The Captain's Logs are below.

Read the Crew's Views from John, KC, and Caroline as they reflect on their experiences in Asia.

DATE:	WEDNESDAY, November 25, 1998
TIME:	0900 HOURS
POSITION:	Sailing By Bloody Point Light In Upper Chesapeake Bay
ENTERED BY:	Captain Jan Miles

Ahoy! After 353 days and more than 26,000 nautical miles voyaging out to East Asia via the Panama Canal, PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II entered Chesapeake Bay yesterday afternoon, homeward bound. The weather was clear and cool with a light wind out of the north. The crew was excited to "be home." We had a spontaneous party on deck, and the cloudless sunset was observed by all as PRIDE II motored along in a near calm Lower Bay. Soon it will be Thanksgiving Day. I think this crew, who have had such a good time with this second half of the Asia Campaign, are already in the thanksgiving mood. They are fine. The ship is fine. Soon there will be friends and family all around. Well being abounds. It is truly good to be back in home waters. Our transit from Jacksonville was as anticipated; a hurry-up motor-boat ride trying to beat out the weather. And yes, we did heave-to for a while when the headwind and sea got "up" a bit as we approached Frying Pan Shoal, which extends southwards from Cape Fear, near Wilmington, SC. That was last Sunday at midday. The crew took advantage of the comfort of PRIDE II sitting on the water like a seagull, rather than plunging into the seas like a breaching whale. They enjoyed a TV matinee all afternoon.

After 12 hours, the wind and sea had reduced and we got underway again. We pushed on toward Diamond Shoals, nearly 150 miles further east and just off Cape Hatteras, NC. Along the way, after four hours of motoring into the moderating head winds and seas, it was discovered that the starboard motor was making an ominous tapping noise, like two pieces of metal tapping away. Upon investigation, it was determined that a valve spring to one of the cylinder valves had broken, preventing the valve from closing during its up and down cycle. We had no way of repairing the broken spring, so although the engine did run, there was too great a risk of further damage if we continued to run it (i.e. the valve could possibly fall into the cylinder and the piston would hit it and cause the piston to shatter or it's rod to break). Fortunately the wind and sea had moderated further and we were able to continue with just the port engine.

By late Monday, the wind and sea were nearly calm and the dolphins were out playing with the crew over the bow.

By the time we got to Diamond Shoal at midnight on Monday, the wind had come southwest. We were able to set a nice port tack beam reach with the now favorable breeze. We turned off the port engine and sailed right along the Outer Banks - our first sail since rounding the west end of Cuba almost a thousand miles ago! But that breeze died out around breakfast time yesterday as we reached Virginia Beach. So we motored on into the home waters of the infamous and venerable Baltimore Clipper privateers.

During the sail along the Virginia coast, Mike Rogers, our engineer, made some modifications to the starboard engine that enables us to use it without fear of further damage. The modifications were: disabling all of the valves of the cylinder in question by removing their rockers; disconnecting the fuel injector line and diverting it back into the fuel tank; creating a special arrangement to help hold up the valve with the broken spring so it would not get struck by the piston. With these modifications, the engine will run on three of it's four cylinders. It runs very rough -- but it runs. We will not use it if we can get by without it. But at least it's there if we have a problem. Having twin engine and twin screws provides for some great flexibility when the occasion arises, although two engines require more maintenance.

After motoring with the port engine all night up the Bay against moderate north winds, we set all sail at first light this morning as we passed Sharp's Island, near the entrance to the Choptank River, when the wind came easterly and favorable. As I write, we have just passed under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis at 10 AM. Soon we will drop anchor in an out-of-the-way place so the crew can attend to details of preparing PRIDE II's homecoming on Friday noon, November 27, 1998. Our cook, Tina, goes about her mysterious ways preparing the crew's Thanksgiving Supper which we'll enjoy together on the eve of PRIDE II's homecoming. See you there?

Cheers,
Captain Miles

We are moored alongside the CSX Rail Freight Building here in Jacksonville. We're having an Open House for CSX staff on board at the moment. Soon we will have guests of the Maryland Port Administration (MPA) for an evening reception. Immediately after that, around 9 PM, we will get underway and slide through a bridge that must be opened especially high for our passage out towards sea. Once at sea (which I hope will be soon after midnight), we will move north as fast as we can in hopes of getting some distance toward home, before the forecasted northeast winds get too strong for PRIDE II to battle against. At that point, we will either head into a nearby port, or heave-to and wait out the blow. Either way, it will be a hard to estimate the delay to our progress home and the big welcome ceremony that I know is scheduled for next Friday, November 27. That celebration will be the conclusion of a voyage of some 25,000 nautical miles and a year away from home during this economic development, education, and goodwill tour of East Asia and the American West Coast.

Jacksonville was not originally on the list of stops for this Tour of the North Pacific Rim. Nor was Miami, from where we have just come. But stopping in Miami and Jacksonville were important opportunities for the MPA since PRIDE II was passing so close on her way home from the Pacific. So, with some squeezing of the itinerary, we are now at a point which could be the greatest challenge of this voyage - getting home ON TIME so folks there can celebrate the successful conclusion of this, the most extensive campaign in the vessel's ten year history.

Since I last wrote of our passage through the Panama Canal and our approach to the west end of Cuba, PRIDE II has mostly motored. The trade winds around Cuba were as per usual as PRIDE II motored sloppily into 20-25 knot breezes and 8-10 foot seas along the northwest coast of Cuba and then across the Straits of Florida to the Florida Keys and on up to Miami.

We got into Miami last Friday and the crew was able to get some key maintenance chores done, such as: leather some new hoops and replace some old hoops on the maintopmast; re-tune the mainmast lower shrouds using mechanical "come-alongs" to tighten the lanyards (the mariners knot called the blackwall hitch is used to connect the come-along hook to the lanyard); and get some time off before the MPA reception. At that party, the MPA was networking with passenger cruise line companies with hopes of getting them to visit Baltimore more frequently.

Last Tuesday, PRIDE II got underway again from Miami with calm winds. Aided by a strong Gulf Stream, we were able to motor at moderate speeds of 6.5 to 7.5 knots and with an extra push of 3-4 knots over the bottom from the speediest section of the Gulf Stream as it squeezes between the Bahamas and Florida. We had three days to make the 340 nautical miles to Jacksonville, but since we were achieving some 10-11 knots over the bottom, we made it in 48 hours. So the crew were able to enjoy some additional time off yesterday before today's nearly endless schedule of shifting from one pier to another through a bascule (lift) bridge, setting up for an afternoon Open House, and this evening's reception. This was followed by cleaning up after the reception, getting underway, slipping through the bridge again, and heading down the 25 nautical miles of the St. John's River (in the dark) while attending to preparations for a lumpy ride on the Atlantic Ocean.

Generally such a full day does not precede an evening departure to sea. When it does, we make special arrangements so the crew gets some time off before being on watch. Even so, after so many miles, so many special events, and so many countries visited over the last six months, one could reasonably expect the crew's attitude to be stretched to the limit. But this crew does not seem to be tired of each other nor bored with the work of taking care of PRIDE II and her mission.

As an example, Stephanie Reynolds happily woke up at 5 AM this morning to shepherd around a Jacksonville TV weather personality during his morning show that aired from the ship's main deck. While all of the crew can't wait to sail into Baltimore next Friday, they are not anxious to part company - something which is unavoidable whenever a voyage ends.
But this time, due to a huge maintenance period scheduled to occur this winter, many of this crew have opted to stay and work together through the winter on the ship which they love so much. They have been enjoying each other's company so well that there is talk about getting a place in Baltimore that will accommodate them all. Do any of you know of such a place - a crash pad for a dozen or so hard working sailors? No? Oh well. Whatever may come to pass about housing for the crew over the winter, it is unique to have a group of people who have already been together for half a year and who want to stay together for another several months.

The weather I am concerned about, for this last leg home, is forecast to come from a new high pressure system moving off the East Coast tonight. Because of the unique shape of this high pressure system, it may give us northeasterly winds of 20-25 knot in the area of the southeast coast around Charleston for 48 hours or so. My hope is that we can power north along the coast fast enough to pierce through this wind zone and get into the central region of the high where winds should be much less than 20-25 knots. Please wish us luck and a timely arrival in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, set for noon on Friday after Thanksgiving. Hope to see you there!

Cheers
Captain Miles

We are sailing without our foresail. It is down on deck being repaired. It tore yesterday under moderate conditions where a previous repair had been made when the sail was damaged in squally conditions during Tropical Storm Madeline last month. During our efforts to reset the re-repaired sail, it tore again at another repair. Down it came again. This time it was evident the repair was not faulty. Quite the contrary. The sail is exhibiting accelerated aging from the sun. Ultra-violet rays damage the synthetic material of our sails. Generally it takes at least years for this sort of damage to reach a critical point. Sadly, unlike our first foresail which lasted five years and before "sun-sickness" had affected it seriously, our current sail (made of heavier cloth than the first) has reached that condition earlier.

This means that any repair, even a good one, has a tendency to do damage wherever there is new sewing. Thus our challenge is to make repairs that require poking a needle into the sailcloth, but not create the beginning of a new tear. The crew is working on just that challenge. Have been since lunch yesterday, with a break during darkness last night. They are back at it again since just after sun-up today. It is my hope we can get the sail up again before dark today.

The conditions are experiencing are typical for trade wind areas. The wind is between 15 and 20 knots and blowing from the northeast to east. We are sailing toward the northwest now that we have passed the shoals of the northeast corner of Honduras. We are headed to the west end of Cuba where we will turn back to the northeast and run the last 400 miles or so to Miami. The trade winds were not blowing as we left the Panama Canal. In fact there was little to no wind when we took departure last Friday afternoon after dropping off our Canal Pilot and some guests from the Maryland Port Authority that made the transit with us. Sometimes the Caribbean gets quiet when the trades are affected by weather elsewhere. In this case, there was a sizable high pressure system coming across the United States with a strong cold front leading it. The front was having an affect as far south as the Caribbean. Thus the normal wind patterns were affected. Hence we motored all night after leaving Panama.

I rejoined the ship on the Pacific side of the Canal last Tuesday. I had been in Baltimore for two months while Dan Parrott sailed PRIDE II down the West Coast from Seattle. I found the ship moored at the remnants of the US Rodman Naval Base. Our ship's agent, Peter Stevens who has helped us each time PRIDE II has been in Panama since 1994, was able to negotiate the base formalities and secure dockage for the ship. Our office had not been able to arrange this as they had in previous stops - something to do with the soon-to-change status of the Canal when it reverts to the Panamanian government in 1999. I found PRIDE II in her usual good shape considering the distance sailed and the wear and tear of Tropical Storm Madeline. The crew was anxious for the mail. But I did not have it. It was part of a huge, 100 pound shipment sent down to Panama by the office. The shipment was delayed one day because of Customs and because it was the Panamanian Independence Day. Eventually the shipment arrived and Dan and I enjoyed the responses of the crew upon receiving their small dose of home, last witnessed when mail reached them in San Diego a month earlier. Within 48 hours of my boarding, Dan was winging his way home to his wife, and the crew and I were completing the last of the pre-departure chores for our run for home as well. This will be the last significant leg until we reach Baltimore after nearly a year of steady voyaging.

Transiting the Canal has a mystique to it. I have done it several times and am still interested in the details of the transit. This time we may have had the most entertaining Pilot, although all of the Canal Pilots I have met while sailing either PRIDE or PRIDE II through Panama have been interesting. Captain Robert S. Gray, Senior Pilot, is from Seattle, Washington. He has been a Canal Pilot for twenty years and by his stories has made his time in Panama interesting and rewarding. One of his stories was about a long term relationship he and his wife have developed with an indigenous Indian family.

Our guests for the transit of the Canal were five Taiwanese citizens working for the Panama branch of the Taiwanese shipping company, Evergreen. Evergreen ships make stops in at the Port of Baltimore. The guests were escorted aboard by Rick Schipacasse and Manny Ramos of the Maryland Port Authority for a unique opportunity to be aboard PRIDE II during her transit of the Canal.

On Canal transit day, Friday, November 6, the crew was up at 0500 and preparations for departure begun. The Pilot was aboard at 0530. Guests came aboard at 0600 and departure was made at 0630. We locked up behind a freighter that was small enough to let us share the lock.
To secure PRIDE II in the lock we use rope dock lines rather than the wires from the special lock locomotives that assist larger steel ships. There were line-handlers waiting on the lock walls as we made our way in. The line handlers toss us heaving lines which the crew tie to our dock lines. As the ship moves into the lock, the line handlers walk along while holding the heaving lines. When PRIDE II is in position in the lock, the line handlers heave up the dock lines and drop the end loops over the bollards on the lock wall. The crew then heave back on the dock lines and keep the boat in the middle of the lock.
Behind us the big lock doors silently close, pining us in like a caged animal. Soon the water level begins to move up.

According to Captain Gray, each time a lock fills, it use about as much water as the City of Seattle uses in a day. Imagine how much water is required to keep the Canal operational 24 hours a day! All that water comes from rain collected in lakes that feed the locks. During the 1997-98 El Niño phenomenon, the lakes did not get the amount of rain they normally do. With less rain, the lake level came down which reduced the maximum draft the Canal Commission could permit to pass through the Canal. I remember back in January on our way to Asia, the water level was significantly lower than normal. On this November day, the level was up where it usually is since normal rain falls returned with the passing of El Niño.

Our passage through the Canal was without incident. Our view of the jungle was pretty and there were lots of birds. Captain Gray hinted that we might see a crocodile, but we did not. Six hours after entering the Canal locks, we were exiting them on the Caribbean side. We maneuvered to drop off our guests by rubber boat and Captain Gray to a Pilot boat. Then we motored out to sea on our way toward home.

After a full night of motoring, Saturday, November 7, found us with hesitantly increasing winds from the east. We set more sail and alternately motorsailed and sailed north about 400 miles bound for a pass through some shoals off the northeast corner of Honduras. On Sunday, November 8, our course took us a little east of Roncador Bank and Serrana Bank, both claimed by Columbia. Then we turned a little northwest to pass just west of Rosalind Bank, which is just west of Serranilla Bank and east of the shoals off Honduras. These are waters Hurricane Mitch passed through not long ago, on it's way to becoming one of the biggest Atlantic Hurricanes in recorded history. Mitch caused so much misery in Central America along with probably the loss of the four masted passenger schooner FANTOME with a crew of 31. This morning, we are through the shoals and heading for Cuba. And just now I hear that repairs to the foresail are going along apace. Maybe we will see the sail up around lunch time.

As in most things, there is irony to our setback due to a damaged sail. It could not have happened at a better time. Since beginning to sail without motor assist on Saturday evening, we have had relatively favorable winds with enough strength to keep us moving despite the loss of nearly 25% of our usual sail power. We have also had a favorable current that has boosted us along as much as 2+knots. We get this current from the water flowing through the Caribbean from east to west. All this water then flows up through the Yucatan Channel formed by Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and the western end of Cuba. This is the origin of the greatest sea current in the world, the Gulf Stream. As our planet spins, there are forces (particularly Coriolis) that churn the oceans. From the South Atlantic comes the Southwest Equatorial Current which combines with the Northeast Equatorial Current coming down out of the North Atlantic. These two currents pass into the Caribbean and on into the Yucatan Channel bottleneck at the west end. Then up between Cuba, the Bahamas and Florida, thence north along the U.S. East Coast to Cape Hatteras where it turns northeast and joins the North Atlantic Gyre. This gyre and the remnants of the warm Gulf Stream flow around North Western Europe and keep it from a heavy freeze each winter. The Steam is especially kind to the islands of Ireland, Great Britain, and the west coast of Norway. As this northeast current across the North Atlantic becomes part of the North Atlantic Gyre, much of the water turns south along the boundaries of the Eastern North Atlantic and re-commences it's travels to the Caribbean. Some water, however, turns north and goes over the Pole to mix with Pacific water.

So here we are in our small sailing vessel with it's torn sail, now on deck being repaired, and we are still making nearly 8 knots on our way home. Life can truly be grand!

Cheers,
Captain Miles

DATE:	Tuesday, November 10, 1998
TIME:	1000 hours EST
POSITION:	20d 05m North X 83d 40m West
CONDITIONS:	325 M. WX: E'rly Force 5. Temp: 85. Humidity: 80 %.

The sail was successfully repaired yesterday and reset about 1500 hours. Since then we have been sliding along speedily with all sail set plus maintopsail and jibtopsail. Early this morning the wind increased slowly and we struck and stowed the maintopsail, tucked a single reef in the mainsail, struck and stowed the jibtopsail, and struck and stowed the foretopsail. We have not slowed down at all in the 25 knot breezes. But the rising sea of about 10 feet causes some heaving around. I lost my footing and barreled into the port side hanging locker door near the chart table and stove it in a bit. Our sometimes carpenter has just fixed it. Meanwhile the west end of Cuba is 127 nautical miles away. If we keep this speed up, we may pass by around midnight. Weather fax maps are now indicating another strong low moving east across the States dragging a cold front along in front of the following high pressure system now crossing California. This cold front is supposed to be half way down and across Florida by midnight Wednesday. By that time, we may be in the middle of the straits between Cuba and Florida. I can see a race developing between the cold front and it's harbinger of northerly winds and PRIDE II getting to Miami before any strong northerlies.

Cheers