Day 1

Dear Friends,

Well.  The day has arrived. The crew was fed well last night at the Beaufort Grocery Store....one of Beaufort's best restaurants.  We had fun.  It is a tradition for the captain to feed the crew before and after a passage.  I will definitely hold to the tradition.  We finished the night shooting pool at the Royal James Cafe listening to the Allman Brothers "Ramblin' Man and "Sweet Melissa" and one last Budweiser.

 The pictures above are a bird's eye view from the top of Morpheus's mast...about 78 feet above sea level.  They were shot by my newest crew member, MacCrae Robinson.  His comment upon reaching the deck:  "That is a lot higher than it looks when you are standing on the deck."  I could have predicted that response.  The first picture is of the Morpheus's deck...and the second is a sunset from Beaufort...except a little higher.

The weather will test us a little on Day 1.  15-25 knots out of the south, southeast.  After tonight it settles down and should move into the southwest.  The rest of the week looks good.  Thunderstorms forecast for today but once we get away from land we should be OK.

I will undoubtedly post next from Bermuda.  Thanks to all for following  along.

Rick

Day Before

Dear Friends,

It is Monday morning.  I have been hashing out emails since my coffee shop opened at 6:30.  The crew arrives today carpooling in 2 different cars.  I got to Beaufort on Saturday morning.  It has been a productive 2 days.  Everything seems in order.  There are always things to do around a boat...but nothing major left to do.  It is mainly odds-and-ends at this point.  We have to load the rest of the provisions, fill the water and fuel tanks, wash the boat down one last time, and settle a few oustanding local accounts.

Things are in pretty good order at work.  I have reconciled that I will never really be caught up and some things will undoubtedly not get done.  I have made peace with that.  I continue to try and do as much as possible and then it will be done.  No emails, no phone, etc.  I look forward to that part of things.

I have never been very good at inaction, and this is proving no exception.  I have been a little surprised of the "pit in my stomach" that seems to recur the past 24 hours whenever I stop doing something.  It really is time to get started. 

Weather is always pivotal on any passage.  I refuse to look too early.  It never pays off.  As of this morning, it looks like Tuesday and Wednesday will be breezy..20-30 knot on Tuesday night.  It is a little unclear the wind direction but it looks like the wind will be either SE, S, or SW.  I am expecting SE which isn't perfect but much better than anything out of the north that would stand up waves in the Gulf Stream.  If we get lucky the wind be S or SW (prediction south of Hatteras Canyon).  That would be perfect.  Beaufort's latitude is 34.718 and Bermuda is 32.2254 so there is not a lot of south that has to be made.  It is mainly east.  First, the chore is heading through the stream.  I expect arrival in Bermuda on May 21.  I will update everyone then. 

We should be off the dock around 8:30 AM tomorrow...that is exactly high tide.  Maybe, that is a good omen.

Thanks to everyone for their support and understanding these past weeks and months.  I especially owe Katie a huge thanks for all her love and understanding as we beat a path back and forth between Winston Salem and Beaufort.  There were a lot of hours of driving, cleaning, preparing the boat.  Morpheus is ready.  I feel as ready as any old-man of 55 could hope. 

I finish with a quote of a new piece of art that Katie bought for the boat this spring:

"You cannot cross the sea by staring at the water."

Best wishes to all.  I will draw from everyone's strength and will update in Bermuda.

Cap'n Rick