Our departure was scheduled for 5:30 am Saturday June 5th from Yankee Point Marina, Myer Creek, Virginia.  We estimated a trip of 680 nautical miles to Saint George's Harbour, Bermuda.

John Bennett was sailing the outbound leg to Bermuda.  He flew home and Van Null came in on Saturday, June 12th to join us.

One interesting aspect of sailing to Bermuda is crossing the Gulf Stream and trying to pick a favorable place to cross ( if possible ).  We will be using this map, among others  to chart our course across the Stream.

Here are our planned courses down the Chesapeake Bay: BayCourse and to Bermuda: Bermuda Course.

June 4, 1999 3:00pm:  We have just received our custom Gulf Stream forecast and our 5 day weather forecast.  Just a little issue with headwinds for the Gulf Stream crossing, but at this point we are go for Saturday
departure. On the communications front - Good News!! We have arranged for temporary Internet access in Bermuda - so we will update this site on arrival - any e-mail should be sent to urbanj@erols.com for all of the crew and we'll pass it on.  Your other option to contact us is to post an item in the trip BBS located at http://netsecuritypro.com/bermuda/config.pl and we will post an answer there or just pick up your message.

Day 1 - June 5, 1999  Song of Joy departed Yankee Point Marina at 5:41 a.m. under clear skies and 56 degree temperatures. At 7:30 AM we hoisted sails and started a rapid trip down the Bay.  The winds were S-SE at 14 knots and we were making 6.4 knots.  By the time we crossed the Bay-Bridge Tunnel at 12:51 p.m. we had reefed both the main and headsail and were still making good progress.  A strong current at the mouth of the bay required some motorsailing but by 4 p.m. the wind was lighter and we were back under full sail. Seas were about 3 feet.  To prepare the boat for night sailing we put a second reef in and at 6 p.m., Virginia could no longer be seen. That night we lost the autopilot, probably due to using it in strong winds and seas and also the night lighting for the compass. 

Day 2 - June 6, 1999  At our midnight watch change we started to motor again, the wind having shifted to the East.  That morning we crossed the canyon wall of the Atlantic and our depthsounder could no longer see bottom.  As the morning progressed the water became bluer and dolphins played in our wakes.  Some of the dolphins were very small - about the size of a bluefish. The weather continued near perfect, with clear skies and 80-degree temperatures.  Mid-morning also saw us start to follow the course over the Gulf Stream what would avoid currents to slow us down and pick-up currents that are favorable toward Bermuda. We hit the good current "for real" at about 3:30 in the afternoon and picked up a push of over 2 knots resulting in speed over the ground of 8.2 knots. Motoring continued because the wind was still on our nose.

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