Hope's and Howard's Sailing Adventures

Having spent a very pleasant 6 days back in our usual berth at Pepper’s, slowly decommissioning the boat, catching up on laundry and most importantly catching up with many friends, Pepper hauled the boat first thing this morning.  We are now sitting in Philadelphia airport, waiting for our flight to Portland (via Washington Dulles).  With our delay arriving back in the US, we couldn’t see how we could sort ourselves.. Read More

The romp to the Chesapeake was indeed the most challenging part of the whole passage.  Fortunately we didn’t see 30 knot gusts but the wind and seas did build after I posted my last blog.  With 3 reefs in both the mainsail and genoa, sailing on a close reach, winds constantly in the 18-24 knot range for over 12 hours (i.e. well after we had passed the Chesapeake bridge-tunnel) and.. Read More

We had a great boost from the Gulf Stream, at times doing over 10 knots over the ground, enjoying fairly flat seas and SW wind between 11 and 20 knots. In the end, we reached the GS with just enough time to cross it before the N-NE winds kicked in after the forecasted cold front passed. We are now on course for the Chesapeake but it will be a bumpy.. Read More

Having motored for about 34 hours, the wind finally filled in sufficiently around midday today for us to resume sailing. We are now enjoying very pleasant gentle close reaching in a SSW 8-10 knot breeze on relatively flat seas with the sun shining and air temperature very comfortable. Our speed over the ground has risen to around 7 knots. Life is good! Having received a weather update from Chris Parker.. Read More

If you have been following our track, you will have seen our zig-zag course around the north of Bermuda. We had quite a pleasant sail in about 11-15 knots but because we were beating into it, our progress was slow and it seemed to take for ever to clear the reefs off the island. Also, the seas were rather lumpy, which made me wish I had taken a seasickness tablet.. Read More

So, we saw the Americas Cup boats up close and performing well on our final day here in Bermuda, thanks to Steve and Sheila (who took the afternoon off work to join us).  Oracle and Soft Bank even tacked around our boat, it cant get much better than that!  The photo is of Groupama, the French boat, in honor of Sonia who may be interested…. The weather still looks good.. Read More

We can see why Admiral Sir George Somers fell in love with the Bermuda islands after being stuck here back in 1609, after deliberately runing his sinking ship aground on the reefs following a storm. Using local cedar and spars and rigging from the wrecked Sea Venture, his shipwrights managed to build 2 small vessels, the Deliverance and Patience (which were completed within a year). They then headed for Jamestown,.. Read More

It is hard to believe we have been in Bermuda almost a week already. We soon caught up on our sleep so set about cleaning up the boat, washing off some of the salt, drying out the sails, etc., doing some laundry, and generally checking the fluid levels in the engine and generator. During this latter activity we noticed some coolant had been leaking from the generator reservoir, which was.. Read More

It felt so good to pull through the Town Cut and make it safely to the Customs dock in St Georges, Bermuda early this morning.  Now we look forward to a good nights slleep tonight ….

As expected, the wind died shortly after posting my last blog so we have been motoring ever since and it looks likely we will continue to do so for the remainder of the passage. At least it gives us a chance to fully catch up on rest, run the water-maker, and fully charge our batteries. This will probably be the first time we will arrive in port with practically full.. Read More