Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Second Bermuda 2010 Training Cruise Departs

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed St Georges Harbor, Bermuda today June 8, 2010 at 12:00 PM after two preparation days. The crew members are: Captain Harry Privette (Maryland), First Mate Lee Tucker (Virginia), and student crew members Bob DeGroof (Maryland), Randy Bablitz (Ontario, Canada), Alan Sweatman (Maryland) and Richard Hoyle (Maine). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Norfol, Virginia via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 650 miles, and will take approximately 6 days, sailing both day and night. We will discuss the route, weather and actual progress here on our blog as it happens, so please join us! To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.

13 comments:

Rita Hanson said...

We received this message via Skymate on Tuesday June 8, 2010 at 7:06 AM from First Mate Lee Tucker aboard CELESTIAL:

"All is well. Departure preparations complete. Crew ready. Cold front. Winds from the SW 15-20 to N-NE 15 knots later today. Watching NC low. Planning departure for midday."

Rita Hanson said...

We received this message via Skymate on Wednesday, June 09, 2010 6:33 AM from First Mate Lee Tucker aboard CELESTIAL:

"Update...departed Bermuda 6-8-10 1235 in cold front with rain and winds from the SW at 20knots. Two crew with seasickness initially but better now. Currently 0630 on 6-9-10. Winds are from the NNE at less than 10 knots, Seas 5-6 ft. motorsailing heading 313 Magnetic @ 5.5kts."

Rita Hanson said...

Captain Tom Tursi sent the following weather update to CELESTIAL via Skymate on Wednesday, June 09, 2010 at 11:43 AM:

"Great Lake low to NJ today and 40N-65W Thursday; drag cold front. New low Ohio to Virginia on Sunday. Winds expected from the SW @ 15-25 knots tonight. Winds SW10-20 on Thursday, variable 5-10 on Friday, south 10-15 on Saturday, southwest 15-25 on Sunday. No tropical storm or hurricane activity. Gulf Stream flowing Northeast; no dips; no eddies."

Rita Hanson said...

Today's position is posted on the google map link in the main blog entry. I'll post a new position at least once a day, sometimes twice. Just keep clicking on the same link and it will bring you to the updated map. Zoom out using the control on the top left of the map to see more of the overall picture.

If anyone has trouble with the above link, e-mail me at office@mdschool.com and I will send the full address. I can't post the full address here because it's too long and gets truncated.

Rita Hanson said...

A word about the time stamp on the google map ...

Skymate reports CELESTIAL's position to us in Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated UTC. Other terms used to refer to UTC include "Greenwich mean time (GMT)", "Zulu time" and "world time."

Eastern Standard Time (EST) is 5 hours behind UTC. UTC is also on a 24 hour clock. So if the time stamp is 08:20:00 UTC then the EST is 03:20:00 or 3:20 AM. If the timestamp is 20:40:00 UTC, then the EST is 15:40:00 or 3:40 PM.

Anonymous said...

Hello Rita,

We have not received any news about the Celestial in the past 24 hrs, Is everything alright?
Look forward to hear from you.
Merci
Manon Bablitz

Rita Hanson said...

We received this communication via Skymate today at 9:40 AM:

"All systems and crew well. Winds from the southwest at 22 knots. Seas 6-8 FT Course over ground 313 degrees. Speed over ground 6 knots. Position at 0930 N34 23.6 W69 18.6"

Rita Hanson said...

Manon and all, All is well! Check out the google map... excellent progress being made! Captain Tursi sent the following weather update to the crew of CELESTIAL via Skymate today at 9:20 AM:

"New England Low moving east N of 40N. Another Low to 36N-72W on Friday. Will dissipate Sat. Expect winds from the SW 10-20 knots today. W-SW10-15 Fri-Sat. SW15-20 Sun. No Tropical storm or Hurricane activity. Gulf Stream S wall dip south SE of Cape Hatteras."

Anonymous said...

That's great.
Thanks Rita
Manon

Rita Hanson said...

Hello all followers! The google map is updated with this morning's position. Captain Tursi sent the following weather communication to CELESTIAL this morning at 9:40 AM EST:

"Cold front your area today. Weak Low over Maryland Saturday; will dissipate. Expect SW winds 10-15 knots today to Sat. SW15-20 Sun-Mon. Gulf Stream south wall east of Cape Hatteras dip south from 35N to 33N. No Tropical storm or Hurricane activity."

Rita Hanson said...

Captain Tom Tursi sent the following communication to the CELESTIAL crew today Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 9:57 AM EST:

"You appear to be past GS. Low today crossing PA moving NE. Expect SW10-15 tonight SW15-20 Sun-Mon"

Anonymous said...

Hello Rita,

I really enjoyed following the boat on the google map...
Do we have an estimated time of arrival at port for Celestial?
Randy has a flight booked to return to Ottawa, Sunday June 13 at 17:20 hrs. Do I need to change that?
Thanks,
Manon

Rita Hanson said...

Hello all,

Celestial arrived at Vinings Landing Marina in Norfolk at 2300 on Saturday June 12th. All is well with boat and crew. Thanks for following our progress! The next crew will be arriving on June 16th for our third of four Bermuda training cruises for 2010. See you back here once CELESTIAL departs Norfolk on June 19th. Captain Tom Tursi, First Mate Jerry Nigro and four student crew will be on board. Until then, fair winds.