Miramar - Rum Drinks, Cat, and Youngest Skipper Trophy!

arrival. read more...

Miramar - Arrived!

We've arrived in Nanny Key, greeted with rum drinks! The hot topic of conversation for the crew of the Miramar is the tiled showers, and endless hot water -- we're all looking forward to it.Last night we spent moored in Great Harbor on Jost Van Dyke -- we enjoyed our Spiny Lobster dinner and full night's sleep!We're posting a few pictures along with this -- dockside delivery of rum drinks, the full crew onboard with the boat tied to the dock, and Bill, Jamie, Quixote and I with our rum drinks and my Youngest Skipper trophy!Thanks to all the support from Andy, Mia and the entire Caribbean 1500, including all organizers and participants. We had a great time! We're looking forward to our winter in the Caribbean!We'll be posting all future updates on our personal sailing blog at. read more...

Miramar - Slow progress

The ocean is peaceful, as is the gentle ocean breeze. We're roughly 80 miles from the British Virgin Islands, making slow progress toward land.My optimistic fuel reading proved inaccurate. We likely were burning more fuel at the start of the journey when we were so heavily loaded, and the shape of the tank further fooled me into thinking we had more than we actually did. We ran for roughly 10 hours, making 60 miles of progress along the rhumb line until about 10pm last night. I had hoped we'd just clogged a fuel filter, of which we have plenty, but no such "luck".We've been flying all our sails ever since, making slower progress. Last night we had a good breeze allowing us 2.5 knots along the rhumb line, directly toward Tortola. The breeze dropped off this morning, and we're now flying. read more...

Miramar - Thanksgiving Day

The winds died completely about 9:30pm last night. After Sam's valiant effort at harnessing every last bit of the dwindling breeze, We furled the head sail and everyone got some much needed rest. We all arose for the sunrise, and didn't find the rising breeze we'd been hoping for; 180 miles from land the ocean was as smooth as glass, aside from the perpetual ocean swell rocking us to and fro.One of the projects we decided to tackle today was assembling the dinghy. This cleared out some of the v-berth, allowing me to dip the forward fuel tank again and take some measurements. In the end, I determined we have about 25 gallons of fuel left, and we have resumed motoring toward Tortola -- this should be enough fuel to get us all the way into the islands, at which time we'll use up the final 5. read more...

Miramar - Light Winds

We're continuing our slow progress toward Tortola. This morning Sam treated us all to fantastic applesauce pancakes (we're out of eggs), the excitement of the morning. Currently everyone's finding their own piece of shade -- under sails, under the bimini, behind the house, (or in the forepeak in the case of the cat) -- enjoying 79.5 degrees in the shade and light breeze. We have 6-8 knots of wind propelling us at 3-4 knots somewhat in the direction we want to go.It's day twelve, and we've covered 1355 nautical miles so far. We're digging deeper in the cupboards to come up with tasty treats for each meal, and still well stocked with Mahi Mahi. Sam broke out his guitar, Bill's reading on his first-generation Kindle, and Jamie's enjoying a book on her iPad. Quixote is making the rounds. read more...