15 Day Passage to Bermuda

Hello Everyone,

While our passage took 15 days and it seems there would be much to tell, there really isn't. And because this internet cafe costs $14 an hour this will be a bit of a short posting.

We left the Azores trying to get south to get into the tradewinds for an easy passage west, but the winds kept pushing us northward of our line to Bermuda. For most of the journey the wind was from the southwest--the direction we wanted to head-- and the often 2-3 meter swell was also southwesterly so the Ile de Grace did a lot of slapping against the waves and we developed a motion, which Captain Larry calls the "nodding dog." If you remember those bobbing head dogs that sat on the back dash of car windows, then that is what our own heads began to feel like. Ususally, the weather was cloudy, and cool and we were often damp.

This trip I tried to take videos, and I apologize for the poor quality--I did not always stop recording when I thought I had. The sound is terrible because of the wind, but hopefully you can get a sense of the motion of most of our days.

In this next video, I tried to show you how we had our traveler to the port side while under sail. This was necessary after our stantion broke on May 19th. (Dominique and Alex were on deck at the time and we quick to respond, by releasing the boom. Larry was quick to come up with a temporary fix, and after a few phone calls on the satellite phone, we were back underway.) I introduce Otto von Helm (our auto pilot) who does most of the driving 24-7, doesn't drink or sleep on the job, and only very occassionally loses his grip. (But then don't we all?) I also introduce Old Sea Dog, our mascot. He sits on watch 24-7 on top of the Navigation Table looking out over our bow. He too never drinks or sleeps on the job, and has kept us out of any serious trouble. We are grateful and I will miss him when he leaves the ship with Larry. I also tried to video myself signing off--please ignore.

[After spending 40 minutes uploading this video, it failed. Sorry. Will try to fix when I get home and don't have to pay an arm and a leg to post.]

And finally, Larry, Alex and Dominique all say hello.

After Larry's 12volt inverter--which we used to charge his computer for weather reports--stopped working, Alex lost access to the necessary power source to run his computer. Thus, the chess matches he and Dominique were having came to an abrupt halt. But no worries, they created their own chess board and were soon back at it.

Will try to post on our brief stay in Bermuda later. Cheers, Jennifer