Friday, May 14, 2004

Best news of the day: After a week of visits to the vet, faxes, and phone calls, Jacqueline and Josephine, the girls of Autumn Wind, have received permission from Bermuda authorities to visit the island. Big sigh of relief from Bill and Arline Smith, owners of the poodles and Autumn Wind. (Pardon the mess in the photo as we haven't yet stored away all provisions and equipment.) Photo by Fred Wunderlich. 10:14:33 PM    comment []

Sans Souci, a Nordhavn 62 owned by Ken and Roberta Williams, is a sistership to Autumn Wind. Ken is the author of the Sans Souci blog linked on the right of your screen. Photo by Fred Wunderlich. 10:06:13 PM    comment []

Here I am with my new two-month haircut, on the upper aft deck of Autumn Wind. Photo by Fred Wunderlich who stopped by for a visit. 9:53:58 PM    comment []

A thong sighting! Alas, it's only one of the guys on the Nordhavn 46 Stargazer. On most boats, the hectic activity is getting less feverish as the departure approaches, but a few boats are still many hours from being ready. Everyone is aware of the wind, as it has been blowing 15-25 for the last week or more. It has been warm, with 85F being the high most days. The weather report in the post below says, in plain English, that it will be windy when we depart Sunday afternoon, and thus there will be some waves. (Mom, no worries, as the waves shouldn't be any bigger than me standing tall.) By Wednesday, we may have some wind and waves on the nose, with the weather moderating somewhat on the final approach to Bermuda. It won't be a mill pond out there, at least not on this leg. 3:31:57 PM    comment []

To: NAR-2004 Fm: Ocean Marine Nav, Inc,. NJ/USA 1500Z 14 MAY 2004 WEATHER PATTERN SYNOPSIS Little change is noted in the outlook for the coming 5-6 days for the southwestern Atlantic, with the dominant weather feature affecting the waters between south Florida and Bermuda still the quasi-stationary high pressure laying from the 1029mb high pressure cell just WNW of Bermuda to the South Carolina coast and inland. Surface outflow from this pressure ridge will continue to contribute to the fresh to occ strong Easterly Trade Winds that presently prevail across the 20N-27N latitudes, from north of the Dominican Republic westward across the Bahamas and Florida into the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Along/off Florida's east coast, reported winds 15-25kt, with waves in the 5-8ft, from PEV northward to off Vero Beach, will persist today and through the weekend into early week coming, as a result of the nearly stationary surface pressure pattern across the forecast region Florida to Bermuda. However, two changes will occur during this period into mid next week: a moderate high pressure cell moving SE'ward from the Canadian Maritimes will move SE-S through the western Atlantic as the air mass modifies, and merges with the prevailing high pressure near Bermuda; and, this resultant high pressure will begin to migrate E-ENE'ward after Thu/20th as some change will occur over the NW Atlantic in the form of a bit more intense and cooler weather front activity in the upper 30's latitudes. Overall weather picture is still very optimistic for the transit leg to Bermuda after the initial day of fresh Easterly winds and a bit lumpy sea. For the SLOW GROUP departure Sunday/16th along this route expect: Sun/16: E'ly 15-22kt. Sea/swell ENE 6-7ft, to 6ft late, 7sec periods. Mon/17: E to ESE 11-19kt. Swell E 5-6ft occ 7ft, 8sec. Tue/18: ESE 10-17kt. Swell East 5-6ft, build NE 6-7ft later in day. Wed/19: ESE to ENE 09-17kt. Swell ENE 6-7ft . Thu/20: E-ESE 08-15kt, E 5-6ft. Fri/21-Sat/22: SE 05-15kt. E-NE 4-6ft. For the FAST GROUP departure Monday/17th along this route expect: Mon/17: E'ly 12-22kt, occ higher til north Bah/Banks. Swell E 5-6ft occ 7-8ft, 8sec. Tue/18: E-ESE 10-18kt. Swell East 5-6ft, build NE 6-7ft night. Wed/19: E to ENE 09-17kt. Swell ENE 6-7ft . Thu/20: E-ESE 08-15kt, E 5-6ft. Fri/21-Sat/22: SE 05-15kt. E-NE 4-6ft. B/Rgds, OMNI 3:00:38 PM    comment []

Holy moly, it works! I will indeed be able to post to the blog by email from my three boats. Wunderbar! 12:57:34 PM    comment []

ok, i'll try that. gxk >Status: U >From: "John Tandler" >To: "Georgs Kolesnikovs" >Subject: RE: no test message in sight yet at the blog; should i worry? >Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 10:35:45 -0400 >X-Priority: 3 (Normal) >Importance: Normal >X-ELNK-AV: 0 > >Georg- > >Wasn't there a special word that needs to be in the subject field for the >posting to work? > > JT > >-----Original Message----- >From: Georgs Kolesnikovs [mailto:georgs@trawlering.com] >Sent: Friday, May 14, 2004 9:14 AM >To: jtandler@skymatewireless.com >Subject: no test message in sight yet at the blog; should i worry? > > >>Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 06:45:01 -0400 > >To: >>From: Georgs Kolesnikovs >>Subject: test message via skymate, second attempt after enabling >>email-to-weblog >>Cc: jtandler@skymatewireless.com >>Bcc: >>X-Attachments: >> >>Date: Thu, 13 May 2004 16:17:23 -0400 >>To: >>From: Georgs Kolesnikovs >>Subject: test message via skymate >>Cc: jtandler@skymatewireless.com >>Bcc: >>X-Attachments: >> >>test message via skymate. the idea is to see if this will eventually >>post to . >> >>gxk 12:54:53 PM    comment []

Here's an update from Milt Baker, a member of the rally organizing committee: Looks lumpy but unless things change, we'll have the 18 yachts departing the Port Everglades sea buoy as scheduled, about half at 1600 local Sunday and the remainder at 1600 Monday. Our thinking is that 1600 departures will take advantage of lighter Gulf Stream winds and seas overnight. The slow group, likely 9 of the 18 yachts, will depart Sunday and the balance of the yachts 24 hours later. The smallest is a Nordhavn 40 and the largest a Monk-McQueen 90 with plenty of speed and plenty of fuel. Most everyone else is a Nordhavn between 46 and 62 feet, except Dennis Fox (Sea Fox), a Krogen 58, and Hal Wyman (Que Linda), a Seaton 55. Nominal schedule for the rally is: Sunday, May 16 - Slow group departs Fort Lauderdale (nominal SOA to Bermuda: 6.7 knots) Monday, May 17 - Fast group departs Fort Lauderdale (nominal SOA to Bermuda: 8.3 knots) Saturday, May 22 - Both groups arrive Bermuda Sunday, May 30 Slow group departs Bermuda (nominal SOA to Horta: 6.3 knots) Tuesday, June 1 Fast group departs Bermuda (nominal SOA to Horta 7.8 knots) Friday, June 11 Both groups arrive Horta Saturday, June 19 Slow group departs Horta (nominal SOA to Gib: 6.6 knots) Sunday, June 20 Fast group departs Horta (nominal SOA to Gib: 7.9 knots) Saturday, June 26 Both groups arrive Gibraltar 6:58:51 AM    comment []