Huzzah!!

We have just spent the last 3 full days sailing close-hauled into light winds, heeled over at an angle of 15 to 20 degrees. Normally, I would avoid such a course, but we were 400 miles east of Bermuda with only north east winds in the forecast for the next few days and no desire to motor that far.
All our normal routines became abnormal as we adjusted to living on the "low-side" of the boat. We read, we slept and we fretted as our boat launched off a wave and landed in the trough with a loud thud, but H2OBO handled it beautifully. Now we are motoring the last 60 miles with our eyes peeled looking for the first signs of land - BERMUDA!
As I write this, we have been at sea for 8 days, and it has been magical. The first 5 days were on a beam reach as we took the winds north and north east in an attempt to get north over a persistent high pressure ridge that was in our path when we left Florida. The winds circle around a high clockwise in the northern hemisphere so we needed to get above it to find westerly winds to take us east. As a result, we moved well north of our rhumbline course. Such, I guess, is life at sea. It gives me a deep respect for mariners who traveled before all the conveniences like GRIB, weatherfax, NAVTEX, and SSB radios that we have were available. We who have those things now have a pretty good idea of what to expect weather and sea-statewise, but they pretty much rolled the dice and relied on observations of clouds, air pressure,waves, and marine life. We never did get those westerlies and, as a result, had to sail into the wind.
I would like to thank Herb Hilgenberg, who tirelessly and voluntarily helps people cross vast distances by lending them his weather routing expertise over SSB radio every day. Thank you, Herb.
The whole experience has had a surreal quality to it. Our home has been moving, steered by our Cape Horn wind pilot exclusively and unerringly. We have been surrounded by an endless sea and sky by day and blanketed by countless stars at night. Occasionally a bird or a fish or another vessel appears and disappears and then it's just us alone again. We saw a whale jumping joyfully a few miles away, but never got a chance to find out what she was so happy about.

Morning,   Bermuda bound

We expect to drop anchor in St. Georges Harbour tonight and bring this part of our journey across the Atlantic to a close. Maggie is on the lookout in the cockpit and when she calls out "Land Ho!", I will be delighted to see Bermuda but I will look astern to burn indelibly into my memory our first crossing to a foreign land aboard our little sailboat.
Branko

Report from the Ships Cat

Ahoy me Mateys.
I have enjoyed living on the dock these last weeks. Everything was comfortable, steady and very hot (for someone who wears a fur coat all the time, it was at times unbearable.) The only thing I might have changed was my unexpected swim - thank goodness for my claws, upper body strength and Branko. I really did not want to let go of the piling.
It's been only recently that I started back to my early evening walk and lounge on the deck.

enough already with the cat pics....

But as all things must change, the engine turned on and off we went.
I am not fond of the engine noise, especially when complemented by pitching and heaving seas. The weather was good to us- overnight the wind was steady and had us close to the port side pilings - as we were ready to cast off the wind died completely allowing us a smooth departure from our slip.
We were taking advantage of the ebb tide, but as you all know sometimes the tide is not so exact. Not only did I have to contend with that engine but then went head first into standing waves,needless to say I was not happy and made it known. I have been prone, these last few sails to leaving a mess down below, so I was made to sit in the cockpit with Branko and Maggie. I had a new harness and was tethered. A good thing since i pooped, alot, on the cockpit seats. Me, I did not like it at all, not sure how the family felt but likely the same. Eventually, I just fell asleep and continued to sleep for the next day.
We are now into our 4th day on the Atlantic. The first day out, cloudy but flat seas with a light wind, we rode north with a south east wind and tried to make as much east as possible. When we hit the gulf stream we picked up 2-3 knots sending us north. Lots of chatter on the radio from fishermen. They sit on the edge and/or in the gulf stream and look for trails of weeds, which generally provides good fishing.
This is our 3rd crossing of the gulf stream, and can now say all crossings went fine with reasonable sea state. Our luck is that each time we cross, we are close enough to enter the steam thereby find the best weather windows for the journey.
Surprisingly we have seen little in the way of life out here (so far.) A few dolphins ,a couple of jets and one sailboat going the opposite direction. We did watch three birds, white bodies, with black patches and long skinny tails -play with the boat. They swooped down around the mast chattering to each other, sounding like a creaky door - very nice sound. Beautiful birds.
On our second day we picked up the energy to do a headsail change from the yankee to the genoa and also rigged and sailed the gennaker for a few hours. Hard work.

Laundry on the Atlantic

 The third day we did laundry(I know,already?) Branko rigged up a washing bucket made from a large square pail with a lid, strapped to the bulkhead, by the cockpit stairs - out of the way. We fill it with 1/4 fresh water and detergent, drop the clothes in, and wait for the boat to start moving (our agitator cycle.)
The first three days, the sailing was calm with very little wind, but we made good time considering - and the journey has been pleasant. Today, the fourth day the wind has picked up and we have a furled in genoa, staysail up and reefed main and still going over 7 knots - big difference.
We are still figuring out the best watches. Generally, we all stay awake during the day. At 3:30-4:00 we talk to Herb , after pulling up a grib file for weather. We review and start reducing sail, having dinner and figure our next move. I have been quite good (knock on wood) at night and snuggle up to whoever is sleeping. I crawl up on to the berth, put my head on the pillow and then plop down so that I am curled up against the sleeper - very comfortable and soothing for me.
We likely have another 5 or so days left to arrive Bermuda. Will be happy to be anchored yet again, especially with our new anchor.

Till later, the ships cat.

One Hundred Miles Closer

Sunrise - leaving Florida for Bermuda

We left Florida 24 hours ago, and so far it has been great. We had light head winds as we slowly made our way towards the Gulf Stream. Once in we followed it north on a comfortable beam reach overnight. Maggie and I had comfortable watches, so we will both be well rested today.
Yesterday afternoon, we made radio contact with Herb Hilgenberg, who has been voluntarily providing weather routing services for voyagers for many years. He believes we should have fine sailing weather for the next few days. Additionally, I can retrieve GRIB and weatherfax files via the ham radio, so we feel that we are on top of any weather developments.

Sophie,  hanging on.

The boat is sailing beautifully with our Cape Horn wind pilot, working jib and our new mainsail deployed. The sky was clear and crowded with stars. The half moon rose during Maggie's watch and she reported that it looked like an orange slice. Magical!
The only one not too happy with the trip is Sophie, but she is starting to get her sea legs and will be fine.
Branko