KRUZENSHTURN has had to drop out of the race. That is a big surprise! She is an all metal boat…from stem to stern, from keel to truck. The wind was not especially strong last night either. But there was some lightning about. According to overheard radio conversations she is headed directly to port to organize lowering a topmast to her deck. Hmmm. I am quite curious to what has gone wrong.

PRIDE has had some wear and tear. Some lashings have broken, all minor and easy to fix.  The good fortune of discovery before the inevitable follow on problems is careful inspection before and after dark. The problems were turned up and the fix of them is going on as I write. Meanwhile the wind has dropped out nearly completely. Weather reports suggested it would, so no surprise. While the crew get more sail spread, I notice that several of the “under the weather” trainees are up and about giving a hand. A lumpy first night can be quite debilitating to the uninitiated.

Wind was SW’rly fresh at around 20 knots from start of the race to just about the fleet check-in time today. The sea is about 6-8 feet and now a bit disorganized, but it is beginning to show signs of reducing considering there is no wind to create the swell. Now the wind is NNW at about 6-8 knots…not much to sail with on a leftover lumpy ocean. Interestingly, sailing on a port tack to the NE is faster with the 6-8 knot wind than sailing on a STBD tack to the West. My guess is there is an ocean current holding us back from sailing to America…too bad we are not sailing to Europe.

You can follow the race on http://www.tallshipsraces.com/mapping/

Cheers,

Jan C. Miles, Captain aboard Pride of Baltimore II