sy Timoneer

Friday, 29 August 2008
NOON POSITION : 40 29’ N 071 30’ W
COURSE: 190 degrees
SPEED: 11.4 knots
DAYS RUN : 56 miles since departure
WEATHER: Flat calm!

NEWS:
We travelled from Nantucket to Newport yesterday and then fuelled up late yesterday afternoon for the pending trip south to Savannah, a distance of just less than 800 miles.

We had another early start this morning in Newport and managed to leave the dock at 0640 straight into a fine and beautiful day. These conditions have continued, the sun is shining with few clouds in the sky, the light breeze that we had earlier has now died altogether and the sea is glassy calm. We are making good progress, we have the fishing lines out, and we expect to arrive in Savannah on Monday morning – Labour Day. We will start work on the fire damage first thing on Tuesday morning and expect to be in the yard until second half of November.

All is well on board and most systems are working. We are being really careful with out water supply as we lost the water makers in the fire so have to rely on the water tank supply.

PW

Timoneer Engine Room Fire – Friday 11th July 2008

At about 15.15 on Friday afternoon the engine room fire alarm went off due to a short in the forward generator. The power was shut down and the fire was fought with a fire extinguisher without success. Penny had meanwhile contacted 911 and the Fire Brigade, Harbour Master and Coastguard were all on hand in less than 10 minutes. All air intakes to the engine room had been shut down and the fuel supplies shutoff which stopped the generator. The fire was under control in a fairly short time although there was considerable damage as can be seen from the accompanying photos. The crew have had regular fire drills and this all paid off in the end – it could have been far worse.

We will now stay in Nantucket, tied to the dock until the beginning of September when we will go into a shipyard for repairs. One Generator will have to be replaced completely plus a lot of equipment that was nearby and melted. The water maker control panel was one of the worse hit but also the airconditioning was badly damaged. Of course the whole engine room has smoke damaged and this will be the biggest task for the shipyard. There will be a lot of repainting to be done.
We are planning to be out of the shipyard in mid November in time to be in Antigua for the Super Yacht Cup on December 10th.

We will resume these reports once the yard period is over and we get back to sea.

April 22, 2008 1200 EDT.
POSITION: Newport, Rhode Island
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 254 Nm (22 Hours)
WIND: 5kt 180T
WEATHER: Clear Sunny

NEWS:
We arrived in Newport at the Newport Shipyard at 1000 EDT. The crossing through the stream while a bit choppy was uneventful. Throughout the evening and into the night the swell and chop lessened and by morning we were motoring through a flat sea with very little breeze.

Newport is always a beautiful landfall and this morning was no different. The view of the mansions was unobstructed by the still leafless trees, as we motored into the harbor.

We will remain in Newport for about one month to complete some work before beginning our summer season around the New England area.

Jim Duhamel

April 21, 2008 1200 EDT.
POSITION: 37 15.9N 071 01.5W
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 293 Nm
WIND: 30kt 095T
WEATHER: Cool overcast

NEWS:
We have entered the gulf stream. As expected it is a bit choppy with wind driven chop and some remaining swell from the low-pressure systems. The sea should improve considerably once we are through the stream and out of the current. It looks like we are in the right position as we are making 9.5 knots through the water and 15.5 knots over ground.

Jim Duhamel

April 20, 2008 1200 EDT.
POSITION: 33 41.1N 067 10.0W
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 162 Nm (16 Hours)
WIND: 12kt 060T
WEATHER: Cool overcast

NEWS:
We are finally underway again. After a 7-day stop in Bermuda for weather, the forecast improved enough for us to depart. We were held up in Bermuda as two low pressure systems moved off the East coast of the states on a path north of Bermuda, one after another.

We hauled up the anchor and motored through the cut in St. George’s at around 2000 EDT. As we made our way out of the shelter of St. George’s the waves steadily built, this was the remains of the sea kicked up by the passing lows. The closely spaced waves focred us to slow the boat some to help her over the waves without bashing into them. With a lack of breeze the sea progressively eased making the night more comfortable, and allowing us to speed up. This trend continued through the morning and into midday.

The forecast looks decent for the next few days, however the passage across the gulf stream may get a little choppy with the breeze blowing against the current. With any luck we should be through the gulf stream by tomorrow evening.

Everyone onboard is well and settling back into the watch rotation.

Jim Duhamel

April 12, 2008 1800 EST.
POSITION: St. George’s, Bermuda
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 327 Nm (30 Hours)
WIND: 10kt 220T
WEATHER: Clear Sunny

NEWS:
There has been little change in the forecast since yesterday so we made the decision to make a stop in Bermuda. The calm sea and light breeze today were little indication for what is to come.

The forecasts show a front moving off the east coast of the states and heading directly across our path. The computer models are divergent as to how the weather will shape up over the next few days but it is likely that we will be here until Monday at earliest.

The upside is that there are certainly worse places to wait out a frontal passage.

Jim Duhamel

April 11, 2008 1200 EST.
POSITION: 27 02.4N 064 58.5W
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 264 Nm
WIND: 10kt 065T
WEATHER: Clear Sunny Day, slight NE swell

NEWS:
The weather has been terrific so far, clear bright sunny days with little cloud cover. The breeze bas been up and down, but mainly in to 10 knot range. We have been making good speed although we have been effected by adverse current of up almost 1 knot from time to time.

At this point the forecast is not looking good for continuing on past Bermuda so we have altered course toward there for now. We will continue checking the forecasts but for now it is likely that we will have to make a brief stop to allow the front to pass before continuing on.

The fishing reels have been quiet without even a single run-off in the past 24 hours.

Jim Duhamel

April 10, 2008 1200 EST.
POSITION: 22 41.9N 064 40.7 W
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 296 (26.5 Hours)
WIND: 10kt 100T
WEATHER: Clear, warm, slight wind chop with NE swell

NEWS:
Timoneer has begun her trip north from St. Maarten, towards Newport, RI. The trip began yesterday morning, departing the Simpson Bay Lagoon through the first bridge opening at 900 local time. After one week of unusually gusty easterly winds the breeze finally settled back into the normal 15-20 knot easterly trade winds Monday evening and into Tuesday. The gusty conditions forced many boats to alter their schedules as not only did it bring increased swell and sea, but kept the lagoon bridge closed for much of last week. The change in the wind should make the trip north much more pleasant so we happy to have seen the change.

The trip from St. Maarten to Newport is about 1600Nm which would normally take about 5-6 days on Timoneer. The gulf stream plays a huge role in passages through this area with its characteristic warm water and quick current. The contrast between the water temperature of the gulf stream and the air temperature of the cold fronts from the east coast of the states can make for interesting weather patterns. These weather patterns combined with the possible sea states produced from wind against current conditions can make crossing the stream difficult. Sometimes the conditions work out in your favor and it is possible to have a terrific trip across with speed boosts from current of 3-4knots!

The weather looks clear from here to Bermuda with a possible front moving off the east coast as we get close to Bermuda in about two days time. The weather for more than one day out is very difficult to predict so we will continue to monitor the weather situation and make the decision on a stop in Bermuda as we get closer. We would like to bypass Bermuda and continue on directly to Newport to start some yard projects, but if the weather conditions do not permit us to continue on we may be forced to stop.

The trip has been very pleasant so far and we have been lucky with the fishing lines, having caught 2 dolphins and 2 small skip jacks yesterday afternoon

Jim Duhamel

November 29, 2007 1200 UTC.
POSITION: Nelson’s Dockyard Marina, Antigua
WEATHER: Clear Sunny

NEWS:
We arrived safely this morning in Antigua at 0815 local time and made our way to our berth at Nelson’s Dockyard Marina in English Harbour. The last hours of the trip were uneventful. The breeze filled in from the northeast allowing us to unfurl the genoa to steady the roll from the sea. This improved the motion of the boat, making the night very comfortable for everyone.

Yesterday afternoon we caught another 2 dolphin, and this morning had just enough time to catch one yellow fin tuna and one barracuda. The addition of these fish brought the total to 24 for the trip:

Skipjack tuna – 4 (3 thrown back)
Blue-fin tuna – 5
Yellow-fin tuna – 1
Albacore tuna – 1
Dolphin – 11 (2 thrown back)
Wahoo – 1
Barracuda – 1 (1 thrown back)

We completed the 3997mile trip in 349 hours and 20 minutes (underway time) for an average speed of 11.4 knots.

Thank you for reading about Timoneer’s crossing for this year and stay tuned for news from the Super Yacht Cup in two weeks.

Jim Duhamel

November 28, 2007 1200 UTC.
POSITION: 17 46.0’N 057 05.9’W
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 272 Nm
WIND: 15kt 065T
WEATHER: Clear Sunny

NEWS:
There has been little change in the weather in the past 24 hours, except that the wind has backed off slightly and the sea has settled some. The night was interesting as we motored between trade showers with spectacular lightning. At times we were surrounded by showers with lightning off in the distance in all directions.

Yesterday afternoon we had one wahoo hit followed by a double dolphin hit. We almost lost one of the dolphin off the deck when he came off the gaff, luckily we were able to dive on top and hold him down.

We should arrive in Antigua tomorrow morning at our current speed.

Jim Duhamel