Jammin’

Sometime this afternoon we actually get to turn south and head straight for the islands. We are still 400 miles away but the trade winds should be there and it should be a broad reach for 3 or 4 days. We caught a nice  Mahi Mahi today so fish for lunch and dinner. John was very exited. Not much else …

CARIS

Good afternoon Salty Dawgs, We arrived at Virgin Gorda today around 1PM, have cleared customs, washed down the boat and are settling into a new and beautiful paradise. The water here is crystal clear and very inviting. A number of the rally boats are here and many still to arrive. Bitter End Yacht Club is a beautiful facility and we …

Jammin’

Weather is still holding in there. We have light winds out of the north and we are sailing. Had to turn the engine on this morning after seeing that we were down to 11.9 volts. and 260 amps. Not sure why so low because we had to motor the whole night before. I don’t have the computer on only when …

CARIS

Hello Salty Dawgs We have been having trouble with our engine slowing down for lack of fuel since we left Norfolk last Tuesday. Also there has been a high vacuum reading at the Racor filter. We changed all the filters a couple of times without benefit. Finally yesterday when we started motoring again, the problem was progressively worse and we …

Jammin’

Last night we finally clear out of difficult weather and we were able to set a course to where we hope to find the trade winds. Today was a beautiful day of downwind sailing in about 20 knts of wind. This should last for at least one more day before we hit light and variable for awhile. I just listened …

CARIS

Hello Salty Dawgs, We have been sailing without motoring for the last four days but have finally given up on the wind. It is mostly calm and when it comes up a bit it appears to be always right on the nose of our destination. So this morning we started motor sailing on a direct course for Virgin Gorda and …

Sapphire

Today we will arrive in Soper’s Hole at 5:30pm AST. We are hoping to make it in time so we can check in so John can catch a cab to Trellis and meet up with his wife on the Ferry to the Bitter End Yacht Club. We are motoring to try and make it in time. Bruce caught a 30 …

Jammin’

Sunday afternoon Jammin’ made it out of the starting gate with a new crew member, John Abel from Kentucky.  John’s friend saw Dave needed a willing sailor and called up his Army buddy who is fresh out of the service.  Its an adventure that John will remember when others ask how he celebrated Veterans Day this year. Day one they …

CARIS

Good Evening, It’s about 7:30PM, very dark, and we are continuing to sail mostly South toward Virgin Gorda. Sailing has been great today with moderate winds and a fast reach. We just came through a squall with lots of rain and now things are clearing up. Now winds are slowing and we are expecting very little wind by tomorrow and …

WYNOT

To all: We successfully arrived today at the BVI Bitter End Yacht Club @ 4:30 am  8 days, 12 hours; 1272 nautical miles. Happy to be at anchor! Geof, Tom, Skip

Sapphire

Yesterday we had squalls around and motor sailed most of the day. Our last squall was early this morning. Today we are motor sailing. We have had a lot of negative current and many days with little or no wind. We are slowly approaching the BVI. We hope to be in Wed., but it may be early Thurs. It is …

CARIS

Good Morning Salty Dawgs, It’s a beautiful day out here today. The squalls have given up on us and we finally have a somewhat Easterly wind so this morning we have tacked South for a long reach to Virgin Gorda, about 530 miles from here. Yesterday we sailed East all day and at night when the moon rose, we were …

CARIS

Good Afternoon Salty Dawgs. We are catching some Southerly winds today at 20-25 kts and sailing close hauled ESE toward West Africa in hopes of catching some Easterly trade winds in the next few days that will allow us to go South again. We want to get about 100 miles East to longitude 065′ West before turning South to the …

Sapphire

Update: Just caught a Mahi Mahi. Can you guess what’s for dinner! Life is good.

CARIS

Position: 28 59.0’N 068 27.2’W Good Afternoon Salty Dawgs! CARIS is sailing in a nice Easterly 15-20 Kt wind today (Saturday) on a rhumb line for Virgin Gorda. After motoring all last night in lumpy seas, the smooth motion of the boat under sail is a very pleasant change. We have located other fleet boats in the rally on AIS …

Sapphire

Yesterday we sailed all day. Then the winds died. We motor sailed all night and woke to a beautiful day with little wind. We are trying to sail whenever possible, but the wind is not cooperating. It is beautiful today with a bright blue sky, water temp of 80 and everyone is enjoying the day. We have no wind, no …

CARIS

Good Morning We finally got some nice Westerly wind about 4AM this morning after motoring for two straight days. Now it has built to 20-25 kts and we are moving along very nicely. The last two days we were motoring into an opposing current up to 2kts along with large low swells directly on the bow. Now we have a …

Sapphire

Today was a pleasant day with calm seas and no wind. We motored most of the day. It is warm and we are enjoying some down time. We had a baked spaghetti dinner made by our crew member Bruce’s daughter! It was really good. More tomorrow!

Caris

Good Morning We had a great calm night, mostly motoring in very calm wind and seas with a strong opposing current. The only excitement was about 10PM when I shut down the engine for an oil check and it would not start again. Turns out the engine start battery was dead because the small alternator charging it was malfunctioning. A …

Sapphire

Yesterday we left Hampton at 7:45am. All day and last night we had 15-20 kts of wind from the SW in 4 to 6 ft seas. Today we are sailing along in about 10 kts of wind after an uneventful Gulf Stream Crossing. We entered the stream at 11:30pm last night. Water temp quickly rose from 65 to 80 degrees. …

Caris

Position 35 24 N 075 00 W Good Morning We had a great motor sail overnight and this morning we are sailing off Cape Hatteras heading East across the gulf stream. Fortunately the stream is considerably calmer than a few days ago. We just checked in with our Rally and all seems to be well with the fleet. The crew …

Free Rein

1200 AST Tuesday. Free Rein is 34.49N 74.26W. About half way through the Gulfstream. Clear skies and relatively calm seas. Amazingly we have six other sailboats in sight. No fish yet but we are working on it. All is well.   S/V Free Rein

Caris

Hello Salty Dawgs CARIS left Hampton Piers this afternoon we and are making our way out of the Chesapeake past Cape Henry and headed SSE. Winds are light and we are hoping for some good wind from the West tonight. We were delayed by some parts that were not delivered as promised. We had a great time in Hampton and …