Puerto Rico to Virginia

Russell · Post by **Russell** » May 12th, '09, 14:28

Well, I am leaving Puerto Rico on a nonstop sail to Virginia! My longest solo passage yet, excited and nervous about it! Weather window is not great, but on a 1200 mile sail your going to see bad weather at some point soo....

Evergreen · Post by **Evergreen** » May 12th, '09, 16:07

Russell:

I hope you are having a safe journey!

What are your plans for this summer? It would be nice to hook up with you sometime and get some insights into how you cruise full time on your CD36 and how you have her set up.

Best wishes,

chase · Post by **chase** » May 12th, '09, 19:36

Russell · Post by **Russell** » May 12th, '09, 21:10

Well, ended up holding on leaving, when this tropical wave hit today it hit pretty hard, gusts over 30 and driving rain. Current plan is to leave thursday. Those with SSB though, if you want to chat, I will be monitoring Southbound II and standing by after herb finishes for about 15min from now until I arrive in VA.

Evergreen, plans for summer are up in the air, if I feel good about things after this passage, then a passage to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland for july/august is my ideal, but given the economy you may just find me working in Fawcetts in Annapolis for the summer(but I dread the idea of a hot summer on the chesapeake, done enough of those and definately dread the idea of a job!). Once I arrive in the Chesapeake I will actually head up the potomac and anchor in DC for a week, sister is getting married there, then I will head to Annapolis or Baltimore (with Solomons a likely stopover) to spend a couple weeks recouping. Lets definately try to meet up (and that goes for all Chesapeake CD folks!), late june/early july I will certainly be about the chesapeake.

Evergreen · Post by **Evergreen** » May 15th, '09, 09:20

Russell & other cruisers:

I agree that the Chesapeake is not the best of places to spend the hot summer months.

On the other hand, we found Newfoundland much too far to go in a limited amount of time (if you want to take the time to explore along the way).

Consequently, in the beginning of July we are going to sail from Solomons to Maine, and then return in mid October. Due to economics it will be a frugal trip this year. Our primary expense will be getting there and back. We plan to nearly always anchor out and we hope to do a lot of hiking/walking and exploring along the coast of Maine. It would be a blast if you and other CD'ers could join us!!! Of course, we are going to try to participate in some of the CDSOA activities.

Hope to catch up with you sometime this summer.

PS: If anyone can recommend some good walks along the coast of Maine please email them to us. We are already somewhat familiar with the coast but always would appreciate more information. This year we are going the compile a list of coastal walks that will be available to others who are interested.

Best wishes,

Evergreen · Post by **Evergreen** » May 17th, '09, 17:05

Hey folks:

Let's all keep our fingers crossed while we drink a toast to the Wind Gods so that they may be pacified.

Just checked the Ugrib data and realized that Russell is most likely sailing right into a "fresh gale". We certainly would not enjoy such conditions while single handing.

Best wishes to Russell.

chase · Post by **chase** » May 19th, '09, 06:45

Anyone heard a check in from Lady Pauline?

Chase

Evergreen · Post by **Evergreen** » May 19th, '09, 07:28

I got the following message back from Herb Hilgenberg (who does Southbound II) yesterday. He was writing about the previous day, so that now makes the information three days old.

Hello Philip.
I have had no contact with Lady Pauline, however there is another yacht on a similar track and I have recommend to them to stay east of 68 W into next Wednesday, in order to avoid SE gale conditions west of 60W especially towards Florida and the Carolinas.
Possibly Russell has listened in.
Best Regards.

Herb

www3.sympatico.ca/hehilgen/vax498.htm

chase · Post by **chase** » May 19th, '09, 20:21

Thanks Philip and Sharon. Hopefully he was listening and resisted the temptation to towards the Bahamas.

c

Russell · Post by **Russell** » May 25th, '09, 09:37

Hi All,

I arrived this morning in Hampton VA, 11 days at sea, a great passage, the very definition of a milk run, beam reach 95% of the time in 15 to 20 knots. The email Phillip got was correct, I was indeed listening to Herb, but not checking in since there was a vessel on an identical course as me so I just followed those forecasts and stayed east of the low off of FL.

Russell

Zeida Cecilia-Mendez · Post by **Zeida Cecilia-Mendez** » May 25th, '09, 15:33

RUSSELL! A lot of people were praying for you and Lady P! Congrats for a safe passage and welcome back to the good ole USA. Hurray for Cape Dorys.

chase · Post by **chase** » May 25th, '09, 16:38

Congrats on a successful passage and multi year cruise.

Chase

Russell · Post by **Russell** » May 26th, '09, 07:47

Thanks for the well wishes everyone, honestly the passage was so easy I was shocked to find out when I came online that so many were so worried! Not just here, but elsewhere. I was aware of the nasty weather west of me and surely was glad to avoid it, I was actually expecting to see at least a tad of it, some 25 to 30 (which is not all that bad really) but lucked out and did not even get that.

Next time I make a long passage I will give a few of you my sailmail address to keep the board updated!

The Cape Dory Board

Puerto Rico to Virginia

Puerto Rico to Virginia

Your plans for the summer

safe passage Russell-

Summertime fun

Fingers crossed for Russell

Southbound II

Herb

gale

well done Russell