The 61st Parallel

leaving the dock in Hampton

Heading south at last! The 61st parallel was achieved after 7 days of heading east, more or less, and from here on, we just follow “Route 61” to the Eastern Caribbean.  Largely uneventful, it has been a great sailing voyage thus far.  Although we have been repeatedly cautioned by our professional weather router that we will have windless days necessitating motoring, that prediction has not proven to be very accurate for us.  It’s a big ocean—I don’t hold it against Chris* if he doesn’t get it right every time for our little corner of the Atlantic.

Luke and Harry reviewing the course

Previously unbeknownst to us, we have a resident poet onboard (albeit, unpublished) in the form of Harry.  After noting that the reports from our weather router had been missing the mark, so to speak, for several days running, he jotted down the following thoughts in couplet form. I am pleased that he has granted me permission to publish it here.

Harry

So we pushed southeast on every wave, our waypoints firmly fixed.

The forecast changes every night. “Stay north, No—get south quick.”

Chris Parker does his usual show; uncertainty is high

The trades may blow at 26 or else we all could die.

But next week will be better, at least a day or two

Impulses running down the trough could really screw with you.

You could motor for a day but watch your diesel stock

But then again you may need it more to get you to the dock

The weather guru chatters on; I hope he has some clue

His long list of uncertainties make me Caribbean Blue.

newly published poet, William Henry Corbett

sailing toward sunrise

We were just100 miles off of Bermuda yesterday, envisioning the tanned folks on that tiny island out and about sporting their Bermuda shorts, pastel flip flops and chic sunglasses. Although we were so close, we were not tempted to detour; we have plenty of diesel and so we didn’t need to head there for a top-off. Some of the Rally boats have stopped in Bermuda and are now continuing on to Antigua.  Because of that, we are closer now to the group that left Hampton two days before we did.  

fixing something at the clew

Each evening at 7 PM, Carl begins the Rally Net on SSB (single side-band) for group #4 (12 of the 73 boats doing the Rally) and that’s how we hear the locations of other boats.  Sometimes. Not everyone checks in.  Sometimes the SSB has poor propagation (radio talk for “kssshhssh—I can’t hear you—did you say you wanted fries with that?)

Full moon at the start of passage

Carl and I are thoroughly enjoying the company and camaraderie of our little foursome.  Harry and Luke are both seasoned ocean sailors.  Harry has more years of sailing experience than the other three of us combined. He is a gentle teacher; we learn something from him on a daily basis. 

Time for reading

Luke is way beyond me in his understanding of the sea and wind, and reading of the sails. He is quick to go up on deck when the mains’l needs to be reefed or preventer set, and it was agreed upon before we left shore that if a need arose for someone to climb the mast, it would be Luke who would go up.  (A natural choice as another of his interests is rock climbing.) We met Luke’s father, his paternal grandparents and aunt before departure.  If I was sending my teenaged son off to sail for 10 days with people of uncertain character, I’d want to see what they looked like too.  His family was very nice and we apparently passed muster.

More reading

Three hour watches are working out for us, although there are many hours of the day and evening when all four of us are together in the cockpit, enjoying the warm wind, wave spray and stories. When conversation flags, we return to our Kindles or paper books for a time.  Between us we’ve now read about 12 books on this passage. I can no longer whine about not getting in enough sailing time.  This boat is a rocket (she says with a grin of satisfaction). We are currently zipping along and surfing down the waves at 7.5 to 8.5 knots.  It. Is. Awesome!

Most of our trip was at this angle of heel, close-hauled

Today we had a bit of a celebration to mark our turn to the south. The celebration entailed sharing a Ghirardelli chocolate toffee bar after our noon meal, followed by the bestowing of a small gift upon our most experienced and storied crew member, Harry.  Before I tell you about the gift itself, a little background is in order.  

Glad I finished these side panels before we left

Carl gave Harry a tour of our boat before we left Oriental.  (You may recall that Harry lives in Oriental). After the topside tour, the two men headed below with me trailing behind. Carl pointed out which berth would be Harry’s and then added, “And each bunk is equipped with a loincloth.”  My eyes widened and my ears perked up.

iPad, Kindle and iPhone, check, check and check

Now, to be fair, it is not THAT uncommon for a person of a certain age, or heck, of any age really, to mis-speak now and then, substituting one similar sounding noun for another.  Maybe the speaker had just been thinking about loincloths (for some odd, who knows why, reason) and “loincloth” popped out instead of “lee cloth**” which as we know, is really an entirely different thing altogether.  

The front of the loincloth.  Genuine sheepskin.

Well, Harry is quick and noticed the noun substitution right off, as did Carl, as soon as it passed his lips, no doubt and it gave them both a start. Harry -  “Oh, I didn’t know there would be a dress code for the boat…..I might have to give that some thought.”  Well, in the days that followed, Carl and I DID give the matter some thought. Carl suggested that a loincloth for Harry might be in order. Naturally, I thought that was a marvelous idea and set about making one before we left Oriental.  We gave it to Harry today.  And then continued on down Hwy 61.

Challenge to cook close-hauled

*Chris Parker is our personal weather router as well as the router for the Rally as a whole.  He is right more often than he is wrong, about what we will encounter on the water.  Very glad to have him in our corner.

Leecloth on our berth

**Lee cloth - A stout cloth that can be attached to the walls and/or ceiling on the open side of a berth.  Its’ job is to prevent the sleeper from being dumped onto the floor when the boat heels. 

Countdown to Set Sail

Salty Dawg Rally boat leaving Bluewater Yachting Center

A large percentage of the Salty Dawg Rally boats left as planned, on November 2nd.  We did not, however.  Our decision-making was influenced by the fact that we were still in need of one prescription medication AND a box of supplies before departure.  Leaving without those things would have brought about other problems down the road, and so we waited.  It also appeared to us that we would have better wind for sailing and possibly less motoring if we left a couple days later.

from L to R: Carl, Harry, Luke, Finola (Harry's wife) and me, Ardys

Our departure date is now set for today, Saturday, November 4th.  We are not unhappy about this as there was very little wind in this part of the Atlantic on Thursday.  The boats that left then are largely motoring. Many will have to make a side stop in Bermuda to fill up with fuel before finishing the passage to Antigua.

Our friend, Dale removing dock lines from the piling before departure

Departure today will mean a little more wind for sailing and we are happy about that.  It’s been a very long time since I have sailed on Northern Star, in fact, not since the beginning of April.  I enjoyed photographing some of the boats during their final preparations on Thursday morning and watching them leave the dock.  We will catch up with them later, in Antigua.  

Fin won 2nd prize for her Halloween costume

People who are interested in following our journey will be able to track our course via our inReach satellite system. Go to:  https://share.delorme.com/NorthernStar. You will see our location on a map of the Atlantic and the location will be updated every 15 minutes, give or take.  Because the ocean is so huge and we are so small, it may appear as though we are barely moving. Do not be alarmed—we will definitely be moving—somewhere between 4 1/2 and 7 1/2 knots from departure until we reach Antigua.  

Honorable Mention for McGruff's Halloween costume 

Our inReach will also allow us to send short text messages to our families from the ocean, as well as to receive texts from them.  

Rhumb line from Hatteras to Antigua

The photograph shows a “blank” map of the Atlantic where we have marked our rhumb line.  The rhumb line is the most direct route from our current position to Antigua.  It is not our anticipated route however. Leaving Hampton, we will first go southeast toward Hatteras to avoid running into the counter-clockwise eddy on the eastern edge of the Gulf Stream.  From Hatteras, we will push hard to get as far east as we can before turning south toward Antigua.  

A Rally boat with 9 diesel jugs.  Northern Star holds 125 gal diesel

Why do I say, “we will push hard to get east?” This is because of those pesky Trade Winds that flow just north of the Caribbean.  Once we get into them, they will push the boat back toward the U.S. Thus, we want to get in as much easting as possible, before turning south. Once every 24 hours, we will mark our exact Latitude and Longitude (LatLong) on our paper map. (The paper map will make a memento of our passage). Other than that one daily event with our paper map, our electronic charts and compass will be used exclusively.

Topping off water before departure

The sailors have a saying about this course.  “Head east until the butter melts (in other words, until the winds and seas are warmer, along the 65th parallel) and then turn south.”  This strategy will take us much closer to Bermuda than one might think would be necessary.  But that will help us avoid having to motor straight into the Trade Winds later.  

Nice fishing pole for trolling on passage.

Carl and Harry have set our waypoints on the chart plotter which will guide whoever is on watch and monitoring the autopilot.  Our autopilot will do the bulk of the steering for us. Our crew of four plan to follow a 3-hour watch schedule round the clock.  Thus, each of us will be on watch twice/day for a total of 6 hours.  The rest of the time, we can sleep, prepare meals, read, or whatever else needs doing.  Anytime the weather requires a change in the sails, two of us will be required for that.  The person that was on watch during the previous 3 hour period will be called into service for a sail change. 

Find the toys: paddle board against starboard lifelines. Two bicycles lashed to the mast.

Throughout the passage, we will be in contact with other boats in the Rally by way of our SSB radio (Single Side-Band) twice/day, at 0700 and 1800.  Each boat will call in their position to the Rally. If there is an urgent need for a boat to be contacted, the Rally can call us on SSB and contact us on our inReach. We will monitor Ch.16 on our VHF at all times. 

Checking to be sure our ditch bag floats.  It DOES!

We also have the assistance of our weather router, Chris Parker, who broadcasts wind direction, currents, and sea state specific to any LatLong that we need.  He specifically is working with all of the Salty Dawg Rally boats as we travel to Bermuda, Antigua or Bahamas.  His input is what helps us figure out our heading, and decide where to enter and exit the Gulf Stream.  The Gulf Stream is about 100 miles wide off of Cape Hatteras which is where we will enter the Stream. As you know, the Stream will push us north as we cross it and we don’t want to get caught up in that counter-clockwise eddy on the other side of the Stream.

Fin helped me with my third and last major provisioning run.

Carl and I will maintain our same phones in the Caribbean.  We will use them primarily for texting family and friends.  Talking to folks in the U.S. will be extremely expensive. We will continue to be available by email while in the Caribbean. 

FYI: While all you landlubbers will be going on Daylight Savings Time soon, we will not.  The Caribbean remains on Atlantic Std Time. 

Our crew for the Rally to Antigua.  Carl and I on boat. L-Luke.  R-Harry.

Our crew is in place and we are pumped!  We are leaving the dock this afternoon in order to enter the enormous St. James River during the ebbing tide. That will help push us out onto the Atlantic about 12 miles from here.  The four of us, Harry, Luke, Carl and I, are ready to go sailing!  Woo-HOOOO!