Location: 31° 32 4 N, 61° 32 1 W
Monday 12:00, 04.10.2006

Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on 10 April was 31° 32.4 N, 61° 32.1 W . We are about 170 miles SE of Bermuda but still 870 to Antigua. We are still chasing the Easterlies and hope to be in them by nightfall. Currently the winds are 200 degrees at 10-12 (true, not influenced by boat speed and direction). We are still making 6.5 knots SE.

Last night we put in a second reef in the main and kept the fore furled as the winds rose to about 25 knots true. We were relatively comfortable doing 7.5 to 8.5 close hauled. During the night we had Arcturus to guide us to starboard and Deneb in the Swan and Vega in Lyra to port.

At 9 AM, with the breeze lightening, we shook out the second reef of the main and set the fore with one reef. We replaced the Bermuda courtesy flag with a “BC” hoist, which is flag speak for “Full Speed Ahead.” Two fishing poles are in action with a Nova Scotia “Ballyhoo” on one side and a Bermuda “Insane Squid” on the other.

The centerboard had been making big clunking noises from time to time. We tried to raise it to see if we could stop the noise, and it is jammed down. We nominated Paul, as a representative of Covey Island, to check it out (at 7 knots), but he declined. I guess that we’ll get hauled in Antigua, though we’ll try it again when we get on the other tack.

All is well.