sy Timoneer

Wednesday April 30 report.

Time: 1200 Eastern standard time

Position: 28′ 36″ North 66′ 41″ West

Weather: Partly sunny Wind: NE 3 kts

SOG: 11.2 kts COG: 338 T

News: Tuesday afternoon we ran through a occluded front line which drenched

the boat in rain for about two hours. There was not much wind in the

system as the breeze peaked out at 20 knots. Since then the light winds we

had from behind have all but evaporated and we have been motoring in 3-5

knots for the last 14 hours. Right after the rain showers we saw a whale

breech off the port side, unfortunately it was such a brief encounter we

were unable to identify what type it was. Everyone onboard has settled

into the routine and are working on projects during the day. If the

weather holds and we maintain the current speed we should arrive in Newport

Saturday afternoon

Best regards,

John

Monday April 28th

Time: 1200 Eastern standard time

Position: 20′ 04.4 ” North 63′ 12.7″ West

Weather: Sunny with isolated clouds Wind: SSE – 15 kts

SOG: 11.3 kts COG 342′ T

News: Timoneer departed Antigua yesterday evening after spending a few

weeks there and having guests for the Antigua Classics week regatta. We

went out earlier in the afternoon with Tomac to look at the condition of the

Main and Genoa and see if we need to work on the sails once we reach New

England. Timoneer got underway about 1800 and sailed out of Falmouth

harbor as the sun was setting over the ash spewing Volcano on Montserrat.

The breeze in Antigua during classics has been out of the south more than

usual and this trend continued as we turned to our course of 342 it was

almost directly behind us at about 15kts. We motor sailed throughout the

evening with the staysail up and into the morning, as the sun rose the

breeze freshened and we were able to put the genoa out for a few hours.

The current weather calls for the wind to abate and not much of a low

pressure system over the east coast to strengthen things, but we shall see

once we get closer to Newport. Everyone on board is well and the fishing

lines are out.

Best regards,

John

Monday Jan 13th 2003

Time: 1200 local (1100 Eastern standard time)

Position: 13’12.0″ North 62′ 12.7″ West

Weather: Sunny with isolated showers Wind: E – 15 kts

News: Timoneer is underway bound for Trinidad & Tobago to pick up our

guests for the next trip. The journey is about 450 miles to Trinidad

where we will check customs and do our final provisioning, then it is

another 70 miles to Tobago where the guests arrive. We departed St.

Maarten though the 0900 Simpson Bay Bridge yesterday morning, passing

through the narrow (36ft)bridge abutment for the last time. By the time we

return the bridge will be widened to 54 ft, making everyone breath a little

easier. The sail has been uneventful so far although the South Easterly

swell is making it a little bumpy. We should arrive early Tuesday morning.

Date: 12/04/02

Time: 1200 noon local (0600 eastern standard time)

Position: 30 miles SSW of Cartagena Spain

Weather: Clear and sunny Wind: NW calm < 5kts
News: Timoneer is back at sea again – Left Palma at 12:45 yesterday

afternoon. The work continued right up until we left the dock in Palma

as the electricians put the finishing touches on the frequency converter

installation and testing. The crew used the morning to go through the

safety drills and equipment orientation, along with making sure the boat was

well stowed as the weather forecast was less than ideal. The weather near

Gibraltar, the first stop on our journey back to the Caribbean, was fine.

Although locally, a low pressure system over Italy was reinforcing the North

Westerly in the Mallorca area with wind speeds in the 25-35kt range. The

weather forecast was for the conditions to worsen by Wednesday so we elected

to leave in order to catch the favorable weather near Gibraltar. Departing

from Palma we hugged the sheltered shoreline as you head west, raised the

main with one reef, and unfurled the headsails to get the proper halyard

tension, prior to heading out into the open Mediterranean sea. During the

daytime we sailed with a reefed main and a double reefed genoa which was

pushing us at a sustained 13kts, as the sun set we put in another reef in

the main and changed to the staysail from the genoa. During the night

as the wind built to 35-40kts we would reef the staysail accordingly as the

boat close reached along at a manageable 11 kts. This continued until dawn

this morning as we reached the Spanish main land, where the wind has

continued to taper off to almost flat calm. The break in the weather

coincided perfectly with Kent’s 26th birthday, as the boat settled down

enough for Penny to bake a carrot cake for the celebration. Weather

permitting we should arrive in Gibraltar tomorrow morning, load fuel and be

off to the Canaries in the afternoon.

Friday 1st November

Position: 37 : 17N 10 47E 25 miles north of Tunisia. 201 miles run since Malta

Weather: Overcast and threatening weather with black squalls around but

little wind.

News:

We left on schedule from Malta yesterday evening at 18 30 local time. Flat

seas and a light southerly so have only had the mainsail up to help steady

us. Dark night with quite a few ships but no problems.

We have spent the day today washing down to try to get rid of some of the

ash that has been raining down all over Malta from the eruption of the

volcano on Mount Etna, Scicily. It has been quite incredible how much of

this volcanic dust has settled onto the boat. The worst day was last Sunday

when it first started and it is everywhere and of course somehow gets inside

the boat as well. We have been washing down the decks with the fire hose as

this is the only way to get enough volume of water to get rid of it.

Added to our problems is that the paint in the water tanks which has just

been done cannot have water on it for seven days so we are on severe water

restrictions for the next week. Better stand upwind from us when we get to

Palma.

Trip is going well and caught one small tuna this morning which Penny fixed

as sushi for lunch – quite a spread!

Hope to be in Palma at Pier 46 on Sunday and the forecast looks quite good.

Tuesday 1st October

Position: 38 20N — 06 40E

Day’s run: 266miles

Weather: Blue sea, blue sky and not too hot – just nice!

Wind: 090 Degrees 14knots

News: The wind has gone all the way around behind us now so although we

enjoyed a few hours with the wind on the beam we are again solely under

motor with the wind directly astern. Had a busy night last night as we

passed along the Tunisian coast with lots of shipping and fishing boats

everywhere. Luckily we had ideal conditions with excellent visability.

The fishing has been fantastic! We have been landing blue fin tuna all

morning at regular intervals, the biggest being 28 kilos (61 lbs) so we will

be popular in Palma. Plenty of space in the freezer so we don’t need to stop

fishing and the ones today we will keep fresh on ice to give to the sushi

restaurant as soon as we arrive.

Everyone is fit and healthy and looking forward to our arrival early

tomorrow morning.

Thursday 26th September

Well here we are back at sea again. We left from Antalya in Southern Turkey

at 1300 today and headed for Malta for fuel and then straight on to

Mallorca. The leg to Malta should take a little over 3 days if the weather

is kind to us.

We had no sooner left when we caught our first tiny tuna. We have caught a

few of these since being in Turkey and they are really excellent for making

shushi so that is the plan for this one.

The weather is warm and sunny but a lot of haze reducing visiblity a bit. It

was flat calm when we left but now the wind has picked up and we have

12knots of headwinds.

All is well on board and it is nice to be back at sea and shaking out the

cobwebs.

Monday 19th August

Hello to everyone again! We have been in Palma since July 1st having a lot

of work done on the boat but are now underway again. We left this morning at

0915 and have had to use the engine all day due to light headwinds. We are

headed for Malta where we will refuel and then on to Mikonos in Greece for a

three week cruise in the islands.

Weather today has been warm and humid with one rain squall which dumped a

load of Sahara dust all over the boat. We have had a great day of fishing and

caught three Bluefin Tuna – the best! the chef is now complaining so we

have taken in the lines but hope to start again tomorrow as we will be able

to give them away in Malta.

All is well on board and we are making about 11 knots on a course of 105

degrees, straight for Malta where we hope to arrive on Wednesday afternoon.

Sunday 30th June

Noon Position

38’58.9N 06’18.5E

24H run 260 nm.

Light headwinds all day yesterday ,motorsailing against the swell as well. Weather was sunny .

After Sardinia the wind turned to the north and we where able to start sailing and make some better speed, but the wind died again this morning around 9.30. We are now motoring and should make it in to Palma tomorow

morning early hopefull between 4 to 6 am. Every body happy on board.

Noon – Thursday 27th June

Adriatic sea 41 44.8N 17 00.8E 271 miles in the last 24 hours.

We left Venice yesterday at 8.30 am. but have had some communication problems but that now seems to be up and running again. The wind was North East 18 to 20 Knots so we were able to sail for 2 hours but then the wind died slowly and it was time for the Caterpillar to help us with some speed.

Weather as been fantastic, sunny and warm. We passed the yacht Bolero on their way to Venice as well.

All is going well on board.