Aboard Lady

Charlie

Wednesday, January 25th, 2011
Lameshure Bay, Saint John, USVI

Next Friday, January 27th, 2011 will be Charlie's 65th birthday.
If anyone would like to congratulate him on becoming eligible for Medicare, we are in the US VirginIslands, and our USA cell phones work here.
We expect to be in Cruz Bay, Saint John, on Friday, and all friends are invited to join us at Woodys in Cruz Bay at 5:00 for happy hour. We hear that beer and well drinks are $1.00 each
Charlie's number is 918-637-3399

Pictures from our Christmas Vacation

December  30th, 2011

Nanny Cay, Tortola

On December 1st, we stopped at in Air Margaritaville for breakfast.

Our luggage did not arrive with us.

Our first night in Madrid, I had to buy a jacket to put over the T-shirt and shoes and socks to replace the flip flops.

The hotel was near the Coca Cola distribution center.

We took the a city bus, and then the Metro to go downtown to Calleo, and saw musicians carolling the shoppers as we walked down Preciados to get to Puerta del Sol.  The tune sounded like "Jingle Bells", but the words were "Navidad, navidad".

After seeing the invisible man, we took a tour of the city by double-decker bus.

Lots of old buildings, monuments and fountains.

     

We were serenaded again on the Metro on the way home. 

On Sunday (December 5th), we flew from Madrid to Tenerife in the Canary Islands.  We had a long bus ride from the airport to Santa Cruz, where we met with John Dinsmore, Jay Sea Dee's owner, his son Jonathon, and his friend Greg who were also crewing for the trip.

Monday we topped up with fuel and water, and the crew was ready to leave.

Goodbye Tenerife.  

Our days at sea were pretty uneventful, on the whole.

Jonathan put out the fishing lines, and caught a number of dorado (we ate the last for Boxing Day dinner), and also a delicious wahoo.  

We took turns to be on watch and to be in charge of the galley.  

A lot of stories were exchanged.  

We reefed when needed, unfurled as the breeze lightened, and motored (for over three days) when there was no wind at all.

 

We dealt with squalls at night.  We saw the moon grow and wane.  Each night Venus was the evening star, with Jupiter high overhead.  Orion would set before dawn.  Jay Sea Dee's movement through the water excited the bio-luminescent plankton in our wake.  The constant sighing of the waves was our music.

The Dinsmore boys enjoyed James Bond movies for entertainment.

Jonathon's fishing line stopped the wind turbine one day.

 

 

I finished a needlepoint, knitted and read a few books.

 

On December 20th, Greg called "Sail Ho!".  Indeed, a ship was off to port, and we drew closer.  La Malouine was bound for Martinique.  They had left the Canaries a few days before us.

We sailed past Barbados at sun set.

We finally arrived in Grenada on December 22nd.  Our "official" finish line, when we crossed longitude 61 42.733W had been previously agreed to.  That put the voyage at 17 days, 5 hours and 20 minutes from our Santa Cruz departure.

We got to the Port Louis Marina in St George, Grenada in time for John to clear us through customs before they left for the day.  Next day was busy with laundry, saying farewell to Greg, and cleaning.

John had a tree for the cabin, and a palm tree for the deck, and we had a good Christmas.  We spent each afternoon, Christmas Eve, Christmas, Boxing Day and the day after at the pool.

 

We said good-bye to John and Jonathon on December 28th.  

Here we are on our 40th wedding anniversary, headed back to Lady.  Three different flights on Liat, changing first at Barbados, a quick stop at Dominica on the way to Antigua, then the final flight to Tortola after a stop at Nevis.  We were home in time to go out for a delicious dinner at Peg Legs Restaurant at Nanny Cay Marina.

Can you see us on the Peg Legs Web Cam?  http://www.nannycay.com/webcams/  Aren't we the second boat on the right?

Provisioning and laundry yesterday.  Internet today.  Off sailing again tomorrow.

Trans-Atlantic Crossing Completed!

Grenada

Christmas Eve, 2011

Sailing vessel Jay Sea Dee arrived safely in Saint George, Grenada the evening of  December 22nd, 2011 after 17 days 5 hours and 20 minutes at sea since departing Santa Cruz, Tenerife.

We had strong winds and no wind.  We ate well, especially enjoying the fish caught by Jonathan Dinsmore, cleaned and filleted by his father, John Dinsmore, cooked by myself and Charlie on different days.  Greg Kerlin of Beaufort, NC was our fifth crew member, which made for easy watches of three on, four off, with the cook of the day not doing any watches.

We are now in the marina at Port Louis, busy decorating the boat for tomorrow.

Details of the trip and photos to follow after we return to Lady next week.

Thanks to all who emailed and prayed for us on this wonderful adventure.

Merry Christmas!

Jenny and Charlie headed to Jay Sea Dee

Nanny Cay, Tortola, BVI

Wednesday November 30th, 2011

Last Spring, we accepted John Dinsmore's invitation for us to crew for him aboard Jay Sea Dee when he moved her from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean.  It is a great opportunity to cross an ocean on a sailing yacht, and get some great experience so that we might do it with Lady in the future.

We are packed, and leave tomorrow, flying via Beef Island, San Juan, Miami and Madrid (where we will stop for a couple of nights) to Tenerife, where we'll meet Jay Sea Dee at the San Miguel Marina.  I don't know if we'll be able to post to this blog during the voyage (we aren't taking our laptops), but John will be posting to his blog http://www.jayseadee.blogspot.com/

Today John is en route to the Canary Islands from Gibraltar.

 

Here are some pictures from our trip down and the fun we've been having since we got there.

 

 

Caribbean 1500 follow-up

Lady had been in radio communication with Karina, so we knew that they were a couple of hours ahead of us when we crossed the Caribbean 1500 finish line off Scrub Island at 0040.38 on Sunday November 20th. We motored down the Sir Francis Drake Channel, watching out for late partiers returning home. All was quiet when we entered Nanny Cay at about 0230, and tied up in space on a T-head as the fuel dock was full. What a treat the showers were at 4 AM! After sleep, next morning the roosters crowing reminded us as we woke that we were here in Tortola! After breakfast ashore (another treat) with other crews, we moved Lady from the T-head to our slip. Steve was ordered to go play, as he only had a single day to enjoy being ashore. I did laundry (took all day - winter clothes and everyone's bed linens, seven people working with four washers and two dryers), Charlie checked us in to customs and immigration, took care of 1500 formalities, and washed down the deck and cockpit. There was a fun beach cook-out that evening.
Monday, Steve was able to share a cab to the ferry terminal with crew from Destiny, and Charlie and I worked on sorting everything that had been re-stowed for the passage. We did manage to stop work long enough to go for a swim at the Nanny Cay pool. The awards party that evening was on the deck next to the pool, and was a lot of fun. Awards for the best blog (Scilia), prettiest yacht (Blackbird), the net controllers each got a T-shirt, and each participating yacht received a plaque with the C1500 logo and the boat's name.
We knew that in Class B, only two yachts had finished in the time limit. Dancing Lizard, a Moody 46, finished just a few hours behind us, but with our handicap, they corrected ahead of us. BUT, that was without applying the penalty for engine use. We knew that we had motored just under 60 hours, but had heard no report of Dancing Lizard's engine hours, - they did not have a SSB radio aboard, so had not reported in twice a day their position and engine hours at roll call. André told us that he couldn't remember his hours. He and his wife, Marie Claude, have become good friends since we met them first at Hampton. When Rick Palm announced that Dancing Lizard was second, we were joyous for them! Coincidently, that meant that Lady was first! Two Caribbean 1500's, two first places, not bad Lady.
A delicious buffet dinner at Peg Legs followed the awards, and we had fun with crews from Dancing Lizard, Beaudacious, Meander, Nyctea, and 1500 Somewhere.
Another day of boat maintenance and swimming, then our three free nights at Nanny Cay were up. After a trip to Bobby's market for provisions, we left Nanny Cay and headed over to Norman Island's Benures Bay where we dropped anchor and spent the next three days relaxing and recovering. Reading, snorkeling, a little bit of maintenance. The bay is not popular with charter boats - no restaurant ashore and no moorings, so we shared the anchorage with three or four other private yachts. Trillium, another 1500 participant, came and anchored near one day, so we invited them over for drinks and had a good time visiting with Sherry and Dennis from Michigan.
Yesterday, we moved over to The Bight at Norman Island, and after lunch ashore at Pirates, had Danielle and Michel on Nyctea, also from Quebec, over for drinks.
We are headed back to Nanny Cay today. We'll work on cleaning Lady, and get her ready to be parked there for a month while we go to Europe and crew for Jay Sea Dee from Tenerife to Grenada.

Passage to Tortola - Day 8

Friday November 18th to Saturday November 19th, 2011

At Sea

Another tough day of sailing - just kidding.
We've had really great winds for the past day, and Lady has raced through the swells. Winds in the 15 knot range keeps her moving at around 7 knots. We've had reefs in and out as the wind speed has changed.
Heeling at this angle make moving about quite difficult. You have to climb up to the galley, slide down to the chart table. Leeward drawers are hard to pull our, and the contents of windward cupboards may spill to the floor when the door is opened. Whenever anyone moves, they need to always be holding on to a fixed part of the boat. Steve had a difficult time getting into his berth last night. Charlie and I cannot sleep together in our berth unless we sleep across the bed.
These little challenges will be over soon. Our 1220 position (we forgot to write down the noon position) was 19 44N 065.23W.
We expect to be crossing the finish line early tomorrow morning (between 0200 and 0300) and will be at Nanny Cay about a hour and a half after that. We are really looking forward to shore showers, level beds, rum punches and meeting up again with the other participants.
Jenny

Passage to Tortola - Day 7

Thursday November 17th to Friday November 18th, 2011

At Sea

Another fabulous 24 hours of sailing. The wind has picked up since yesterday, and come around more from the east and east north-east. We had a slower couple of hours during the night, when we were reefed, but since then we have been sliding along at between 6 1/2 and 8 knots.
"Sail ho!" I called after breakfast.
Behind us off our port quarter was another sail. Radar indicated that the yacht was about 4 miles away, so I called them on VHF radio, and soon was talking to Seven Sisters. Loren and crew are also headed to Nanny Cay, Tortola; they departed from Morehead City, North Carolina, and like us, had to motor for about three days to get through the high pressure weather system. They have stayed behind us all day, sometimes a little closer, sometimes further away, It will be fun to meet them at the dock.
Our noon position was 22 21N 066 53W. 153 miles from our last noon position and about 270 miles to the finish line.
After lunch we decided to start a pot for the date and time of our finish. $1 per entry, limit one per person. All three of us have our date and times picked. Any Lady fans who are reading this and want to participate should send an email to Lady's at sea email (WDE9568 at sailmail.com) with the day and time you think we'll finish and your name and address where you want other participants to send your winning dollars no later than 0700 AST tomorrow, Saturday November 19th. The finish is from the north to a line from Scrub Island at 18 28N. If anybody sends a time that someone else already has, we'll add one minute to it. We are planning on crossing the finish line before the race time-limit expires at 1200 AST on Sunday, November 20th, 2011.
A rain squall this afternoon washed off the isinglass curtains, but passed quickly. We are back to slicing through the blue sea with sparkling wave crests at 7.4 knots in brilliant late-afternoon sunshine.
Jenny

Passage to Tortola - Day 6

Wednesday November 16th to Thursday November 17th, 2011

At sea

Another great day of sailing, even though nothing much has happened. Sailing close-hauled, we had a deep reef in the main yesterday afternoon and overnight, but took it out this morning. Our present wind speed is about 10-12 knots, enough to keep Lady moving at about 7 knots Steve reported that Lady had a nice wash from a squall overnight - Charlie and I slept through it.
Although we have no Internet at sea, we can send and receive emails, through the SSB, using our Sailmail account. We receive emails from rally control giving us weather and other information, we also have current subscriptions to a couple of saildocs, which send us the NOAA text forecast for the area and also a grib file showing wind direction in a pictorial format. Bob Crawford has been paying close attention to weather and our position, and emails us frequently about what he sees. We even get an occasional email from a family member and one of the other boats in the rally sent us an email. We try to connect twice a day to see if anybody still knows that we exist. We are anxious for the wind to turn more to the north-east. If it continues in the present south-easterly direction that we have had since we got through the high pressure system, we'll make landfall in Puerto Rico. Charlie calculates that we do have enough fuel left that if the wind dies completely, we should still be able to motor to Tortola.
Our noon position today was 24 52N 067 60W. We made about 165 nautical miles since noon yesterday, and have 430 nautical miles to the finish.
The ocean is a gorgeous shade of ultramarine blue, and the sound of Lady breaking through the waves is a delightful never-ending song.

Jenny

Passage to Tortola - Day 5

Tuesday November 15th to Wednesday November 16th, 2011

At Sea

We had a lovely afternoon yesterday, with enough wind to keep Lady moving at 6 to 6 1/2 knots on in to the night on a close-hauled course to Tortola at about 150 degrees. After midnight, the wind headed us, and for the remainder of the night our course was more due south. This morning the wind picked up to about 10-15, and Lady was making over 7 knots. A big excitement late in the morning when the bell on the fishing line rang, and Charlie and Steve hauled in a little dorado. We decided that he was not quite big enough to eat yet, so Charlie unhooked it and returned it to the ocean after photos.
Our noon position was 27 37N 068 50W - almost 150 miles since noon yesterday, and just under 600 miles to go.
The fishing line bell rang again as I was about to fix lunch. This time I managed to get a movie of the dorado coming aboard. He died happily thanks to rum in his gills, but as the wind has us heeling over so much, it's not safe to be cooking at this angle, so he's now in the freezer, awaiting a time when Lady is upright.
While Charlie was napping this afternoon, the bell rang again. It was a small fish, can't tell you what kind, and Steve returned him to the sea after removing the hook. We decided that the green lure we had on the line today works much better than the pink one we had on yesterday.
We are sailing along, still close-hauled, doing 7-8 knots, lots of big swells and waves, waiting for the wind to turn to the forecast north-east to give us a more relaxed reach in to Tortola. We'll probably reef some more tonight so that we can stay in our beds!

Jenny

Passage to Tortola - Day 4

Monday November 14th to Tuesday November 15th, 2011

At Sea

The light winds continued Monday evening and on in to the night. Our reliable Yanmar diesel kept chugging along.
After dinner (beef stew with red wine made a couple of weeks ago and frozen), we turned on the SSB for the evening roll call. The rally was using a new frequency for the first time, and it was soon apparent that there was a LOT of static. Miles on Karina and myself on Lady were able to contact each other, and found a better frequency, but Sherry on Trillium, who was scheduled to be net controller had a locked SSB, and was not able to change to the other frequency. She was not able to hear very much over her radio, so, since I was listed as stand-by net control, I conducted my first roll call. It was challenging to have to hold the radio microphone with my left hand and write with the other, then repeat all the information to be certain not only that I had it recorded correctly, but so the any others who hadn't heard the position from the yacht calling had a second chance to hear it from me. Because of the static, I could not hear many of the yachts, but others who could helped by relaying positions and other information. It took almost an hour before we were done, and I was dripping...the fan above the nav station had fallen off during the day, so I didn't have much air moving around me. This morning the net controllers decided that we'll go back to using the old frequency for evening roll call.
Finally, on my evening watch, some wind came up from the east. It was so good to turn off the engine, and we were able to keep heading south-east along the rhumb-line to Tortola. It was lovely to watch the stars and the phosphorescence in the wake in the quiet with the rest of the crew asleep.
An hour later, however, when Charlie was on watch, the wind died again. Motor back on and we continued on the same heading as our weather reports indicated that there would be wind to our south.
This morning, after roll call and breakfast dishes were done, the wind came up from the east south-east and we have had about 10 knots of air, and have been able to sail close-hauled at 6 to 7 knots all day. We are all in very good spirits to have Lady moving as well as possible and not be listening to the noise all the time. Charlie estimates that we have just over half of the fuel we started with remaining.
Our noon position was 30 02N 069.40W.
Steve has finished a book that he can not contribute to the ship's exchange library as it's on his Kindle. However, his wife, Sue, was kind enough to send another paper-back book with him for the boat. Charlie has napped a lot. The ocean is gorgeous, and there's not another vessel in sight.
Jenny