317 miles during 17 Nov 2009 to 23 Dec 2009
www.spotadventures.com/trip/view/?trip_id=184266
Marina on Great Harbor Cay in the Berry Islands
Marina on Great Harbor Cay in the Berry Islands(Note the BaTelCo Tower)
View from Space: the Bahama Shelf
Aerial of Great Harbor Cay (www.skypic.com)
Aerial of Great Harbor Cay (http://marinas.com)
Since the launch in Hampton, VA, the SPOT messenger has worked very well; it has been easy to follow the track of the WTP. It is a good thing we do not need to predict how the winds will be blowing and where they will be next because that would be difficult. Not surprisingly, the wind forecast has changed since yesterday for the waters between Miami and the Bahamas. Here are the more recent SailFlow wind forecasts (1pm, 4pm, 7pm) for the Bahamas.
The map (below) from the University of Miami illustrates the speeds of surface currents in the Atlantic.
http://oceancurrents.rsmas.miami.edu/atlantic/spaghetti-speed.html
The above wind forecast according to SailFlow is for the Biscayne Bay area.
North wind: The EYE crew posted "...we're waiting out several days of north winds. When the winds blow out of the north and interact with the north-flowing Gulf Stream, they form steep and close waves that make a crossing uncomfortable...."
East wind: Wind out of the east would be a head wind; the crew would have to tack into the wind.
West wind: The crew would rock and roll on a downwind run if the winds are out of the west.
South wind: The crew would sail on a reach across the north-bound flows of the Gulf Stream and the wind.
The crew may be looking at other data and better data for winds over the Gulf Stream. Nothing else taken into account, and assuming the SailFlow forecast is meaningful, the SailFlow forecast suggests that maybe the wind the crew has been waiting for may arrive at 4am on December 25th --Christmas Day.
The forecast suggests a window of perhaps 12 hours with winds out of the south or southwest on Christmas Day.
All I want for Christmas is.... a global expedition for youth education?
In this interview Kenny Malone tries the Fruity Pebbles cereal onboard the W.T.P., Alan Stewart explains advantages of a pressure cooker, and we learn (and are not surprised) that Adam Domanski prefers his powdered milk shaken --not stirred.
As excited as I am about this adventure, as a Mom, there are certainly some worries, my biggest is 'man overboard'. So, today I'll take advantage of having this Blog and put up a “Mom” post regards safety. “whenever I have sailed offshore, I have sometimes felt that skippers are a bit melodramatic in the routines they set for how to clip on. One in particular told me that the second I poked my head through the companion way I was to clip on. And on returning back down below, not to unclip till the last possible second. Now I see why.”This was followed by this frightening video, of a crewmember just finishing his watch and unclipping to go down to the cabin.
"It is impossible to die from hypothermia in cold water unless you are wearing flotation, because without flotation, you won t live long enough to become hypothermic."His 3 rules are these...
(1) When working on deck, wear flotation.Ok, I"ll get off my soap box now :)
(2) If you witness a man overboard, getting the life ring directly to them is critical (vital step one must do it). So make certain that all-important piece of safety gear is not just on your vessel, but readily available and -NOT- tied to the cradle.
(3) When working on deck, wear flotation. (I said that already? Well, when I quit reading search reports that end with experienced mariners dying because they thought they understood cold water I ll come up with better advice.)
What is it like living on-board the boat? I am really enjoying it and we learn new ways to make our lives easier every day sometimes on an hourly basis. We rotate shifts during the day and night. On Watch you are steering the boat, On Call you are doing anything the person on watch needs help with like checking charts, changing sails, filling water bottles, etc. Then you are OFF where you can sleep most importantly or anything else you want. Then you are COOK making meals if it is time to, washing dishes, cleaning the cabin and if you clean and don't need to make food then you are essentially OFF and can sleep or if more help is needed with sails you jump in.
It is working out very well so far. During the day we take 3 four-hour shifts and at night we take 4 three-hour shifts so no one has to stay up for too long. As you might be able to tell, life happens pretty fast living under shifts like that and there is constantly stuff that needs doing of fixing or working on.
Early on when it was cold and we were running the engine a lot, only the person on watch wanted to be "up top" on deck and everyone else was "down below" in the cabin where it was warm so we tied a string to the ships bell which is in the cabin and the person on watch could ring the bell with the string if they needed help with something. Thats just one example of things we have figured out while underway.
I have my own "space" (see picture) that has a bunk, a shelf, and space under the bunk to store things. Overall I have a very small but cozy space to keep all my stuff. Adam who has the quarter-berth opposite to me sleeps with his guitar in its case since there is no where else to keep it. Overall the boat is narrow for its length and it makes for a living space that is small but functional. We also find that it is just the right size that it forces you to clean up anything out of place otherwise it is very difficult to move about. I like having a place for all my things and don't mind not having a lot of stuff at all. Stuff seems to be the enemy of cruisers. Living on board is a lot like backpacking only we carry around our kitchen and bathroom and beds with us. Unlike backpacking, we don't have to worry about weight so much; we can carry stoves, cans and lots of water.
We have a bathroom (a "head" on a boat) and it pumps to a holding tank which we pump overboard when we are at least 3 miles offshore as per the US rules. Elsewhere there are no rules (from what we have heard from experienced cruisers) and I expect we will adopt a "when in Rome" attitude to our waste probably with the exception of trash which it is also LEGAL to dump overboard (with the exception of plastic) when at least 12 miles offshore, again in the US.
What Don't we have? Here are some of the things we don't have compared to a normal modern home.
- no refrigeration
- no microwave
- no oven
- no air conditioning or heating
- no TV
- a shower (plans are in the works)
- running water
What we do have is a propane stove-top with 2 burners a frying pan and a pressure cooker. We have a cooler that we can fill with ice that will keep things cold for about 5 days but we are trying to live without it if possible. We also do not have freely running water; rather, we have sink faucets with mechanical pumps. To wash dishes we use a saltwater faucet driven by a foot pump. For cooking, rinsing dishes and for drinking water we use a freshwater faucet driven by a hand pump. We have a shower that is not hooked up yet and we plan to hook it up to a saltwater foot pump as well. For now, showers while underway are taken on deck with a bucket.
What are we eating? We eat pretty well despite not having refrigeration. Rice, oatmeal, pancake mix, lots of beans, canned meat (tuna, corned beef, spam, dried sausage) and veggies and fresh fruit and BREAD whenever we can buy them. We also caught a nice big fish last Friday (a Spanish mackerel) which we cooked and ate for lunch. It was our first fish catch and was our first meal from the sea caught and cooked onboard. Very exiting. Trevor is a great cook and usually makes elaborate and delicious meals. We are also exited about using local ingredients to make food onboard especially when we leave the US.
Batteries. We have a big bank of golf cart batteries that power our rechargeable items (phones, computers, VHF radio and flashlights) and also our cabin lights and GPS unit. We have solar panels and a wind generator mounted on the top of the mast to re-charge our batteries. The engine also charges the batteries when it is running but we seldom run the engine and never when offshore unless absolutely necessary so it is not a major source of charging our batteries. We are still learning about our power consumption and how much we use versus how much we can make.
Communication. We have a ham radio that we will be able to use to send emails when we are offshore as well as a blackberry that can receive and send emails whenever we have cell phone coverage. So far the blackberry is working very well and as soon as I get the radio email set up I will be able to email more regularly. We also have a satellite phone that should allow us to make phone calls from anywhere in the world.
Well, that's a little about the boat and what its been like so far. I'll be writing more updates soon so stay tuned.
In case you didn't know, you can track us in real time by going to http://www.eyeotw.org and looking on the right hand side at the map ("Where are they now?") Also on the eye of the world homepage is a link to "Alan's Crew Journal" where I will also be posting updates.
I miss everyone back at home and want everyone to know that I am having an awesome time! I can't wait to leave the US on our floating home and do some REAL travelling. I have email access of course so EMAIL ME please. It is also possible to send me stuff, i just need to know in advance and I can give you the address and instructions to send a letter or package to our next stop for them to hold for me.
Love Alan
