Mira - SV Mira Blog #2 - Mahi Drought on MIRA is over!!

Tuesday, November 6 - the afternoon, evening and night brought continued calming of the weather. More stable winds, wave and current. Sailed with full main and genoa with winds 15-20 knots from the S-SW all afternoon and evening. Still 2.3 knots of current against us. A quick explanation about current - if MiRA is moving through the water at 9.0 knots and she has 2.3 knots of current against her - she is only making 6.7 knots of headway. Very frustrating! Waves were still choppy and confused causing us to lurch around the boat - handhold to handhold - and occasionally slamming against walls and counters. All of us are going to have some nasty bruises. But, this is the North Atlantic after all. Enjoyed delicious shrimp sausage creole over cheese rice.Thank goodness almost all of our meals. read more...

Mira - SV MIRA - Blog 1 - Storms, Waves, Wind then Peace on the Water

SV MIRA - Blog 1 - Storms, Waves, Wind then Peace on the WaterDeparture Day, Sunday November 4, promised to be a beautiful, cold and windy day. The captain and crew on Mira stumbled around in the darkness, donning warm, winter gear and grabbing hot coffee to start their journey. Lines were tossed and fenders stored by 6 am, and we were off! Since MIRA was the only boat headed for Antigua, we chose not to join the festive start line at the mouth of the ChesapeakeBay later that morning. As soon as we took the turn out of the Elizabeth River heading south, the winds freshened to 20 knots slightly forward of our beam, and Mira was off! Most of Sunday, as we sailed south along the coast of Virginia, we experienced these good sailing conditions, though we were fighting a 3.5 knot current in. read more...