November 7, 2025

As I write this we are just over 590 nautical miles (nm) from our departure port of Hampton, VA. We’re making our way with several other Salty Dawgs to Antigua with another 930 nm to go! We average about 180 miles per 24 hour day (of course it varies widely based on the wind and weather) – and we should make it to Antigua by the end of next week.

While we are excited to be under way, we are also still recovering from (and reveling in) last weekends amazing wedding in Lake Oconee Georgia where Trevor and his new bride, Sarah were married last Saturday. Words cannot describe what an incredible weekend it was – the Mannelly’s certainly know how to put on one heck of a wedding! Kathy and Matt pulled out all the stops, including fireworks – and with a ton of hard work and organization it was flawless – the sun was shining and everyone was smiling. Sarah and Trevor said “I do” and then proceeded to share their joy and love with everyone to include some epic dance moves. I’ll put a few pictures here – it was perfect!

As you may know, Trevor and Sarah’s wedding date directly conflicted with the annual date that our Salty Dawgs depart Hampton for the Caribbean: November 1st. So while we were very busy and engaged with all the wedding festivities, we did keep one eye on the weather forecast. A few of our friends left on the 1st as scheduled, but lucky for us, a large number waited for a better weather window which called for a Tuesday Nov 4th departure – perfect for us- I think my Mom had a heavenly hand in that.

Billy, Karl and I arrived into to Norfolk Sunday evening – Scott had everything ready to go. We did a final fresh food provision in Hampton, completed our final off shore prep and had a great pizza dinner at Venture. Good pizza is something we really miss when we are in the islands.

We had planned to start out around 8 am Tuesday, but when we got up at 6:00 am many boats had already left the docks. We had total FOMO. So we quickly dropped the dock lines and headed out for Hampton Roads and the exit through the Chesapeake to the Atlantic.

Day 1 was pretty easy – not a lot of wind but we were able to do some motor sailing – the course was due south towards Cape Hatteras so we could enter the Gulf Stream (always tricky) with fair cross winds and then make the quick trip across and exit it in just 35 miles. Since it is November, it was cold! We all had our ski clothes on – winter hats, down jackets, mittens etc.

We made it down to our Gulf Stream entrance waypoint and turned with several other boats who were jockeying around the same “mark” as we are all following the exact same coordinates. The crossing was a bit bumpy but uneventful – the current was strong – about 4 knots running north – so we had to point the bow(s) further south and let it push us sideways to the eastern edge. We cleared the stream at around 7 am on Weds Nov 5th heading East Southeast.

While the first night was easy and uneventful, not so night #2! There was a cold front coming off of the east coast and we had hoped to get far enough south of it to be in the “milder” winds (less than 30 knots) – but that didn’t quite work out and we found ourselves (as did many of the Dawgs) in 30-35 knot winds with gusts to 38 knots. See the graphic below from the Predictwind app which shows the weather system and associated wind color coded: green and orange is mild and good – red is rough. We are the white dot.

As the evening proceeded the winds and seas built. It was a very bumpy and rough ride for about 24 hours. In the middle of the night our forecaster, Chris Parker, confirmed it was going to be worse (more wind) and longer than he had thought. The bit of good news was that there was a beautiful big full moon – so visibility was very good. The waves were so big and the winds so strong that we bounced around all night and the waves hitting the hull made it hard to sleep, so by morning everyone was pretty tired.

Throughout Thurs Nov 6th the winds and seas calmed, as we prepared for a wind shift late in the day we suddenly noticed our port main sheet was totally frayed and about to break! No doubt due to the previous nights rough weather – we had heard over the radio that several boats had sails, preventers and cables break. Our capable crew was able to quickly fix the line and jibe in order to take advantage of a freshening northerly wind and we cruised along at 8-9 knots on port tack for the rest of the day and into the evening. The night was calm and easy – good for resting up!

Today (Fri Nov 7) we are trying to stay in a relatively narrow band of wind strong enough for sailing as its predicted to get very light and or adverse (coming from the southeast which is the direction we need to go). Our goal is to get south as fast as we can and then turn east. That’s the opposite of what we have done in previous years where it was all about going east first – but this year the trade winds are mild (or not there). It certainly makes it interesting! And it’s calm and easy going – it’s much warmer now too. Now that we are east of the Gulf Stream and further south, the sea temp is 75F and air temp is 71 – very comfortable!

I will write some more while we are on passage if I can – but if not I will provide a full report when we arrive at Antigua!

Post Script: We have two new additions to the family !!

• On October 8th, our niece Casey and her husband Garrett had a baby girl, they named her Margot Jane. Everyone is doing well – even Shaka the big brother – who may be a little jealous, is crazy in love with his new little sister. We look forward to meeting her in the new year as they have promised to bring her to the Caribbean!
• Then just this week, our niece Tori and her husband Blake welcomed their baby boy, James Michael, into the world. No doubt twin sisters Millie and Charlotte are big helpers! Welcome Sweet Baby James!
• And Happy 1st Birthday (today) to our great-nephew Michael Snow