Lucky to be at O'Hare on November 23rd ?

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 to our You Tube channel: www.youtube.com/user/SVLORIENT and we now have a video section on the blog (see the right margin). Have a look at our short snippets from the trip - more to come!