We had just put up the spinnaker and started to see Acedia scream along when it was time for my morning call from Jon. I was on the phone chatting down below when he said it looked like we had entered the Gulf Stream. I was a bit confused by this because we hadn’t come close to the coordinates he had given me for hitting the Gulf Stream a few days earlier. After hanging up, I popped my head up and everything had seemed to churn right up, the seas confused and the wind freshening for sure! We had just hit the Gulf Stream (GS).

Soon after hanging up, we got a missed call back from Jon. Wondering what he might have forgotten to discuss, we surmised he was calling back to propose to me. At that time, I was certainly sailor gurl crushing on my trustworthy shore support ‘Greenie’ as I was getting great information as to what to expect and when to expect it. What more could a first time offshore lady captain ask for; a guy calling everyday to check in making sure all is going ok?! ♥♥♥ Lance confirmed that in sailor romance, it is indeed a very appropriate time to propose after successfully captioning your vessel through the GS.  Haha, what we do to keep ourselves entertained out on the ocean?! Bob and Lance wished their wives could have been able to be along for the trip, I figured a made up romance was better than no romance.  A lot of love and appreciation goes to Jon as everyone seems to love his email updates following our adventures.  We’ll blame the lack of proposal on pesky unreliable sat phone communications for now.

Day 3 Shore Update:

Good Morning,

Acedia continues to have a beautiful sail to Bermuda. They are presently about 350 nautical miles from Kitchen Shoal which is the outer maker on approach to Bermuda so they will pass the halfway mark today.

Despite cloud cover last night and this morning, the temperature on deck continues to be very mild. When they exit the gulf stream today they should be able to break out the shorts.

They hit a small lull last night and motored briefly but launched the gennaker shortly thereafter. They did not run the engine long enough to make any headway on analyzing the fuel leak issue.

After gybing, they launched the asymmetrical spinnaker this morning and saw a material bump in performance. While I was speaking with them, Acedia was on fire, going 9 knots and as the boat surfed down wave faces, hitting 10 and 11 knots. They sounded in very high spirits.

Messages from the crew include “Go Pats!” and Lance and Bob wish their wives were there. Also, Melissa wants Dustin to please tell Steve and Jules that she’s halfway to Bermuda and won’t be in Monday.

Forecast for the balance of the trip is calling for breeze in the vicinity of 20 knots, starting behind them today and shifting to the East then Southeast as they approach Bermuda. They will likely track East of the rhumbline (as is already being seen on the tracking page) to play that shift.

Don’t forget to check the tracker using password “Acedia”


Best,

Greenie

The day we sailed across the GS on Acedia certainly was epic! Acedia screamed across flying her new spinnaker hitting double digits in SOG (speed over ground) surfing down waves. It was amazing. Later in the morning we sped by two sperm whales about 10’ off our starboard. Lance and Bob were freaked out because they considered that a near miss, I was just super psyched we saw wildlife in the GS! My first 2 GS crossing were entirely uneventful, the 3^rd swirly, but no wildlife to speak about. Early afternoon we got a proper welcome to the GS by hundreds of dolphins. They swam and played and jumped and surfed for well over an hour. They didn’t want to stop and swim away. Acedia would gain a bit of speed and they went crazy. I sat on the bow and just took in the playfulness as they showed off their thoroughly impressive moves.

The winds were shifting a bit and with the spinnaker up we couldn’t make a course correction until we did a sail change. I was not giving up on my new little ocean buddies celebrating our grand adventure and fine accomplishment with this milestone on Acedia! Alas, we were heading off east and Jon had given me strict instructions not diddle daddle around out there. I was to stay on course and be sure to make good speeds (he gave me these instructions after asking what if I get whimsical and the winds start taking me to Europe? The Azores!?). Yep, now I was fully accountable and made sure to stay focused, mostly.

I finally said goodbye to my good friends and we took down the chute to continue on to Bermuda. Though, because the winds were lightening and I had wanted to jump in and play with the dolphins, I took this opportunity to jump into the beautiful blue warm waters and go for a swim myself. Because that is what I do when I’m half way to Bermuda! and the kiss by the jellyfish on the elbow was well worth it. 🙂

Day 4 Shore Update

Good Morning,

Acedia is making very good time to Bermuda and is presently a little less than 200 nm from Kitchen Shoal. We anticipate their arrival in St. George Harbor tomorrow evening.

Yesterday was another marvelous day of sailing for Acedia. They saw 15 knots of boat speed surfing down a wave, then later under just main and jib, saw 11 knots: “crazy speeds and having fun!” Even posting those amazing speeds, they managed to slow the boat down long enough for Melissa to go for a swim.

They are presently hitting some heavy rain squalls and are in consistent 20 knots of breeze with higher gusts. The wind is forecasted to clock to the Southeast so they are going to try to sail a little higher today in anticipation of that shift. The foulies are back out and they are getting soaked as the showers move across their path. “Still not shorts weather yet.”

Best,

Greenie

Day 4 was certainly the lower of all the days. Patches and stugeron (sea sickness medicines) had started to wear off and the squalls set in. We had to reef the mainsail and we were still heeling over enough to knock everything that wasn’t solidly bolted down

from the port side of the boat to the starboard. Cushions, clothes, bags, and all the water dripping in (the mast deck seal and my forward hatch left things soaked up in the bow. Ugh) The boys were not feeling well this day. Because such conditions don’t bother me much at all, I took it upon myself to clean, organize, and make coffee for Bob and Lance who felt better being up on deck. I was happy to make them coffee for their extra long day watch, I was so disappointed when I popped up on deck and eagerly asked who wanted any. Both looking green really just looked at me like I had been mad. They did not want coffee, they did not want ANYTHING to consume. Booooooo. All I could do was fix myself something to eat and try to curl up for a nap so I could relieve them when they thought they felt like a nap was a better solution for seasickness than being up on deck.

Day 5 Shore Update

Good Morning,

I was not able to get through to Acedia via sat phone this morning but this is not concerning as satellite coverage is imperfect and degrades in some atmospheric conditions. Or perhaps they forgot to charge the battery. In any event, I will continue to try to reach them throughout the day and will send an update when one is available.

Meanwhile, the forecast has not changed materially in the last 24 hours and their track since yesterday morning shows more easterly progress which will position them well when the breeze begins to veer to the SE later today. We continue to anticipate their arrival in Bermuda this evening.

Best,

Greenie

 

Once the boys dosed up with meds and the squalls subsided, it was daylight and the weather was beautiful again. Today we were going to make our approach to Bermuda! That morning I sat with the sat phone that never rang. 0900, 1000, 1100, 1200…I was giving up. Had Jon decided to abandon a call in because we were going to make land that day? Oh, or had something happened to him? Should we send the Coast Guard looking for him?! We continued on course the best we could but we hadn’t quite hit enough east to have the wind nicely bring us right to the Rock. So, we beat into the wind and motor sailed for the last few hours. It was daylight and turning on the motor meant that I could finally check to see where that fuel leak was. In about 5 min I had detected the leak and with tightening up a screw or a nut or whatever those things are, the leak had subsided!

About 30nm out, I attempted to hail into Bermuda Radio letting them know of our soon approach. I wasn’t able to reach them until we were closer to 20nm out, but we made contact and arranged to call to exchange details upon another hour of progress toward land.

Day 5 Afternoon Update:

Good Evening,

After unsuccessfully reaching Acedia throughout the day today, and with the absence of Spot updates, I reached out to the duty officer on Bermuda to see if they’d heard from Acedia. They report “We have had brief communications with the vessel approx. 25nm North from Bermuda, we would anticipate their arrival into St George later this evening.”

Sorry that’s all I have for you for now but they appear to be on track and I would expect we’ll hear from them via Facebook or email later tonight when they are in cell range.

Best,

Greenie

 

After studying the approach carefully on the Swan delivery a few weeks prior, I was ready, aware, and steered Acedia into St. Georges that night like a pro! Following the breadcrumbs I left behind, it was by 8:30pm we were landed at the customs dock.

Day 5 Final Update:

One last note this evening: Acedia is safely tied up at the customs dock in St. George Harbor. Well done Melissa, Lance and Bob!

 

We had arrived to Bermuda! By 9pm we were cleared in and ready to tie up Acedia for the night. We were ready to be on land for a good meal and celebratory darkNstormies!! Lots of celebratory darkNstormies… and mostly just the darkNstormies! It was a Tuesday evening; a sleepy night out in St. Georges, and restaurants had closed down their kitchens. I went into Wahoo’s which was the most happening joint in town and very sappily asked for a round of anything they could serve us. Fries, chicken fingers, chicken wings, and Bermudian fish chowders…and darkNstormies! It was a glorious night out with the crew!