S/V L'ORIENT

Twas the night before Christmas And all through the boat while relatives froze there was nary a coat Our beach towels were hung from the mizzen so high another day's swim has passed us right by But don't worry cold kinfolk there's no need to fear while it's 3:00pm your time it's cocktail hour here Come conch fritters, shrimp and rum spiced cake with restaurants like this Kirstin never will bake So we bid you farewell and turn off our Skype Merry Christmas to all And to all a good night

What a difference a night can make. We each make decisions daily; often times without realizing their future profound impact. Yesterday, we chose badly. Fortunately, today we got it so right. Yesterday started with a decision to head northeast to an island called Anegada. After an hour of pounding against ferocious winds and big seas we remembered that there are cocktails on other islands as well and we looked for the closest anchorage as the weather closed in. DECISION POINT: We chose Cane Garden Bay, which looked as good as anything else on the chart. While most cruisers forgo mooring buoys in favor of anchoring, this bay was littered with buoys making anchoring very difficult. The concern when anchoring among buoys is that either your boat will swing and hit one or, more menacingly, you will collide with a boat that is on a buoy which has a different swing radius. DECISION POINT : We took a mooring ball - the problem with the bay is that it featured both an unpredictable ground s

Happy Monday Drinking Jost Van Dyke's famous "painkiller" rum drink at 1:00 PM on a Monday ? Who does this woman think she is.......what about her job ? Oh, yeah.......she doesn't have one. What about the flight home; don't want a hangover for that !!! Oh, that's right.......there is no flight home. She lives just over there on the boat. Kirstin and I are still pinching ourselves. We can't believe it. We are floating off the coast of Jost Van Dyke in the BVI in utter shock. We arrived very late Thursday to our boat. Two days of maintenance (filters, oil, laundry, provisions) and we set sail on Sunday in perfect winds from Tortola to JVD. It's really hard after years and years of looking at my cellphone every 10 minutes to get used to the fact that we don't have to do that anymore. Everything has slowed down. I'm planning on finding out who won the weekend's football encounters before Wednesday.  It's beyond good, and words can'

I froze. For the first time in my professional life, I didn't know what to say at a sales meeting. Let's back-track a bit.......I've been selling services to hospitals for about 20 years. I've visited more than 1,000 different hospitals; flown the equivalent of 25 times around the Earth; driven another 4 times around it in Hertz rental cars.........you get the picture. In sales, pre-meeting chatter is a social lubricant. It's a required skill of the job. In all modesty, I've always been good at this. "How 'bout them Cowboys", "Whoa......it's been raining a lot hasn't it ?", "Your uncle is a Serbian war criminal ? Mine too ! Maybe they've done a few massacres together !" And yet, here I was in Oakey Doakey, North Carolina absolutely tongue-tied. The question someone had just asked me was simple. Where's home ? I feel like I'm ethically bound to provide factual answers to questions......at least til the meetin

Sunset 600 miles from land During our visit home, we have been asked - what surprised you the most? Given that the sail was 1500 miles (24 hours a day for 9 days) there was definitely room for a lot of surprises. The first thought that came to mind was pretty simple - "Wow, it gets really dark out here". The dark I am talking about is a "walk into your closet and turn off the light" kind of dark - oh, and now take your closet 600 miles from the closest spit of land. Oh, and make it move at about 10-15 miles per hour. Overnight sailing was the key aspect of this sail that really intimidated me. Tom has a Kindle full of sailing disaster stories that he cheerily has shared with me over the years that generally involve a) sailboats being attacked by whales b) sailboats being hit by freighters or c) crazy people murdering people on sailboats (see Dead Calm - technically a movie but mentioned to me by so many people before this trip - thanks again). You can unders

Never thought I'd say it, but as Kirstin and I walked through O'Hare in our sailing shorts we felt very fortunate. While we had a relatively benign sail through the gulfstream and on to Tortola, some friends in the Caribbean 1500 were not as fortunate. Several boats were victims of mechanical failure, diversions, fuel issues, lack of water, and even crew scheduling conflicts - one is currently making its way through the Atlantic using an emergency tiller and with a fouled prop. More than a handful are still not in Tortola, 4 days after the official end of the race. A special shout-out to our new friends Mark and Eileen on SV Wavelength, a beautifully restored Cherubini 44. They diverted to Bermuda and hopefully aren't facing the 40-50 ft rollers reported by others in the vicinity. We're tracking their progress and wish we were still in Tortola to greet them when they arrive. We look forward to sailing with them this winter. Kirstin has figured out how to post videos t

OK, so we didn't exactly win. According to the so called "judges", we came in 7th out of 35. But do we live in a world where style counts for nothing ? What good is speed when you're not sitting in faux ostrich luxury ? Anyway, officially nine days and three hours after departing Hampton, L'ORIENT arrived safely in Tortola. Here is our Caribbean 1500 report: First of all, the positives. We saw two whales, had numerous dolphin encounters, and the crew caught three fish including a 44 inch dorado, which was totally yummy. We also learned a lot about weather and wind forecasts, which was definitely a blind spot for us prior to the trip. Sailing in high winds in pitch blackness at night was also thrilling. Also among the huge positives was our new friend Bob Poole. He was a much needed voice of reason and calm during the trip. A special thanks goes out to Herb........no not Herb Hilgenberg, the guru of offshore weather. Our Herb was better. Herb Hellwig was the si

  The crew of "big L" is surly, salty, and so ready to sail. Tired of standing around; fixing things that don't need fixing.........re-tying and re-securing that which is already secure. Watch starts at 8:00 AM. We're jumping the starting gun by 2 hours to avoid the traffic. Our goal ? To hit the gulf stream in 20 hours and begin "fishpocalypse". Our provisions are now five days old so we need something new and non-toxic. Nothing really more to say. It's time. Just a quote from my favorite movie comes to mind. "Das boot ist seeklar". (the boat is clear for sea). Remember to watch the progress at www.carib1500.com (look for the tracker).

Another day and another delay. Now the race has been pushed back to Thursday morning as the tropical depression "Sean" is basically stalled in the path of our trip to Tortola. A bored sailor is a dangerous thing so we decided to make the best of it and headed out for a day of sightseeing. One stop was Fort Story which is located right at the opening between the Chesapeake and the Atlantic. The Fort is an active Army base but we were able to get in and see the two lighthouses on the coast. We look forward to the day when we see the light from a boat - not a Subaru. This area is also notable because it was the first place that the English settlers stepped onshore in the 1600s - the settlers then proceeded on to Jamestown. We have been in Hampton for over a week now so even the Atlantic waterfowl museum (yes, there is one) looks interesting. Weather and the location of the closest liquor store now dominates all crew conversations! Please Sean - go away. I need my liver.

In an attempt to stay out of the deluxe accomodations shown at left, the race organizers have decided to delay until Wednesday morning as there is a significant tropical low off Florida that is working its way up the coast. Few of us dream of sailing in 35-40 knot winds headed the wrong direction and that is what currently is happening in the Atlantic. We are so disappointed as the weather here is nothing short of gorgeous and it would be a beautiful day to head out. The only ones ecstatic are those who are still working frantically on their boats - a truly astonishing phenomenon that we have commented on all week. We have seen heads replaced (ie. toilets), new engines installed, anchors welded and more money spent at West Marine than you could imagine. The local vendors are certainly happy as this gives them another two days of business. Bottom line: you don't mess with mother nature (or Murphy). Another night of crab dip and football - based on the picture, it could be worse.

Hard to believe that the moment has arrived! Tomorrow morning L'ORIENT heads out to the high seas - next stop Tortola, British Virgin Islands. So much time, effort and blood has been shed in the engine room to get to this point and we are eager to get underway. We have been joined by our great crew members - Bob and Pat - for the almost 1500 mile sail down to Tortola. Over 60 boats are taking part in the Caribbean 1500 this year - while we won't be able to update the blog from the ocean please follow our progress at: http://www.worldcruising.com/carib1500/viewer.aspx  - select the C1500 2011 tab and search for L'ORIENT to see where we are in the ocean. We have so enjoyed this week in Hampton - it was wonderful to have Kirstin's parents with us and their support (and car) made the week much easier. We estimate that it will take us between 8-10 days to reach Tortola - a highlight is sure to be the "Fishpocalypse" that Tom and Pat assure will take place with the

It's pre-regatta Friday in Hampton. The national media has descended and focused on LORIENT. Credentials are checked and a particular journalist is selected for an exclusive. Why all the buzz ? Kirstin is cooking. Alot. Kirstin made 7 meals for freezing and storage (consecutively), and this Caribbean 1500 reporter decided to chronicle the event. Sparks were flying as Kirstin made jambalaya, meatballs, chicken ole, and even shrimp creole................and looked so stylish in her heels and mid century apron. Kirstin's work with the American Society of Interior Designers prepared her well for the moment.............handling the press and shaping L'ORIENT's image for the media. We're pretty sure our lifestyle company will be launching in a few days, and can a line of fashion and logo-branded cookbooks be far behind ? I smell a Colbert appearance..........cha-ching !!!!!

It was definitely a treat to get to Hampton on Halloween! The trick was that we had to come in past aircraft carriers and through the winding Hampton channel to reach the slip at Hampton Public Piers. It was comical to listen to the VHF radio on our way in- especially around the tight confines of the channel, where warships and pleasure boats must pass each other at close range. "Sailboat, sailboat, sailboat.....this is Warship 79.....do you intend to cross my bow ?" Considering that the warship is generally 1000X larger, the frightened pleasure boater would generally back off after a snarky exchange.  Coming in we topped off the fuel tank to make sure we had enough diesel for the trip to BVI - our range right now on the boat is 900 miles under power. Hopefully the winds will be with us and we won't have to motor that much. Pictured above is L'ORIENT turning toward the fuel dock and our shore team (Kirstin's parents). Kirstin is still wearing 14 layers of clothes

Where were you during the nor'easter of 2011 ? We will always remember where we were. L'ORIENT was quite literally stuck in the mud. Our anchor was stuck fast in Smith Creek and we couldn't maneuver the boat to pull it out in the 40 knot winds and freezing rain. So we hunkered down for the whole day. Oh yeah, did I mention it was cold ? Like wind chill below 10 degrees cold. Despite wearing 5 shirts and 3 pants it wasn't completely unpleasant. We streamed movies (stolen wifi signal again) and drank chardonnay. We kept the boat above freezing by running the generator and heaters periodically. The next day, with the wind down to a manageable  15 knots we "manned up" and pulled the anchor out. We sailed further south to Mobjack Bay and then on to Hampton. Kirstin had the boat doing 8.3 knots in a brisk 20 knot winds and a beam reach. We arrived in Hampton dodging large warships and continually buzzed by fighter jets. A lot of military hardware here protecting

Sorry folks- our intention for our first big "underway" blog post was a picture from the Tiki Bar in Solomons. For those of you who are uninitiated, this bar combines cougars, bikers, and college kids with bro-hair into one big mosaic of why Parisians don't vacation in Maryland.  Then came the weather report. Snow. Are you kidding me ? We were enjoying northeasterly wind at about 10 knots so we made the executive decision to continue on to Tick Neck on the Smith Creek in the mouth of the Potomac. Problem was we sort of ran out of daylight. Anchoring became a GPS video game in pitch blackness. But now we're here, posting via a stolen internet signal (thanks Dave for the antenna idea). The ride down here was cold. Really cold. Kirstin and I have tons of shorts and tee shirts packed for the Caribbean but we've been wearing all our warm clothes today. The temp was 40 with wind chill below freezing. Anyway, we hope our anchor holds during the sh__storm we're expe

Friends, a funny thing happened on the way to the Bay Bridge. Our final test cruise was rudely interrupted by the appearance of the USS Alexandria (nuclear attack submarine) and an overzealous swarm of patrol boats. We were advised to clear the area, and armed with only a nerf football and fly swatter we chose to break off this unequal engagement. We also wonder whether our friends in the US Navy will be this accessible should we run into pirates off the coast of Venezuela.....our guess is that "Big Al" doesn't venture too far from the bars in Annapolis. We leave for Hampton in 4 days; the jumping off point for the Caribbean 1500.

Our only home now floats! We packed up the place in DC and moved our belongings into a storage locker in Annapolis (insert "Storage Wars" joke here). The past week has been consumed by beginning the provisioning of food and supplies for the next year - yes, you can buy 70 rolls of toilet paper in one package! Each can of Chunky Soup, Beefaroni, Dinty Moore stew (yuck) has had the paper label removed and the content written via Sharpie on the can - why, you might ask? One word - cockroaches. We don't have them and want to keep it that way - most sailors prohibit paper or cardboard as a way to keep away microscopic cockroach eggs from setting up home in the many recesses of a sailboat. We have a full meal plan developed for the 10+ days at sea on our way to the British Virgin Islands - a healthy mix of fresh and canned ingredients. It is unlikely that either of us will be the Emeril of the high seas anytime soon. One wildcard in our food plans........we've purchased fis

Our good friends Dave and Trish (pictured here with Kirstin) have left F-Dock forever. Their wonderful boat, SV Equinox, is already south of Solomons and heading for the intercoastal waterway, bound for Florida. We had lots of laughs and spent hours and hours serving as each other's boat therapist. We hope to see them soon in the BVI where we can pick up where we left off at the Yacht Club party. We'll have a toast tonight to two of the nicest people we've ever met.

Only a few weeks to go now. Trying to put everything on the boat we will need in the coming year. Engine parts, fuses, belts, filters, oil, coolant, etc. Our trip to the pharmacy was daunting.....ordering every prescription drug necessary for most eventualities- infection, nausea, wound care, even stress. With new sails, new electronics, and our other systems rebuilt or replaced, we have alot of confidence in our boat. Our array of safety equipment is amazing- weather fax, man overboard systems, satellite phone, high tech liferaft, and a myriad of other gear designed to keep us safe hundreds of miles from shore. We've made room for the 90 meals we must store under the floors in the saloon for our crew....and for the 50 bottles of wine we plan to bring. Anyway, more to come. On October 15, we move onto the boat and are officially homeless. We move the boat to Hampton, Virgina- the bottom of the Chesapeake- on Oct 28th. Finally, on November 7th we head southeast for Tortola