People have asked what the seas were like during our offshore experience. Here is a sketch that gives an idea of how it felt. We were unable to contact the other storm-tossed ships pictured here as they were from the 18th century and so were not equipped with VHF or SSB radio.


By June 24, after talking to our weather router, Chris Parker, on the SSB radio, and a long email exchange with him, we made the difficult decision to turn back to the East Coast. We were both tired, and, if we went forward, were facing another 7 days of beating into the wind just to get to Bermuda. Going south to Puerto Rico, as we had at first planned, was still out of the question, as a nasty low-pressure trough had developed north of the Bahamas with even worse weather down there. We just didn't think we could take another seven or more days and nights of beating into the wind, bruised and tired. So we headed westward on a close reach, under reduced sail.