May 29, 2010
I am finally getting around to updating my web page!
Right now I am about 200 miles east of Long Island in the Bahamas.
I left St Thomas on Friday, May 21, 2010.
The forecast was for light wind for the first couple of days and then the trade winds were supposed to fill in and
I would have some nice sailing weather.
The winds lasted about 3 hours and dropped to where I was going about 3 knots.
In the eight days I have been out here I had expected to be north of the Bahamas.
Instead, I am still off the southern Bahamas and currently going along at about 1 knot.
The winds have been extremely light.
I basically drifted from about 2:00 Pm yesterday until about 5:00 this morning.
I couldn't steer because I wasn't going fast enough so I dropped the sails and floated.
At least I didn't go too far off course.
Today was a nice sail from about 6:00 until about noon.
The winds were still light but I was able to average about 4 knots, that's a little over 100 miles a day.
The wind has been fading since noon and now is just enough to keep me moving so I can steer.
I'm not sure where the Bermuda triangle is but I was wondering today.
Late this morning I saw a light return on the radar that was only about 6 miles away.
With the binoculars I could see three masts and not much else.
Over the next hour, they kept getting closer to me and it looked like we were on intersecting courses.
The boat was a three masted, square rigged schooner that was under power going east.
It looked very much like what I would expect and old pirate ship to look like as it approached me.
It even was flying what looked like a Jolly Roger flag from the top of the main mast.
As it got nearer, it fell off and went about a mile behind me and I could see that it was a really nice looking boat.
I'm not sure what country it was from but it was flying a flag off the transom that was a red stripe over a white stripe
over a blue stripe.
I have seen that flag before but can't remember where it's from.
With the binoculars I could see three masts and not much else.
Over the next hour, they kept getting closer to me and it looked like we were on intersecting courses.
The boat was a three masted, square rigged schooner that was under power going east.
It looked very much like what I would expect and old pirate ship to look like as it approached me.
It even was flying what looked like a Jolly Roger flag from the top of the main mast.
As it got nearer, it fell off and went about a mile behind me and I could see that it was a really nice looking boat.
I'm not sure what country it was from but it was flying a flag off the transom that was a red stripe over a white stripe
over a blue stripe.
I have seen that flag before but can't remember where it's from.