Dear Irene

Dear Irene:

Yes, you are lovely and lively.  Majestic yet wild.  We are sure that you know how to enter a room and turn heads.  We have watched you since you were a tiny thing toddling across the ocean and have followed your amazing growth into such a powerful young woman.  We proudly count ourselves as part of your huge following.

We didn’t, however, invite you to our party.  We don’t even want you anywhere near our party. There isn’t any gentler way to say this: our relationship is done.  Over. Finis.   We each have found our happiness and our futures in the arms and in the lives of others.  When we look into our hopes and dreams, we do not see you.  There is no room in our lives for you.  Yes, with you, our lives might be more exciting and tumultuous.  We know that – you don’t have to prove it to us.  We are no longer as young in spirit and body as you are.  We seek peace from the tumult of your daily life.

Go East young lady and find your own inner peace.  There is no peace for you on the Chesapeake.  Go East.

Sincerely,

S/V Heron, Molto Bene, Ubiquitous, Serendipitous, T-bone.

Marblehead recap

What a nice race.  I have inserted pictures into many of the race posts below.  Here’s one of the perpetual trophy for PHRF 2.

 

We are all really happy with the results:  1st phrf 2 and 1st in the phrf chelsea clock competition for combined annapolis to newport and marblehead to halifax performance in PHRF.  We are happy to have beaten J122s and a J133 boat for boat as well as many larger and faster boats, especially so since this (largely as a medium to heavy air reach) was in part a waterline race. And, of course, we are happy to squeak in ahead of Shinnecock.  Those guys are really great and don’t stop pushing.

 

Next up for us – Gov Cup after squeezing in a weekend of cruising.

The killing field

When I think of the delaware bay, I think of flies. The two belong together in my mind. This picture shows why.

It is a fraction of the casualties this morning (just in the area of the Nav desk). It looks like this all over the boat. And, before they permanently crossed over, the liked to bite. That means no sleeping when it is daylight unless you are in a sleeping bag. No problem in Nova Scotia, but down here the temperature is a bit different.

I hope you don’t have flies in your day too.

Nonetheless, it is a beautiful day out here just off Miah Maull shoal. (What is miah maull anyway?). We had dolphins and a great sunrise. Plus, we’re making 6.4 kts. Hurrah.

1500

the fly attack continues, but has led to hours of good fun swatting them. the cabin is now the scene of a fly masacre.

meanwhile, during the night, the mast head wind instrument came loose and was flogging by a small line that really is just meant to keep you from dropping it when you put it in. we lowered all the sails, and Greg went up. It is relatively calm out here with a smooth swell and a few odd small waves. Still, it wasn’t easy holding on and banging back and forth. I can’t imagine trying to go up in any kind of rough conditions.

80 nm to go to the turn inside of cape may.

noon 19-Jul: Under Attack.

We are currently motorsailing 40 nm east of Barnaget Inlet, NJ. Finally, the wind backed a bit and we can maintain our course to the turn at cape may (245M).

In the last two hours, an airforce of NJ flies has attacked the boat. Experts suggest that the flies were most likely attracted by the left over bouquet of smells from the race and a few pieces of gear left on board. Whether the experts are right or not, they make sleeping difficult. What are they doing 40 nm offshore? Were they blown out here and now are seeking refuge?

We spent much of yesterday evening dodging t-storms heading offshore from NY. In one, we had driving rain and wind mostly in the upper 20s with gusts into the mid 30s. In several others, only a little rain, but a lot of lightning. They made for a pretty night especially after a really nice moonrise that, at first, was so red, I thought the first speck of light was a red navigation light.

In all this excitement and generally the lumpiness of the conditions yesterday (upwind in 20+ kts), buck and I had a sandwich at lunch yesterday and nothing substantial until a remake of the same sandwich at lunch today. Tom (Sean’s dad) skipped lunch yesterday altogether. It turns out that in pitching this delivery, Sean used words like “pleasure cruise” “nice trip” and “good food” and even suggested that Tom bring some wine. Sean failed to say things like damp, lumpy, cold, then hot, biting flies, and diet cruise.

We are currently around 95 nm from our first turn at cape may.

Departing newport

After arriving at 0445 this morning and clearing customs, Heron departed Newport at 1020 this morning with Greg, Buck, and Tom R. Here is a view of our brief layover.

16 Jul 1500ET Georges Bank

Almost over the georges bank for a bit of trolling. In the next 8 nm or so, the depth will drop from about 160 fathoms (6 ft) to around 25 fathoms. The shallow spots out here have 6 or fewer fathoms. We plan to run along the northern edge of the bank and show the green machine and the black yozuri a good time.

As of now, there are no signs of man out here except on Heron. All is well on board. It is sunny and we are motorsailing with the mainsail. It is still cool on deck, but not nearly as cold as last night.

The crew unanimously agrees that this weather must be about as good as it gets up here. I can’t imagine what the race would be like if the locals were to say it were cold and wet. On Tuesday, is was in the mid 50s and raining. Yet, the local kids were out sailing optis in shorts and sandals. We had a great time, but have bermuda, shorts and t-shirts, and dark and stormies on our minds. The niceness of the BYC and RNSYS folks and how well the race is run might tempt us, but the call of the dark and stormy will probably prove more tempting in the future.

Sean has the latest copy of Seahorse magazine, so we spent the lunch hour looking at the adds for the prior generation of hot 50′ racing boats deciding which one he should buy. He has his eye on a TP52 or an Open 60.

Cheers from Georges Bank. 42 15N, 067 13W

 

Fishing boat at Georges Bank

Whale Ho!

Two whale breaches just off our port bow. Many blows. Wow!

Thar she blows! 1945 ET

Whales this afternoon with big breaches and now in the last hour maybe 50 or more blows in the area.  Attached is a shot of one of the blows off in the distance.  They were everywhere.

We are a now couple of hours east of cape sable motorsailing after the wind dropped from upper 20s to under 7 about an hour ago and backed significantly. There is a georgeous sunset out now and it relatively pleasant.

We’ve had a good run today much of it under spinnaker averaging around 9 kts.  That’s a nice start to a passage that portends to be primarily upwind.

Captain Ron, the autopilot, hit the top speed of the summer so far at 15.6 kts.  It is just wrong to have the top speed go to the pilot.  Given the rest of the forecast, that looks largely upwind, that record will be tough to take down.

Hope your Friday evening is as nice as ours is out here.

Departed halifax

Heron pulled out of the rnsys at 0845 adt. We are currently headed down the NS coast at 10-12 kts with the heavy air runner spinnaker up and having a great time.

The iboat tracker was working this morning.

44 20.7N
063 39.4W

It’s a lot clearer out here than the last time we were here.

We enjoyed Halifax a lot. The RNSYS was great and everyone involved with the race was super nice. What a fun time.