Location: 28° 14N, 63° 35W
Monday, 04.28.2008

The Schooner Maggie B was at 28° 14N, 63° 35W at noon on April 28th. We were motoring north towards St. Georges at 7.5 knots in a 3-5 knot northerly. There are long swells from the north, courtesy of a gale off Newfoundland. The skies are clear and the barometer is rising. We have come 671 NM from Antigua and have 274 to go to Bermuda. We are on schedule to arrive the morning of Wednesday, 30 April.

We are still hoping to get some sailing in on this leg. There is a new low coming off of the continent which should give us a nice SW’erly starting perhaps noon tomorrow. We are slowing our speed a bit so as not to arrive earlier than dawn on the 30th. I know Town Cut into St. Georges Harbour, and I know not to try it at night.

Two more stories from Antigua. Two years ago there was a lovely big yacht at the 2006 Classic whose cockpit light was a Chambered Nautilus shell with an internal bulb. It was stunning. Maggie B has a lovely old-fashioned brass oil-fired lamp we use as a cockpit light. But when we were in Cape Town, one store specialized in ostrich eggs that had been cut and carved with designs. Many were terrible touristy things, but one was cut out with constellations and the Milky Way. I was unable to resist it. It got packed away and mostly forgotten. Arriving back in Antigua for the Classic, I got John Steele to wire it up and we now have an absolutely stunning cockpit light that both is lovely to look at directly, but also casts light shows of the galaxy around the cockpit like in a planetarium.

The second Antigua story is that when we went to fill up with diesel for this leg, we had formally checked out of Antigua, which normally allows you to buy fuel duty free. I enquired if Duty Free was available at the Cat Club and the lovely lady in charge said, “Yes, Dear, but you don’t want it.” I inquired why not, and she replied that it was more expensive that non-duty free. I asked why and she said, “The elections is coming up.” Not being able to argue with logic, I happily bought 199 gallons of non-Duty Free.

Two more sleeps to Bermuda!

All is well.