Location: 9° 21N, 50° 54W
Thursday, 04.03.2008

The Schooner Maggie B was at 9° 21N, 50° 54W at noon on April 3rd. We were making 10 knots for Martinique. We have come 2061 NM from Salvador and have 655 NM to go to Martinique. We expect to arrive in Martinique the morning of April 6th. The skies remain a thin overcast with occasional small rain showers. The wind has been very steady from the Northeast at 15-20 knots.

We are very excited to have gone 242 NM since noon yesterday. Our best 24 hour run was 245 NM. Thomas did our best watch with 33 NM in three hours. In the last three days we have covered 675 NM, or averaging 225 NM per day. Schoonering along in the Trades!

The term “Schooner” has interesting origins. Oxford’s Companion to Ships and the Sea says that the origin is probably from the Scots word “scon” or “scoon,” meaning to skip across the water like a stone. When the first vessel of the type was launched in Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1713, a spectator said “there she scoons!” And the name stuck.

Schooners were always somewhat looked down on by square sailed ships crews, because the simpler sails were so efficient. When I worked on the Roald Amundsen, a 130 foot German sail training brig with two masts full of six square sails each, my Captain remarked that “schooner” was a Dutch word meaning “lazy man” because even a big schooner could be worked by “a man and a dog.” Hmmmm - some dog!

All is well.