The Captain's Logs are below.

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We have been racing since 1653 hours yesterday, Sunday, July 16. Until just before dawn, we were surrounded by a dungeon (pea soup) fog with visibility of only 300 feet at times. The wind was light until early this morning - only 5 to 9 knots. Now it is up to 10 to 12 knots. The increased wind is a big help because it keeps Pride II from banging around and her sails from slating in the big seas that are out here. Starting a race in these conditions is different than starting with good visibility. The whole fleet marked their start time when they passed a bearing from a certain landmark, also known as a way point, identified on the chart by the Race Committee. We, unlike the rest of the fleet, used our GPS [Global Positioning System] to input the coordinates of the way point. Then instead of heading for the way point itself, we waited till the coordinates of the way point corresponded with the position of the start line as given by the Race Committee. We then noted our official start time and reported it to the Race Committee by radio. A little different, huh? Well, since this is a race of good seamanship and international goodwill (rather than for big ticket bragging rights sought so greedily by participants in the 'Round the World races or the America's Cup) we can make adjustments to the procedure like that.

Parade of Sail - Boston

Our departure from Boston began with a parade past the USS Constitution that had again been towed out of her berth and put on display for all to salute and be saluted by.

The weather started out clear enough, but at 1300 hours the fog swept in from sea. For those at the front of the parade, there was immediate concern for what the Race Committee would do. They could decide to delay the start, or even cancel the race if the weather was bad enough. Since the race was not scheduled to start till after 1700 hours, I directed Pride II to an anchorage off the town of Hull.

This gave me a chance to look at the charts more closely, listen to the weather, and review the race start and sailing rules. It also gave the crew more time to show the new cadets the ship and her rig.

Our six, new cadet/crewmembers are mostly from Maryland with one from North Carolina and one from Connecticut. In order of age, our youngest is Brandon Lee from Sykesville, MD at 15. Next is Freeman Jones III from Greensboro, NC at almost 18. Then comes Bridgett McGeady from Severna Park, MD at 20, and another 20 year old, Eric Hartge, of Easton. Karen McFarland of West Simsbury, CT is 21. Lastly we have Addison von Lunz of Towson, MD, who is 24. From our full time crew, we have four that qualify as cadets (under 26), based on age. Dayle Tognoni is 20, Ellen Ewankow is 23, Paul Gill is 24, and Brad Fluery is 25. This unusual concern about age is to insure that we meet the rules of the race. Under these rules set up by the sponsors (ISTA and ASTA), in order to qualify for the race 50% of the ship's company must be under 26 years old. "Ship's company" means everybody on board. With our six cadets all under 26, we qualify.

Start of the Boston-Halifx Race

We got underway again in time to motor out to the start. Halfway out, the Race Committee announced that there would be a change to the race start due to the dense fog. Earlier in the afternoon, the thick fog was only along the coast while the start was off shore and experiencing one-mile visibility. Now there was less than one-quarter mile visibility everywhere. So, we "got sail on" in a large and uncomfortable swell in the dense fog that made everything wet. We observed our start via GPS and radioed in our time. We then struggled with the vagaries of the wind and sea all night long.

It is much nicer now that the fog has lifted. We can see some of the racing fleet around us. Our Canadian friends aboard Highlander Sea are just to leeward of us and ahead a bit. Another of our Class B members, Arung Samudera, is also near us to windward. We can't see her, but we know she is there because the Race Committee calls all race participants every morning to get their positions and then announces those positions to the whole fleet by radio.

From this morning's announcement, we know that we are one of three in our class that are together and ahead of the rest of our class by some distance. Also around us are a number of the smaller Class C vessels. The only American vessel in the lead at this time is Brilliant. She is not far ahead, but is out of sight. She is led by several vessels, but none are so far ahead that it is no longer a race. There is still some 300 miles to go and the weather is predicted to change significantly some time later today and continue to change through Tuesday. It will be interesting to see what each of the participants is able to do with the changing weather.

At the moment, the wind is light out of the ENE and is predicted to veer to the SE and lighten again this afternoon. This evening it is predicted to go further to the S and begin to fill in. Sometime tonight it is supposed to freshen to as much as 15-20 knots out of the SW. When this happens, everyone is going to heave a sigh and be happy to go fast for while. Later still, overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning a cold front is due. This will bring NW breezes and a reach up the Nova Scotia south shore for those that are across the Gulf of Maine by the time it arrives. I hope the cold front arrives a little sooner than predicted. There is a time limit to this race set for 0100 EDT Thursday morning July 20. Most of Class B is going too slow now to make that deadline.

Cheers,
Captain Jan Miles