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Greetings all...

I find I have been remiss in my submission of notes from afloat. Please chalk it up to being very busy in the office and travelling vigorously up and down the southeastern seaboard.

I returned to Pride II after sailing with my wife aboard Geronimo in early March. The crew had already joined the ship and rigging up - the crossing of the yards and the bending on of sails - was well under way. Within five days we were underway to Ocean Marine Yacht Center in Portsmouth, VA for Pride II's annual haul out. The yard work went well and revealed no problems and Pride II was soon swimming again with a fresh coat of paint.

We returned to Baltimore in early April and Pride II's 2004 season was underway with Captain Miles at the helm. For myself, it was off to the office and the paper work necessary to keep the schooner moving forward. As a result of 9/11, many new regulations pertaining to security have been directed towards maritime endeavors - many of which went into effect this year. In order to be in compliance with these new requirements, both Jan and I had to go to security school and a tremendous amount of paper work had to be generated. This kept me fairly busy throughout the spring.

I was pleased to step aboard Pride II in Havre de Grace on May 20 to relieve Jan and to begin sailing Pride II - initially on missions out of Baltimore and around Chesapeake Bay. The crew had been thoroughly worked up by Jan and proved to be entirely competent at sailing the vessel as well as being enjoyable shipmates. Pride II is especially lucky this year in that both mates have previous experience aboard the ship. Both Chief Mate David Bradley and Second Mate PJ Meyer have been with us before and their experience has definitely contributed to making Pride II's crew an efficient and capable group.

Sailing from Havre de Grace and subsequent sails were an opportunity to begin thinking about Pride II in blue water operations. As of June 1, we would be transiting down to South Carolina by way of Cape Hatteras. The better we knew reefing, setting, and striking the better off we'd be. So, as well as practicing with the light air sails appropriate to Bay winds, we did reefing drills - probably amusing knowledgeable sailors with, for instance, a double reef in the mainsail in ten knots of breeze.

One of the highlights of our Spring was a visit to Annapolis to host Governor Ehrlich aboard for the signing of environmental legislation. This was done while secured to the Annapolis Citydock with the press and public looking on. The event concluded with the Lt. Governor firing a cannon by way of sealing the deal. It was a pleasure to see the Governor taking an interest in Pride II. Now if we can just get him out on the water...

On June 1 we put to sea, heading down the Bay bound for Charleston, SC. The sail in the Bay was first rate with west winds of 15 knots allowing us to set all plain sail and light air kites as well. The afternoon had some strong thunderstorms moving through so there was some abrupt shortening down as we proceeded south. We held onto the sailing breeze until we were 20 miles north of Hatteras when it came on the nose and the motor sailing began. This was generally uneventful though the wind did freshen to 30 knots off of Frying Pan Shoals at the Cape Fear River which required taking the jib and reefing the main sail.

We arrived in Charleston on June 5, berthing at the Charleston Maritime Center. This very hospitable group is in the process of building their own schooner, a replica of a pilot schooner from early in the 20th century. Our mission on this visit was to help promote the concept of that vessel through cruises with youth groups and possible donors and interested parties. On June 7, with Executive Director Linda Christenson aboard, we were pleased to host a evening cruise which included the Mayor of Charleston, Mr. Joe Rielly, as well as founders and Board members of the SC Maritime Heritage Foundation. Mayor Rielly was elected to his post in the mid 1970s. Talk about staying power! The sail was in clear weather with a southwest breeze and proved to be a wonderful event. Charlie Sneed, from the SC Maritime Foundation, took great care of us and Charleston is always a great port to visit.

Our travels continued on June 8 as we swung Pride II off for Jacksonville, Florida. The wind was light and out of the west which allowed us just enough of a slant to sail inside the Gulf Stream, that quick moving north-bound body of water. Meanwhile the great fishing effort was in full swing. South of Hatteras, we caught a small mahi-mahi and a tuna which just seemed to wet the crews appetite for seafood. En route to Jacksonville, we caught two big King Mackerel and another tuna. And we caught all these fish, I'll mention humbly, on an old cedar plug championed by yours truly against all sorts of bright "little bubblers" and "green squids" etc proposed and deployed by the crew.

On the June 9, having made good progress under sail and with the wind going very light and on the nose, we diverted from our course track and put into the St Marys River and anchored off of Cumberland Island for a quick look around and a swim call. Many of the crew and guest crew went ashore and viewed the ruins of the mansion at "Dungeness" and cavorted with the legions of armadillos which inhabit the island. At 2 AM the next morning, we got the hook up and motored the last 17 miles down to the mouth of the St Johns River for the tall ships rendezvous.

The purpose of going to Jacksonville was to participate in the American Sail Training Association's (ASTA) tallship event being held there. This year, ASTA is working with cities in the US and Canada to promote sail training events in cities and towns along the eastern seaboard. ASTA organizes events around the country in a three year cycle with the East Coast one year, the Great Lakes the next, and the West Coast after that. Pride II will participate in several of these events this year, starting with Jacksonville.

The event in Jacksonville was enjoyable, if hot. Pride II participated in a Parade of Sail and a "pirate battle" as well as hosting daysails, receptions, and open houses over the four day visit. If gun powder burned is any indication of how much fun Pride II had, then we had a great time; 8 pounds of powder expended. Probably the most challenging part of the experience was our docking situation with the tip of the British vessel Tenacious just about directly over top of Pride II's steering wheel. Tenacious was supposed to be docked with her stern towards our stern but when docking, their captain opted to come in the other way around. It underscored for me that as long as there is a strong current running, you can maneuver Pride II on or off a dock with precision and ease. Its when there is no current that a tight docking situation can give a ship handler fits.

Monday arrived and our new batch of guest crew with it and so we set out to race with the fleet of tallships from Jacksonville to Charleston, 149 miles distant. We departed the dock in late morning and motored the 20 some miles down the St Johns River to the sea where we set sail in early afternoon and began tacking about, knocking the scale off the crew after many days in port. The wind was ESE at about 15 knots at the start of the race and we had a great start, second over the line behind a surprisingly fast small schooner named Gran Nelly.

For a bonus as we crossed the line and gained speed, we hooked a 15 pound King Mackerel which turned into fish cakes for dinner the next day. At dusk, when we last saw the fleet, we were ahead and to weather of them all. The wind diminished throughout the night so that by dawn we had everything up and were working hard for 4 knots through the water. Imagine our surprise when we checked in with the communication boat and found that Gran Nelly reported in 14 miles ahead of us! We finished the race at 1 AM yesterday morning having averaged about 5 knots for the trip. We have apparently won our division (cruising class since half of our people are not 25 or younger) but the mystery of Gran Nelly remains.... Another mystery of the Bermuda Triangle.

Cheers

Captain John Beebe-Center