Dismasted at Sea

At approximately 1500 on Wednesday October 24, Vagrant was dismasted at sea somewhere near 350 nautical miles south of Halifax and almost half way to Bermuda. That really sucked. We recovered some of the rig, were forced to cut some of it away, and headed for home. With a bit of help, we arrived in Sambro at 1540 on Saturday. Nobody was hurt, but I am pretty gutted right now. When I have a chance I'll write the whole story. In the meantime, here are some pictures of the damage.

Gale warning in effect

Forecast:
Gale warning in effect.
Winds southeast 15 to 20 knots increasing to southerly 25 near dawn and to southerly 30 to gales 40 this morning. Winds veering to southwest 25 this afternoon and to southwest 15 to 20 early this evening. Winds increasing to westerly 20 Sunday morning and to northwesterly 25 with gusts to 35 over the approaches in the afternoon. Periods of rain beginning early this morning tapering to scattered showers early this evening.


Looks like we are going to wait a day or so since south is the direction that we want to travel. Pounding into 30 knot headwinds in the driving rain on the first day is a good way to make your crew barf. In the meantime I get a minute to say thanks to everyone who is making this possible. Thanks to Andrew and Alexia for letting me live in their house for the past month, to Doug for selling my crap on e-bay so I can afford to go, to Jim for all his work helping prepare the boat, and to everyone else who has helped out in one way or another. I will toast all of you when we get to Bermuda.

Homeless

It's done now. I am homeless. I moved out of the apartment on the weekend and in less than three weeks we'll be off on the first leg of the trip, the sail to Bermuda. Many thanks to Andrew and Alexia for letting me stay at their place until everything is ready.