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Greetings. 

We have been underway from Las Palmas, Canary Islands for 24 hrs and have been experiencing a variety of winds, northwest to northeast with intensities of 6 knots to 30 knots.  PRIDE II and her crew are performing well and, as I write, we are standing southwest by west broad reaching on a starboard tack and averaging about 8 knots speed over the bottom.  We have 2,600 miles to go to reach San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the trade winds will tell the tale.  If they are to be found north of 20 North and fresh, then we should have a speedy passage.  If they are to the south of that latitude, then we must travel further off the direct course to pick them up - for find them we must.  PRIDE II does not carry enough fuel to motor even half that distance.

The crew aboard, who have worked so diligently these past 6 months to rebuild the rigging and repair the ship, are now faced with a new challenge - that of coming together as a sailing crew.  All the crew has plenty of experience, but about half of these souls have not sailed aboard PRIDE II before and she is a particular vessel in how she is worked and sailed.  This leads to more all-hands sail evolutions than usual and extensive debriefs after sail changes to bring the people along conceptually on how this Baltimore Clipper is operated.

Whereas some of the crew may be new to sailing PRIDE II, the mates are not.  David Bradley has returned for a third rotation as ships' First Mate and his knowledge and easy-going manner are the lubricants that make this ship sail smoothly.  The ship is also lucky to have Joe Lenguiza aboard again as Second Mate.  Joe is possibly the record holder for most time spent in yard maintenance for PRIDE II in recent years and provides a great sense of continuity to the workings of the ship.  Add to the mates Bosun Alan Morse and deckhand David Castle - the last two crew aboard to have served the ship continuously since March 1st, 2005 - and others who have served with us in years past, and I find we have the makings of an excellent crew.

So, the fishing lines are trailing astern, the wind is abaft the beam and the sky is clear. And it's WARMER. To all our friends in Saint-Nazaire, without whose support and unstinting generosity, the work of repairing PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II would never have been so successful, we extend our deepest thanks.  To our friends and families on the other side of the Atlantic, we are on our way home.

Cheers,
Captain Beebe-Center