I don't have the typical stats that we've been posting on the previous blogs, as I was so excited to hear from them, I forgot to ask - oops!
On my commute home this evening from Decatur, GA to Marietta, GA, my new Android phone started buzzing and I was delighted to hear Woody on the other end when I answered. Like Woody has been a bit challenged with some of his technology devices, I too have been with my new phone and it feels like a great success when I can simply answer it with ease. As we talked, Woody and JD were speeding through the water at 8 knots and over the water at 5.5 knots – a record speed on this trip, and maybe ever on a Flicka? The wind was blowing between 12 and 15 and the seas were 4 to 5 feet. They were sailing happily in the Gulf stream and had covered 170 nautical miles (nautical miles are longer than statute miles. For the record...a statute mile is 5,280 feet in length and a nautical mile is 6,076.11549... feet in length) since leaving Southport, NC. Upon leaving Southport, they cleared the first buoy which was 90 miles out in less than 24 hours, and then over the following 12 hours covered 80 miles. Spirits were quite high as Woody was recalling their experience to me and JD was chiming in with tidbits of information in the background. Thunderstorms were all about last night but they managed to dodge them. A school of porpoises followed them for 45 minutes as they sailed through the Gulf Stream and graced them with their presence on both the starboard and port sides of the boat. JD and Woody both enjoyed the visit from the porpoises. Dinner last night was Shepherd’s Pie, prepared by the renowned REI freeze dried food trained chef, JD. For the ladies that are reading this, JD is a single man – and at the moment, “looking for love in all the wrong places” – being at sea, but you now know the man can cook, and he is “sea-worthy”. JD is 26 years old, ridiculously smart, very handy, a hairy hottie (as you can tell by his picture) and obviously has an adventurous side. He talks like a sailor but can clean it up too and from the little time I spent with him, he was someone our family looks forward to learning more about and getting to know better! Here's a picture of he and his father, Joel Shiver, who is a Public Defender Attorney, in a number of counties in northern GA. It was Joel who heard of Woody's passage and connected Woody, and his son JD. Joel is a lover of fine beer and was delighted to find his favorite Micro-Brew at a reasonable price in Beaufort (Joel, please post a comment and let us know what the name of that beer is!)
Back to the food – so I asked Woody what was for dinner this evening and he said “well Bugs, what ever we pull out of the bag – it’s a surprise every time”! Love it and look forward to reporting what they had for dinner tonight, in an upcoming blog post. Speaking of food – while they were in Southport, they headed to the grocery to stock up on more supplies, as their first estimate of the distance to Nova Scotia proved to be off a bit. Instead of 700 miles, it’s 940 miles so they anticipate that it will take 11 or 12 days which puts them there somewhere around the 14th of June, give or take a bit.
Woody described the sails and said they had put two reefs in the main sail. He had caught a weather report from his VHF and they expect the winds to increase to up to 25 and seas of 9 feet in the coming days. They’ve been heading East for a bit and will be turning North shortly. One of the challenges they’re having is they’re not generating enough electricity which means they are having to do a lot of hand-steering (no auto-pilot). Though there is plenty of wind, the wind-generator isn’t doing its job so with the trickle of a charge it is producing, they’re using it for the navigation lights.
A stow-away was picked up in Southport and has settled comfortably in the cabin of Jubilee.
It’s a very active and noisy Fly that tests both JD and Woody’s ability to drift off to sleep or remain asleep. I asked if they had named the fly yet and the name that came to mind from Woody was “DEAD”. DEAD tickles their noses, buzzes in their ears and kisses them goodnight or good morning, depending on their watch. More in my next report about DEAD, they Stow-Away Fly.
The speed at which JD and Woody are moving is different from most trips that most of us have taken in our lives. They made an analogy to help us understand. So imagine traveling from Atlanta, GA to New York City. Got it, can you imagine it? Ok, now, imagine getting there by bike. While at the moment, they’re moving faster than a brisk walk, they’re not moving much faster than an average Joe could ride a bike. So, sailing from Beaufort to Nova Scotia is similar to riding a bike from Atlanta to Nova Scotia - a long way, and slow - but wow, a beautiful journey on many fronts.
Captain and Crew sounded like they were having a fabulous time. As Captain Woody said “there’s still a lot of water and weather ahead”. We’ll look forward to reporting more soon! Stay tuned! And in closing, here's a picture of my Mom, Beth Norwood Tumlin (Woody's sister) and Woody at the Bon Voyage party in May
Tracy
