Sailing Trance

Victory Lap Week 1/8

Monday April 4, we are staying with Dan’s cousin Bill and Halle his wife for a few days in Deerfield Beach, Florida. We had a wonderful dinner with family, Dan’s cousins Cindy, Bonnie, Aunt Joan, Bill and Halle, Dan’s brother Marty and Nancy and their friends Michael his wife Tina and their son Michael at the Beach House Pompano Restaurant.

53 days to go to Tolchester Marina in Maryland. We plan on several stops up the East Coast staying in the warm weather, visiting family and friends and sharing a meal or two.

Tuesday April 5,

52 days to go.

Wednesday April 6, we met up with Roberto from s/v Ohana for dinner! He joined us at Dan’s cousins house. Roberto will be flying home to Argentina tomorrow, so glad we were able to meet up again! The rest of his family had flown back before we arrived in Florida, the kids are all back in school enjoying time with friends.

51 days to go.

Thursday April 7, we did a Costco run today, only a few items but wanted to fill up Bills car with gas that we’ve been using. Later we had dinner with Bill and Halle at Bruscos Italian Restaurant.

50 days to go.

Friday April 8, we met up with olds friends Bobby and Linda for lunch at the Avocado Grill in Palm Beach. We spent 4 hours together catching up, at this wonderful restaurant.

49 days to go.

Saturday April 9, departure day, we said goodbye to Bill and Halle, moving a bit north to visit more friends. We need to wait a little for the tide to rise as Trance is partially sitting in the mud.

By 1:10pm there was enough water under Trance to leave where we were docked.

We motor-sailed north in the ocean about 33nm to an anchorage at the Port of Palm Beach, adjacent to the ICW.

In the evening we joined via Zoom the Thistle fleet winter meeting from the Lake Nockamixion Sailing Club, the club we race a Thistle sailboat out of.

48 days to go.

Sunday April 10, Happy Birthday Cora! Anchor up by 7:10am, the sun rose 9 minutes earlier. As we turned into the channel we were given a horn blast by the 722ft cruise ship Grand Classica. We passed port to port 50 feet apart. We were exiting the narrow channel as he was entering.

Baby it’s cold outside, it’s 54 degrees!

All morning we were motor sailing, bashing up the Florida coast with 12-18 mile per hour winds and choppy water, finally decided enough of this, as long as we’re motoring may as well hop on the ICW. At noon we went in the St Lucia inlet.

We dropped anchor just off the ICW in Vero Beach in the Indian River at 6:30pm. A former colleague of Dan’s lives there, Bob Tepe and his wife Lynn. A neighbor of theirs allowed us to park our dinghy at their dock. We went ashore had a lovely dinner with Bob and Lynn, spent the night in their beautiful home.

47 days to go.

Monday March 28, Day 1, technically when we reach 75.53W longitude, we will have completed our circumnavigation of the globe. This line runs through the Inter Coastal Waterway in North Carolina near the Alligator River and the Great Exuma Island in the Bahamas. It is the farthest point East we sailed when we started this journey in 2019.

By 8am we were off the mooring ball and on our way.

On a moonless dark night, there is a sky full of stars, the North Star to Starboard, the Southern Cross to Port, the Milky Way and separately bioluminescence in the water!

Tuesday March 29, Day 2, 145 total nautical miles traveled in the past 24 hours.

The Atlantic Ocean decided we needed a few more days of 20 plus knots of breeze by bringing the Trade Winds back for three days. I guess she’s just saying thanks, hope you had a good ride. For dinner I made a triple batch of each rice and shredded chicken with black beans, corn, onion, peppers, mixed with two jars of salsa. Dinner enough for three nights.

Wednesday March 30, Day 3, total nautical miles traveled 304, 159 nautical miles in the past 24 hours.

Wind was 20-24knots all day with 5-8ft waves.

Oops it happened again, a bird landed on top of the mast, knocked out our wind speed and direction. It did briefly come back in so maybe it’s just loose and not broken. Too much wind and waves to go up the mast to check it out. I think we need to add anti-bird devices up there.

Thursday March 31, Day 4, total nautical miles traveled 481, 177 nautical miles in the past 24 hours

Friday April 1, Day 5, total nautical miles traveled 640, 159 nautical miles in the past 24 hours. The wind as predicted has decreased down to 10knot, then 7. We’ll be motor sailing through the night.

Trance played an April fools joke on us. After a reset of the navigation system, the wind direction display magically appeared only to realize the numbers were not reasonable therefore not true, the wind vane is actually missing.

Another moonless night, a sky full of stars, the Milky Way the North Star to Starboard, the Southern Cross to Port.

Saturday April 2, Day 6, total nautical miles traveled 760, 120 nautical miles in the past 24 hours. At some point in the early morning we crossed 75.53W longitude, officially completing our trip around the world!!!

Overnight sightings, Marlene: 3 cargo ships, 1 cruise ship
Dan: 1 cruise ship “Mardi Gras”

Not much wind today, we’ve been motor sailing in 6-10knots of wind. Our target arrival is 10am on Monday to the Ft Lauderdale area.

There’s a lot of large boat traffic heading to and from the USA mainland via the Northeast & Northwest Providence Channels, which pass through the northern Bahama Islands. Approaching from the east, during the day we counted 10 ships.

Sunday April 3, Day 7, total nautical miles traveled 876, 116 nautical miles in the past 24 hours.

Overnight sightings, Marlene: 1 100 foot long Sailboat; 2 Cruise Ships; 2 Cargo Ships; 1 more Cargo Ship without AIS on, likely a Russian vessel
Dan: 1 Cargo Ship

Monday April 4, Day 8, total nautical miles traveled 987, 111 nautical miles in the past 24 hours.

Overnight sightings, Marlene: 10 Cruise Ships; 5 Tanker Ships; 6 Cargo Ships… all near the western end of the Northwest Providence Channel and into the Straits of Florida.
Dan: 3 Cargo Ships; 1 Cruise Ship

Crossing the Gulf Stream, a 40nm wide, fast moving, current stream of ocean water, flowing north along the coast of Florida and eastern USA. So you point the boat one way, yet the boat is moving another way… sideways.

We ended-up early, and crossed the 2nd half of the Gulf Stream real slow. The difference between our coarse and heading was 45-50 degrees.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by Dan’s brother Marty and Nancy his wife, along with Michael who is letting us dock Trance at his house.

Total passage miles from St. Thomas, 994 nautical miles!

Monday March 21, after the morning rain had stopped we went by dinghy to customs and immigration to check in. One form, no duplicate questions it was simple and quick, next we had show our QR code’s from USVI Travel Portal. No passports stamp, no checking in required when get to Florida, officially we’re back in the US of A!

The Dutch West India Company established a post on Saint Thomas in 1657. The land was divided into plantations and sugarcane production became highly profitable traded item that became dependent on slave labor. In the late 1680’s the largest slave auctions in the world were held there. After the Danish Revolution of 1848, slavery was abolished resulting in higher labor costs weakening the status of the sugar producers.

In 1917, Saint Thomas as well as other islands, were purchased by the United States as a defensive strategy to maintain control over the Caribbean and the Panama Canal during the World War I. US troops were also based here during WWII. After the embargo on Cuba, tourism greatly increased.

Several years ago along with Dan’s siblings we took a Carnival Cruise that stopped in St Thomas. I don’t remember there being shop after shop of jewelry stores or the picturesque alleyways. As with most shopping areas we’ve visited there were many closed stores too.

Tuesday March 22, it rained the majority of the day, so we stayed on Trance. A few boat projects were worked on, there are always boat projects!

Wednesday March 23, Dan and I took a taxi in the morning to the St. Thomas Yacht Club. There is a big regatta this weekend we decided to see if they needed any volunteers, they told us they didn’t need anyone. Had lunch at the club then called a taxi, went to a Cost U Less for a few items. It was like a Costco without a membership, they even had several Kirkland brand items and it smelled like a Costco.

Thursday March 24, another rainy day here in the Caribbean. much of the day was spent on the boat, till late afternoon we dinghy’d in for dinner to a little restaurant off the beaten path to The Sugar Cane Grill.

Friday March 25, walked around town to see some of the nearby sites and explored a few grocery stores. Blackbeard’s Castle was boarded up closed as it it still under repair from the last two hurricanes that hit St. Thomas. Later we hung out at The Box, an outdoor bar, for happy hour then returned to Trance.

Saturday March 26, departed our anchorage at Charlotte-Amalia for Red Hook. Our water tank being almost empty, we had a slow ride around the corner to make water. We are renting a mooring ball from Skip and Andrea at Island Yacht Charters. They offer bareboat charters with their fleet of Island Packet Yachts.

Sunday March 27, the day was spent with Hayden and Radeen Cochran s/v Island Spirit. They administer the Island Packet Owners Facebook group and are great ambassadors for the yachts.

Tomorrow, Monday March 28, we will depart St. Thomas USVI for Ft Lauderdale. It will be around 1000 miles and should take about 8 days. The circle is almost complete!

Friday March 18, Day 1, departed Port St Charles, Barbados at 1 pm. Wind 18-22knots, cruising 7-8 knots with main and staysail. Later, soft Tacos for dinner.

Received our PCR test results just before midnight as we were sailing near St Lucia. The internet signal was quite strong and I was able to upload the results along with our vaccine certification to the USVI Travel Portal. Four hours after the upload they replied, our screening status was approved!

Saturday March 19, Day 2, 165 nautical miles traveled.

Once we cleared the shadow of Martinique, winds and waves in the Caribbean increased to around 18-22knots for most of the day, at one point it dropped to 11knots. Cruising at 7-8knots with full main and staysail.

The prevailing trade winds coming from the east across the Atlantic have been quite brisk lately. A little uncomfortable, but after almost 2 1/2 years, we’re getting used to it.

Sunday March 20, Day 3, total nautical miles traveled 323, 158 nautical miles in the past 24 hours, 112 miles to go.

While provisioning for this passage, we purchased fresh blueberries for our Sunday morning pancakes! What an adventure that bake was during a pop up squall we didn’t see coming! Dan likes his syrup warm so he puts a coffee mug containing syrup in the microwave to heat it up. When he opened the microwave door, the mug slid out spilling all over the counter running down the pots and pans cupboard. This cupboard is a lift up door in the counter. The pancake mix spilled on another counter. The orange juice was frozen, it was touching the cold plate so orange slushies it is. Eating pancakes out of a bowl, they were delicious! All cleaned up now.

Monday March 21, Day 4, total trip nautical miles traveled 437.5, 68 hours. Arrived at Charlotte-Amalie, St Thomas USVI, dropped anchor at 8:56am.

Monday March 14, in the morning we pulled up anchor in Carlisle Bay, sailed a few miles north to Port St Charles Marina. We had lunch at the Pier One Restaurant in the marina, a restaurant bar and pool with sun bathing area. We met two couples from Canada had a great afternoon poolside together.

Tuesday March 15, we both slept late did a few boat projects then went out to dinner with our new Canadian friends at Local & Co. Our table was on the sand under an umbrella. The waves gently crashing on the beach with a fantastic sunset. It was a great evening!

Wednesday March 16, factory tour of the Mount Gay Rum distillery. Started with rum punch, ended with sampling 4 different aged rums.

Thursday March 17, a bus ride back into Bridgetown, we stopped for lunch then watched a couple hours of a four day game of Cricket at the Kensington Oval, West Indies vs England. The crowd was 80% from England. We sat next to several really nice Brits who were explaining the game to us as watched as well as answered our questions. This was a “ Test Series“ match kind of like an All Star game. They are called Tests because the matches are long making them mentally and physically challenging. It’s a four inning match which may last up to five days. We arrived just before England scored 503 points, then “declared” to West Indies making it their turn “at bat”. The West Indies star player and number one at bat was out after four “pitches” the crowd roared and broke into song!

Friday March 18, provisioning and COVID test morning, taking the bus into Holetown, thats where the was closest testing facility.

The Port St Charles Marina has a Customs and Immigration office here which made it very convenient. Passports stamped! We are off on a 2-3 day passage to St Thomas USVI.

Monday March 7, Barbados is the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. In November of 2021 she became an independent country. It is also the only island in the Lesser Antilles that is not formed by volcanic rock. The island is sedimentary rock and coral.

After arrival in Barbados we were instructed by Port Signal Station to go to the shallow draft basin and wait for Port Health. We were required to stay on our boat. Several hours had past as well as a few radio calls to Port Signal Station, at 3pm Port Health finally arrived. After a discussion regarding PCR tests, that they required 48hrs prior to arrival, Dan convinced him our 10 days at sea was in fact a quarantine. The officer was really nice and offered to drive Dan as well as the captain of another sailboat that arrived just before us to the customs and immigration office. Passports stamped!

Along with the other boat s/v Naomi we both decided to stay the night on “the wall” and leave by 7:30am to anchor in Carlisle Bay.

Tuesday March 8, at 6:30 am we were awoken by dock workers who wanted us to leave as a cargo ferry needed to dock where we were. We left and anchored in the bay. After getting settled, we took the dingy into Bridgetown to find a restaurant for breakfast. There is a dingy dock up the river under the lift bridge we parked at.

Afterwards we walked around a bit, went back to the boat, I took a nap. Later we went to the Boatyard restaurant beaching the dinghy, for happy hour and dinner,

Wednesday March 9, beach day at the Barbados Yacht Club. We stayed till dark for most of the jazz concert. They were good when they were playing.

Thursday March 10, Dan visited a dermatologist for the persistent issue with his toe. Diagnosis, nothing serious. Afterward we stopped for a light breakfast at this cozy coffee shop/florist.

We spent the afternoon at the Mount Gay Visitors Center. Sampled 4 Rums and had lunch there.

Friday March 11, we took an Island tour on air conditioned bus by Ted of Ted’s Tours. It was a very entertaining ride with Ted’s humor and history. The drive went around the entire island stopping for lunch in Speighstown. Other stops were Cherry Tree Hill, Bathsheba, the fourth was supposed to be at St John’s Parish church but a funeral was in process so an alternate stop was made. Each stop also included beverages, alcoholic and soft drinks. At the conclusion of the tour, the bus drives by Oistiens Fish Market. Several people exited the tour here including us.

The Oistiens experience- this is a Barbados must! An open air out door seating fish market with several food and beverages vendors to choose from in colorful huts as well as arts and crafts being sold under tents. There was also live music on this night. We had dinner with others we met on the tour it was a very enjoyable night.

Saturday March 12, took the bus to check out Port St Charles Marina, we have heard mixed reviews and comments of the place wanted to check it out before sailing up here. Lunch was at a small bar on the beach. Later we hailed a cab to Holetown. This is the high end shopping area, we stopped for ice cream then took the bus back into Bridgetown.

Sunday March 13, yacht club beach day which also included a little bit of snorkeling. Then walked back into town to our dinghy.

Friday February 25, Day 1, by 6:15am the anchor was up and we were on our way. Fernando de Noronha was certainly a great stop! The sky is blue with few clouds, 15-17 knots of wind, we’re cruising at 7-8.5 knots.

For dinner Baja Chicken Bowls, chicken, red pepper, corn over rice topped with grated cheese and salsa.

The moon set at 2pm, making for a really dark night. The plus side of that is the stars! The Milky Way, the Southern Cross, the Big Dipper and Orion always the standout. Also there is Bioluminescence in the water. Twinkling sky and water tonight. 🌟

Saturday February 26 – Day 2, Total nautical miles traveled 164.

*Sourdough Notes* started the levain at the end of my watch last night. This morning it was ready to mix. Baked a Belle loaf in the afternoon as well as banana bread.

We are heading toward shore to catch a ride in the North Brazil Current. It is a well-established western boundary current that carries warm water from the South Atlantic northwest along the coast of Brazil, across the equator and into the northern hemisphere.The Mercator current chart shows a 3-4 knot current flowing northwest. We’ll jump on the ride for awhile then turn north to Barbados. There is also less intense wind closer to shore. This is also the path all the PredictWind weather routing models take.

New time zone GMT-3 It’s 1:30pm in Maceio, Brazil, 11:30am in Philadelphia.

Today’s matinee “The Vault”.

Oh my the stars! The Southern Cross, The Milky Way, The Big Dipper and more! Without the moon and not a cloud in the sky, the stars are very brilliant.

Sunday February 27 – Day 3, Total nautical miles traveled 355, 191 nautical miles traveled in the past 24 hours.

Yes! Pancakes for breakfast! It was however the last of the maple syrup but we have Vanilla syrup from Reunion Island.

Cruising in 2.5knots of current, with 13knots of wind we’re moving at 8-8.5knots! Sails are all wing on wing. Radar shows squall line behind to right of us, looks like we won’t get that rain.

Spinner Dolphins swam our bow for while in the afternoon, it’s always fun to watch them.

Late afternoon we hit the “sweet spot” in North Brazil Current. With 16 knots of wind, our SOG (speed over ground) was 11.2 knots! The current was flowing 2.5 to 3 knots. The majority of the night we were cruising over 10 knots SOG.

The night sky was quite cloudy with lightning to the south over land. Few stars are visible tonight however the ocean is twinkling with bioluminescence.

Monday February 28 – Day 4, Total nautical miles traveled 570, 215 nautical miles traveled in the past 24 hours. A Trance record for distance traveled in one day!

Through PredictWind there are features that allow you email, text and track other boats. We are part of an email chain of messages between several cruisers that are all currently crossing the Atlantic Ocean. These 9 we are tracking are all are headed towards the Caribbean.

Afternoon matinee, episode 1 season 4 Ozark. For some unknown reason the downloaded episodes of Ozark are playing incorrectly from my phone. An episode will pause then the following episode starts to play, so we switched to a movie, “Unhinged” starring Russel Crowe, intense movie!

Tuesday March 1 – Day 5, Total nautical miles traveled 775, 205 nautical miles traveled in the past 24 hours. This is the fourth time we’ve traveled over 200 miles in a day.

This morning around 7am we uneventfully crossed the Equator, hello North Atlantic Ocean!

The afternoon wind was steady around 12knots, still playing in the 2knot current.

Wednesday March 2 – Day 6, Total nautical miles traveled 991, 216 nautical miles traveled in the past 24 hours. Trance breaks a new distance traveled per day record!

Wind was pretty steady today 10-12knots, blue sky, partly cloudy. We’re still riding the current train.

*Sourdough Notes* started the levain last night after my watch, mixed then bake the bread in the afternoon.

In the late afternoon the wind increased 16-19knots, the seas are bit rougher, the sails are triple reefed and still cruising 8-9knots.

On my watch, I noticed a tanker ship approaching from behind us, pointing directly at our location. At about 7 miles away the ships AIS details appeared, showing its name, size, speed as well as more information about it. There is also a squall getting closer. I radioed the ship asking the captain if he sees us, he replied he did. I told him I felt he was a little too close to us (Closest Point of Approach was less than 1 mile) especially with the storm approaching. The tanker altered its course now parallel to us just under 2 miles apart, going past us into the dark at 16knots.

Thursday March 3 – Day 7, Total nautical miles traveled 1199, 208 nautical miles traveled in the past 24 hours. 4th day in a row over 200 miles!

The wind is over 20 knots this morning, seas still pretty tough. Sailing 9-10knots with triple reefed sails, 8-9ft swells. Pretty uncomfortable ride for the next three day, ugh! Can we put some seatbelts in the cockpit?

Today’s matinee “Snowden”.

Friday March 4 – Day 8, Total nautical miles traveled 1407, 208 nautical miles traveled in the past 24 hours. 5 days in row over 200!

Upon reaching another waypoint, an eight degree turn to starboard was made. The Genoa fluttered a bit then a huge tear appeared in the sail, not near the small tape repairs we recently did. Then another tear, next thing we see the sail totally shredded! While we were furling it in the flapping sail cloth wrapped around the forestay. We would have preferred to leave the sail furled but the top half of the sail was loose and flapping. We had to unfurl the sail to drop the halyard. This was difficult because the sail wa so twisted around the forestay preventing the sail to unfurl. In 20knots of wind I raised Dan up in a bosons chair on another halyard so he could cut the sheets as well as part of the sail so we could take it down. What an afternoon!

The staysail was deployed but running the sheet to the rail through the turning blocks used for the Genoa sheets. A few days ago the end fitting on the staysail Hoyt boom broke. Dan had attempted to fix it for the past two years. He expected it would eventually break. This fitting connects the staysail sheet and the boom traveler to the Hoyt boom.

By 8:30pm we had exited the North Brazil Current stream, there is still however 0.5-1 knots of favorable current. These days it is best to keep a safe distance from Venezuela, the northern section of the current stream flows too close.

Saturday March 5 – Day 9, Total nautical miles traveled 1607, 200 nautical miles traveled in the past 24 hours. The 6th consecutive day of 200 miles or more traveled! 370 miles to go to Barbados.

The wind has been 16-19knots all day with 6-9ft waves, it’s a very bumpy ride! SOG 6.5-7.2knots.

Today’s matinee “The Impossible”, it’s a true story about a family’s struggle during the tsunami in Thailand a few years back.

The day was cloudy gray all day with occasional squalls. The main is triple reefed, the staysail is full. Winds 16-18 with 6-9ft waves.

Sunday March 6 – Day 10, Total nautical miles traveled 1776, 169 nautical miles traveled in the past 24 hours. 203 miles to go!

They say the Atlantic Ocean is the calmest one but I think she’s having a few bad days. It’s been a rough ride! On Dan’s watch the wind topped out at 28knots.

Today’s matinee “Submission”.

Monday March 7 – Day 11, Total nautical miles traveled nautical 1944, 168 miles traveled in the past 24 hours.

On our approach to Bridgetown we were hit by a squall bringing 30.4knots of wind and a down pour of rain. Glad to get some of the salt off of Trance with that. Arrived in Bridgetown, Barbados at 9:45 local time, total trip distance 1983 nautical miles, 10 days, 5 hours.

The group of 9 boats we’re tracking are crossing the Atlantic Ocean together from South Africa to the Caribbean in relatively the same time frame. From there everyone will go their own way! Of these 9, 4 of us are circumnavigating and on our way home. It’s been great to socializing and sail with these friends! LostGirl, Hylite and Northern Pearl are going to Grenada. From there Northern Pearl will be going to Panama, through the canal up the west coast and back home to Vancouver, BC. Not sure of Susan’s or Michael’s long term plans other than to stay in the Caribbean for a while. Ohana from South Africa and SeaDancer are both going to Surinam, Ohana from Argentina is headed to St. Barts where family will be meeting them, then to Florida. Steel Sapphire headed to Ascension Island then onward to Scotland. Lazy Lightning is heading to Antigua then the USA. Fair winds my friends!

Monday February 21, first stop customs and immigration, passports stamped, in and out as our stay here will be short.

Fernando de Noronha is group of 21 islands 220 miles off the coast of Pernambuco State in Northern Brazil. Discovered in 1503 by a Portuguese expedition. Only the largest island is inhabited with a population around 3000. It is 7sq miles. Official language is Portuguese. 70% of the island is a National Marine Park and also a World Heritage Site. The island is a feeding ground for tuna, billfish, whales, dolphins, porpoises, sharks, and marine turtles. There is a high population of spinner dolphins and the island offers protection for the endangered hawksbill sea turtle.

There is only one paved road, the main road that goes to the airport. The other roads are either dirt with scattered stones or larger rocks tightly together.

We took a guided tour by Palo to the National Marine Park with Ohana. There are several beautiful isolated beaches where the walks to them was over rocky, hilly trails. One trail had a long elevated boardwalk, then the entrance to Baia do Sancho beach, ranked as one the best beaches in the world, was down two ladders, followed by a rock staircase.

Tuesday February 22, we had visitors this morning. Robbie Jr and Millie from Ohana wanted to come see our boat. The adventurous little ones set off on a paddle board from their boat to ours about 75 yards apart only to get caught by the wind and current, which drifted them backwards. Bautista, crew from Ohana, rescued them and towed the board to our boat.

The morning was spent with lots of questions about things in Trance. Dan performed some juggling then we baked chocolate chip cookie bars together. When the cookies were done, we took them to shore in our dinghy to join the rest of the Ohana crew for lunch. On our dinghy ride in we were escorted by I bet every Spinner Dolphin in the bay! They were swimming in front and next to us often jumping in the air splashing to the water!

After lunch, we brought jerry cans to Trance filled with diesel to fill our tank. There is no gas dock here which is really surprising because of the number of fishing and tour boats in the harbor. Bautista helped Dan, tomorrow they will refill the containers and fuel up Ohana.

We had more visitors in the afternoon, Mechie, Lulie, Amalia, Millie and Robbie Jr came by for a tour of Trance. Lulie, Millie and Robbie stayed the rest of the afternoon. They wanted to watch a movie, I let them pick it out, they chose “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”.

Wednesday February 23, s/v Lazy Lightning arrive today, good to see them again. Dan and Bautista refueled Ohana.

We walked around a bit this afternoon close to the marina area. Upon the hill stands a little white church overlooking the harbor. The Chapel of Sao Pedro dos Pescadores. The view from on top of the hill of spectacular.

For dinner we stopped at a restaurant near the harbor only to find team Lazy Lightning there. We joined them for a few adult beverages as they were just finishing dinner. After they left we had a fabulous dinner with selections recommended by our waiter.

Thursday February 24, it was a beach day! We took the bus across the island to Praida do Bode beach. Beach chairs with a table under an umbrella are available to rent for the day, we did as there was no shade. A beverage stand selling alcoholic and soft drinks was there also. For a while we were the only ones on this beach.

Goodbyes for now dinner with team Ohana at Mergulhão Noronha. They are leaving over the weekend as they need to test their watermaker after the repair. They are headed for St. Barts where their family members will meet them.

Before sunrise we will depart for Barbados in the eastern Caribbean. The passage is just under 2000 miles and should be a 10-14 day journey.

Wednesday February 16 – Day 9, total nautical miles traveled 1113, 141 nautical miles travel in the past 24 hours.

Today’s matinee “Palmer” starring Justin Timberlake

Grilled hamburgers in a wrap folded pie shape for dinner.

Three birds sitting the boat, riding in the dark of night. They were very polite and didn’t leave a “mess”.

Thursday February 17 – Day 10, total nautical miles traveled 1265, 152 nautical miles travel in the past 24 hours.

The batteries don’t seem to be holding a good charge throughout the night. Which is surprising since there is so much sunlight during the day. On the other hand, the autopilot (sailing downwind in sloppy waves) requires a lot of electricity. Also, the refrigerator is running longer, since the tropical air and water is warmer. So Dan dragged-out the portable generator to give the batteries a boost rather than start the boat’s engine.

For the past several weeks, the autopilot has been periodically stopping. Today it quit working altogether. For three hours I manually steered while Dan did some major troubleshooting, finally success! MacGyver Dan for the win!

New time zone, GMT-2. It’s 4:00pm In Fernando de Noronha, Brazil, 1pm in Philadelphia.

For dinner, chicken with roasted red peppers over rice.

I think we should name these three birds that visit us at night. They had quite the conversation between themselves, maybe they are giving us names?

Friday February 18 – Day 11, total nautical miles traveled 1408, 143 nautical miles travel in the past 24 hours.

The morning wind was light, 8-10 knots with sloppy waves. Then for 3 hours squalls rolled in. Highest wind we saw was 20 knots, lots of rain. After lunch it cleared up with partly cloudy skies, 10 knots of wind.

Laundry day, we both washed a few items and they are hanging to dry around the inside of the boat.

Baked potatoes topped with cheese for dinner.

They’re back….our three birds, along for the night ride.

Saturday February 19 – Day 12, total nautical miles traveled 1535, 127 nautical miles travel in the past 24 hours.

Today’s matinee double feature “Limitless” starring Bradley Cooper, and “Redemption Day”, starring actors I’m not familiar with.

*Sourdough Notes* the levain was started last night ready to be mixed in the afternoon. While waiting for the oven to heat up for the bread, we baked a tray of chocolate chip cookie bars. Another wonderful Belle loaf! Gotta love the smell of baking bread in the middle of the ocean!

Oh my the stars! The Milky Way, The Southern Cross to the South, The Big Dipper (Ursa Major) to the North! The Little Dipper (Ursa Minor) just below the horizon and raising, might see both the North Star and Southern Cross in the same sky if it weren’t for the 84% waning moon.

One bird tonight, perched upon the Simrad radar, wonder where her friends went? Perfect, we’ll name this bird Radar.

Sunday February 20 – Day 13, total nautical miles traveled 1701, 166 nautical miles travel in the past 24 hours. A new speed record for this passage.

A quick squall this morning bringing a brief rain shower followed by an increase in wind, 16-20 knots, now cruising 7-9.5knots with sloppy seas.

4pm the anchor was dropped off a sandy beach on the island of Fernando de Noronha. Total nautical miles traveled on this passage, 1783, it took 12 days, 9 hours.

We had dinner with team Ohana at O Pico restaurant serving traditional Brazilian foods.

Monday night February 7,

Tuesday February 8- Day 1, departed St Helena with Ohana and Lazy Lightning (they are heading to Ascension Island) at 7am. The Brazilians will depart in a few hours (they are heading home to Brazil). The wind was very light, it was a motor sailing kind of day. Early evening, I baked a banana bread for breakfast.

Dan and I decided to have a daily trivia question for Ohana. There are 11 people onboard, 6 are children ages 5,7,10,12,14 and 16. All the kids are girls except the 10 year old. Today’s question was how many cornrows did Meche have in her hair? She had them added in South Africa. Everyone guessed a number then they were counted. The answer was 65.

Wednesday February 9 – Day 2, Happy Birthday Dylan! Total nautical miles traveled, 143. We will have light air for the next few days. Typically there is high pressure known as the St. Helena high that would generate wind for us. But, there is a massive low with a cyclone in the Indian Ocean near South Africa, sucking all the power out of the high.

Today’s trivia question, name 5 of the requirements on a US documented vessel, boats our sizes, 40-65ft. (Although the family is from Argentina, Ohana is a US registered boat) Most had 4 of 5 correct. Answer:

• Registration and numbers
• personal flotation devices
• visual distress signal
• fire extinguishers
• sound producing device
• navigation lights, placards
• marine sanitation device
• navigation rules

Tonight for the first time I saw the “Green Flash that is sometimes seen due to the bending of the light in the atmosphere at sunset or sunrise on the ocean, pretty spectacular! This was only the second time this was observed this on Trance, Dan has seen them both.

Thursday February 10 – Day 3, Total nautical miles traveled 288, 145 nautical miles travel in the past 24 hours.

Today’s trivia questions were all about St Helena. Most questions were related to what was learned on the tour we took with Aaron, Ohana did the same tour several days after us. We all remembered a lot! Thanks Aaron!

• Endemic Bird: wirebird
• Where did the Flax come from: New Zealand
• Name the four giant tortoises: Jonathan, David, Fred, Emma
• Famous Sailors who visited the island: Joshua Slokum, Cook, Bligh, Captain Dan
• 8 sunken ships in Jamestown harbor, what ship was sunk by a torpedo, how many survived? Darkdale, 2 people survived
• Three sources of electrical energy: wind, solar, diesel generators
• Number of steps in the ladder: 699
• Why did Captain Cook plant and spread cactus around the island? For Vitamin C from the fruit to prevent scurvy
• What is planted in the Millennium Forest: gum wood trees
• What do Whale sharks eat: Plankton, small fish, squid, not people

Friday February 11 – Day 4, total nautical miles traveled 430, 142 nautical miles travel in the past 24 hours.

Trivia questions of the day are all about the Winter Olympics:

• What events are on ice? Curling, speed skating, figure skating, luge, hockey, bobsled and skeleton.
• Maximum number of ice hockey player on the ice? 12.
• In what sport does a person perform a triple lutz? Figure skating.
• In what sport are competitors moving the fastest? Alpine skiing.
• What Caribbean Island has a bobsled team? Jamaica.
• In what country were the first Olympics held? France in 1924.
• What city has hosted both Summer and Winter Olympics? Beijing.

The clocks were turned back one hour we are now GMT-1, 1:13pm here, 9:13am in Philadelphia.

Saturday February 12 – Day 5, total nautical miles traveled 571, 141 nautical miles travel in the past 24 hours.

We are developing The TRANCE Moca (like Starbucks) recipe: coffee or instant coffee, hot chocolate pack, at least two coffee creamers or heavy cream or powdered milk, sugar or sweetener of choice, mix (shaken… not stirred) with enough water and ice to serve two.

Trivia of the day, clouds.

Three ways to classify clouds:

Classify by Shape

Flat Clouds – called “Stratus”, or ends with “-stratus”, or begins with the shape prefix “Strato-

Puffy Clouds, like cotton balls or cauliflower – “Cumulus”, or ends with “-cumulus”, or begins with the shape prefix “Cumulo-“

Classify by Height

High Clouds: Called “Cirrus” or begins with the height prefix “Cirro-“ : ice particles, thin, transparent, sun and moonlight passes through

Medium Level Clouds: Begins with the height prefix “Alto-“ : water droplets, thicker, light might pass through

Low Clouds: Have no height prefix: dense, water particles or dense fog, minimal light passes through.

Classify by Rain or Precipitation Prodiction

(Drizzle, Rain, Snow, Sleet, Hail) Ends with “-nimbus”, or begins with the prefix “Nimbo-“

Ten basic types of clouds:

• Cirrus – wispy, mare’s horse tail, often a warm front is approaching , arriving in a day or two, maybe with rain
• Cirrostratus – continuous thin sheet, halo around sun & moon
• Cirrocumulus – puffy, thin
• Altostratus – grayish bluish veil sheet, light may passes through or shadow
• Altocumulus – gray veil sheet, yet puffy bottoms, sides, tops, light might pass through or shadow
• Cumulus – Individual dense puffy clouds, shadows, imagine figures and shapes.
• Stratus – Completely or almost completely covered sky, dense. Grey dark flat bottoms, minimal light
• Stratocumulus – More numerous, linked puffy clouds with gray and flat bottoms
• Nimbostratus – Like Stratus with a higher top, completely or almost completely covered sky, dense. Grey dark flat bottoms, minimal or no light.
• Cumulonimbus – Cumulus clouds that produce precipitation, grow into tall sometimes huge “thunder clouds” by convection, anvil shaped, thunder, lightning, wind, “Danger Clouds”.

Sunday February 13 – Day 6, Are you ready for some football? It’s Super Bowl Sunday, But first pancakes for breakfast!

Total nautical miles traveled nautical 711, 140 miles travel in the past 24 hours.

*Sourdough Notes* started a Belle loaf this morning, the levain grew overnight, should be able to bake it late afternoon. Before the bread is baked there are a few “nice” bananas to be made into banana bread.

With the apparent wind angle around 160, the spinnaker was deployed. True wind is 10-14, we’re cruising at 6.5 -7.2knots.

Today’s trivia, The Super Bowl! Ohana said they studied overnight by watching the movie “The Blindside”. American football was compared to soccer and rugby. The differences in the fields, ball, players on the field and scoring objectives. They had many great questions about the game as well as answering our questions to them. Super Bowl activities like parties, food, halftime entertainment, singing of the National Anthem and TV commercials were also on topic. After the conversation was complete, they said we were next! They will ask us questions tomorrow about Latin America, not sure how well we will do! 😶

Late afternoon the banana bread and Belle loaf were baked, just in time to start dinner, Buffalo chicken wraps.

Monday February 14 – ❤️ Day 7, total nautical miles traveled 844, 133 nautical miles travel in the past 24 hours.

Last night was the first time we flew the spinnaker all night. The moon was nearly full, the seas were calm with 6-8knots of steady wind. This morning we jibed the spinnaker. With the cutter rig, this process has many steps. The sail gets doused, pole returned to the mast to dip around staysail boom, then reattach sheets and guys, raise the pole, jibe the main, raise the spinnaker. Somewhere during this process the sail snagged on something causing a not so nice tear. The sail was dropped, and bagged, Genoa deployed wing on wing using the pole, staysail was also deployed and winged out.

Trivia of the day, Team Ohana asked us questions about Latin America. We even got some questions right, it was a fun test. Always good to learn something new.

Tuesday February 15 – Day 8, total nautical miles traveled 972, 128 nautical miles travel in the past 24 hours.This morning, Ohana is 15 miles ahead of us. With us not being able to use our spinnaker, and they have a huge parachute spinnaker, the distance between us will only continue to increase. Today’s matinee “The Spy” starring Melissa McCarthy and Jude Law. For dinner grilling tuna steaks with mashed potatoes.

Two birds came along for the ride at night, resting upon the solar panels.