At last we depart Town Creek Marina at 1130 for Cape Lookout after two days of provisioning the ship. Chris demonstrated storm sail handling including hauling and lowering the main and mizzen in a strong breeze and reefing the main.  Anchored in a stiff breeze and a squall at 1400.  Contacted Herb Hilgenberg at Southbound II on the SSB at 12359 MHz for weather information at 1530.  He suggests that we wait to leave until a front passes over us overnight.  We are hit with 50 knot winds at 2100.at anchor while we dine below in peace.  Thanks, Herb!

Left Cape Lookout at 1045 after practicing additional safety procedures.  These included hoisting Chris onto the ship in the boson's chair after he surveyed the underwater chain plate and quick stopping the boat under sail and power in both a loop and figure eight configuration.  Weather much calmer after the blow from the prior night but still dank.  Three hours out and the expected sea sickness curse attacked several of the crew.  Sailed east per Herb's suggestion to avoid predicted bad weather over the weekend.  Assign crew 3-hour-on, 3 hour off nighttime and 3 hour on, 6-hour-off daytime watch schedule with Chris taking two 3 hour solo watches.  Chris and Jackie assigned to stand watch in tandem with new crew until they learn how to handle the radar, radio, and computer routing systems.  Passed by several large vessels including one Navy warship.  This is a busy route!

Hooks are set to catch some fresh fish as we sail away from the US mainland!  Chris decides to send position reports each day at 0600 when he begins his first solo watch so crew members are asked to key email messages and save them in the the Airmail SSB system for transmittal each morning.  Bill Bateman is hoisted up the Yankee jib at sunrise to retrieve the chaffed starboard jib sheet which we repair.  Routine is finally settling into the cruise as the new crew completes their first overnight watch.  TJ caught a 4 pound bonito which we grilled for dinner.  Sailing due east to avoid gale warnings north of 35 degrees.  The normal crossing routes are tossed as we face an unusual weather year.

Early morning thunderheads, possible storm winds dictate sail change before daybreak. Harnesses are donned as crew lowers mainsail and changes course to avoid storms to the northeast.  By 0600 fresh winds are steady 18-22 knots SE.  The main is raised and the iron sail is retired for the day. At noon we reef the main as winds gust to excess of 30.  After lunch crew members volunteer for list of daily chores.  TJ discovers domestic capabilities that no one could believe he possessed..

When the wind exceeds 30 knots at 0130, we douse the reefed main and continue on.  Dawn breaks to 12 foot seas on our starboard which we surf and 30-35 knot winds.  Very humid but the air temperature stays in the 70s for relative comfort.  Today we resort to easy meals and low boat maintenance as we expect to return to lighter air and seas Monday afternoon.  

Another night of heavy following seas and winds gusting to 35-40.  Sailing the wind off the starboard quarter with a reefed main at 2230 when a rogue wave washed under the pilot house curtains and drenched the pilot house before landing in the aft head.  Another nightly "drop the main" procedure in heavy sea conditions.  After mopping up and storing salt-soaked items in the shower, we plod on until daybreak.  By noon the seas calm down and we begin to wash and dry clothes and upholstery.  We continue to spot birds flying around SHIBUMI six hundred miles offshore. 

When Herb advises us to turn east to avoid bad weather in three days, we do so.  Sail all night without main due to heavy gusts of 40 knots coupled with heavy seas.  When morning dawns with better weather conditions, we popped the reefed main up after the co-captains have their morning coffee and continue on.  Saba and Nevis have finally found their sea legs and provide secondary entertainment and diversion to the night watches.  Saba has a bad habit of following Chris onto deck in bad seas.  He has already fallen twice, once too close for comfort as he would have flown overboard except he landed against our pilot house curtains.

SHIBUMI lost the wind overnight so we lower the sails at 0530 and started the engine.  Very humid but no rain to wash the coat of salt off our exterior.  Today becomes a day to recoup and clean up.  The crew handles their chores:  Lou rotates the eggs and tomatoes and cleans the forward head;  Emily does five loads of laundry;  Bill vacuums the cat fur from the carpet and pilot house; and TJ washes down the saloon and pilot house walls.  Bill and TJ exercise using bands and we all take showers.  Chris runs the watermaker and Emily runs the washer/dryer all day.  The weather clears and the sun shines down at a reasonable 82 degrees.  Two large gales blow ten degrees north of us.  It is a slower day and we use it to refit.  At 1600, a dolphin hits one of the fishing lures and King Neptune rewards us with a fresh seafood dinner. 

On the 0600-0900 watch, Chris fulfills his daily communication duties.  He creates a position report and a weather request email, signs onto a Winlink SSB frequency and uploads the ship and crew's outbound email messages.  After sending messages, the system automatically downloads messages since our last connection to Winlink.  This service allows us to stay in close contact with the rest of the world as we sit literally in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.  Later in the morning as Chris is outfitting the ship with every available sail, a large sailfish strikes the lure and we arouse Bill Bateman from sleep to manage the effort.  Bill reels him to the port side of the ship with much effort.  Then Bill, emotionally overcome with hurting the poor fishy, sets the sailfish free, and dries his eyes.  Another lesson to learn:  always land the fish upwind of the boat.  Our noon progress report indicates that we are half way to The Azores!  At 2000 Chris is baffled by the fact that the standalone generator will not start until Lou discovers that the stop switch is stuck in place.  Very humid, very salty.

Adequate winds return overnight.  Finally light rains rinse the encrusted salt-spray off SHIBUMI at daybreak.  Jackie is still searching for the downpour which will wash away the cat fur on the cabin tops but Chris refuses to alter course to chase the squalls.  Weather forecast for the weekend is still stormy so we plan to continue east through Monday.  At lunch we review our passage to date and answer questions about watch duties. Uneventful sail until 2300 when a frontal squall line passes over us and we drop the main.  Finally the downpour we need to rinse down the ship!

The full and precious moon lights up the night.  Daybreak brings lighter winds shifting to the NW which allows us to alter course in the right direction!  Bright, cool day under easy sailing conditions.  Herb has warned us of bigger weather patterns to come over the weekend so we complete our chores in anticipation of worse conditions.  When the wind dies in early afternoon, we start motoring using the engine generator to power the laundry and vacuum.  Mid-afternoon another large fish strikes the port fishing pole.  Thankfully the fish spits out our precious green machine lure as we do not have enough freezer space for a monster fish.  The crew agrees to release anything we cannot consume within two days and to practice quick stop maneuvers when we hear someone scream "fish".

Overnight Saba tests our patience by climbing on top of the pilot house onto the furled mainsail and sleeping in the folds of the sails on the boom ... in 20 knot winds and 10 foot seas while we are sloshing along.  He is, however, still on board when the sun rises.  Father's Day celebrations begin with a traditional pancake breakfast with Chris as diner cook.  Emily is the first in line for his culinary concoction with special ingredients:  bacon, whipped cream, and cinnamon sugar.  The rest of the morning is spent contemplating rest at sea.  We eat BBQ shrimp and polenta for lunch on the aft deck in following seas. At 1630 a pod of 20+ dolphins chase us off the starboard until we tire of watching them.  Wind and seas rise sharply for dinner and Herb continues to advise us to delay our run north to the Azores.  We have decided to track into Flores, the western most island of the archipelago.

Chris decides not to tempt fate as a system of low fronts approach us, so we drop the main and spend the night motor-sailing.  The morning brings us a beautiful day of relatively moderate wind and seas.  We raise the spinnaker at 1400 as we track over to an unknown and isolated radar contact which turns out to be another ketch under sail.  We  blow by her a mile to her port but she does not respond to two radio calls. After a lot of "talk", the boys engage in a  pushup contest -- where Bill blows away the competition.  Emily bakes focaccia .bread for our dinner.    Herb tells us to stay east of the frontal line approaching us from the west before we soar northeast.  We lose, thank goodness, a monster fish after Chris wrestles over an hour to land him at dusk.  Close up the pilot house curtains but Saba sneaks out to make his nightly rounds.  Overnight we spot a freighter at 2315 heading east as we head west.  Starting to see more traffic as we approach The Azores.

A new SHIBUMI standard:  we only fish with small lures;  much smaller than the green machine lures that attracted both large fish that wrapped themselves around the keel and disappeared.  No sense in struggling to land, ie bring on board, a fish too large to efficiently use.  At 1130 when raising the storm spinnaker, the line attached to the guy is left unattended and the sail wraps around the anchor before we can adjust our course.  We feed the spinnaker to King Neptune after we cut the halyards and sheets.  BYE BYE storm spinnaker -- she proved to be too much.

At 0630 a freighter passes within one mile of us.  Traffic is increasing as we approach Flores.  Our favorite 25 knot wind accompanied us overnight as we fly through the waves.    We take turns studying the three books aboard which describe the Azores.  Lou prepares bread for breakfast and dinner as we will arrive in Flores with all un-refrigerated perishable food consumed.  Our lunch of left-overs disappears as we patiently await landfall.  At 1600 we overtake and pass another sailboat bound for ports unknown as another freighter motors a mile off our starboard..

Since Herb has announced that he is off the air today, we decide to end the trip!  We approach the village of Lajes on the island of Flores at 1100, almost 14 days to the minute, minus the three time changes, that we sailed from Cape Lookout.  On our third attempt, the anchor holds in the rolling harbor as we are surrounded by fog, mist, and rain.  Chris takes the dinghy ashore to search for immigration and custom officials for clearance while the rest of the crew return SHIBUMI to ship-shape condition.   The first segment of the Trans-Atlantic crossing is complete.

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