Snowing in Lancaster PA

We are back in Lancaster to spend the holidays with family and friends.   It's a beautiful snowy morning here on Boxing day! 

 

We will return to the Caribbean on January 8th.

Happy Boxing Day and a very happy New Year!
Our best wishes,
Nancy and John

Entertaining trip to St. Martin

With the Trades dropping to 5 to 10 knots we left Eustatia Sound at 2.50 am and arrived here at 5.20 pm just in time to catch the 5.30 bridge-opening on the Dutch side. After waiting around for ten minutes a local came by in his dinghy to tell us “they” had changed the bridge opening times and we had missed it – the opening was now at 5pm! Oh well, I guess “they” are the same the world over. But at least we had enjoyed a less than boring motor-sail.

Leaving in the dark is not so tricky as arriving blind: you know where you are, have seen it in daylight, and can calmly plot your exit: and by leaving early morning we were fairly assured of arriving 75nm later in daylight. Even so we did have two chart plotters going to help us out of the reef strewn waters between Eustatia and Necker Islands.

This normally boring passage under motor turned out to be quite entertaining.  We had a beautiful sunrise

Then the engine revs dropped, signaling a dirty fuel filter.  We pulled out some jib and hove-to

 

 and John changed both the primary and secondary filters.  We are hoping this is the last of dirty fuel problems.  We are down to a quarter tank and will fill with fresh diesel here in St Martin.

By mid-morning large convection clouds were all around and yet we dodged all of them: but they were quite impressive

and produced Rainbows

On the trip we had passengers fly in: two Martins resident in Eustatia had decided it was time to see the island named after them. Early on we saw them flying astern, and later one decided to hitch a ride. He perched in various places topsides before flying down below for warmth and a rest.

We wondered what happened to the buddy, and then a couple of hours later, there he was, clinging to the helm seat sheltering behind Nancy. He cuddled up close to her and fell asleep: John decided that he was a very discerning bird. Nancy was able to gently pick him up and put him down below.

Hours later we arrived at Simpson Bay on the Dutch side.  We opened the hatches and our two feathered passengers flew off to start their new life!

Our very best to all of you!

John and Nancy December 4, 2013

 

Hanging in St Thomas, and now bound for St Martin

We had an unusual amount of rain during our stay in the Virgins but still managed to have a great time thanks to my college buddy Donna, and new friends we met through her.  We again met Wayne whose work shop proved invaluable in sawing 3/8" off the bottom of Adventuress’ sticking head door.

 

Thanksgiving dinner was superb at Sue and Dewey’s spectacular new home perched on a high bluff with a panoramic view of the BVI and American Virgins

 

 

    Sue and Dewey with their radiant smiles, and here is just a taste of the view from their living room and terrace:

 

 

 

Wayne ....relaxing at the Soggy Dollar Bar

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                             

                                                      

 

 

 

   
                Is that Nancy and Donna playing horseshoes on White Beach, Jost Van Dyke?
                             (Photo by an observant and observing JFK)

On Sunday afternoon we had a hearty brunch at the St Thomas Yacht Club and then we took everyone for a farewell sail on Adventuress.

 

At dusk yesterday we anchored off Saba Rock, North Sound, Virgin Gorda, after a beautiful sail from St Thomas on SE winds: we were treated to a lovely sunset over the  BVIs as we entered the Sound.

 

The forecast tomorrow is good for a 70 mile motor-sail to St. Martin:  East winds 5-10 knots going ENE with a half knot adverse current and 6 to 9 foot swell from the north east.  We will leave at 3am when the winds are the lightest.  It’s a bit of a pain but now you know why they call it the “Thorny Path” when you voyage against the trade winds. 

So tomorrow evening we hope to arrive in France. Ahhh those baguettes, the cheese, the pate and of course, the wine!

Best, Nancy and John 

Ps you can now enter your email address top right and you will get a notifying email each time we post here.

 

Adieu Dave!

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

We will bid adieu to Dave on Thanksgiving morning when he flies home to his lovely wife, Barb, and into a northeast snow storm!  The last days were spent enjoying the American Virgins, including snorkeling at Water Lemon Cay and Christmas Cove where we saw a giant puffer fish with white lips and a ferocious barracuda

 

 

 

  …….and a delicious dinner at the St Thomas Yacht Club as guests of our friend, Donna Liska.

As Dave leaves us, he remains haunted by the question  “What made Hayden scream like a girl when he and Radeen were sailing on our old boat, Larking About?  Many of you may recall that three years ago my dear ‘Cuz’ Hayden and  his wife, Radeen, were planning on crewing on Larking About across the Pond to England (see Larking About's blog la40.blogspot.com).  We had to abort those plans because my brother became ill.  We instead brought the boat back to the Chesapeake Bay, and swapped it for Adventuress.   We now plan to sail Adventuress to England next May/June, but  Hayden and Radeen will be adventuring on their own boat, Island Spirit: so they are not available.  Instead Dave Hornbach and Bob Nelson will be joining us.  Both have sailed with us on ocean passages, are very competent sailors and great guys.  It remains to be seen if they will scream like girls on Adventuress!

(From Dave)

…  It has been a fantastic time sailing with John and Nancy for almost 2 weeks.  We have seen fun places, danced up a storm and snorkeled to our hearts content.  The food on Chez Adventuress has been outstanding thanks to master chef John and Nancy’s baking.  I will miss being here but it won’t be long till I am back for the Atlantic Passage.  Yes I cannot imagine anything about sailing with the Knights that would result in a girlish shriek, but I have heard the tale and suspect that there is a prank in my future.  Should I plan one of my own in self-defense?  Should I conspire with Bob Nelson to add further intrigue?  Stay tuned to the blog to find what happens next.  Scream like a girl…  Hah!!!

Love to All,

Nancy, John and Dave

 

The Best Made Plans...

Tuesday, 11/19, to Monday, 11/25

The plan was to sail to Anegada, stay two nights and position Adventuress for the 70 mile motor sail to  St Martin. 

 

We had a lovely sail from Jost to Anegada.  Anegada is totally flat so about 3 miles out we began to see the whispy pine trees on the shoreline and we arrived mid afternoon in time to order our spiny lobster dinner reservation and take a nice swim.  The bar-b-qued spiny lobsters were the best we ever had but the dancing exceeded all expectations!  John and Dave treated the crowd to their “rock and roll” moves and ability to sing all of the words to the “Oldies”.  Chuckie (as in Berry) Hornbach  and Twinkle Toes Knight  were definitely crowd pleasers with their dancing and singing.

On Wednesday we moved Adventuress to the western most end of the island and anchored for the night.  Thursday morning….Strong winds, stormy weather, big swells, wind on the nose and the coup de grace… dirty fuel!  Not a good day to motor sail to St. Martin.  We turned around and sailed to Spanish Town and made arrangements to have the fuel polished at Sea Cow Bay on Monday.  No problem…let’s play!

Friday we sailed to the Baths,

 

 

swam ashore and hiked to the Top of the Baths for a spectacular view and great lunch.  We then sailed to Haulover Bay at Cooper.  (My niece, Jesse and her husband remember their stay at Haulover!)

 

On Saturday we sailed to the Soggy Dollar at Yost to treat Dave  to the “Original Pain Killer”.  Unfortunately they weren’t serving the Flying fish sandwich but the food was great. 

 

My college roommate who lives on St. Thomas, Donna, visited with three of her friends on her motorboat “Happy”. She came bearing gifts…..a case of ginger beer and Dirty Salt and Vinegar chips….yippee!  

 

 JFK and Dave showed their skills at swinging the ring on the peg  and all had a fun time. 

So here we are, sittin’ at the dock, having our fuel polished.  Weather is still a NO for heading to St. Martin so we will hang in the Virgins until Thursday when Dave will Fly home.

Love to all,

Nancy and John with Dave Hornbach

November 25, 2013

Off to St Martin

AFter a couple of days' relaxation at Cooper Island and Jost Van Dyke we are heading East, back to Virgin Gorda and, depending on the wind, will leave soon for St Martin. Ideally we get a day where the trades blow north of east, which gives us an angle to sail rather than motor to St Martin. Bob and Matt Glaser have left and are on their way back to Florida; and we picked up our good friend and outstanding crewman Dave Hornbach (IP35 Eau de Vie) at Nanny Cay and he will be with us for a week or two. Dave had a good trip down from Virginia on the Arc Caribbean 1500 on Starburst, a Hallberg Rassy 43, homeport Annapolis. Best to all, John and Nancy, with Dave.

Arrived Virgin Gorda!

2341AST and the hook is down in the North Sound, Virgin Gorda, BVI after a passage of 10 days and 7 hours. Sadly the Trade winds went AWOL and we had a light North West wind for the last day and a half, so we motored along and were glad to arrive here, turn off the noise, and turn on the champagne and dark and stormies! Best, John and Nancy with Bob and Matt Glaser.

Down Route 64

940AST 2219n 6504w wind light ene motorsailing at 6kts seas large swell at 11 seconds
Here we are in the Tropics and hoping for Trade winds soon. We had useful winds the last 2 days and have averaged 6.8kts going exactly where we wanted - down Longitude 64. We are now motoring in a light air hole sitting between the Northers we have been riding and the Trades. All well and N Shaub Knight "can see the barn" !!
Best, Nancy and John with Bob and Matt Glaser.

Change of Plan

1030 AST Thur 2445n 6358w wind N 20kts rain
Riding down towards the Trades on a predicted Norther and we have changed our destination from St Martin to the British Virgins: just seems a better plan and more convenient for Bob and Matt. All well as we enjoy our first downwind sail in 8 days. Best, John & Nancy with Bob & Matt Glaser

Beating Against Southerlies

0745AST Wedn 2650n 6355w wind 15kts S speed 7kts under double reefed main double reefed jib and staysail wind 55 degrees off starboard bow seas 3ft sunny
Plenty of breeze even if it is from S. Having a grand sail out here and Adventuress is romping along in her element. All well as we wait for a shift to North winds; and we have an ETA Saturday.
Best John and Nancy, with Bob and Matt Glaser

Mystery in Mid-Ocean

0830 AST 2825n 6716w wind SSW 15kts course 130 sp 7.5kts at 66 deg off the bow under full sail; partly cloudy some rain squalls around.
Weird stuff happens out here...and then you wake up. But last night's oddity was real. Matt, on watch, spotted a green light ahead on the port bow and no other lights, and nothing on radar. Correctly calling JFK to the cockpit we pondered the question together. Had to be a sailboat. But we were heading SE and his green light told us he was heading westerly...but from where? Europe? Africa? Made no sense, as from there you would be further South, in the Trades. On the radar finally appeared a small target 3 miles ahead; and a minute later his AIS radio signal popped up and it told us he was heading NNW at just 3 knots. Then another target appeared on the radar some 5 miles away on our starboard bow. Immediately Matt and I started hashing out our plot...a drug rendezvous into which we had unhappily intruded....and we were captive...and then ransomed...and, well you get the idea. Some ten minutes later we passed, and we could clearly see just 400 yards away a sailboat, without sails, under motor. We did not receive a call from her on our VHF radio, and I decided not to call them. Were they just poodling around mid-Atlantic; or in trouble; or making trouble? If the former we figured they were just drunk or asleep and the autopilot had stopped working. If they were in trouble, they would have called us on vhf or signalled us. Anyhow, they did a 180 ten minutes later to fall in behind us, which was really strange as minutes later it put them right in the middle of a big rainburst that we had just dodged. Maybe they were short on water and intentionally driving into rain to catch some? A mystery it shall remain.
The winds have been, amazingly, exactly as forecast on our downloaded weather charts and by our wx man Chris Parker; and so after some light winds last night as we passed through a trough, we are now enjoying a glorious dawn sail on forecasted South Westerlies, and our navigation plan thus far is working perfectly: we should be turning South at about 27n 64w and then looking for the Trades to head to St Martin. John and Nancy, with Bob and Matt Glaser.

Monday Morning Happies

0900 AST 2920n 6940w wind N 10kts course 110 speed 5.5 sky overcast
Here in retirement land it's an appropriately grey dawn yet we are enjoying our Monday morning! Seas are calm and we are making an excellent heading East South East; under full sail we are on Island Packet Autopilot, with the helm locked down almost centered and the sails balanced, she is tracking very true. Just as well we found some wind at 6am, after motoring for 16 hours, not because we are running low on fuel - we are not- but because the darn B&G autopilot was playing up and then stopped altogether at 10pm. So thank you Island Packet for the full keel and the well-balanced cutter sailplan!
All aboard are well and we are looking forward to mostly fair winds now until we find the Trade Winds for the sleigh ride down to St Martin.
John and Nancy, with Bob and Matt Glaser.

A Seaman's Simple Pleasure

1105 AST Sunday 2951n 7131w wind SE 10 course 175 5kts under full sail sunny and seas smooth 4ft long swell

As they plough their shallow keel clean across the waves
Through the wine dark seas etched with frothing bright white foam,
And though grim inside the crew stoically behaves
And craves the calm when the anchor's set in the loam.

The wind builds and thus the silvery waves pile steep,
They cling onto the ship as their stomachs revolt.
The keel lurches now up and suddenly dives deep
They test their strength like riding an unbroken colt.

The red dawn breaks! The storm's past! They're renewed with hope,
And like butterflies fresh from the chrysalis' grime
They take glad glee from a sweet drenching with soap
And relish the coming feast at eve's supper's time.

JFK
Adventuress, 400nm South West of Bermuda
Copyright JFK 10 November 2013

Crunchy Enough

0850 Saturday 3134n 7258w wind NE 20-25 seas 6ft heading 105 at 6kts under reefed sails.
Smooth is a relative term and we are still on the crunchy side of the 'peanut butter curve'. The ship is doing well, and most of the crew are in robust health. We are hoping to report a complete absence of mal de mer in our next report. The navigation is working so far to plan: we have made 390nm of easting, and even though we are now headed with the winds clocking to NE, we expect to be able to make longitude 65W far enough North before the Trade Winds would block any further easting. What was a deviation from plan was last night's dinner: heating anything on the bouncing stove was too scary, so we made do with ham and cheese wraps with olives and tomato.
If you are reading this you are on our blog: please spread the word to family and friends, as 'we' (JFK) failed to send out a global email with our blog's address. Best, John and Nancy, with Bob and Matt Glaser.

PS

We had a smooth Gulf Stream crossing: key to that, and why we left Beaufort SC asap Wednesday, was that we managed to get across the stream before the front hit with its counter stream North winds. :)

Warming Up and Building Up

0815 AST Friday 3225N 7540W Wind N 32kts Seas 12ft Cloudy 6.0 kts beam reach 105T with 4 Reefs in the Main, and the Staysail.
As we ate dinner the sunset was glorious and the winds eased: but we knew what was coming. Happy to write that all tummies have now found their sea legs, and everyone tucked into Lemon Marinated Salmon over Tortellini with an Alfredo Sweetcorn sauce and Courgettes.
The front hit at 0230 and the winds and seas have steadily built. We are riding along with tiny sails, but quite safely as long as we hold on. Best to all: and to all land-bound sailors, especially JOP, wish you were here! John and Nancy, with Bob and Matt Glaser.

A Little Bit Bumpy

32.16n 78.18w motorsailing at 90 true in light NE Seas 5ft confused
1020am Atlantic ST It's not too smooth out here and we have some "awkward" motion that has got some tummies unhappy. We have covered 115nm since leaving Beaufort SC at 4pm almost exactly on our intended course of 90T We were sailing last night for about 8 hours in a good wind and averaging 7 kts. Now we have hit an eddy of the Gulf Stream and also the expected lighter breeze. Best to all, John and Nancy, with Bob and Matt Glaser.

A Little Bit Bumpy

32.16n 78.18w motorsailing at 90 true in light NE Seas 5ft confused
1020am Atlantic ST It's not too smooth out here and we have some "awkward" motion that has got some tummies unhappy. We have covered 115nm since leaving Beaufort SC at 4pm almost exactly on our intended course of 90T We were sailing last night for about 8 hours in a good wind and averaging 7 kts. Now we have hit an eddy of the Gulf Stream and also the expected lighter breeze. Best to all, John and Nancy, with Bob and Matt Glaser.

Staged at Beaufort SC for Passage to St Martin

It's cold in Hampton VA at this time of kicking off to sail to the Caribbean, so this year we are staged in Beaufort SC at Dataw Island Marina. Much warmer! Crew will arrive tomorrow Wednesday and we will leave either tomorrow pm or Thursday am.

 

All is almost in order: we ripped out the old refrigeration system last Thursday, and installed a new one - same Frigoboat system but this time the compressor is properly sized : we found out when ordering the new system that the old compressor was too small!  The good news is that the new system was in by Sunday evening and we splashed back in the water on Monday...and the darn ice box is now verrrry cold at zero degrees F ! Yippee!!

 

This is our first post to the blog via email: if it works then we will be emailing updates here.

 

Best to all,

John and Nancy