The Beginning

I woke up for my 4 AM watch on Friday to a different energy, with Clay and Thomas organizing the boat for arrival into Stonington. The lights of Montauk were directly in front of us, with the typical party fishing boats scattered all around us, lit up like Christmas trees. One guy yells out on the radio, "Hey, da sailboat off Montauk, what's ya couuuse and speed?" Welcome back to the USA.

As soon as we hit Lords passage, the fog thickened, with the radar painting our path towards Stonington harbor. A 645 AM dock arrival puts the time enroute at 7 days, 16 hours and 45 minutes. Clay wins the 10 dollar pot, with Thomas and me happy for his win!

At the dock, we are told that Customs can't reach us until close to 10 AM, despite calling them at 330 AM with our ETA. They inform us that Sequestration has limited their response time. Very friendly guys from Customs and a fellow US Coast Guard officer. They clear us instantly.

As I reflect on this delivery, a few things come to mind; the love of sailing and the sea, time to reflect away from the business of the rest of the world, reflection on family and friends, and last, how fortunate I am to be in the company of two really great guys who I like and admire, where 8 days together reveals things about people you would not learn in other situations, and that this is mostly about the people we choose to spend time with...............

After a frustrating night of confused and lumpy seas, no wind and slow progress, we woke up and pushed toward the Gulf Stream, and spent most of the day at 9.5 to 10 knots enjoying a northward push. It has gotten noticeably cooler this evening and we are down to only a knot of Gulf Stream current so we sense we are close to exiting the west wall of the stream with one possible meander pushing us through the night. Porpoises, man o war, flying fish, and offshore birds were abundant today. We have seen essentially no other boat traffic on this trip; 3 freighters, one sailboat. Tonight may be different as we begin to pick up NY traffic. We are getting closer, and since this is a boat, and things break, we have decided to forego ETA.

We are riding in some unexpected sea conditions and glad we arent going the other way, with winds southeasterly high 20's occasionally gusting to 35 knots. Seas are getting steeper as we near the gulf stream. The great news is that we are clicking off close to 10 knots over the bottom. After 2 hours at the helm, we are each relieved to have a 4 hour break as steering the Swan 61 is a bit of work in the lumps: plenty of exercise!

Thomas screamed from the helm ( a good scream) having managed to hit 15 knots surfing down a sizable wave a couple of hours ago. But, just now, clay hit 15.1. Sorry Thomas! Something tells me clay has done this before!

I will give you an update tomorrow night,, where we will have a better idea of arrival, but it looks like Clay may win the pot, possible ETA Friday early.

We crossed the halfway point exactly 4 days out of Virgin Gorda today at 2 PM. . The winds have been very favorable over the last 36 hours with 18 to 25 knots out of the southeast. If we can hold this through tonight and tomorrow, we might get in to Stonington Friday morning, but with sailing, anything can happen! . While the winds are expected to lighten along the east coast north of cape hatteras, we are far enough offshore to hopefully ride this a bit longer. Bermuda is 270 miles to our east northeast, our closest point of land. Even with with lightening winds, we should be in the Gulf Stream by midnight tomorrow night hopefully sustaining our speed to allow us 175 mile plus days.

On watch, 10 pm, winds 25 knots out of the east. We passed the one third mark this afternoon.Thomas and Clay catching some rest between watches.AIS shows us within 4 miles from another sailboat up ahead, same size, called the Marie Elena, headed in the same direction, about a knot slower. We should pass about 3 miles apart, just having picked up her stern light. Fun to think about what they are thinking as they see us.

A great dinner by Thomas once again and a very comfortable boat for the journey home. Making 8.5 knots so clicking off the miles to Stonington , hoping to grab the Gulf Stream midnight Tuesday for the final 3 days, still hoping for a Friday arrival.