Utah. The second
leg of the trip began December 17, when Ben Jacobsen and Peter Vaiciulis
were able to make the trip from Myrtle Beach to Green Turtle Cay in the
Abacos, Bahamas with us. Ben and Pete had to fly home for Christmas with
their families, but Leo Bontiff, Jake and I remained on the boat in the
Abacos for 6 weeks.

The Bahamas are beautiful. The anchorages aren’t as crowded as we’re
accustomed to in the Caribbean, the people are very friendly, and
provisioning is a breeze with a supermarket as good as any we have at home
with comparable prices. The water is many gorgeous shades of blue and
turquoise, but it is shallow, very shallow. We draw 6′ with our board up,
and many harbor entrances have less than 6′ of water at mean low tide. We
had to judge the height of the tide and hit it just right to get into
Hopetown and Green Turtle Cay. Both are wonderfully protected areas with
marinas and charming towns worth a visit. We enjoyed visiting immensley,
but had to work hard to get there. The other big difference is the wind and
the weather. The trade winds blow in the Caribbean, so you can pretty much
count on anchoring under the wind shadow of an island without problem. In
the Abacos we were affected by cold fronts, which would send the wind from
the south, then west, then north and northeast, before shifting back to the
east. These shifts could occur in a matter of hours, or overnight.
Unfortunately the only areas protected from all directions are some of the
harbors and marinas–Hope Town and Green Turtle Cay among them. We learned
to move with the winds when we could, and when we couldn’t, we sought
shelter in the harbors. We spent our time with guests: Ben and his wife,
Nikki, and Elias and Isabella; and Chris and Candy Powell from Jamestown.
Ruleo Camacho, the son of our taxi driver and good friend in Antigua, has
been on and around avalanche since he was 8. He is now 21, has visited us 3
times in the U.S. and helped deliver avalanche north twice. He has just
graduated from the University of the West Indies with a degree in
environmental marine biology, is taking the winter off from school while he
applies to graduate programs. We are thrilled to have him aboard.

Jake, Leo and Ruleo spent a lot of time under water. They headed out in the
dinghy every day that the weather allowed, snorkeling among the reefs that
protect the islands. We are allowed to hunt fish in the Bahamas, and Ruleo
and Leo are very good hunters. Every day they went out they came back with
small game fish, lobster or conch. It was great fun eating their bounty.
On New Year’s Day while the Powells were with us, Leo shot a 35 pound Amber
Jack. We all ate it. Chris and Candy had 2 meals; Jake, Leo and I had 5
meals in 6 days. Unfortunately, Jake and Leo developed ciguatura, fish
poisoning that affects the nerves. Their legs itched like mad, they had
‘prickles’ in their extremities, but worst of all they had no energy and
awful weakness in their muscles. Apparently the toxin builds up until the
victim experiences symptoms. Ciguatura can also be fatal, and appears to
take several months before the symptoms disappear altogether. Leo seems to
be over the symptoms while Jake still experiences tingling on his tongue.
Neither one plans to eat fish in the near future for fear of relapsing if
their toxin level goes up.

On February 9th the 4 of us left the Abacos for the Strictly Sail Boat Show
in Miami. Avalanche is for sale, and our broker asked us participate from
February 16-20. We had a quick 24 hour trip to Miami, but it was a lot of
work. The sail across the Bahamas Banks was terrific–nice wind aft of the
beam and no seas. Once we got out into the Atlantic, however, conditions
changed. We encountered the Gulf Stream and about 8 hours of rain storms.
We encountered lots of traffic, small freighters heading to the Bahamas, a
pleasure boat or two, several ships headed to Miami, and at least half a
dozen cruise ships circling slowly as they waited for their scheduled
arrival in Miami. Leo and Ruleo were drenched. I spoke to half a dozen
ship watch officers to verify that they saw us. At dawn the rain and
associated fog was so heavy that we used both radar and AIS to keep track of
the traffic. We were all happy to tie up at the marina dock at 0830 that
morning.

After we spiffed up the boat for the show, we all left for a weekend away:
Ruleo and Leo visited friends and family in NYC, and Jake and I had a brief
time at home. We regrouped on the 20th in Miami, where we were joined on
the 21st by Kim Hapgood and my sister, Nancy Frank, who have delivered the
boat with us twice and 4 times, respectively. This morning we left the
dock, fueled and were heading out the channel at 1030, on our way to
Antigua–the 4th leg of our trip. Probably the most interesting thing we
saw in Miami was a Manatee. We have all read about them, but had never seen
one. They have backs that look a bit like a hippopatamus, but have a tiny
head and a huge tail. The manatee we saw was very slow: he came up for a
few breaths and then slowly sank out of sight.

Today we have headed north out of Miami, using the Gulf Stream for a speed
boost of up to 11 knots over the ground. In about an hour we will turn east
and head past the Bahamas and then eventually south to Antigua. 1515 miles
is a long trip, and we only carry fuel for about 880 miles, so we will be
looking for wind and trying to sail as much as possible.

All the best from the crew of avalanche, enjoying a warm night under the
stars and hoping we’ll have good winds over the next few days.

Well, when you take a photographer on a delivery you end up with more pictures than normal I guess, right? This is Ben posting from cold and wet Rhode Island…  This trip was pretty amazing.  It was my first trip in a tad over 4 years.  I hadn’t had a chance to do a trip in a tad over 4 years with 2 kids at home now.  With this being the last trip south, and having such a short leg this time, timing was perfect to get one last delivery in.  I flew down to Myrtle beach on Friday morning which gave me time to provision with Peter, then he Leo and I got to go visit Grandma J for dinner!  What and amazing time we had there (Grandma is a camera dodger though, as is Mom!).

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]

December 20, 2011 Day 4
26 56 N latitude, 79 20 W longitude
474 miles from Myrtle Beach, SC
0 miles to the Bahamas!

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.

December 19, 2011 Day 3
27 19 N latitude 77 05 W longitude
428 miles from Myrtle Beach, SC
37 miles from Marsh Harbor, 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.

December 18, 2011 Day 2
30 10 N latitude, 77 01 W longitude
255 miles from Myrtle Beach, SC
206 miles to Marsh Harbor, 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.