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33.30.23 N

77.25.31 W

Ahoy everybody!

We left Charleston harbor at about 1000 and have been running the engine ever since.  It is now 1000 on Sunday.  There is nothing worse than being in a sailboat and having your engine running for 24 hours. I take that back, there are a lot of things that are worse. Either there hasn’t been enough wind, or the wind is in the wrong place for the course we want to take.  We could tack back and forth, but that would really slow us down.  So, we move along like a big stink pot chugging along with our diesel.

The weather has been fine.  Last night, we changed our course to avoid a thunderstorm.  Lots of lightening, not something we wanted to mess with.  In doing so, we successfully went through a 30 mile deep thunderstorm with about 2 miles on either side of the ship completely free and clear of the storm.  It was like Moses and the red sea.  And, 30 miles takes a long time when you are only moving at 6 knots and the storm is pretty much sitting still.  We had a good light show.

During the midnight to 0300 watch last night, Mary Ann had a flying fish jump right in the boat right onto her feet while she stood behind the wheel.  They weren’t even sure what it was until they reached down to pick it up.  She ended up grabbing it by both wings and chucking it over the side.  It was only about 8 inches long.

On the 0600 to 0900 watch, there were dolphins swimming with us on the bow.  I understand Mike got some pictures.  Haven’t seen them yet.

It has been a good 24 hours and we hope to get some wind, but the forecast is for wind tomorrow afternoon.  We expect, without anything unforeseen happening, to be in Yorktown by Tuesday some time.  I will keep you posted.

Love to all.

John