DATE: Friday, 20 May, 2016, 1115 AM Eastern
SY Visions of Johanna crossing day 3
North Atlantic Ocean
Position: 30 41.6/77 47.9W
Engine off at 1100 hrs.
COG: 051 mag; SOG 6.67 kn
Ground wind direction: 159 mag
True wind speed: 11.8
Will plan to pick up Locus Wx guidance with this connection, or next. All is well on-board. Nice to be sailing, even if for a little while.
Best wishes,
Bill Strassberg and crew, SY Visions of Johanna
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Friday, May 20, 2016
SY Visions of Johanna crossing day 3
DATE: Friday, 20 May, 2016, 8:00 AM Eastern
North Atlantic Ocean
Position: 30 24.3N/75 06W
Conditions: Wind has been 110 - 115 mag overnight, and is now approx. 130 mag, holding around 10-11 knots this morning, has built slowly over night as it veered from 110 at midnight.
Currently motor sailing close hauled, TWD 133 degrees ; SOG 8.8 knots; We were averaging 7.5 knots overnight, and elected to continue a NE route to catch a CCW eddy. Ken McKinley confirmed location for us and it feels that we finally are benefiting now, with a 1 plus knot boost. Big question will be whether to head east on a rhumbline to Bermuda, or continue NE. Expedition routes us on a continued NE course, both based on GFS/Wind alone, or GFS + RTOFS current file --> towards a WP 33 05N/70 20W. Right now, if we head rhumbline east, we will be headed dead upwind against 11 Knots at the present.
I am inclined to hold this course toward the 33 05N/70 20W WP as long as we are enjoying a boosted SOG. I also think that since GRIBS suggest continued veering to the SSW over the next 48 hours, Expedition is looping us north in order to swing back south of east on the Bermuda approach in order to keep wind closer to the beam. We'll see what develops.
Another easy night, motor sailing. Swells eased through the night and motion was quite easy. Seas are slowly building now as wind has slowly increased and averaged 11.5 knots over the past 30 minutes.Dinner al fresco in the cockpit last night. Seared tuna, 5 grain vegetable cous-cous, and green salad. Really a nice time as we watched the sunset over the ocean. I think people feel the vastness of the ocean as humbling and awesome at the same time. We have not sighted any ships for over 24 hours. VHF Radio silent. No internet...
All is well on-board.
Best wishes,
Bill Strassberg and crew, SY Visions of Johanna
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North Atlantic Ocean
Position: 30 24.3N/75 06W
Conditions: Wind has been 110 - 115 mag overnight, and is now approx. 130 mag, holding around 10-11 knots this morning, has built slowly over night as it veered from 110 at midnight.
Currently motor sailing close hauled, TWD 133 degrees ; SOG 8.8 knots; We were averaging 7.5 knots overnight, and elected to continue a NE route to catch a CCW eddy. Ken McKinley confirmed location for us and it feels that we finally are benefiting now, with a 1 plus knot boost. Big question will be whether to head east on a rhumbline to Bermuda, or continue NE. Expedition routes us on a continued NE course, both based on GFS/Wind alone, or GFS + RTOFS current file --> towards a WP 33 05N/70 20W. Right now, if we head rhumbline east, we will be headed dead upwind against 11 Knots at the present.
I am inclined to hold this course toward the 33 05N/70 20W WP as long as we are enjoying a boosted SOG. I also think that since GRIBS suggest continued veering to the SSW over the next 48 hours, Expedition is looping us north in order to swing back south of east on the Bermuda approach in order to keep wind closer to the beam. We'll see what develops.
Another easy night, motor sailing. Swells eased through the night and motion was quite easy. Seas are slowly building now as wind has slowly increased and averaged 11.5 knots over the past 30 minutes.Dinner al fresco in the cockpit last night. Seared tuna, 5 grain vegetable cous-cous, and green salad. Really a nice time as we watched the sunset over the ocean. I think people feel the vastness of the ocean as humbling and awesome at the same time. We have not sighted any ships for over 24 hours. VHF Radio silent. No internet...
All is well on-board.
Best wishes,
Bill Strassberg and crew, SY Visions of Johanna
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Thursday, May 19, 2016
Weather Routing Discussion - Day 2
For those interested in Ken's response to Bill's question about how best to head towards Bermuda, here is Ken's daily update and some back and forth:
Good morning BIll and crew -
Wind speeds over the next day or so will be fairly light as a weak frontal boundary to your north becomes less organized while settling very slowly south. Wind direction should remain generally in the W for much of the day, but will be variable at times, and a few showers will be in the area, perhaps a thundershower or two at some point. The remnants of the front will likely kind of ooze past your position later in the day which will lead to the wind direction ending up ENE by evening, but very light, probably 6 knots or less.
Very light ENE winds will veer to ESE later tonight. Tomorrow as you move east of 75W, ESE winds may veer a bit more toward SE in the afternoon, speeds still less than 10 knots through the day. Through tomorrow night winds will veer toward SSE with little change in wind speed, then on Saturday winds will veer to SW and increase to 13-17 knots in the afternoon. Scattered showers are likely in the afternoon as well. SW winds will increase to 15-19 knots through Saturday night with more widespread showers, and on similar conditions are likely through Sunday. Seas will build to 4-6 feet through the second half of the weekend.
SW winds will ease a bit through Sunday night and Monday and showers will continue to affect the route. For the approach to Bermuda SW winds will increase to 14-18 knots later Monday night and Tuesday, and showers will continue to occur.
The rhumb line route still looks best. Light headwinds will require quite a bit of motoring through the next 24 hours or so, but by later tomorrow as winds gain a more southerly component, sailing will become possible. Making big route alterations will only increase the distance needed to travel, and with light winds no matter what route is taken through the next 24 hours, little gain will be seen by deviating from the route. In fact, going as far north as 32N/71W would likely lead to less favorable conditions later in the weekend and early next week with lighter winds then . Best to endure motoring through the light headwinds through tomorrow morning with the promise of better winds after that.
Also best to be prepared for some wet weather from later in the weekend through arrival at Bermuda.
Call or email with any questions.
Ken
Hi Ken. I think that Expedition is routing us north because of currents seen in an RTOFS grib file. There seems to be 2 eddies - one CCW from 29N/76W to 30 30N/74 30W, and one around 32N/ 72 30 W and it is routing us just along the southern extent of them. It seems to be indicating that gains of some positive current plus the absence of adverse current is worth going about 70 nm further, while arriving 5 hours earlier.
Do you see those eddies by any chance? I wonder if I should believe Expeditions data interpolation.
Thanks,
Bill
Do you see those eddies by any chance? I wonder if I should believe Expeditions data interpolation.
Thanks,
Bill
For a little background, Expedition is navigation and weather routing software used by the top ocean racers and developed here in New Zealand by Nick White. We first started using it in 2006 after being beaten by a boat running weather routing software in our first Marion-Bermuda race. It takes in weather information in the form of Grib files (Gridded Binary) which are space efficient ways of getting accurate up to date weather data over limited satellite or HF radio internet connections. We download files for both wind and waves, as well as gulf-stream (current) data. Bill's reference to the RTOFS file is a surface current grib file that uses satellite spectromony to measure actual surface currents, then runs a computer simulation to predict what the surface currents will be doing. It always shows very detailed eddies and back eddies around the gulf stream, but it is hard to know if those are real or just interpolation of measured data. There are other tools for looking at gulf stream data such as thermal images but those are more data intensive so we don't use them onboard. Expedition also has detailed performance information on VofJ in the form of custom "polars" which I have developed based on IMS VPP prediction, then fine tuned and refined over the last 8-9 years based on actual measured performance data within expedition. The "polars" tell expedition how fast to expect the boat to go at any point of sail in any wind speed. We even have different polars for racing, cruising, and motor-sailing to simulate us to putting the engine on when going upwind or in light air. Expedition is suggesting going about 70nm off rhumb line to chase better wind angle and favorable current which could pay off by 5 hours if the data is correct. Ken tends to look more globally and is suggesting keeping to the straight line, but may not have looked at the detailed current data which is always hard to know how accurate it might be. While the computer models for wind prediction are VERY good these days. The current predictions are a bit more hit and miss. Will be curious to see which one Bill follows.
-- Gram
p.s. Let me know in the comments if anyone is interested in the weather discussions and my running commentary....won't waste my time if not, but happy to keep everyone apprised here if any are interested.
SY Visions of Johanna crossing day 2
DATE: Thursday, 19 May, 2016, 7:00 AM Eastern
SY Visions of Johanna crossing day 2
North Atlantic Ocean
Position: 28 16.5N/77 24.5W
Conditions: Wind has steadily veered overnight, from 222 mag 10 PM last night to 306 mag this morning. TWS 12-10-->8 Knots, getting lighter. Cloudy.
Currently, TWD 306 degrees ; SOG 7.9 knots; We were averaging 6.5 knots overnight, and speed increased this morning when I opened the jib, Still with double reefed mainsail (precaution with T'storms visible through midnight last night).
690 nm to reach our Bermuda approach WP
Pretty easy night, motor sailing. Expedition routing has us swinging north as far as 32 30N/71W before making Bermuda. Perhaps it is trying to keep the wind on the beam, or avoid undesirable currents - I will be curious to hear what Ken McKinley (our weather guide and router for 11 years!) suggests for us.
We were able to all sit at the saloon table and eat dinner together last night. I then took a nap before my evening watch and awakened to essentially a crew party in the pilot house...I think that everyone is enjoying themselves. Last night, Andrew commented that this was his first night watch. Ever. He's made his first journal entry last night. This morning when I came up for my 6 AM watch, I was surprised about how much parallel ship traffic there was on AIS. Lissy, coming off watch, noted that the ships were headed across to France or to Bermuda, or elsewhere, while marveling what a big ocean it was. Lissy and Andrew are doing well, already doing sail changes and light navigation, they are enjoying the process so far. Lissy is always smiling and asking detailed questions about why we are doing things a certain way. It seems to me that simply responding "because the captain said so" was not going to suffice, so we have all had discussions about sails, systems, and planning ahead. And Andrew's ability to tackle a chore list is only surpassed by his capacity to sleep and eat. Hence, we are calling him sleeping beauty. A 6 hour nap yesterday! Really!! 6!!!
Our blog is up with position updates. Thank you, Gram. See vofj.blogspot.com.
We'll try for another post later today, and until then...
Best wishes,
Bill Strassberg and crew, SY Visions of Johanna
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SY Visions of Johanna crossing day 2
North Atlantic Ocean
Position: 28 16.5N/77 24.5W
Conditions: Wind has steadily veered overnight, from 222 mag 10 PM last night to 306 mag this morning. TWS 12-10-->8 Knots, getting lighter. Cloudy.
Currently, TWD 306 degrees ; SOG 7.9 knots; We were averaging 6.5 knots overnight, and speed increased this morning when I opened the jib, Still with double reefed mainsail (precaution with T'storms visible through midnight last night).
690 nm to reach our Bermuda approach WP
Pretty easy night, motor sailing. Expedition routing has us swinging north as far as 32 30N/71W before making Bermuda. Perhaps it is trying to keep the wind on the beam, or avoid undesirable currents - I will be curious to hear what Ken McKinley (our weather guide and router for 11 years!) suggests for us.
We were able to all sit at the saloon table and eat dinner together last night. I then took a nap before my evening watch and awakened to essentially a crew party in the pilot house...I think that everyone is enjoying themselves. Last night, Andrew commented that this was his first night watch. Ever. He's made his first journal entry last night. This morning when I came up for my 6 AM watch, I was surprised about how much parallel ship traffic there was on AIS. Lissy, coming off watch, noted that the ships were headed across to France or to Bermuda, or elsewhere, while marveling what a big ocean it was. Lissy and Andrew are doing well, already doing sail changes and light navigation, they are enjoying the process so far. Lissy is always smiling and asking detailed questions about why we are doing things a certain way. It seems to me that simply responding "because the captain said so" was not going to suffice, so we have all had discussions about sails, systems, and planning ahead. And Andrew's ability to tackle a chore list is only surpassed by his capacity to sleep and eat. Hence, we are calling him sleeping beauty. A 6 hour nap yesterday! Really!! 6!!!
Our blog is up with position updates. Thank you, Gram. See vofj.blogspot.com.
We'll try for another post later today, and until then...
Best wishes,
Bill Strassberg and crew, SY Visions of Johanna
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Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Visions of Johanna Day 1 - West Palm Beach to Bermuda
Wednesday, 18 May, 2016, 4 - 6 PM Eastern
SY Visions of Johanna
North Atlantic Ocean
Conditions:
TWD 210 degrees; SOG 7.1 knots; Sunny morning with high cloud cover developing this afternoon
Position:
27 24.5N/79 05.4W - Just NW of Little Bahama Bank and Matanilla Shoal
775 nm to reach our Bermuda approach WP
We are now underway, and when I think of how much we accomplished over the past week as we prepared for departure, I can't believe we ticked the boxes off most all of our to-do list. Andrew and I arrived last Tuesday and hit the ground running on Wednesday. Andrew had a long list of projects to accomplish and also drove our raft to the west coast on Friday for servicing. Jack (aka the cavalry) arrived Sunday and took on his own set of chores. Together, we got it done.
Andrew and I stayed in Boca Raton with my parents for the entire week, and Jack spent the night there Sunday before we moved onto the boat on Monday. Meanwhile, as we were ticking our boxes, my mother cooked and froze so many offshore meals that we ran out of freezer space and had to eat one last night - at anchor!! Thank you mom, and prep chef dad. Our friends Kyle and Kathy then joined us for a pre-departure dinner on Monday night, great time, and then Kathy went off with my used staysail to use for projects for her and friends. I do hope that we get royalties. K&K also brought a journal for Andrew, to memorialize his adventure. Quite cool!
Lissy arrived yesterday, mid morning, and then we were quickly off to West Palm Beach. I had decided that a WPB departure would be much more straight forward - no dock lines, power cords, or fenders to put away. Just get up and go. That said, we were delayed an hour this morning by thunderstorms, but were underway by 9 AM.
Yesterdays sail from Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach (technically, Lake Worth Inlet) gave the crew a feel for the boat and a chance to handle lines and navigation programs. It also allowed us to sea trail two systems that were reworked over the past month. Sure enough, the new water maker feed pump had an air block in it, and I had to spend a while priming the pump - only a small challenge underway in 20 knots. Same issue for the aircon unit which we used to "take the heat out" of the cabin. That pump needed to be primed too, in part because the 42 nm sail to West Palm was in bouncy with seas from the starboard quarter, and I think we took some air into the through hull. 20 plus knots of wind built over the afternoon as rainstorms and a bit of lightening skimmed by us in the western sky - fortunately staying over land. Andrew also checked the Aquadrive bolts after 7 hours motoring (units were rebuilt), and 2 bolts were loose and spinning. Access was not easy, but with "been there, done that" experience, we shorted the shaft brake sender unit and spun the shaft so we could get to the nuts on the back of the bolts. Job done. Tick the box. Glad we did the test sail.
Todays weather is light SSW winds, easing from from 10 to 6 knots through the day. Seas are soft and smooth. Light overcast right now.
Brief interlude - just caught a Barracuda and threw it back.
Should be at least another day of light winds and seas, an okay start for this crew; Wind might veer to be on the bow, but hopefully less than 8 knots. And of course, we are eating well. Seared tuna with a green salad last night, followed by NCIS and a goodbye to Michael Weatherly. Meatball subs and pasta, or Turkey roll-ups have been enjoyed for lunches, and...Meatloaf, green salad, and vegetable is on tap for tonight. Food is good, showers are hot. What more could we want?
This is a great crew. Jack has done 2 passages with me and knows the boat and our routines. He's always asking what he can do...
Not so brief interlude - we just landed and I just dressed two small to medium size Tunas, about 15 - 18 pounds each I would say. Not yellowfin but tuna family. Unfortunately do not have a fish ID book with me.
I know what's for dinner tomorrow night!, but got to go now. I will continue crew introductions and more news tomorrow.
Best wishes,
Bill Strassberg and crew, SY Visions of Johanna
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SY Visions of Johanna
North Atlantic Ocean
Conditions:
TWD 210 degrees; SOG 7.1 knots; Sunny morning with high cloud cover developing this afternoon
Position:
27 24.5N/79 05.4W - Just NW of Little Bahama Bank and Matanilla Shoal
775 nm to reach our Bermuda approach WP
We are now underway, and when I think of how much we accomplished over the past week as we prepared for departure, I can't believe we ticked the boxes off most all of our to-do list. Andrew and I arrived last Tuesday and hit the ground running on Wednesday. Andrew had a long list of projects to accomplish and also drove our raft to the west coast on Friday for servicing. Jack (aka the cavalry) arrived Sunday and took on his own set of chores. Together, we got it done.
Andrew and I stayed in Boca Raton with my parents for the entire week, and Jack spent the night there Sunday before we moved onto the boat on Monday. Meanwhile, as we were ticking our boxes, my mother cooked and froze so many offshore meals that we ran out of freezer space and had to eat one last night - at anchor!! Thank you mom, and prep chef dad. Our friends Kyle and Kathy then joined us for a pre-departure dinner on Monday night, great time, and then Kathy went off with my used staysail to use for projects for her and friends. I do hope that we get royalties. K&K also brought a journal for Andrew, to memorialize his adventure. Quite cool!
Lissy arrived yesterday, mid morning, and then we were quickly off to West Palm Beach. I had decided that a WPB departure would be much more straight forward - no dock lines, power cords, or fenders to put away. Just get up and go. That said, we were delayed an hour this morning by thunderstorms, but were underway by 9 AM.
Yesterdays sail from Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach (technically, Lake Worth Inlet) gave the crew a feel for the boat and a chance to handle lines and navigation programs. It also allowed us to sea trail two systems that were reworked over the past month. Sure enough, the new water maker feed pump had an air block in it, and I had to spend a while priming the pump - only a small challenge underway in 20 knots. Same issue for the aircon unit which we used to "take the heat out" of the cabin. That pump needed to be primed too, in part because the 42 nm sail to West Palm was in bouncy with seas from the starboard quarter, and I think we took some air into the through hull. 20 plus knots of wind built over the afternoon as rainstorms and a bit of lightening skimmed by us in the western sky - fortunately staying over land. Andrew also checked the Aquadrive bolts after 7 hours motoring (units were rebuilt), and 2 bolts were loose and spinning. Access was not easy, but with "been there, done that" experience, we shorted the shaft brake sender unit and spun the shaft so we could get to the nuts on the back of the bolts. Job done. Tick the box. Glad we did the test sail.
Todays weather is light SSW winds, easing from from 10 to 6 knots through the day. Seas are soft and smooth. Light overcast right now.
Brief interlude - just caught a Barracuda and threw it back.
Should be at least another day of light winds and seas, an okay start for this crew; Wind might veer to be on the bow, but hopefully less than 8 knots. And of course, we are eating well. Seared tuna with a green salad last night, followed by NCIS and a goodbye to Michael Weatherly. Meatball subs and pasta, or Turkey roll-ups have been enjoyed for lunches, and...Meatloaf, green salad, and vegetable is on tap for tonight. Food is good, showers are hot. What more could we want?
This is a great crew. Jack has done 2 passages with me and knows the boat and our routines. He's always asking what he can do...
Not so brief interlude - we just landed and I just dressed two small to medium size Tunas, about 15 - 18 pounds each I would say. Not yellowfin but tuna family. Unfortunately do not have a fish ID book with me.
I know what's for dinner tomorrow night!, but got to go now. I will continue crew introductions and more news tomorrow.
Best wishes,
Bill Strassberg and crew, SY Visions of Johanna
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Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Saturday Update, 10/31
S/Y Visions of Johanna
43 miles east of St. Augustine
Wind SE, 6 kn
Hello everyone. All is well on board Visions of Johanna; Tom and I are nearly half way through the passage to West Palm Beach. Yesterday started with better sailing than expected, finding NE 12-16 kn, but engine went on at 3 PM as wind has slowly clocked and eased, now SE 6-8 kn.
Great burgers and (oven baked) fries for dinner last night, with a big salad. There were quiet watches overnight except for calls for exclusion zones around military vessels doing live fire operations. "Sailing yacht" is one thing, "motor vessel" or "cargo ship" are others, but these guys say "War Ship" 61, or 55 or something...and the war part kind of gets your attention. One call was for unlit night time "helo" procedures. At one point I jumped out as I heard what I though was a ship nearby, one that I could hear but some how not see. Turns out it was a helocopter stealthily approaching us. I figured it out when their spotlight lit us up like a Christmas tree.
193 mile to go. Hope for arrival late morning or so tomorrow.
Best,
Bill and Tom
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43 miles east of St. Augustine
Wind SE, 6 kn
Hello everyone. All is well on board Visions of Johanna; Tom and I are nearly half way through the passage to West Palm Beach. Yesterday started with better sailing than expected, finding NE 12-16 kn, but engine went on at 3 PM as wind has slowly clocked and eased, now SE 6-8 kn.
Great burgers and (oven baked) fries for dinner last night, with a big salad. There were quiet watches overnight except for calls for exclusion zones around military vessels doing live fire operations. "Sailing yacht" is one thing, "motor vessel" or "cargo ship" are others, but these guys say "War Ship" 61, or 55 or something...and the war part kind of gets your attention. One call was for unlit night time "helo" procedures. At one point I jumped out as I heard what I though was a ship nearby, one that I could hear but some how not see. Turns out it was a helocopter stealthily approaching us. I figured it out when their spotlight lit us up like a Christmas tree.
193 mile to go. Hope for arrival late morning or so tomorrow.
Best,
Bill and Tom
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Sunday, November 1, 2015
Saturday Update, 10/31
S/Y Visions of Johanna
1 November, 2015
10:30 AM
32 46.3/78 41.8 North Atlantic
60 miles east of Charleston
Bar 1022 mb
Hello everyone. Sorry for the tardy mail...we were preoccupied landing a small tuna...about 8-10 pounds, a skip jack or bonito. Unfortunately, not a yellow fin. But we are not complaining. Yes, all is well on board Visions of Johanna. It was nice that everyone was awake this morning and we enjoyed eggs and bagels together for breakfast, all the while reminding Jack that the change to EST was why he had to take an extra watch last night.
As anticipated, wind veered to the east by 6 PM and SE by 10 PM last night, and finally was south by 0500. What we did not expect was 12-15 knots wind speed throughout, and we had good sailing through most of the night. Tom made the call to get more sail up and shut down engine about 1 AM, and we sailed nearly to 6 AM when wind finally came all the way to the SSW. By 6 AM it was SSW, and now veered more to WSW, speed 10-12 knots. We are motor sailing on a rhumb line to Hilton Head, just cracked off from head on wind to keep the main sail filled. GRIBS suggest winds will ease slightly and perhaps even back to the south or even SE by 6 to 8 PM tonight, which would be nice and more favorable than the SW we are seeing now.
Yesterday was another enjoyable day on board. Malcolm and Jack prepared egg/tuna salad sandwiches and we ate lunch (and dinner) al fresco in the cockpit. Jack prepared superb smoked salmon appetizers, and the crew celebrated Visions of Johanna's birthday with a toast as I made the proper offering. And, as for dinner, you know we are eating well when the crew is whining about how much food is served, as we enjoyed eggplant parmigiana (thanks again, MOM!!), pasta, and a large green salad with pumpkin muffins for desert - thanks, Jo, (who is always here in spirit).
No trick-or-treaters last night.
And, I suspect tuna loins will be on the menu for tonight!
About 100 nm to go to our waypoint at the entry to Port Royal Sound - and then 20 miles or so into the bay. A pre-dawn entry is in the works in current conditions. If wind/sea conditions remain reasonable, we will head in on approach, as the channel is very well marked and lit, the bay inside is wide open, and I have been there before. There's even been some crew talk about pushing on, which I guess is a good thing for a captain to hear (from a happy, fun, and sated crew point of view).
Next check in will be tomorrow morning...from Hilton Head.
Sailing smoothly,
Bill and crew
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1 November, 2015
10:30 AM
32 46.3/78 41.8 North Atlantic
60 miles east of Charleston
Bar 1022 mb
Hello everyone. Sorry for the tardy mail...we were preoccupied landing a small tuna...about 8-10 pounds, a skip jack or bonito. Unfortunately, not a yellow fin. But we are not complaining. Yes, all is well on board Visions of Johanna. It was nice that everyone was awake this morning and we enjoyed eggs and bagels together for breakfast, all the while reminding Jack that the change to EST was why he had to take an extra watch last night.
As anticipated, wind veered to the east by 6 PM and SE by 10 PM last night, and finally was south by 0500. What we did not expect was 12-15 knots wind speed throughout, and we had good sailing through most of the night. Tom made the call to get more sail up and shut down engine about 1 AM, and we sailed nearly to 6 AM when wind finally came all the way to the SSW. By 6 AM it was SSW, and now veered more to WSW, speed 10-12 knots. We are motor sailing on a rhumb line to Hilton Head, just cracked off from head on wind to keep the main sail filled. GRIBS suggest winds will ease slightly and perhaps even back to the south or even SE by 6 to 8 PM tonight, which would be nice and more favorable than the SW we are seeing now.
Yesterday was another enjoyable day on board. Malcolm and Jack prepared egg/tuna salad sandwiches and we ate lunch (and dinner) al fresco in the cockpit. Jack prepared superb smoked salmon appetizers, and the crew celebrated Visions of Johanna's birthday with a toast as I made the proper offering. And, as for dinner, you know we are eating well when the crew is whining about how much food is served, as we enjoyed eggplant parmigiana (thanks again, MOM!!), pasta, and a large green salad with pumpkin muffins for desert - thanks, Jo, (who is always here in spirit).
No trick-or-treaters last night.
And, I suspect tuna loins will be on the menu for tonight!
About 100 nm to go to our waypoint at the entry to Port Royal Sound - and then 20 miles or so into the bay. A pre-dawn entry is in the works in current conditions. If wind/sea conditions remain reasonable, we will head in on approach, as the channel is very well marked and lit, the bay inside is wide open, and I have been there before. There's even been some crew talk about pushing on, which I guess is a good thing for a captain to hear (from a happy, fun, and sated crew point of view).
Next check in will be tomorrow morning...from Hilton Head.
Sailing smoothly,
Bill and crew
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