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Sunday, 01 January 2012 |
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Dec. 31, 2011
18.56 N, 55.18 W, Course S, Speed 4 kts, Wind 25 knots +
It’s a good thing we had our soft calm warm weather sailing. It gave all of us a chance to see that special beauty of the sea. No one spoke of the land behind us or before us. We let our muscles rest, bathed, cleaned up and got lots of jobs done around the schooner. Rainbows abound on the passing soft summer showers. At night we were greeted by Jupiter, Venus, and the setting crescent moon. Orion has been the constellation overlooking us and protecting us with his fully drawn bow.
Then the winds picked up from the East as the Trade winds should. We set all our sails including the big old orange genoa that was given to us. We took off our rudder ropes balancing the schooner SSE on a straight track. We saw fish jump, had a few big strikes but didn’t land any of them.
As the wind picked up, we looked at our big old mainsail and genoa and said “Hang in there old ladies.” They did for a few days. We really have no choice but to leave them up and let them try their best while the conditions are good. Only our foresail and staysail, which we just re-cut from old sails that were given to us are somewhat solid.
Late at night “old orange” exploded with a loud bang. The watch person called out and we rushed out of our beds, lowered the sail, dragged it back, and stuffed it down the forward hatch. We sailed on for a day with three sails as the wind increased, always watching the mainsail. At dawn today Rachel spotted a tear opening in the mainsail and called out. We lowered the main just in time. In the photo, Alex and Rachel sew on a new patch while Andy cleans flying fish. Carly and Dusty take care of the sprouts while Soanya makes lunch. Darshen hums and sits on the captain’s lap while he writes the daily update. 
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Tuesday, 27 December 2011 |
Dec. 27, 2011
23.47 N, 56.33 W, Course S, Speed 2 knots
We are now in the swing of things at sea. Finally, we were becalmed in hot weather and the whole crew made the most of it by bathing in the sea. It was everybody’s first time swimming in the deep blue ocean. It was a lively scene as Andy photographed and filmed with his underwater camera. Darshen was eager to swim too so I lowered him on a rope tied to his life jacket. He swam with Rachel and Carly squealing and kicking the whole time. Darshen even got a few mouthfuls of salt water and said “That tastes good!” The crew was quite acrobatic diving off the bow pulpit and Dusty and Alex swinging off the end of the main boom.
As evening fell we watched the stars make strokes of liquid light on the sea and the new crescent moon set like a boat on the horizon. We drifted under a starry dome for half the night then surprisingly a light breeze came up out of the west. This is rare since we are in the tradewinds and the wind is always supposed to blow out of the east. It is ok with us. We are sailing along full sail, ropes on the rudder to guide us, heading south into the unknown on our mystical journey.
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Tuesday, 27 December 2011 |
Dec. 25, 2011
24.57 N, 56.45 W, Light Wind, Speed 2.5
Our crew came prepared for Christmas at sea. We brought our stockings (in many cases a clean sock), ornaments, Santa hats, ties, wrapping, and prepared boxes of presents from Mom (Reid’s mom). We played our music and Christmas carols, and celebrated with special chocolates, treats, wine, and gourmet food.
On Christmas Eve, we all hung our stockings on our disabled interior steering wheel and gradually they began to fill. That evening, all the elves were spread through the schooner secretly preparing their gifts. At one in the morning we were awakened by banging as Alex chiseled away on his wood carved gifts.
After a beautiful breakfast in the cockpit under the warm sun and white scissor tailed tropic birds, we went into the pilothouse. Soon the floor was littered with Christmas paper and everyone was chewing on goodies. Darshen’s joy and squeals entertained us all.
We are so grateful to everyone for helping us to experience Christmas out here. Joy to the people in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me!
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Monday, 26 December 2011 |
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SPOT Satellite GPS position message receive Latitude:24.428
Longitude:-56.6571
GPS location Date/Time:12/26/2011 08:47:21 EST
Message:All is well on Schooner Anne.
Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/6j9iB/24.428N/56.6571W |
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Friday, 23 December 2011 |
29.17 N.59.43 W, Course SE, Speed 2.5 knots
Dec. 22, 2011
After the last gale that blew with gusts of 40-50 knots we were happy to see that the days have been getting sunnier and warmer with less chances of running into another storm. The day after the winds died down we discovered one of the lines that ran from the rudder to the cockpit had chafed through. Luckily, the weather was such that Andy was able to dive into a soft swell and put another rope through the rudder this time with a thimble so that it would not chafe through. Afterwards, the crew brought speakers out and played Christmas music while we slowly sailed through huge clumps of Sargasso seaweed. Yesterday, the crew marveled at the sensation of being becalmed and how beautiful the ocean looked in this different mood. This morning we passed through one undulating orange-brown mass that was at least half a mile in diameter and floated along with bits of plastic and a life ring caught in it. We sewed patches to the small tears in the mainsail and jib, hoisted them up, and now we are sailing slowly in light airs in the direction that we want to go.
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Friday, 23 December 2011 |
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Dec. 21, 2011
29.50 N, 59.58 W, Course SE, Wind light
In our last update, we sent a picture of the crew in the cockpit together. The ocean didn’t show it but we were bounding along at over six knots. Shortly thereafter we decided to shorten sail as the wind increased. It seemed like the wind picked up even more and before we got the mainsail down there was a tear in the leach. After dark, the wind increased more from the SW and because with just the staysail up we could only run off the wind, we lowered all sail and rode the storm under “bare poles.” The wind howled and the weather forecast said “winds gusting up to 50 knots.” The waves were bigger than any we have seen the whole voyage. After two days the storm calmed down and we raised sail again. We marveled at the big transparent waves and the low rainbows that came with afternoon squalls. There were lots of leaks and spilled food but we survived again.
Now we are drifting and bobbing in smooth seas. Alex threw the fishing line and caught our fist mahi-mahi. After a long awaited fish feast, everybody got back to sewing sails and routine maintenance jobs basking in the warmest sun yet. Our stereo speakers are on deck and everybody is listening to Christmas music. Darshen’s favorite music are the songs sung by the little boy choirs.
Note: Photo by Andy Cronin 
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Wednesday, 21 December 2011 |
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SPOT Satellite GPS position message received Latitude:29.83415
Longitude:-59.97424
GPS location Date/Time:12/21/2011 09:36:42 EST
Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/6hYT7/29.83415N/59.97424W |
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Happy Times on the Schooner Anne |
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Sunday, 18 December 2011 |
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Dec. 18, 2011
30.49 N, 61.24 W, Course SE, Speed 6 knots, Nice Windy Day, Jib is Down
After a week of stormy overcast weather and adjusting the Schooner Anne to the wintery North Atlantic the sun finally comes out. A brisk wind moves to the WSW and we continue our course SE. We are sailing through a thick Sargasso sea as waves throw seaweed all over the deck. We are rigging our fishing lines and keeping our eyes out for fish and have seen a mahi-mahi, some tuna, and flying fish jump but we can’t put a line in yet because then we immediately catch seaweed. Everybody got a thrill when we sailed by a blowing sperm whale. The sea sparkles around us as we bound along leaping over the wave tops. Everybody is having a great time and is in no hurry to arrive back inside the security of land. We are on top of a moving mountain top with a 360 degree view of the eternal sea around us.
Soanya’s View:
These past few days have been such a welcome relief from the grey beginning of this voyage. The crew happily aired out wet or damp clothes and soaked in the warm sun and glistening sea. We saw the unparalleled beauty of the millions of stars come out in all their splendor one night. The next night we saw a big golden moon rise on the horizon, disappear into some fair weather clouds in the distance and reemerge to light a calm night sea. The evening after we saw tiny glowing lights in the water as small sea creatures created bioluminescence pools around the boat. Today we are flying by on a strong wind with sun tipped spray regularly leaping on to the boat. This is ocean sailing at its best.
Crew’s View: We asked what is the most terrifying part of being out here? What is the most exciting?
Rachel: I was greatly surprised with the transformation of the schooner as cabins became violent obstacle courses where gravity played tricks on your mind and hard wood panels flew as though they were made of Styrofoam. The days of sun make any suffering worth it a thousand times over.
Alex: Trying to stop the foresail from beating itself to shreds by ghostly LED headlamp light in the middle of a gale was simultaneously the most exciting and terrifying moment so far.
Dusty: Alone at midnight
Bare before the violent waves
My first bath at sea
Andy: Not knowing when I would be able to stomach food again [was most terrifying] while getting continuously beaten with waves that seamed as though they’d never end. Most exciting was being all alone on the bowsprit one morning and sighting our first mahi-mahi as blue, green, and gold flew though the air.
Carly: It was terrifying to gear up and run on deck on Reid’s call to lower all sails save the foresail. The waves were huge and I could barely make out Reid’s commands over the roar of the wind. Trying to work quickly while clinging on for dear life and then collapsing in the cockpit admiring the lone foresail pushing us along in the storm and howling from the sheer thrill of happiness. 
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Sunday, 18 December 2011 |
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SPOT Satellite GPS position message received Latitude:31.10767
Longitude:-61.93735
GPS location Date/Time:12/18/2011 09:50:00 EST
Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/6gRdl/31.10767N/61.93735W
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