sy Timoneer

Tuesday July 13th

Noon position: 36’58” N 071’35” W 300 Miles SSW Nantucket

Course 089 ‘T Speed: 12.5 Knots Days Run: 242Miles (21 Hours)

Weather: Overcast and rainy Wind: 210’T 22-28kts

News:

Timoneer is at sea again departing Norfolk Virginia after having the topsides and non-skid on the deck house repainted. We are one our way to Sweden to pick up our next group of guests and weather permitting hope to stop in Iceland, then continue on to Denmark to have one of the winches worked on, and then Sweden. Timoneer took the Virginia pilots aboard at 3:00 and passed through the Berkley bridge at about 3:20 for the 2-1/2 hour ride out to Cape Henry where we dropped them off. The weather was grey and overcast although there was a nice breeze out of the South. Once we cleared the traffic separation scheme we rolled out the main and genoa with a reef in each and were off at about 12 kts, pushed by a 20-25 kts breeze from the South. We sailed for the next 21 hours straight throughout the night and into Tuesday, hoping to enter the gulf stream and catch a ride to the East North East before exiting and turning more North towards Iceland. All is well.

John

Sunday 23rd May 2004

We arrived safe and sound in Boston shortly after 1pm today after a long night at sea in thick fog and numerous fishing boats. At one stage when we crossed the continental shelf we must have had about forty echoes on the radar and about 100 yards visibility. At times we were 90 degrees off course taking evading action and at other times we were stopped dead in the water waiting for the invisible danger to pass.

Yesterday afternoon we caught one small tuna and then later on had a big strike and landed a very nice 35lb blue fin tuna. Apparently it is early in the season for these fish which can get as big a 500lbs or more around here. The best tuna there is and exquisite eating. Also saw a lot of dolphins so guess they were feeding on the tuna as well.

In the fog we had very little wind and ended today in a flat glassy calm. We did 286 miles since noon yesterday due partly to the fog. The average speed for the trip from Fort Lauderdale was an amazing 13.4 knots.

This will be the last report for a while.

Regards = PW

Saturday, 22 May 2004

Noon Position : 38 46N 070 58W

Course 030 degrees Speed 12 knots Days Run : 336 miles

Weather : Thick Fog with calm seas

News: The wind died off yesterday afternoon but we were still getting a great push from the stream and making an aveage 15 knots over the ground. We lost the warm current at about 0300 this morning, suddenly the temperature dropped along with the boat speed, and we ran straight into a thick fog bank.

We have had the lines out again but the fishing scene has now gone real quiet although we have seen a few dolphin about. The sea is oily calm but we are able to hold some sail up aloft which is helping a bit. The fog horn blasts away every two minutes and everywhere is grey, damp and dripping.

So long to the shorts and tee shirts, Hello New England!

PW

Friday, 21st May 2004

Noon Position : N W

Course 040 degrees Speed 16 knots Days Run : 358 miles

Weather : Fine, very clear and sunny but not too hot. Wind : 250 degrees 18 knots

News: Wow – an all time record for the days run – just shy of a 15 knot average for 24 hours!! This includes the three times we had to stop for the fishing – Thank you Gulf Stream.

The wind died off yesterday morning and we motored in a glassy calm but still doing over 14 knots with the help of the Gulf Stream. We hooked into two nice Mahi Mahi but lost one at the gaff, the other was about 20lbs and what we don’t have for lunch today is in the freezer. No other hits as it is hard in such calm water and also had a lot of Sargasso Weed which fouls the hooks.

We saw pilot whales several times and came across a nuclear submarine stopped on the surface. They had a lot of people on deck and may even have been taking a swim but we weren’t close enough to be sure. It certainly was big and scary looking.

Overnight we continued much the same and made excellent speed. This morning the stream was even stronger and we were making 17 knots for several hours and once even saw 17.7 on the GPS. We now have some wind from the port quarter so have all the sails out as we approach the notorious Cape Hatteras. We landed another Mahi of similar size this morning so we are no longer fishing as it is difficult to stop with all the sails out. Unfortunately the wind coming from abaft the beam is not quite strong enough to let us turn off the engine and only use sail power.

We will probably lose the current about 150 miles after the Cape but should still make it into Boston on Sunday afternoon, about half a day ahead of schedule, which will be nice as we can get a head start on the big clean up.

PW

Thursday, 20 May 2004

Noon Position : 29 29 N – 079 38W

Course 005 degrees Speed 14 knots Since Departure: 224 miles

Weather : Flat calm but not too hot – Nice!

News : We left Fort Lauderdale at 19.20 hrs last night into a light to moderate easterly breeze. We headed out offshore to hitch a lift on the gulf stream and sure enough we were soon doing 15 to 16 knots over the ground. We lost this for a while north of the Bahamas this morning but altered course to the west and have now picked it up again, although not as strong. The wind has died away so we are able to get some maintenance and cleaning done on deck in preparation for the party next week. We have seen a number of pilot whales today all heading south.

The lines are out but as yet nothing seems interested in our pretty little plastics squids. We tried fishing during the night using a big squid with a light stick hoping to catch a sword fish but again no success. We are not too worried as we still have masses of fish in the freezer from before we arrived in Florida.

We hope to be up in Boston on Monday morning but have not heard any weather forecasts for up north so anything is possible. All is well on board.

PW

Wednesday 12th May 2004

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale pretty exhausted at 0100 this morning out time, 0200 local. The wind stayed the same in the afternoon but as we curved around the Florida Keys the angle got better and better until finally we were able to shut the engine off and sail. By this time the Gulf Stream was pushing us hard and we saw a speed of 17 knots over the ground under sail only! Just under 4 knots of current. We hooked a few more fish but lost them at that speed and only managed to land one more Mahi mahi.

We are very happy to be tied up alongside the dock and are now spending the time getting the boat cleaned and sorted out ready for the next trip up north to Boston.

We will leave here on 20th so the next report will be on 21st May. Everybody on board is fit and well.

Regards = PW

Tuesday, 11 May 2004

Noon Position : N W

Course: various Speed: 9 knots Days Run : 257 miles in 24 hours

Weather : Squalls out in the Gulf Stream Wind : 085 degrees 25 knots

News: Shortly after lunch yesterday we came around the west end of Cuba and straight into trouble. We had 2 to 2.5 knots of current against us and not much wind so headed out offshore to look for the gulf stream. By daybreak today we were passing Havana, 25 miles to the south, and started to get a push from the Stream, which gradually increased until we had nearly 3 knots pushing us at times. Unfortunately the wind has kicked in from almost dead ahead causing huge seas with the wind against current. We are shipping large amounts of water over the bow and it is most uncomfortable. At one time we were down to 6 knots of boat speed to try and ease the pounding. We also have had to bear away a bit for a better angle but it only helps a small amount. Roll on Fort Lauderdale! We have 145 miles to go at noon today so will arrive in the early hours tomorrow, hopefully.

The good news is that we have caught 5 dorado (mahi mahi) all between 12 and 20 pounds and hope to trade them for a free meal with one of the restaurants when we arrive.

We are battened down and plugging on.

Regards = PW

Monday 10th May 2004

Noon Position : 21 54N 085 04W 15 miles off the west end of Cuba.

Course 009 degrees Speed 13 knots Run since departure: 351 miles – Average speed 12.1 knots

Weather : Trade wind day, squalls and rain last night Wind : 100 degrees 16 knots

News: We have had an eventful day! We left Roatan at first light yesterday morning. The exit from Fantasy Island was a very narrow passage with 13 feet of water, exactly the same as our draft. We had come in very slowly and did not touch but went aground on the way out. We put a diver over who directed us and eventually squeezed through into open water and set off on course at 0700.

We caught three dorado but let the two small ones go and kept a nice 24 pounder. The wind was a little too light so we were running mostly with 75% sail and the rest engine and making a great speed. Managed to shut down totally later in the evening but this was interupted by a loud crash when the mizzen boom, which weighs probably over half a ton come crashing to the deck. The topping lift had broken and we were lucky there was not more damage than we sustained. It missed the outside steering wheels but bent the bimini frame and dented the pushpit, knocking over the lifering and light in the process.

No sooner had we got this all squared away when we were hit by one of the biggest squalls I have seen for a while. We had sustained winds of 40 knots for over an hour, sometime even more than that with torrential rain and blinding lightening all around.

With on and off engine assists we have managed a really good speed and have now taken in the lines. We hope to arrive Tuesday evening in Fort Lauderdale and will be docked at the Marriot Hotel on 17th Street.

PW

FRIDAY 7th May,

We arrived off Roatan this morning at first light and were going to anchor at West End but found it too rolly. As it was too early and nothing was opened we spent the time motoring back to Coxen’s Hole, the main town which is a bit of a dump, but wanted to be there to clear in when the customs and immigration opened. This we duly did while Penny got a supermarket fix and then we went further east to French Harbour where we were told we could dock next to a restaurant. This turned out to be another bit of bad information so we went for the next option, Fantasy Island. The depth we measure was thirteen and a half feet and a very narrow channel, which is why we didn’t go there in the first place but we were running out of options. Managed to get in very slowly and are now anchored off the nice resort.

The whole island is home to a huge fleet of American style shrimp boats and every small cove has them moored in there cheek to jowl. We passed a lot of them in the night as well.

Had a good day’s fishing yesterday and caught a couple of nice sized tuna, a wahoo and a Sierra Mackerel so the freezer is pretty full again and we still have some to give away.

We leave again early Sunday morning so the next report will be on Monday. Have a nice weekend. PW.

Saturday May 1st

Cayos Albuquerque is like an atoll, two small islands surrounded by a ring of reef. Yesterday morning we threaded our way trough the coral heads and found an uncomfortable anchorage, thinking to move further in after exploring with the dinghy. The weather was against us as it was blowing 25 knots with squalls coming through so after a couple of hours we reversed course and left. The islands are really beautiful with pristine white sand beaches. On one island there are 10 Columbian military guys and on the other a group of fisherman who spend there days diving and fishing.

We came hard on the wind and had a bumpy trip up past San Andres (we heard that it is not a good place to stop) and continued on to Providencia where we finally anchored off Morgans Head just as it got dark. A long day! tomorrow we will explore the island before pushing on up north.

Regards = PHil