Captain Blaine’s Blog

Well, he managed to get a very short cell call out from St. Thomas. I dunno if it was bad reception, or impending party activities, but Cap’n B wanted me to slip a post in here saying he made it – 1629 miles later – the Cap’n returns to the Islands, mon.  All’s well, and he expects to get into better reception (coughbullshitcough) range by tomorrow.  Now, bring on the tequila!  

Its all right here in the Cap’n Log!   -Muthuh

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Lat/Lon Position
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N 19 degrees 34 minutes
W 064 degrees 53 minutes
71 nautical miles to Red Hook, St.Thomas
Course 177 True @ 6 knots under sail
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Hello Family and Friends,

A half dozen spotted dolphin came racing across the water to play in our wake this afternoon. Dick sounded the alarm as our crew went racing to the bow to greet them. Although we were still over 100 miles from our
destination, the playful pod had all the makings of a welcoming committee.

For centuries, sailors have associated dolphins in your bow wave with good luck. After searching for those elusive prevailing winds for days on end, I was willing to take any sign of luck – or steady wind. And, it appears that we’ll be sailing into St. Thomas rather than motoring. So – maybe there’s a little truth to that luck thing. (more…)

Friday, December 5, 2008

Lat/Lon Position
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N 22 degrees 07 minutes
W 065 degrees 06 minutes
224 nautical miles to Red Hook, St.Thomas
Course 175 True @ 7 knots motor sailing
—————————————–

Hello Family and Friends,

On this day, aboard this boat, at this position — nothing happened.

After ten days, life at sea seems to take on a routine. The watches are handed from one person to another, meals are offered at the usual times and boat inspections and other tasks are handled quietly – but almost go unnoticed.

What starts as a great adventure on Day 1 slowly turns to a way of life. I see it on almost every yacht delivery I run. Anxious attitudes and uncertainty are replaced with acceptance and confidence. Unsteady legs in a constantly moving boat suddenly find their footing with no conscious thought necessary. Weather becomes something you sense – and respect – but not
fear. And as Ervin Grove, my favorite young trans-Atlantic crewmember, says – 30 knots of wind is no longer a danger, ‘it’s just a daysail’.

And today – that’s where the crew of Changin’ Tags finds themselves. (more…)

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Lat/Lon Position
—————————————-
N 24 degrees 55 minutes
W 065 degrees 10 minutes
391 nautical miles to Red Hook, St.Thomas
Course 175 True @ 7 knots motor sailing
—————————————–

Hello Family and Friends,

As a writer, I’m not quite sure how you follow a story like our blog entry from yesterday. Each delivery – each story, if you will – has an ebb and flow to it; a beginning, an ending, high points and low. This one is no
different. But yesterday was certainly the crescendo in Changin’ Tags symphony.

So, instead of trying to ‘one-up’ the story, I thought I’d expand upon it. There was much we left unsaid in yesterday’s blog because there just wasn’t room – or time – to fit everything in. We, as a crew, have also had a day to reflect upon yesterday’s events and shared a few thoughts with each other that I think are appropriate in this forum – perhaps in every forum.

Considering the world we live in today, yesterday’s mid-ocean refueling was rife with risks. I’m not only talking about the obvious physical risks to the boats and crew of the two vessels as they came close enough to pass the fuel containers, but the implied threats of piracy, terrorism or violence in general. Some of you may smile at the lunacy of that idea, but most of you – if you’re honest with yourselves – have probably wondered about pirates, heard stories or harbored private fears for your loved ones out on the ocean, so far from help. In fact, I can’t begin to count how many of my family and friends have asked that very question – are there pirates out there?

Well, much of that fear – those feelings – actually played out in yesterday’s story. Now here’s ‘the rest of the story.’ (more…)

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Lat/Lon Position
—————————————-
N 27 degrees 18 minutes
W 065 degrees 07 minutes
534 nautical miles to Red Hook, St.Thomas
Course 170 True @ 6 knots motor sailing
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Hello Family and Friends,

For all of you that ran out and bought the movie ‘Captain Ron’ yesterday – go throw it away. Today’s story will easily top anything in that movie. Hell, it tops almost any other day I’ve spent at sea, and that’s saying
something.

Speaking of saying something, I should begin by saying that everything that follows is absolutely the truth and we have the photos to back it up. If you remember back to my post for Day 1, I mentioned how I’d like to have a story about pirates, whales or some other exciting events? Well, maybe I spoke a little too loudly because today was certainly exciting.

So much has happened today that the only way to tell the story is to start at the beginning. And if I get side-tracked, it’s probably just the diesel fuel I swallowed that’s causing me to drift. (more…)

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Lat/Lon Position
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N 28 degrees 19 minutes
W 064 degrees 54 minutes
595 nautical miles to Red Hook, St.Thomas
Course 190 True @ 5 knots motor sailing
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Hello Family and Friends,

Remember our discussion about how, on this route, we sail east and then south to take advantage of prevailing winds? Well, we’ve put yet another day of motoring behind us and are still searching for those elusive prevailing easterly winds. But we’ve also reached a point where our fuel has to be rationed to ensure we have enough to run the boat’s electrical system for the remainder of the trip, in addition to motoring towards our destination.

So, as soon as I hit the send button on this blog update, Changin’ Tags will be under sail power again, doing the best we can to go towards our destination which is still directly upwind of us. (more…)

Monday, December 1, 2008

Lat/Lon Position
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N 30 degrees 01 minutes
W 064 degrees 30 minutes
690 nautical miles to Red Hook, St.Thomas
Course 135 True @ 4.5 knots motor sailing
—————————————–

Hello Family and Friends,

CRASH! BANG! KaBOOM! SWOOSH! UGH!

I think that about covers our conditions through the night. Any questions?

Okay, next topic.

My watch schedule isn’t chosen at random. I divide my watches so that I’m always awake for a few important things each day: meals, sunrise and sunset. Meals because I normally play cook in addition to captain out here. Although, Jill has helped ease that burden from me on this trip. But I have to admit that having a watch schedule that includes sunrise and sunset is purely selfish on my part. I’m not apologizing for it, mind you – I’m just admitting it. (more…)

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Lat/Lon Position
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N 31 degrees 22 minutes
W 065 degrees 40 minutes
782 nautical miles to Red Hook, St.Thomas
Course 165 True @ 4.5 knots motor sailing
—————————————–

Hello Family and Friends,

Filet Mignon, sauteed shrimp, steamed broccoli and salad!  That’s the meal we just finished as our celebratory feast for finishing our travels east and making the turn south to St. Thomas.

Of course the autopilot had to fail at the exact moment we sat down to enjoy the meal!  But even cold, the meal was as extravagant as you can get on a sailboat in a rolling sea.  Delicious.

I know – you want to hear about the autopilot.  In short, we have no idea what happened. It just quit for a moment, temporarily lost its mind, if you will.  We powered it down, let it rest for a minute and then booted it back up.  And, it’s been working fine ever since with the only damage being my cold filet and broccoli. (more…)

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Lat/Lon Position
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N 32 degrees 56 minutes
W 067 degrees 18 minutes
1032 nautical miles to Red Hook, St.Thomas
Course 145 True @ 6 knots under reefed sails
—————————————–

Hello Family and Friends,

With an average of just over 150 miles a day, we are quickly approaching the point where Changin’ Tags will also be changin’ course towards a more direct approach to St. Thomas.

For those that don’t understand why we make an ‘L’ shape course (east towards Bermuda then south towards USVI), here’s a little sailing primer. It’s all about prevailing winds.

Winds are generally out of a westerly direction in the latitudes between the Chesapeake Bay and, (more…)

Friday, November 28, 2008

Lat/Lon Position
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N 34 degrees 32 minutes
W 069 degrees 32 minutes
1091 nautical miles to Red Hook, St.Thomas
Course 119 True @ 7.5 knots under sail
—————————————–

Hello Family and Friends,

“Somebody throw me a bar of soap!” Those were Dick’s words right after his initiation to standing watch in a blow. Just moments earlier, a rogue wave smacked Changin’ Tags on her starboard side and then careened over the rails into the cockpit. To his dismay, much of the water found refuge inside Dick’s foul weather gear.

Ah, the joys of sailing!

If you’ll remember my prediction a few days ago, I promised that Friday would be the day we (more…)

Friday, November 28, 2008  2200 Hrs

Hello Family and Friends,

The many voices of the winds have been singing to us all afternoon and evening – some dull roars and other times almost a screeching as the gusts blow harder. I can hear the sails snapping tight as they fight against
their lines. The mainsail sounds like a constant helicopter with it’s thwap, thwap, thwap along the leech, or the aftermost part of the sail. The jib is more of a groan against each gust.

With no moon, complete cloud cover and only the dim green glow from the  boat’s instruments to light up the cockpit, I am essentially blind to see anything beyond the edges of the cockpit – my little world (more…)

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Lat/Lon Position
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N 36 degrees 44 minutes
W 072 degrees 19 minutes
1245 nautical miles to Red Hook, St.Thomas
Course 119 True @ 6 knots motoring)
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Hello Family and Friends,

Happy Thanksgiving from sea.

While I think everyone would prefer to be surrounded by family for holidays like this one, being at sea today was a very pleasant experience with the warmer cobalt blue waters of the Gulf Stream beneath us and another mostly clear sky above us. There were certainly many things for us to be thankful for and our holiday dinner – complete with turkey and all the trimmings – was pretty tasty too!

We had several unusual visitors pass by the boat today. First was Dick’s report of being attacked in the (more…)

Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Lat/Lon Position

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N 36 degrees 44 minutes
W 074 degrees 55 minutes
1376 nautical miles to Red Hook, St.Thomas
Course 119 True @ 5.5 knots motoring
—————————————–

Hello Family and Friends,

It was 0743 when Changin’ Tags pulled away from the dock this morning to begin our ~1500 mile passage from Norfolk, Virginia to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. The skies were that fairytale clear blue from horizon to horizon as we motored out past the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel marking our transition from the Bay to the Atlantic Ocean. The moment was significant, but passed with almost no notice by the crew in the calm conditions. (more…)