Transatlantic: Portugal-Madeira-St Thomas, November 2014

On November 8th, MONTAUK LIGHT, a Skye 51, will depart Portugal for a 3200 mile transatlantic ocean passage from Portugal to St Thomas, USVI with an intermediate planned stop in Madeira.  The crew of five are associated with the Maryland School of Sailing and Seamanship, having been prior students, instructors and/or ocean mates.  The crew members are: Jerry Nigro (S/V MONTAUK LIGHT owner/skipper, Maryland School graduate and ocean mate), Mike McGovern (Maryland School graduate and ocean mate), Jochen Hoffmann (Maryland School graduate, instructor and licensed ocean captain),  Lee Tucker (medical doctor, Maryland School graduate, instructor, ocean mate and licensed near coastal captain) and Tom Tursi (Maryland School founder, instructor and licensed ocean captain).

S/V MONTAUK LIGHT will make the 500 mile passage from Portugal to Madeira, and then will depart for St Thomas after a few days.  The crew will then proceed on a SSW course in order to get further south and into the trade winds, then curve westerly to head for St Thomas.  They expect to make 150 NM per day. The picture above shows the planned route and the prevailing winds.  If the weather follows the predicted pattern, S/V MONTAUK LIGHT should be sailing off the wind the entire trip.  The prevailing wind and water currents in the Atlantic rotate clockwise, and the rhumb-line for this cruise is in the SE corner of that quadrant.  The prevailing winds could be interrupted by storms or weather systems, and we will be following that closely.

Bradley Mabe, a professional meteorologist and Maryland School graduate, will be providing weather forecasts to the crew for the duration of the trip.  Communications between Bradley, the crew and the school will be via e-mail over single side band. 

We will discuss the route, weather and actual progress here on our blog as it happens, so please join us! To follow the discussion, add comments or ask questions, see the comments to this blog post. To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.

Bermuda to Norfolk Ocean Training Cruise, June 6-13, 2014

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed St Georges Harbor, Bermuda on June 8, 2014 at 11:45 AM EDT after two preparation days. The crew members are: Captain Tom Tursi (Pennsylvania), First Mate George "Nordie" Norwood (Florida), and student crew members Bob Louton (Pennsylvania), Wayne Rigby (Delaware), Greg Sachs (New York) and Jerry Murphy (Virginia). They are picture here in Bermuda during their "departure Dinner".  CELESTIAL will make the passage to Norfolk, 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 the discussion, see the comments to this blog post. To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.

Norfolk to Bermuda Training Cruise, May 26-June 2, 2014

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 will depart Vinings Landing Marina on Wednesday May 28, 2014 after two preparation days. The crew members are: Captain Tom Tursi (Pennsylvania), First Mate George "Nordie" Norwood  (Florida), and student crew members Les Holden (North Carolina), Jake Jacobson (Virginia), Larry Elliott (Pennsylvania) and Jack McDonald (Maryland). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Bermuda 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 the discussion, see the comments to this blog post. To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.