An unexpectedly nice sail...
01 November 2011 | Aligator River, MIle 102 on the Intracoastal Waterway
Markus
After a windy night at anchor we had a very nice sail today, broad reaching in 20kn N winds across the Albermarle Sound and down the first part of the Aligator River (went for a brief dip despite the threatening name ;-). Watching development of the long-term weather outlook with great suspense, still hoping for a 05/06NOV departure from Beaufort towards the Caribbean.... stay tuned...
Re-tracing our steps
31 October 2011 | Buck Island, MIle 56 on the Intracoastal Waterway
Markus
We left Hampton at day break yesterday (Sunday) morning and started our way south towards Beaufort, NC, along the ICW. When we passed Norfolk two hours later it really felt like crossing our own wake from three years ago. At that time we had parted ways with Arearea and went out of the Chesapeake for a 3- day off-shore sail sail up to Cape Cod and then on to Maine. Coming down this year we finally stopped at all the places we missed in 2008 when rushing north, a very different experience this time...
After two very cold nights (5°C/40°F in the cabin this morning...) we have to admit that we are fair weather sailors and very eager to make tracks further south. From Beaufort, we hope to get a weather window early next week to leave for a (hopefully) 9-10 day passage to Jamaica. There currently is disagreement between European and US weather forecast models on the longer term outlook. We hope that the European model (its outlook is less favorable to us) got side-tracked by the Euro debt crisis ... stay tuned...
Among Friends
23 October 2011 | Coan River, VA
Had a very nice reunion with Liz, Jeff an Jen from
Boundless last night and spend the night off their dock in a beautiful and quiet little anchor-spot all to ourselves (picture above shows sunrise).