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We have been sailing along at around 10 knots for most of the day.  The sea swell is reducing and thus making for a much more comfortable ride.  We are beginning to dry out and air out below.  Down below feels like a Sunday afternoon with the whole family plus the extended family hanging around doing things with food and hobbies.  It is the cook's day off and one of the deckhands has the good fortune of being taken off watch and being cook for a day (if you call that good fortune).  David has been doing a great job with the aid of Bonita.  Already breakfast was a huge spread of pancakes and sausage.  Lunch was pizza.  I await supper with anticipation.

If our weather holds, we may be able to get into Falmouth earlier than I originally thought.  Any gain in time will be most beneficial for ensuring our effort to arrive Copenhagen in time for their maritime festival.  There remains some 900 miles to go after Falmouth.  Meanwhile we have 1,000 miles to go to Falmouth.  A lot can happen between here and there.  But I feel we have a pretty good chance for sailing most of the way.  That will reduce fuel costs in Falmouth -  always a good thing considering fuel taxes in Europe are considerably higher than in the U.S.

I have been reflecting on our trip across so far, stimulated by the promising outlook of the rest of the crossing.  The first realization is that the low that threatened us into Lunenburg and caused us to exhaust most all of our safety margin in one fell swoop is the same low that gave us an uncomfortable strong gale that pushed us eastwards at 9 knots or better.  It was the same low that we are trailing now with such favorable conditions and making this a two-week crossing- the shortest crossing in this ship's experience.  All the other crossings  have taken about 17-18 days whether we were racing, as in 2000, or just plain getting PRIDE II to Europe for the season, in which case motoring was part of the experience.  When we departed Lunenburg, I could never have counted on a two-week crossing.  But I sure wanted one!  The historical numbers of PRIDE II's past ocean sailings suggested it could be possible.  But the weather outlook from Lunenburg did not give me any feeling of hope.  So, the low that was our enemy has turned out to be our friend. Who'd of thunk it?

The down side to all this fortunate turn of events (at least so far) is the disappointment I am sure is felt by our friends in Baltimore, Ireland.  We aren't going there, despite our earlier plans.  The folks in Baltimore, Ireland, have welcomed the original PRIDE OF BALTIMORE and then PRIDE II with the most open of arms every time we have visited.  They have literally adopted Maryland's PRIDE as their own.  This year seemed perfect for visiting again because it would be 20 years nearly to the exact day since the first visit when so many permanent friendships were forged.  For me the disappointment is also acute as I was the captain for the first visit and I have loved sailing back to Baltimore, Ireland, ever since.  Having to pass by this time because we have significant fiscal opportunities/obligations that we will loose out on entirely if we arrive tardy may be the sensible thing to do, but it is not the happiest thing I have done.  And this year's itinerary does not lend itself to paying a courtesy call later in the year.  Could this be the one time PRIDE II sails to Europe and does not stop at her home away from home?  T'will be a sad thing indeed!

Even with bypassing Baltimore, Ireland, we have our work cut out for us.  We will need to make at least 130 miles a day if we depart Falmouth on May 25.  That rate is normally our open ocean, long distance (over 1,000 miles) rate.  In contrast, our in-shore, shorter distance rate is 110 miles a day.  So we will need to avoid another threatening, contrary weather system to make this all work. 

Anyone got a way to prevent contrary and threatening weather systems?

Cheers,
Captain Miles