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 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
3rd Day out. Haven't heard anything from Morpheus, but Mike is keeping us posted, expecting to hear something via Sat phone soon.
ReplyDeleteNot too worried about the Sat phone not working - Davis and Rick talked about hoping to get it working in "72 hours - amybe more".
My guess is that the crossing has been pretty uneventful so far, except perhaps an occastional rain storm and hopefully a few fish caught in the Stream. rick told me he planned to sail due East for the first 24 hrs, b/c the winds would be out of the SE (as they were). However this means the Stream took them about 80 miles further north. With 20 knot winds they should have covered 150-160 miles the first day. The 2nd day the winds turned more favorable, out of the SW, so they were able to turn more directly toward Bermuda. Winds lighter, bu no longer fighting the Stream, so probably another 160 miles. Plus mostly sun, just a few showers, and seas settling down(4-6 ft). Tonight out to be beautiful sailing for them - clear skies, full moon, gentle breeze..
Here is the NOAA Marine Forecast. It's only valid East as far as Longitude 73 ( they should be beyond that now), but I suspect it gets even better further out toward Bermuda.
SYNOPSIS FOR MID ATLC WATERS...A WEAK COLD FRONT E OF 73W WILL DRIFT E OF THE AREA TONIGHT AND DISSIPATE. WEAK LOW PRES OVER
ERN PENNSYLVANIA WILL MOVE NE TONIGHT...DRIFT OFF THE NRN NEW
JERSEY COAST AND LONG ISLAND FRI AND FRI NIGHT...THEN PASS SE
ACROSS THE NRN WATERS SAT. A TROUGH WILL EXTEND SW FROM THE LOW
AS IT CROSSES THE AREA SAT. A HIGH PRES RIDGE WILL BUILD
OFFSHORE FROM THE N SAT NIGHT AND SUN...AND WEAKEN AS IT PASSES
SE ACROSS THE WATERS MON. A WARM FRONT WILL MOVE NE ACROSS THE
NW WATERS MON. A LOW PRES TROUGH WILL APPROACH THE MID ATLC
STATES MON AFTERNOON. A COLD FRONT WILL APPROACH FROM THE NW
LATE MON AND MOVE INTO THE N WATERS LATE TUE.
ANZ086-200300-
HATTERAS CANYON TO CAPE FEAR OUT TO 34N 71W TO 32N 73W
500 PM EDT THU MAY 19 2011
TONIGHT AND FRI
SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT...EXCEPT E OF 74W
BECOMING 10 KT OR LESS TONIGHT. SEAS 3 TO 5 FT. ISOLATED SHOWERS
AND TSTMS BECOMING SCATTERED FRI.34.601563, -76.464844
Here is my prediction of the route they are taking - pure speculation, for what it is worth:
35.003003,-73.54248 (reading off of Cape Lookout)
34.011689,-70.97168
33.312168,-68.120728
32.611616,-65.192871
32.379382,-64.652481 (off St George town cut)
Plug the above coordinates into Google Maps
No worries, Mon! They are doing fine, and no bad weather in the near future.
Day
Thanks ...this makes the rest of feel better.
ReplyDelete