Beck on Vacation and Deliveries Coming

Rebecca left on Thursday morning for a few days with her friend in Oklahoma.  It has been a few years  since she was able to get away by herself.  We are all missing her and can't wait for her to get home.

Jimmy and I leave on the first of 3 back to back deliveries on the 28th.  Our first one is on s/v "Changin Tags" we will be going with her owner Dick Shirley to Norfolk, VA.  I hope to have the Iridium sat phone up and sending emails so I can write a little blog every day letting you know what is happening on the 10 day offshore trip.  In the past we have had some pretty wild rides on "Changin Tags."  Last January we were in Gale Force winds for almost a week but she is a great boat (Island Packet 465) and Dick, Jimmy and I have been through some pretty rough stuff together so it is always a pleasure to sail on her.

We hope to arrive in Norfolk sometime around the 7th of May where we will grab a flight to Miami and try to get offshore on the 8th if possible.  S/V Marinette is an island Packet 445 that Jimmy and I have run up and down the coast a bunch of times.  She is a sweet ride and not afraid of the Gulf Stream.  Last year on the northbound trip we took her from Fort Lauderdale to New York in just seven days.  we hope to repeat that again this year so we can fly out of New York for St Thomas on the 16th of May.

Our next delivery will be leaving from St Thomas on the 17th or 18th of May and heading for Key West, Florida.  The boat is a Jeaneau 40 with no Auto Pilot and  a flat out down wind sail of 10 days... there was no way Jimmy and i could have hand steered that boat all the way to Florida but my friend Richard Cave (who owns the boat "Cave Dweller" which we just delivered to Trinidad) has agreed to come along for the sail.  That trip should be a great sail, downwind all the way, but as any sailor knows, steering a boat downwind requires vigilance and the reality is that most auto pilots can't handle the job as well as a human.

I will be blogging throughout these trips and using the little SPOT device so if you want to follow along and check out our progress over your coffee you can see what the life of a delivery skipper and crew is like offshore.  The SPOT word up under "Where Are We Now" will send you to a new page with the Google Map showing where we are at that time.  If you change it from Map to Satalite view you can even see what the depth of the water is where we are.  The spot point on there right now are the left over ones from our trip to Trinidad.  I will up date the blog and let you know what's up before we head out on the 28th.

God Bless,
Captain Tofer