Tom
04/26/2009, 20 32'N:65 01'W, 135 miles north of St. Thomas

I am reporting in to all the newest Flash of Beauty fans who are friends and family of Lily. First, feel free to comment on the blog, but know that we can not read any comments until we get to land and have wifi. You can email your comments to us at flashofbeauty@ocens.net. Yes that is the way we spell ocens. Please keep the emails short or we will not be able to read them with the Sat phone. Our first night was a little lumpy with the wind forward of the beam and at 20 kts. I tried to slow the boat down and had three reefs in the main, a few rolls in the jib, and the ballasts tanks full of sea water. We average around 6.5 to 7 knots most of the night. We stood three hour watches with Lily taking the 6-9 pm and the 12-3 am shifts. The wind vane did all the steering. So all we had to do was look for boats (no boats), stay on course (Lilly, the wind vane did that) and try to stay dry (impossible). Lily, the crew, did great despite having some problems with seasickness. We are not quite through the first 24 hours, and she is showing new signs of life. She says she will report in soon. Meanwhile it is more warm but wet conditions as we reel off the miles.

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Tom and the newest Lily
04/25/2009, 18 20'N:64 57'W, Crown Bay Marina St. Thomas, USVI

I now have two Lilies on boad, one wind vane and one real live crew, and a Maine woman. I met her at a bar here in St. Thomas with her mother and her sister and Jake Gerritsen who introduced me to her. She is also the daughter of my cardiologist and hockey foe, Ralph Hamill. We hope to leave today, Saturday April 25th and head to Bermuda. It will be the first offshore experience for one Lily and just another passage for the other Lilly. We will try to keep you posted.

You might be wondering who the heck I am... And I'm sort of wondering what the heck I'm doing here. It has all been a matter of chance and coincidence, all that 'being in the right place at the right time' stuff. I never expected to cancel my flight home and hop on a boat to Bermuda, but that's just what I've done! I can definitely say after the quick sail yesterday, Flash of Beauty is certainly a few years a head of the sail boat I'm used to cruising on in Penobscot Bay. I'm looking forward to learning everything Tom is willing to teach me- this is certainly going to be an adventure!

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Tom
04/16/2009, 34 50'N:66 44'W,

We are one day out from Bermuda. It is dark, raining, windy, and lumpy. We are beam reaching towards the gulf stream's southern wall, and we hope to reach it tomorrow night. Jeff is searching for his sea legs, and I am on the wonder drug from Bermuda. No not Goslings but Stugeron, a motion sickness medicine available over the counter in Bermuda but not approved in the US.We are heading to Newport as Maine just looks too cold.

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