REALITY ATLANTIC CROSSING 2002
SUMMARY ATLANTIC CROSSING STATISTICS:
MAY 25th DEPARTED ST. MAARTEN, CARIBBEAN
JUNE 10th ARRIVED FAIAL, AZORES
Total miles: 2346
Sailed: 1887 miles
Motored: 459 miles
Days of travel: 15 days and 2 hours
Average speed: 6.48 knots
Best day was 181 miles
Worst day was 129 miles
INTER-ISLAND TOURING (FAIAL, TERCEIRA and SAO MIGUEL)
Total miles: 185
Sailed: 85
Motor: 100
Days of travel: 1 day and 3 hours
Average Speed: 6.85 knots
JULY 1st DEPARTED SAN MIGUEL, AZORES
JULY 6th ARRIVED LISBON, PORTUGAL
Total miles: 858
Sailed: 850
Motored: Only 8 (We love this!)
Hours of travel: 5 days (exactly)
Average speed: 7.1 knots
Highest speed: 10.2 knots (surfing!)
Best Day: 185 miles
Worst Day: 148 miles
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Trip Totals For the "Reality-tour Atlantic Crossing
2002"
Totals Miles: 3389
Sailed: 2830 (84%)
Motored: 567 (16%)
Hours of Travel: 21 days and 2 hours (509 hours)
Average speed: 6.66 knots
Best day: 185 miles or 7.7 knots
Worst day: 129 miles or 5.4 knots
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Pictures:
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THE BELOW JOURNAL UPDATES WERE EMAILED DAILY TO OUR
FAMILY AND FRIENDS TO KEEP THEM INFORMED DURING OUR
ATLANTIC CROSSING. WE HAVE COMPILED THESE DAILY EMAIL
JOURNALS TOGETHER FOR ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED IN
READING ABOUT WHAT IT IS LIKE SAILING ACROSSED ON
OCEAN FOR 20 DAYS. HAPPY READING…
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DAY 1 - SUNDAY, MAY 26, 2002
Depart Margot Bay - St. Martin at 10:00am Sunday, May
26
Hi Everyone,
The good ship "Reality" is underway bound for Horta,
Azores. We sailed out of St. Maarten on Sunday and
found ourselves in 25-30 knots of wind. The first
night we had rain squalls with winds of 15-25. It's
now Monday morning and we are having wonderful ESE
wind on our beam and sailing at very nice 7.8 to 8
knots. We are not planning on stopping in Bermuda, as
the Azores seem like more fun!! All weather reports
look good for the next 3-4 days. All the crew is
getting their sealegs except Vaughn who is doing fine.
Temperature is still HOT!
Current Lat 20.25N by 62.18W First days log 151 miles!
Until tomorrow...
DAY 2 - MONDAY, MAY 27, 2002
Hi Everyone
Day 2! Winds have been holding up good and strong 20
to 25 most the time. We have had a couple short
periods of calm, balances by a couple short periods of
35-knot squalls. Everyone is doing great. We just
about have our sea legs and are beginning to enjoy.
We are a Lat N 23.20 and Long W 61.42
Until tomorrow...
DAY 3 - TUESDAY, MAY 28, 2002
Hi Everyone
Seas today are 6 to 9 feet. The wind is blowing a
good 20+ knots true.
We are a Lat N 24.20 and Long W 61.29
Until tomorrow...
DAY 4 - WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2002
Hi Everyone
This is your Captain speaking.......right we all know
the captain is my better half!! Anyway we are all fine
and having a good time. Each day gets a little easier.
We are making 180+ miles per day, not bad for an old
sailing ship! The last day we have had a nice ocean
breeze, 15-18 knots. We did see our first dolphins and
we did see another larger freighter ship. Weather is
nice but I am noticing a change from the
tropics.....We are starting to use sheets at night! O
God what's next, blankets?
We are a Lat N 26.18 and Long W 60.28
Until tomorrow...
DAY 5 - THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2002
Hi Everyone
The ocean breezes are very gentle at 10-13 knots. The
last couple of days have been beautiful. The big
Azores High Pressure is drifting east allowing us to
head east and stay in the warmer latitudes. The good
ship "Reality" did have a few breakages' yesterday. We
broke a screw on our boomvang. The boom lifts a little
but no problem we will the replace the screw while the
seas are calm. We also chaffed through our roller
reefing line so the sail rolled out, at the most
inappropriate time, but no problem. The "Reality" team
took care of it quickly. We had a spare!
We are a Lat N 28.57 and Long W 57.22
Until tomorrow...
DAY 6 - FRIDAY, MAY 31, 2002
Hi Everyone
The ocean was beautiful with gentle breezes all day.
Our progress has slowed a little; today we covered 150
miles. During the windy days we were making 180 to
200 miles per day. Nobody minds the change of pace.
We have all enjoyed spending the day relaxing,
visiting and reading.
Today was calm enough that Sharon spent the morning
baking cinnamon buns, carrot cake and then pizza for
lunch. The guys are looking forward to having fresh
baked goodies to munch on during their shifts.
We are a Lat N 30.30 and Long W 55.12
Until tomorrow...
DAY 7 - SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 2002
Hi Everyone
We saw a little bit of everything today. At 6:00am
the day started with a huge rainsquall. Rod and Vaughn
hurried to get the sails down as a large waterspout
formed in the squall right behind us. A waterspout is
like a mini tornado swirling water up from the sea
into the clouds. The guys got the sails down just in
time to see the water spout pass 300 feet to our
stern. Then the rain came down in buckets for the
next hour. It rained on and off all morning.
By afternoon we were back to sunny skies and nice
winds. Sharon did it again...she caught a huge 5
foot, 25 lbs Dorado (Mahi Mahi). The fish leaped out
of the water a bunch of times during the fight in.
Sharon won the battle landing dinner for all! It's
the first fish caught on the trip....it's going to be
a hard record to beat!
We are a Lat N 31.47 and Long W 52.49
Until tomorrow...
DAY 8 - SUNDAY, JUNE 2, 2002
Hi Everyone
We reached the halfway point today! We have traveled
1200 miles from St. Maarten and have 1200 mile left to
go to reach the Azores! We had a little halfway
celebration party of nice fresh Mahi Mahi for dinner!
It's been windy today and we are making nice
progress. We are continuing due east as there is a
big low-pressure system to the north of us. Reality
and team are all doing great.
We are at Lat. 31.55 and Long. 50.22
Until tomorrow...
DAY 9 - MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2002
Hi Everyone
All is well on the good ship "Reality". Today we had
nice daytime winds of 15-20 knots. This evening we are
sailing nicely with 12-14 knots of breeze. We are all
very comfortable. Our weatherman has been doing a nice
job for us keeping us sailing for the last 9
days......no motoring. His new forecast says 15 knot
on Tuesday, 10-12 knots on Wednesday and less than 10
knots on Thursday and Friday. We hope he is a little
wrong and we won't have to motor. We need at least 10
knots to keep sailing. Well not to worry if we do have
to motor, we have enough diesel for about 800 miles!!
But we would much rather keep sail!!!
We are at Lat. 32.20 and Long. 47.29
Until tomorrow...
DAY 10 - TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2002
Hi Everyone
We are doing great. We had a gentle day and smooth
sailing. Lots of sunshine and fair winds!
We are at Lat. 34.30 and Long. 43.49
Until tomorrow...
DAY 11 - WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2002
Hi Everyone
Another beautiful day. Lovely breezes and gentle
seas and beautiful sunshine. We all had a relaxing
day. Lots of time to visit and read our books....very
enjoyable. Mother Ocean is being good to us. Only
660 miles to go to the Azores.
We are at Lat. 35.26 and Long. 41.43
Until tomorrow...
DAY 12 - THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2002
Hi Everyone
The ocean is like a mirror! We finally had to break
down and start the motor today; there wasn't a breath
of a breeze. The sound of the engine isn't near as
pleasant as the quiet gentle sailing we have had over
the last 11 days. We have plenty of diesel, if we had
to we could easily motor the rest of the way to the
Azores. We are all hoping for enough wind to sail
again.
We saw several pods of dolphin and several sea
turtles today. Sharon used the calm as another baking
day. The guys have fresh Cinnamon Buns and Oatmeal
Raisin cookie to munch on. Life is GOOD!
We are at Lat. 36.10 and Long. 39.59
Until tomorrow...
DAY 13 - FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2002
Hi Everyone
The ocean is still like a mirror! How can we be in
the middle of the North Atlantic and have this calm of
an ocean...... I guess it is this big Azure
high-pressure system! Our barometer is at 1027
mil-bars! The days are very nice with temp in the high
70's. Nights are cool but not cold. We are continuing
to see lots of turtles and dolphins. We are planning
on making land fall in the city of Horta on the island
of Faial on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning.... a
whopping 2344 miles from St. Maarten in the Caribbean.
After a couple weeks of playing we will set sail for
the last 900 miles to Lisbon, Portugal
We are currently at Lat. 37.00 and Long. 36.42
Until tomorrow...
DAY 14 - SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 2002
Hi Everyone
Water Water everywhere.....but where is the wind? Are
we in the Azores triangle???? Naw..... It's hot, there
is no wind and the seas are glassy flat and we are
motoring..... but we are again eating fresh Dorado
(Mahi, Mahi)..... Yes, Sharon caught another 18lb
Dorado. The weatherman says we "might" pick up a
sailing breeze on Sunday night or Monday. By the time
the breeze gets to us we will be safely tie up to the
dock in Horta drinking French Champagne! We had to do
a little work today, our diesel filters plugged so we
had to change filters. We are all doing fine,
relaxing and enjoying.
We are currently at Lat. 37.50 and Long. 34.27
Until tomorrow...
DAY 15 - SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2002
Hi Everyone
The ocean gods are being very nice to us. A nice
seabreeze started early this morning and we have been
sailing all day and all night. We should sail
ourselves right into Horta by noon on Monday. Today we
did a few boat projects and we saw lots and lots of
Dolphins. The dolphins were jumping all around us at
sunset. The days are nice but it definitely getting
cold at night. It is blanket weather. It looks like we
will have covered 2346 miles to the Azores. We were
able to sail 1887 miles and had to motor 459 miles.
The trip will have taken us 15 days and 2 hours. Our
average speed has been 6.48 knots. Our best day was
181 miles and our worst day was 129 miles...... Not
bad for the good ship "Reality"
It's mid-night on Sunday and we are currently 75
miles from Horta.
Our Lat. is 38.15 and Long. 30.23
(San Francisco is Lat 38!)
Until tomorrow...
ARRIVED IN HORTA, FAIAL ON MONDAY, JUNE 10, 2002 AT 12:00 NOON…EXACTLY 15 DAYS AND 2 HOURS SINCE WE SET SAIL FROM THE CARIBBEAN. ROD SIGHTED "LAND" FIRST!
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LEAVING AZORES OR AS THE LOCALS SAY ACORES FOR LISBON
PORTUGAL
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DAY 1 - MONDAY, JULY 1, 2002
Hi Everyone
After 3 great weeks enjoying the Azores islands we
are back on the sea heading toward Lisbon, Portugal.
We set sail this morning at 10:00am. It's been a nice
day sailing with 10 to 15 knot breezes and mild seas.
We were escorted away from the islands by several pods
of dolphin and few sea turtles. We are off to a good
start!
The Azores islands were very charming. The
highlights were the miles and miles of rock wall.
Quaint old towns all with rock buildings and red tile
roofs. Beautiful old churches. Wonderful friendly
people. Sharon's favorite...flowers everywhere!
Miles and miles of Hydrangea hedges bordered every
road. Old town squares full of flower
gardens...window boxes overflowing with geraniums or
petunias...flowers everywhere!
It's 4:00am Tuesday 7/2. We are at Lat 38.07 and Long
23.25
Until tomorrow...
DAY 2 - TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2002
Hi Everyone
It's been a nice day sailing with 10 to 15 knot
breezes and mild seas.
Couldn't ask for any nicer conditions. We are making
good progress; we covered 175 miles yesterday.
Everyone is doing great.
It's 4:00am Wednesday 7/3. We are at Lat 39.04 and
Long 20.24
Until tomorrow...
DAY 3 - WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2002
Hi Everyone
We must be off the coast of San Francisco because it
is cold, overcast and somewhat foggy??? The good news
is that the sail from the Acores so far has been
great. The first 2 days we cover 355 miles..... Nice
seas and a good breeze. Day 3 looks to be another 170+
miles! We hope to be in Lisbon on Saturdays enjoying
the last few cold Caribbean beers that we have on
board.
It's 6:00am Thursday 7/4. HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!
We are at Lat 39.59 and Long 17.08
Until tomorrow...
DAY 4 - THURSDAY, JULY 4, 2002
Hi Everyone
We had our half way party for the trip from the
Azores to mainland Portugal. For the party we dressed
in long pants (no long johns req'd yet) with thick
socks, shoes and colorful sweatshirts. For the meal we
had a nice bowl of CRUEL with frenchbread. The drink
of choice was a BIG jug of ice cold Atlantic
desalinated water...... O'life is grand.
The highlight of our party was the sun did come out
for about 30 minutes. This party was a little
different than our half way party for the Caribbean to
the Azores run.......by about 30 degrees
It's Thursday 7/4 at 11:00pm
We are at Lat 40.11 and Long 13.42 Only 219 miles to
go!!
Until tomorrow...
DAY 5 - FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2002
Hi Everyone
We are 85 miles from Lisbon. We had a great day
yesterday we covered 185 miles! It's our best day
yet! It beat our previous best day from Caribbean by
a couple miles. It's been cloudy and cool....but
great sailing!
It's Friday 7/5 at 10:30 pm
We are at Lat 39.31 and Long 10.56 We should be into
Lisbon, Portugal late tomorrow morning.
Until tomorrow...
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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!! WE ARRIVED IN PORTUGAL ON
SATURDAY, JULY 6, 2002 AT 11:00 AM…EXACTLY 5 DAYS
SINCE WE SET SAIL FROM THE ACORES. SHARON SIGHTED
"LAND" FIRST!
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Hi Everyone
We are safe and sound sitting in a very nice marina
in the town of Cascais. The sun is finally shinning
and the temp is very nice. Cascais is on the outshirts
of Lisbon; a 20-minute train ride away. Our final day
was a good one with the winds at about 20 knots and
behind the beam. It took us exactly 5 day to make the
trip from the Acores to Lisbon. The stats. were as
follows:
Total miles: 858
Hours of travel: 121
Average speed: 7.1 knots
Highest speed: 10.2 knots (surfing!)
Motor hours: 2 (This one we loved)
From the Reality team sitting on the West Coast of
Portugal, the continent of Europe....... It's
playtime!!!!
Love to All,
Reality Team