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Hello readers of the Captains Logs! 

Please pardon this late entry which I offer as an attempt to finish the narrative of PRIDE II's voyage home across the Atlantic.

Unfortunately, the trade winds continued to be light and the bulk of the crossing involved motorsailing with the wonderfully efficient single-engine at low RPM mode.  This stretched the fuel far enough to get us to Puerto Rico and then again from Puerto Rico up to Chesapeake Bay.  With sails alone and 10 knots of wind abaft the beam, our speed over the bottom could dip below 4 knots.  With one engine turning at 1200 RPM and the sails drawing at all, our speed would be between 7 and 8 knots.  Not very romantic, but arrive on time we did.

We arrived in San Juan on Good Friday in sweltering heat and with the sun so hot the new pitch in the decks became quite soft and sticky.  Awnings were quickly rigged and by early afternoon the crew was turned down, except for the watch keeper, for the first time in 17 days.

Not that there was a lot to do ashore; on Good Friday San Juan really rolls up the sidewalks and all businesses stop operation.  I was very happy that I was able to make it to the Customs House and clear in before it closed for the day at noon.

The crew headed out in different directions, many going to the beach while others searched out phones and Internet cafes.  Happily for myself, my wife's vessel, GERONIMO, was only 60 miles away in St Thomas and she was able to fly over to San Juan for our first visit in several months.

On Saturday we slept in until 0900 and then began the list of chores, which had to be accomplished before resuming the voyage.  This included laundry, food shopping, and rigging overhaul.  By early afternoon, we had accomplished all our tasks with the exception of fuel and there was no possibility of getting that until after the holiday.  So the crew settled in to enjoy Easter on the waterfront in San Juan.  One item that helped us to enjoy it was that there were ice cream (helado) vending carts that traveled up and down the waterfront selling really tasty ice cream.  We soon became trained (like Pavlov's dogs) to rush up on deck as soon as we heard the vendor's bells.  Soon the vendors, recognizing a serious and concentrated market, began staying very close to the ship, almost never out of hailing range.

 On Monday after our Easter holiday, we took fuel from a fuel barge and put to sea in the early afternoon.  Again the hoped for trade winds, which on other trips have stayed with the ship up to 30 degrees North latitude, did not materialize.  So we reverted to motorsailing to make progress.  Other than a day and a half of squalls South of Cape Hatteras, that was the story all the way to Chesapeake Bay.

We crossed into the Bay on a sunny, still morning going as well as we could, trying to get into port ahead of a strong cold front that was approaching from the West.  Our arrival at Solomons Island took place 25 minutes before the front came through with attendant wind and rain. But there we were, back in the USA!

With our homecoming scheduled for Saturday, April 29, our arrival being on Tuesday night, April 25, we elected to stay "off the radar" in Solomons, MD and take care of some of the paperwork, which is part of operating an inspected vessel and which had been accumulating during the rebuild.

On Wednesday afternoon, off went our life rafts for inspection.   All our fire fighting equipment was scrutinized and the inspectors from the U.S. Coast Guard came down to go for a demonstration sail showing that the repair actually would work.  These officers are old friends and allowed that this was primarily a formality, as the trans-Atlantic crossing had demonstrated fairly well that the new rigging and spars did indeed work.

On Friday morning we set out on the last and shortest leg of the voyage, the 57 miles from Solomons to Baltimore. At twilight we ghosted under the Key Bridge and came to an anchor not far from where Francis Scott Key observed "bombs bursting in air."

The next morning dawned clear and a little crisp with 12-14 knots of North breeze blowing.  We up anchored and began setting sail and, with the wind being so favorable, tacked around the outer harbor until arriving off Fort McHenry in time for several rousing salute exchanges.  From there it was on to the Inner Harbor, more salutes and finally alongside at Pier 1, where we were met by many family and friends, including the Charpy family, who had flown in from St Nazaire to be part of the welcome home!

And so, with the voyage done, PRIDE II is again back in service promoting the State of Maryland.  In early June she will travel to the Great Lakes and the rhythm of her service will return and the memory of the long Winter of work in France will fade, to be recalled in stories from time to time or in remembering the fine people who helped us so much. More chapters in the lives of sailors.

Au revoir,
Captain John Beebe-Center