an infrequent repository of mostly new stuff
Fierce headwinds on the nose all day and night, with more and stronger expected the next day. Fun sailing, at nearly top speed, for hours on end. You cover a lot of ground quickly. Unfortunately, none of it gets you much closer to your destination. Progress is verrrry slow.
Beating into the wind for 24 hours. Stronger headwinds expected.
Fun, but slow progress. Too slow for many to reach the finish by the deadline, even under power. Will dock I Solomons, drive to Portsmouth, and return to ride the wind in the other direction.
postcard from the road
Rain and fog at start. Then sun.
Good wind.
Lightning show to the west.
First watch.
postcard from the road
5am, Baltimore Harbor
postcard from the road
postcard from the road
Wet sails, but big spirits.
postcard from the road
In addition to the live SPOT tracking page for Quintessence, which will show her position throughout the week, there is another tracking page dedicated to the race itself.
The Baltimore Marine Center has donated gear and tech to put tracking devices on all the schooners. This will show the relative positions of all the ships during the race, so you can see who is in the lead. You get to it here:
Baltimore Marine Centers > Home
You’ll see a Live Race Results link to access the page. They’ll ask for you email address, then you can open the tracking page.
You’ll also see an optional version that uses Google Earth. Funny thing is, when I open it now, 36 hours before the start, all the schooners are crowded into a tiny parking lot outside Colchester, Connecticut. I suppose that’s where the transponders are being programmed. They’ll be assigned to the schooner captains tomorrow.