Lee and Kurt arrived safely in Key West on Saturday night. I don’t know who was more relieved. Those boys made quite the passage and I’m very proud of them! I am also very, very glad I was nowhere near Pirat in those steep, wind-against-gulf stream seas. Yuck.
I thought it might be fun to take a look at the back-and-forth between Lee and me on the Delorme. This is what we wrote to each other (in addition to a daily conversation on the sat phone). Lee’s status updates that he posted to the map are in bold. Keep in mind we had a 160 character limit so grammar and spelling was not a priority. I didn’t edit anything.
April 20
Lee: Saw that your second flight was a little late. How did it go? Do olives need to be refrigerated? Going to bed now. Rachelrachelrachelrachelrac
Rachel: Yep. Just landed in SF. Olives do need to be refrigerated. Love you and miss you already : (
April 21
Lee: Hey baby I call you from sea tomorrow. I’m ridiculously tired right now.
April 22
(referring to a phone conversation about what he wanted me to send him from home)
Lee: The voice recorder if you can find it. That’s what it was. 5 kts of wind from north , we’re close hauled it is pretty nice.
Rachel: OK. Will have to get voice recorder tonight and send stuff tomorrow then. Still only found radar cable. That does sound nice! I’m at work now:( Love you!
Lee: Do you know where my toilet kit is? I’m tired.
Rachel: nope. take a little nap then. can’t find the voice recorder. where would it be? our toothbrush died. it won’t turn on : ( I don’t know how to reset your clock.
Lee: Found kit.Are text messages better?Clock with buttons on back, but difficult.Recorder maybe in basket by bed?Else maybe somewhere in flat plastic box
Rachel: Email better. Can’t find the recorder. might not get to mail package till tomorrow but will make sure it gets there in time. how are things? are you well fed?
April 23
Lee: Hot hot hot. Maybe check brown basket on desk with pens. I am eating food. It is not fun to prepare. Slow sailing. I want to go for a swim.
Rachel: hows it goin? has all the ice melted yet? wind still light? gotta be awfully tempting to pull into Cuba from there! you should post your status every morning: )
Lee: Plenty of ice where’s the coke? I don’t really have any charts for Cuba though. How many miles until it isn’t too hot?
Rachel: Coke in center of after cabin with canned wieners. believe it or not, it’s hot in sf right now too! going to mail package this afternoon. got enough to read?
Wed Apr 24 2013
11:29 AM
Now hot and windy instead of just hot. 24 mm contiguous zone around cuba? Anyone want to confirm this? I was planning on going in tight. Key West.
Rachel: my dad emailed saying he was worried about you going so close to cuba. wow you are awfully close. call again same time tonight. you are round the bend now!
Lee: Maybe also try to find the vhf base. Might be in the white drawers in the basement. Also that’s probably where the voice recorder is too. Trying Alice in wonder
Rachel: sorry i missed your call! was in garage looking for vhf base. cannot find it. conditions sound rough. hope ur right and won’t get windier. hang in there. love u
Rachel: oh honey, it must be bad if you say its bad. how was heaving to? too bad cuba is cuba. are chainplates leaking? how big are the waves? break out bpack food yet?
Rachel: honey, where are you going?? is everything okay? on lunch so you could call me.
Thu Apr 25 2013
6:20 AM
The sea is a harsh mistress. Plodding along with storm jib. Wind only 15-20 kts seas not too big but Pirat-killers none the less.
Lee: Yeah fine, just annoying. maybe search rtofs Atlantic and global and check the graphics and see if you can correlate. Lots of time we played some rummy.
1:07 PM
Hoping to catch the gulf stream. Right now 1-2 kts unfavorable current plus close hauled. Can someone check nowcoast and describe the current current?
Rachel: nowcoast is down. is the boat holding up ok? are you guys holding up ok? i cannot concentrate on work – watching the tracker instead! now I know how dad feels!
Rachel: looks like ur in an eddy. stream doesnt kick in till farther n. it angles down out of gulf so wont bring u north much, more e. and s. if you get it 2 far west
Rachel: Did you run out of batteries? things still going better on this tack? is my gym membership frozen for the rest of the month? did you find the backpacking food?
Fri Apr 26 2013
8:16 AM
Things looking better now.Still not sure if we’re in the stream yet.Feeling optimistic that we’re not going to be stuck in the gulf of mexico forever.
Sat Apr 27 2013
5:42 AM
Hove to, slept a few hours, then spent rest of night helming in short period crazy seas up to maybe 14 ft. Now going back for some more stream action.
Lee: Could you call conch harbor marina and let them know we are coming in late afternoon-evening and reply me the details? Boat is a mess. Stupid chain plates.
Rachel: they will be there till 6pm/call on ch16/be sure to call by 6 if you are coming in after that/they will tell you where to go/call me/i will be in salsa-lito
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