2025 Bermuda Reports

DAY 1- 6/9:
We are underway for Norfolk. We have cleared the island and are circling north of the reefs so that we can aim for Cape Hatteras. Our winds are currently in the 10 to 12 knot range. We have set the mainsail and hope to turn to the NW at our next waypoint, to set the Genoa out. From there, it is sail west, fingers crossed.

It was a busy morning. The crew was all onboard by 0630, Bermuda time, and we were cleared out of Customs, paid up at the marina and at the fuel dock before 0900. After taking on 49 gallons of diesel, we were out of the Cut by 0930.

It looks like we should have some good sailing for the next two days, so we look forward to peaceful sailing and tropical nights.

DAY 2- 6/10:
It is a little past 8 AM out here on the briny blue and we are sailing right along. The wind continues to hold out of the South and we have a very comfortable sea state. The boat is well-balanced and we are traveling along at a solid 6 knots. At this rate, we will be a quarter of the way along this long leg well before noon.

Yesterday was a lot of the same as today. Once we cleared Bermuda and set our sails, the only thing to do was keep sailing west. We have seen flying fish and man-of-wars, but no dolphin yet.

Overnight, the wind came up and the sky clouded over, but we were still well under control. We might have seen some gusts up into the twenties, but the flat sea state let us cruise along. We must have had a following current because our speed over ground was after topping 8 knots.

The crew is in good spirits and looking forward to seeing all of our loved ones, hopefully this this weekend!

DAY 3- 6/11:
We have had some of the best sailing on this trip that we have experienced. We have consistently run 6 knots or better since leaving Bermuda and our noon-to-noon run yesterday was qty nautical miles. In addition, the sea state has been generally benign and the wind direction consistent within about 20 degrees. The crew has responded to this by keeping us quite close to the track line from Bermuda to Cape Hatteras and we have almost no northward drift.

We have seen birds and flying fish, and the odd man-of-war will float by with a gentle “ola” as they go.

The boat and crew have fallen into a rhythm of watches, meals, cleaning and training. We expect to continue this pattern until Friday, when we anticipate entering the Gulf Stream.

DAY 4- 6/12:
Well, we have finally given up our perfect weather sail. The crew got a little bit of a challenge about 1500 yesterday (3:00 PM to you lubbers) when we ran into some rain showers. The wind didn’t come up excessively, nor was there any lightning, but there was a drenching rain for about 45 minutes.

Tell the truth, the rain was not unwelcome. After three days without showers, a fresh water rinse felt good.

Unfortunately, while the wind strength did not change, the direction did. We spent an hour sailing almost due north, then tacked and sailed almost due south. Then, the storm passed us and took all of the wind with it. We had a true wind reading between 1 and 4 knots. So, we had to rely on the engine to keep us going.

After a couple of hours, the wind returned and we were able to shut off the engine. The wind stayed fair for us until this morning. A line of showers has taken the wind and we are once again motor sailing. In addition, because of lightning on the horizon overnight and predictions of squalls on the Gulf Stream, we are now sailing with the first reef in the main and a reduced headsail. We are less than 100 miles to our waypoint, which is either in or just before the Gulf Stream. We hope to go back to full sails after we pop out the other side.

DAY 5- 6/13:
Apparently, my complaints about the rain yesterday did not offend, because the weather was another perfect day for sailing. We had a continuous 10-15 knots of wind from the South and Southwest and were able to enter the Gulf Stream right about 6:00 PM.

We continued to sail through the night, with a reef in the main and a jib for a headsail. We did this because the Gulf Stream is known to drag squalls up from the south, with lightning and considerable wind. As it turned out, we did run between two squalls, a little after midnight but, except for a little rain and a truly impressive light show, we were unaffected by these. The two cells did join together behind us and we would have felt sorry for anyone in that mess, but we escaped unscathed.

I had hoped to be able to say we were through the Stream this morning, but it wasn’t to be. We have been sailing west since our encounter with the squalls, but our westward progress exactly matched othe eastward flow of the current and we found ourselves just drifting north. We weren’t able to angle south far enough to get moving, so we reluctantly doused the headsail, started the engine and are motor-sailing up the course to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. We anticipate that, after coming through the western wall of the Stream, we can go back to sailing, but we won’t know until we get there.

Right now, we anticipate an arrival in the marina early tomorrow morning, depending on tides. However, we may be close enough this evening for cell service, so you may hear from your wandering sailors tonight.

DAY 7- 6/14:
You may have noticed that I did not post a notice yesterday for this cruise. We were very busy yesterday, then we weren't, then we were very tired!

We came out of the Gulf Stream finally late on Friday morning. We actually were in the Stream longer than we would have liked. We were still in the hands of some of the most amazing sailing wind that I had ever seen, so we continued sailing as long as we could. However, we found after a while that, while sailing west on a course of 305 by our compass, our movement to the west was almost exactly balanced by the eastern component of the Stream's current flow. Because of this, almost all of our actual movement was to the north. If you look at the track of our crossing, this is a clear indication of the Gulf Stream's power.

The solution was clear, we needed to go more westerly, a compass course of 270 or even 260 degrees. However, that was too close to the direction the wind was coming from. So, reluctantly (very reluctantly), we doused the headsail and commenced motor-sailing. This solved our westward direction issue and we soon popped out of the west wall.

However, as we came out, our fair weather deserted us. It was as if someone had said "you have been in the ocean, I gave you perfect weather. You are going back to land, so..." From the western wall to Norfolk, the skies were gray, the seas were lumpy and confused and we sailed from drizzly rain patch to drizzly rain patch.

We arrived at our final "offshore" waypoint at just about midnight Friday night. Based on the weather and the marine traffic, we made the decision to come all the way into the Bay before stopping to wait for dawn. We tucked into a patch of water bordered by the Bay Bridge on the west, the Thimble Shoals Channel to the south, the Cape Henry Channel to the north, and the VACAPES pilot area to the east. We sat there drifting for a few hours, so the crew could get some sleep in relatively peaceful waters while we waited for the sun.

At a half-hour before sunrise, we got the crew up and finally took the mainsail down for the last time this trip. After getting it secured, we crossed over the Bridge-Tunnel and returned to Cobb's Marina. We actually arrived an hour before they opened, so we tied up in what we thought of as "our" spot on the dock and hoped for the best. Luckily, when they arrived, we had guessed correctly and we finished tying the boat up, cleaned up and waited for clearance from Customs/Border Patrol to leave. It finally came at 1:00 in the afternoon, and we wrapped up, said our good-byes and finalized this year's 108 classes.