Reid and Soanya are taking steady action to repair and minimize the impact on the Anne's performance.

May 2, 2007 - Day 12
Wind WSW 20-40 knots, Course 120, 37°.11, 59°.05, Speed 4-9.5 knots, Temp. 73°F

The day began calm with a nice sunny breeze. Reid decided to work on patching the sail that he accidentally tore while putting a reef (tying the sail shorter) in during one of the previous storms.

April 30, 2007 - Day 8,9

Stormy Weather
As most people have heard, photos of waves don't really show how large, steep, or fast they are moving or what happens when they crash on the boat, toss her about, find their way through new places, and keep coming for days on end.

[Mission Control] We think a storm is delaying communiations from R+S too during the weekend.  The Metocean position reports show SchooneAnne moving at high speed east.

Wind S 10-15 knots, Course 90°, Speed 5-6 knots 10:30 am, 38°25, 68°59.

This morning after a good nights sleep, I woke up at dawn, noticed that the wind had changed and we were heaved-to in a thick pea soup fog. That didn't inspire me to set the sails so I went back to sleep. By 8:00 am, I was eager to get the schooner going in the right direction, so after a coffee and apples with yogurt, I went about the process of setting the sails.

Thank goodness we have a self-tailing power winch, but don't imagine it's a cinch. There are a lot of lines and monkey work and even times when I have to use all my force. Inevitably, lines snag and I have yet to go through a maneuver without making mistakes and extra work for myself. I am still extremely confident about the schooner and my ability to handle her. From the beginning, the difference of being at sea is apparent and I am already customizing and changing some details. At the moment, I'm not asking Soanya to do much, just so she can adapt to her new life at sea. She has been plotting our position and mainly keeping up with all of our communications, which is really important.

By the time I finished setting the sails and balancing the schooner on an easterly course, Soanya popped her smiling face up out of the hatch and I said, “Look at this.” I waved my hand across the open sea and the fog lifted letting the sun shine through. We're on our way! Nothing stopping us now. Porpoises bound around the schooner as we glide gently at 5 ½ knots.

Soanya's View:

It was a beautiful morning. The temperature was near 70 and the sun burned away the fog making the water a sparkling turquoise color. Then we saw porpoises, at least five or six. They were swimming around the schooner and happily jumping and gliding through the water. I guess they were enjoying the weather too. I'm feeling a lot better. The boat is sailing smoothly without much rolling going on, so I haven't gotten seasick all day today.

Wind 20-30 knots, Heaved-to 1knot side drift - April 26,2007 - Day 5

Yesterday evening, we slowly sailed back the 25 miles that we were ordered to go on. Then I dropped the jib and staysail because the wind was very light. We hove-to (stalled the boat using a specific combo of sails, wind, and rudder direction) under tight sheeted foresail and double-reefed mainsail (the biggest sail was shortened a certain amount).

It was a beautiful, still, but cloudy evening and Soanya and I did yoga together for the first time on the voyage. Afterwards, we had a gourmet dinner with a sip of wine. I decided that since we were heaved-to in calm wind, that I would sleep downstairs and get some well needed rest. When I sleep in the pilothouse bunk, I sleep lightly with awareness. Before going to bed, I decided to drop the main and looked at the clock to see how fast I could do it. Lowering the main went really easy and I tied it off with a couple of twists of rope. Then I looked around the deck, put everything in order, studied, and appreciated the night before I went to bed.
Several hours later, I was awakened by a hum and knew that there was wind. I didn't worry because I knew the schooner was heaved-to and from this position should ride a light hurricane. As I stepped up to look, the wind increased until we were humming and vibrating all over. The wind from the NE was blowing a storm and we were drifting backwards at up to 2 knots. I prayed that the foresail wouldn't blow out, but she cut the wind like a saber. The waves pushed us back on the rudder that I repaired with welded steel last year. I slept lightly, checked the bilge and stood in the pilothouse taken aback by the ferocity of the storm, yet the schooner rode well and Soanya was comfortable in a soft bed protected by a canvas(lee cloth) so she couldn't fall out .
By dawn, the wind blew right out of the east and lightened up a little. I plan to heave-to today since the seas were temporarily closed in the direction we wanted to go. In any case, the wind dictates the course. It was blowing stiff and cold out of the east and the seas are small but steep sided. Therefore, we are going to go ahead and see what happens tomorrow.

Soanya's View:
It was my first storm at sea and it was not as bad as the stories I have heard told. Granted this was not a ferocious storm by most standards so I probably can't compare. It began with the wind picking up and then the boat rolling a lot. I could hear all the pots and pans in the galley crashing one way then the other in the cupboard. Some books that were on the shelf over the bed fell down. Since I was already in bed, the motion was easier to handle than standing up or trying to walk with it. Reid came and tied the lee cloth. It turns out it was a good thing he did since the boat did roll enough that I would have rolled out of those warm covers. He had warned me of this many times before, so there was no surprise on my part. At least we didn't have to go outside into the weather to mess with the sails. As it continued on, I woke up intermittently through the wee hours and then it died down towards dawn. I still got out of bed in the morning feeling rested.

Wind SE 8.5 knots, Course 225, Speed 3knots Position: 38°.52, 68°.31, April 25, 2007 11:30 am

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.