A quick post this time, as I am writing this at 1130 PM and we are planning on casting off lines from USVI tomorrow. More on that in a minute.

It seems fitting that Maggie and Bill Rose were our final crew on Ithaka before we head north. We have skiied, biked, hiked and now sailed with them for over 40 years, and it was a blast having them back onboard to reminisce about old adventures and plan new ones. We toured Kitty's and my favorite spots in the Virgin Islands National Park - went snorkeling in Waterlemon and Little Lampshure Bays,

hiked to Skinny Legs bar for a burger and beer, sweat profusely on a mid-day hike to see petroglyphs (who planned that one, David?),





and did some amazing sailing and on-the-job training as we circumnavigated the island of St John.


We watched the full moon rise from remote anchorages surrounded by rocky beaches and untouched forests. And of course no visit would be worthy without a visit to the good ship Pizza Pi, where there was actually a floating birthday bash with a live band on the next boat.

Thanks for joining us for round 2, M&B.

Now back to today. We have been looking at weather conditions for our planned sail to Bermuda for a week now, and it was not looking good - 3-4 meter swells, wind on the nose, predicted cold fronts passing through.


And that was just to get to Bermuda; the sail from Bermuda to NY is generally thought to be the more challenging passage. Kitty and I were sitting in the cockpit bemoaning our fate (oh no, we might have to spend another week in USVI), when we remembered some wisdom from our sailing coach Jamie Gifford who had said that it is often easier to make the passage directly to the southeast US rather than stopping in Bermuda. We set up a call with Charlie our weather guru, he looked at the forecasts and agreed...could we leave tomorrow? Yikes! Luckily I am married to the most organized woman on the planet. We were mostly provisioned and had a rig check scheduled for tomorrow morning. We quickly hoisted the dinghy onto the deck, tied the storm jib to the bow, filled up with water and diesel, and did most of the myriad other tasks required for an offshore passage.

Our target is Norfolk, Va, almost 1500 miles away. We estimate that it will take 10-12 days to get there, which will make it the longest passage that Kitty and I have done on our own.


We will do rotating 3 hour watches at night, and will need to be careful to make sure that we stay sharp and as rested as possible. The first few days of sailing should be pretty straightforward, with 15-20 knot winds on the beam. After that it becomes less clear, with a front predicted to cross our paths off of the Carolinas. Safety will be our first priority - we will be in contact with Charlie daily for weather info, and may make a stopover in the Bahamas or Charleston SC if needed. We are excited and a little nervous! It is hard to believe that it has been almost a year since we picked up Ithaka in Sweden.

To follow our track https://share.garmin.com/sailingithaka