sy Timoneer

Friday July 23rd

Position: 64′ 09″N 21’56” W 145 Miles South of the Artic Circle

Docked Reykjavík Harbor, Faxagardur Berth

Weather: Rain Wind: 150’T 6 Kts

News:

Timoneer arrived in Reykjavík Harbor at 11:30 Local time (UTC) this morning after completing the 3022 Miles from Norfolk Virginia in 10 days 14 hours for and average speed of 11.8 kts. The last 21 hours of the trip were quiet as we motored in flat seas and rain. The crew is doing a final wash down and then everyone is looking forward to stretching their legs on land. We will be here for a few days then depart mid next week for Denmark to have some winch warranty work done.

John

Thursday July 22nd

Noon position: 60′ 48″N 27’10” W Day 11

Course 028’T Speed: 11.5 Knots Days Run: 278Miles (23 Hours, time change)

Weather: Grey and overcast Wind: 320’T 8 Kts

News:

Timoneer motor sailed throughout the evening as the wind dropped below 10 kts for the entire 23 hour period. The amount of daylight at these high latitudes it is pretty amazing, I come off watch at 22:00 and it is still daylight. The sun sets at about 23:00 and rises just after 04:00 with lots of twilight in between. With the exception of a whale sighting and several dolphins coming to play in the wake there hasn’t been a lot of action other than cleaning and trying to keep warm.

John

Wednesday July 21rst

Noon position: 57′ 09″N 31’39” W Day 10

Course 032’T Speed: 11.1 Knots Days Run: 286 Miles (noon-noon)

Weather: Grey and overcast Wind: 350’T 9 Kts

News:

The wind has been slowly tapering off over the last 24 hours to the current wind speed of 9 knots. At the same time it has veered to the north forcing us to motor almost straight upwind in the dying swell. By noon today the motion of the boat is calming enough that we started to work on deck again. The cold and wind chill of 22 kts apparent across the deck have taken a little bit of getting used to and the shorts have all but disappeared. Mike was trying to work on the tender although it was a bit wet for that, Bevan and I sewed a patch on the reefed main sail where the sun cover was chafing on the boom. Jeff is making a bronze bushing to replace the shot bearing for the stove gimbals and the girls are giving the interior the once over for our Friday arrival. The weather forecast indicates the winds will be light and on the nose for the next couple of days so we may be in for a little motoring.

John

Tuesday July 20th

Noon position: 53′ 27″N 36’00” W

Course 032’T Speed: 11.3 Knots Days Run: 268 Miles (noon-noon)

Weather: Grey and overcast Wind: 270’T 27 Kts

News:

Our weather information was predicting 18-20kt out of the West but the breeze has come on a bit and peaked out at 33 knots last night. Nice breeze for a sail as it is relatively steady and slightly aft of the beam. We have been playing it a bit conservative with a double reef in the main and then rolling out enough genoa to keep the speed around 11.5kts. Need to keep a fair amount of pressure on the sails to keep the roll down as the swell is the biggest I’ve seen in awhile. As the wave approaches the boat goes down in the trough and the top of the swell is quite a bit above the wheelhouse roof. Occasionally the waves look like there going to break on you but fortunately they never quite do. There is the odd rail in the water roll and 2 feet of water down the side deck but for the most part the ride is pretty good and everyone seems in good spirits.

Monday July 19th

Noon position: 49′ 41″N 40’02” W

Course 032’T Speed: 12.3 Knots Days Run: 278 Miles (noon-noon)

Weather: Clear skies and sun Wind: 245’T 14 Kts

News:

Timoneer sailed all yesterday afternoon as we passed the Flemish Cap East North East of the Grand Banks. Spotted a few boats on radar that must have been fishing on the Cap just like in that movie with the name I won’t even mention for fear of bad luck. By this morning the breeze died to 14kts and we had to turn the engine on and motor sail. Although cool the weather is nice enough today for the boys to get a few projects done and everyone on board is well.

John

Sunday July 18th

Noon position: 46′ 11″N 44’27” W East South East of the Grand Banks

Course 015’T Speed: 10.3 Knots Days Run: 285 Miles (noon-noon)

Weather: Fog Wind: 270’T 20 Kts

News:

Timoneer is skirting the Grand Banks in the thick fog as the water temperature has dropped from 79 degree’s in the gulf stream the current 54. Water is condensing on the rig and falling to the deck like out of a hose spigot. The fog bank appears to be very thin because as you look up you can see blue skies but at deck level you can’t see 300 ft. There must also be a real wind gradient as the wind instruments at the top of the rig read 20-23 knots but down at water level the seas aren’t even white capping and it feels more like 10-13. Turned the engine off at 09:15 this morning and sailing with the Genoa, Reefed Main and Mizzen.

John

Saturday July 17th

Noon position: 42′ 27″N 48′ 19″ W

Course 036’T Speed: 12.8 Knots Days Run: 268 Miles (noon-noon)

Weather: Sunny Wind: ‘T 12 Kts

News:

It was a very uneventful evening aboard Timoneer as what little wind we had yesterday died to 3-5 knots for most of the evening. We turned North from the gulf stream at 1900 last night and are heading basically straight line to Iceland from here. By six o’clock this morning we were 35 miles East of the resting place of the Titanic at 41’46″N and 50’14″W. Timoneer is still covering lots of ground as the remnants of the Gulf Stream now called the North Atlantic Current continue to push us to the North East all the time.

John

Friday July 16th

Noon position: 39′ 37″N 53’09” W 450 Miles South of Newfoundland

Course 075’T Speed: 14.2 Knots Days Run: 293 Miles (23hrs time change)

Weather: Partly Sunny Wind: 270’T 12 Kts

News:

The breeze has continued to lighten and clock to the West as Timoneer motor sailed in the gulf stream. The sun has finally come out and the sea has calmed enough to do some real fishing. This morning shortly after we put the lines out we landed two big eye tuna. Generally we only get sashimi but the girls pulled out all the stops and did full rolled sushi for dinner this evening. Everyone on board is well.

John

Thursday July 15th

Noon position: 39′ 04″N 59’40” W

Course 079’T Speed: 12.5 Knots Days Run: 314 Miles (noon-noon)

Weather: Partly Cloudy Wind: 220’T 18 Kts

News:

Timoneer has made steady progress motor sailing in the current of the Gulf stream, which has been pushing the speed over the ground to 15.7 knots at times. We have opted to take this more Southerly course rather than the great circle route which would have us just off the coast of Nova Scotia. This is to avoid any ice that the Labrador current might be pushing down over the Grand Banks. The possible ice area extends South to 44 N and East to 48 W longitude, once we are East of that position we will head North to Iceland. The only major drama aboard at the moment is the gimbals on the stove have seized up, forcing Penny to cook with rather deep pots and pans. The boys insist that her refusal to deep fry fish and chips in the galley has lead to a lack of lubrication for the bearings.

John

Wednesday July 14th

Noon position: 37′ 55″N 65’56” W 360 miles South Cape Sable, Nova Scotia

Course 039’T Speed: 14.5 Knots Days Run: 282 Miles (noon-noon)

Weather: Overcast and rain Wind: 225’T 16 Kts

News:

Timoneer sailed into the evening as the breeze steadily built, as we went to put the second reef in the main we had problems with the main sheet slipping off the feeder wheels for the winch. A good portion of the main was furled away at this point although we had to rig up a temporarily main sheet to furl the rest of the main away as the breeze peaked out at about 45kts. We kept a portion of the genoa and mizzen out to stabilize the boat and had to head East South East a times to stop the boat from rolling. The boys were very happy with the new non-skid paint on the house as it has slightly more grip making the job a little easier. By midnight the wind had backed to the south and we were roughly on course. It has been a bit rough to fish although we aren’t having any luck there either as a big one stripped about 3/4 of the line of the reel before we could stop the boat on Wednesday morning. Three of us reeled in turns in the rain and got it within 300 feet of the boat before the leader snapped just after the swivel, looks like were having lamb for dinner?

John