Where is ORION?

[Jim Walsh]

Been out on a cruise the last several days, here's a hint

[Neil Gordon]

Ontario, yes?

[Jim Walsh]

Ontario, yes?

No. But the boat beside me is from Ontario.
Hint, this place has "shorts" named after them.

[Sea Hunt Video]

Bermuda

[jbenagh]

Congratulations! I would love to hear stories.

Jeff

[Jim Walsh]

Very good Roberto!
I'll be posting photos to share with everyone. Just arrived yesterday after an eight day passage from Noank, Ct..

[Joe Myerson]

Very impressive, Jim,

--Joe

[Jeff and Sarah]

I got to admire Orion from the dock while visiting my parents earlier this spring. They live aboard a trawler and were at what I presume is your home marina for a few weeks. Orion sure is a beautiful boat! Good luck with the rest of your sail.

Jeff

[Jim Walsh]

I got to admire Orion from the dock while visiting my parents earlier this spring. They live aboard a trawler and were at what I presume is your home marina for a few weeks. Orion sure is a beautiful boat! Good luck with the rest of your sail.

Jeff

Very impressive, Jim,

--Joe

Thanks folks!

[Paul D.]

Fair Winds. Eight days, sounds like a good passage.

[Skeep]

Very nice. Great to hear of the passage. I guess your Winch Maintenance was successful too!

By the way, you just missed the French Frigate Hermoine who stopped for provisioning in Bermuda just a week ago and is now in the Chesapeake headed up to Boston via several ports on its American Tour. For those reading and interested check it out: http://www.hermione2015.com/history.html#home It's also on FB with more up to date tour information.

Any photos while underway or notable sightings while at sea?

[Steve Laume]

Well done, Jim!

I was watching wind and sea conditions towards the end of your trip and it seemed rather light. At five knots or less I would have been motoring. The hardest part of the trip down is just the resolve to keep on going. Rest up, enjoy the island paradise as much as you can for the time you will be there. Remember the local bananas are the ones on the floor. The hardest part of the trip is yet to come. That is deciding when, of if, you ever want to leave such a beautiful place and head back towards home.

I definitely want to hear some stories, Steve.

[Jim Walsh]

Well done, Jim!
.

I definitely want to hear some stories, Steve.

Well, here comes a brief description and a picture of the most harrowing part of the trip! Luckily I had the presence of mind to maintain my cool and see my way through this heart stopper!
Here I am, minding my own business about half way from Noank to Bermuda, when I was accosted by a notorious pelagic gang of thugs commonly referred to by INTERPOL as Atlantic Spotted Dolphins! First they surrounded me, then they raced around me at breathtaking speeds exhibiting their superior speed and agility. I was flying "Old Glory" and I refused to back down or be intimidated! We looked each other in the eye and after twenty minutes these cut-throats decided I was not your ordinary school of flying fish and they cut and ran! I was finally able to resume my cruise

[Sea Hunt Video]

Jim:

Very nice photo.

Are you using a boom vang as a preventer while downwind sailing

[Jim Walsh]

Jim:

Very nice photo.

Are you using a boom vang as a preventer while downwind sailing

I have two preventers permanently rigged, a la Hal Roth (he and Hiscock were my early hero's) who was shown this method by a French competitor in one of the round the world races. He adopted it and recommended it to others for use in blue water. The main sheet essentially is on back up. By using a port and starboard preventer as a pair you are able to secure the boom once you are on an established heading and the worry of an uncontrolled jibe is a thing of the past. I'm ultra-conservative and never left my main sheet slack but the preventers were always in use. I don't use a boom vang, per se. When it gets snotty out and I'm putting a reef in the main it's comforting knowing I won't be swept off deck should the motion or wind decide to throw me a cheap shot. I can ease the preventers and still have an established range of motion rather than unlimited movement of the boom.
You can see both preventers in this photo.