Duo set sail for 1,000 days alone at sea
- Thread starter vinnie
- Start date
Farewell and adieu my fair Spanish ladies, farewell and adieu ye fair ladies of Spain...
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For **** sake, four days in and they are lost already:scared
Day 4 Reid & Soanya Encounter the Navy
Wednesday, 25 April 2007
We were just buzzed by a low and very slow flying Navy plane. When he came back again and buzzed us even closer, I cut the VHF radio on to channel 16. He called us sailboat Anne. We couldn't imagine how he could read our little name under the stern. He told us they were conducting firing tests and to go on a course of 225?. We agreed to do that and found that course took us southwest, back to land. He buzzed us again, gave us coordinates 25 miles away and told us we could resume our course there. We were off course when they contacted us anyway because the wind was shifting. Now with the wind out of the SE, we have to go NE to fall back on a course that would take us across the Atlantic. So our voyage begins with some aimless wandering. I thought we were out in the Atlantic free to roam where the winds will take us. Now we are wondering if the Navy will buzz us again. I wonder if that accounts for why we didn't see any ships yesterday or last night.
:SIB
Day 4 Reid & Soanya Encounter the Navy
Wednesday, 25 April 2007
We were just buzzed by a low and very slow flying Navy plane. When he came back again and buzzed us even closer, I cut the VHF radio on to channel 16. He called us sailboat Anne. We couldn't imagine how he could read our little name under the stern. He told us they were conducting firing tests and to go on a course of 225?. We agreed to do that and found that course took us southwest, back to land. He buzzed us again, gave us coordinates 25 miles away and told us we could resume our course there. We were off course when they contacted us anyway because the wind was shifting. Now with the wind out of the SE, we have to go NE to fall back on a course that would take us across the Atlantic. So our voyage begins with some aimless wandering. I thought we were out in the Atlantic free to roam where the winds will take us. Now we are wondering if the Navy will buzz us again. I wonder if that accounts for why we didn't see any ships yesterday or last night.
:SIB
Day 15 - Collision at Sea
Sunday, 06 May 2007
Last night we had a collision with a freighter vessel. No one was hurt and the boat is fine except the bowsprit is bent and now useless and we don't have a roller-furling unit or jib sheet. We are engaged in emergency repairs and more will follow soon.
Sunday, 06 May 2007
Last night we had a collision with a freighter vessel. No one was hurt and the boat is fine except the bowsprit is bent and now useless and we don't have a roller-furling unit or jib sheet. We are engaged in emergency repairs and more will follow soon.
They ran into another boat?
LMFAO!!!
Nice job, captain! Maybe Exxon can hire you to drive an oil rig..
LMFAO!!!
Nice job, captain! Maybe Exxon can hire you to drive an oil rig..
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
This Old Boat
September 4, 2007
Day 135
Fiberglassing the Galley Hatch
Wind ESE 10 knots, Course NE, Speed 3-4 knots, Position: 06? 28 S, 04? 10 W
We didn't mean for our daily story to be ?This Old Boat Show- How to Repair a Schooner at Sea,? but since this is what I do all day everyday (hopefully for not too many months more) this is our tale to tell at the moment. Anyway, it seems there is a lot of interest in the How To part of the expedition. I've just rebuilt the galley hatch. It was one of those jobs where I knew it was rotten for a year or so and I had so many other jobs to get going, I put it on the back burner along with a list of other maintenance jobs and said, ?I'll fix that when we get to sea.? Our major rebuild of the bowsprit and rigging took up all of my working time and all the other jobs got pushed back until they started to build up. I'm still not finished with all the things I could repair from the collision, but we are sailing well and I had to get on with other jobs like the galley hatch, tiny cracks in the huge hull from our winter stay on the Jersey pier and general maintenance.
In the photo, I am applying the fiberglass matte to the new plywood on the galley hatch. I sanded the carpentry work smooth and painted it with polyester resin. When I lay the carefully cut matte down, it will soak up the resin. I'll paint more on and smooth it out. The resin hardens quite fast. Then I grind it again, do some little touch ups, and put the handles and fittings back on. The whole job is taking me a lot longer than I hoped but everything, including sharpening the chisels, has to be done correctly. I'll insulate the inside later when I have time. I have set September aside as a warm calm month to get the long list of jobs done. Then we will head south to colder rougher weather where it will be much harder for me to work, but hopefully all the years of preparation will hold up and we will be able to make the next leg of the voyage without too many emergency repairs.
Soanya's View:
I think we've entered the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) again. The water was that distinct teal hunter green and we saw some sea life. Yesterday we sighted some porpoises swimming by the boat and I said, ?Well we're going to have good weather tonight.? They never seem to be around when it rained or got rough. Sure enough we saw more stars last night than we've seen in while, even if it was a little hazy up there. Then this morning I saw a tiny bird flying by. It had white wing tips and looked too small to be out here, but there it was. It's good laundry weather too. I'll try to take advantage of it. I've been washing small bits of clothing here and there, but I was waiting for some hot days with sun so I can be sure that they dry well. Damp clothes are frustrating to deal with. We found a small bag of corn to pop. Who knew how long that's been in the cupboard, but surprisingly, it popped well enough in a hot pan on the stove. We sprinkled on some cheese oil and salt and had a fine afternoon snack. Popcorn wasn't on our food wish list and it would have been nice to have some more, but I guess you can't think of everything in advance.
