Logs

Happy Heart - HAPPY HEART BEAT by CORINNE WESELOH

Well, we finally did it! After being deterred by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 followed by Florence and Michael in 2018, we tossed the lines to experience a passage that I could not have imagined.Our poor MS. Happy Heart has yet to receive her face lift after the neighboring boat at the marina in Wilmington, NC laid up on her during Florence and Michael. She is the victim of gouges and scratches on her hull, destroyed rub rails, several loosened stanchions on her life lines, a broken furling for the genoa (therefore the genoa had to be housed in the crews’ shower), a tear in the mainsail (preventing us from completely deploying that sail as well) and a missing hard dodger that was to cover and shade the navigation station during our long passage. The Caribbean 1500 departure date was. read more...

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...

Saga - Day 5-Sapphires

A friend of mine used to work in a national park in the Caribbean. Among other things, she was charged with making sure people didn't remove things from the park as souvenirs. No taking shells or coral home with you. So, when she saw a tourist with a bunch of specimen bottles, she let her know that she couldn't take anything with her from the park. She was then informed that the bottles were for the water. The tourist wanted to save a little bottle of all the different blues to bring home with her. I laughed when I heard the story, but I totally get it. Today, the ocean is a brilliant sapphire blue. The water seems to glow from within, with no real change in color between the crests and troughs of the waves. That uniformity of color is unusual and mesmerizing to watch. I wish I could. read more...

Saga - Day 4 - Getting Our Sea Legs

Getting your sea legs truly is a real thing. Today is day 4 of our voyage and we finally all have our sea legs. I have always heard that the first three days of a passage are the worst, and it played out that way this time.Our first 2 days were pretty rough. The weather was predicting some high winds and rough seas for the first couple of days, but if we waited, the wind was predicted to almost completely disappear. We had to choose between going in rough weather and having a tough first couple of days, or waiting and then having to motor instead of sail. We were all pretty anxious to get going, so we decided to go for it. We had sailed in worse conditions and we knew our boat could take it.Those first 2 days are a complete blur for me. I slept and slept and slept and slept. I woke up. 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...