Some people have gotten worried about us since they had not heard from us in about 48hours. One of our friends even called the Coast Guard to report us as potentially being in trouble. I found out when the sat phone (our brand new "Skipper 150" Inmarsat FleetBroadband terminal)rang earlier today. When I asked who is calling, the answer was "Your friends, the U.S. Coast Guard!) I was asked to confirm that everything was ok and that we were not in need of assistance. I happily confirmed this. Not that this is a joy ride. Being at the center of a Nor'Easter with gusting winds up to 60 knots is no fun. Especially not, when I had to crawl forward on the foredeck during the night to take down the staysail, which had blown out a block and was no longer controllable. I was doused by a couple of waves. At least, the water was warm. I wrestled down the staysail and lashed it to the rail. Well, if you have followed our progress on iboattrack.com you know, that we are no longer in the race. As skipper I had to make a decision. Continue on to Bermuda and get clobbered by the Gulf stream or make a hard decision. The prudent decision was to turn around to savely return the crew home and to keep the boat from being battered by the sea. I am not happy about the decision because all of us worked hard to get ready for this trip. But, as the saying goes, better be safe than sorry. There is always a next time. Incidentally, the Coast Guard agreed with my assessment. Things have improved a tiny little it. Given the very confused state of the seas, we are motoring very, very slowly back towards Marion. Our speed is less than 1 knot SOG.
By comparison, the "Skipper 150" speed is blazingly fast. It feels like the average WiFi connection. We have a big 19 inch overhead screen showing iboattrack right now (in addition to the Raymarine chartplotter, we also use the PC and this monitor for navigation with Coast Explorer software). I am typing this entry on my notebook, connected via WiFi. More to follow.
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