Position: 20 nautical miles east of Point Lookout Lighthouse

34°39.7 N x 076°07.25 W

 

Pride has been sailing downwind at speeds between 7-8 knots since just before dawn when the new NW-N-NE winds filled in at 20 knots with 25+ knot gusts. The sail combination is foresail and fore-staysail and reefed square-topsail.

 

The plan for the offshore passage around Cape Hatteras toward Thunderbolt, Georgia, was to reach Diamond Shoals after the 20 knot S-SW wind period of Sunday and Monday had changed to the forecast 20-25+ NW-N-NE to begin this morning. So, with care to controlling speed after departing Norfolk on Monday morning, Pride was somewhat north of Diamond Shoals, near the Virginia/North Carolina border, when the new wind arrived from the NNW before dawn. At first, Pride was on a starboard reach. But was gybed to a port reach as the new wind shifted quickly to the north. At 0930 Pride was gybed to a starboard reach again for rounding Diamond Shoals.

 

As this day has progressed, the forecast has proven correct with the wind having veered toward the northeast. This has required changing direction of sailing more to the right. Or from the southwest toward the west. Soon Pride will be gybed to the port reach and steered toward the south to clear the shoals of Cape Lookout. Once clear, another gybe and steer westerly again.

 

The size of seas is around 8 feet. Intermittently causing some decent rolling.

 

Signed,

Jan C. Miles, Senior Captain

Photo courtesy of Will Lankford, 2016.