Northbound '07 from Punta Gorda, Florida
to Stamford, CT via Bermuda
"Have you looked at the weather this morning?" This was
my partner, Ludwig Hoogstoel who was my land support for
this passage. The previous morning we had left Boot Key
Harbor and Burdines Marina, a favorite stopping point for
ETAPCharterLease's bi-annual migration up and down the East
Coast and were off Miami heading North. Our next waypoint
was about 75 miles due North at which point we would head
Northeast towards our destination, Bermuda, leaving The
Bahamas to Starboard. "I'm just finishing my coffee,
haven't been online yet." We do a daily download of weather
and email via the Iridium satphone on Just Us and I was
just about to start that chore when Ludwig called. "Well,
there is an interesting Lo developing Northeast of you,
take a look and call me back". We had had fine sailing
weather and favorable winds ever since we'd left Burnt
Store Marine 2 days before and were anticipating more of
the same for the next 5 days. What I saw on the NOAA
weather charts I snagged during that morning's download
started a well-rehearsed chain of events that eventually
saw us at Cape Marina in Cape Canavaral the next day. We
sat out the weather there for the next 3 days. Being in
constant communication with shore-based support and the
ability to get real-time weather is something that we
regard as essential at ETAPCharterLease. The lo eventually
developed in into the first tropical storm of the season
(well, in this case, sub-tropical) and we were able to
depart The Cape on the tail end of the storm and really got
a good jump, averaging 140 miles per day for the next 96
hours or so. 7 days and 1 more system later, we were
sailing up the East Coast of Bermuda.
Marathon to Cape
Canavaral
It all started with the arrival of my first crew, Tim
Sheehan, from Boston. He got into Florida 3 days before our
planned departure, followed the next day by Greg Davydov,
from Connecticut, and later (very much later...) that nite
by Lars Oodegaard, all the way from Oslo Norway. I had met
none of these guys before their arrival, nor did they know
each other. By the end of the trip, we were the best of
friends and and a team working together.