Harmon and Randall's Voyage…

Leg 3, Blog 3, June 18, 2025

We are already 500 miles out of Newfoundland and I find myself missing the down-to-earthyness of the island. The people were so warm and kind with a super relaxed country-like attitude, but yet still attached to commerce, nature – and you sure see a lot of tattoos. The accent is almost impossible to describe – a combination of Canada, Minnesota, and Ireland.

Friend Mark Bernstein reminded me of the Broadway musical “Come From Away” which is based on events in the Newfoundland town of Gander during the week following 9/11 (he was nearby). The song, “Screech in” perfectly captures so much of the Newfoundland experience….. https://youtu.be/qP4DjRRm02s?si=cxUiK1fqbt3FY7IW . I am sorry to say that I was never “screeched” which I believe might entail kissing a cod. I do love fish, but not that much.

As you can see above, we are really making progress. We are still in the cold water, just about out of ice berg territory pointing a little high, but the wind will soon change and we will veer more southerly and head to Horta which is the smallest island to the far left of the archipelago. 800 miles to go and warmer weather to come…

Above is Randall giving me a lesson in weather and routing which go together. We will try to stay out of the high pressure systems which are the round blue areas. High pressure = no wind. The two lines you see are alternate routes, the lower one might entail motoring as it gets closer to the “high”.

As we hoped, the warmer water is here. Up from the high 30’s to the low 60’s in just a few hours. We “hit” the Gulf Stream, the underwater warm current that heads to Europe (made famous in the movie Nemo) https://youtu.be/U6go9eFUIIU

A byproduct of the warmth and weather is having the wind pick up – this makes the boat reach incredible speeds for just a moment. On a normal day, we are lucky to average six knots. But before we could trim the sails back, we were hitting 12 knots while “surfing” down a wave. Pretty good for a boat that has a hull speed of about seven knots. In the picture above, I was able to catch the speed at 11.4 knots in the upper left column.

Ahhhhh…sunlight at last. I can finally leave my down jacket and down sleeping bag aside (last night I needed two sleeping bags to keep warm).

But as the waves pick up, we realize that we forgot to secure the boat for severe rocking. Above, Randall secures a drawer full of spare parts that luckily did not open and empty itself.

A few acknowledgements: Happy 25th Anniversary to Greg and Donna Mohr. Sorry I could not be there to celebrate with you. Happy Birthday to Beverly – hope you had a great one! To all my friends and family in Israel, please stay safe!