This was the title of an email we received today from a proud mom:
My son Brett and his wife Naomi are going around the world in their Hunter 460.
I'm Brett's mom, and I do the daily posting on their web site. http://www.fearlessmdr.com/
They have just left the Society Islands French Polynesia and are headed to Suwarrow.
Brett just loves his Hunter Sailboat.
At any rate, they are now in pretty bad weather and his postings just rave about his boat and how she is taking it on. Another boat has knocked down, and another has a cracked mast, but his Hunter is performing great.....so far.
I thought you might want to see his last two postings;
7/18 /2008
The wind and waves have continued to build for the last 30 hours. Last night we had steady 30 knot winds with gusts in the 40's. The waves are huge and chase us down one after the other. They come up from behind and push the boat into a spin. We've had two of them break into the cockpit but for the most part Fearless floats over them. Thank God we are a light boat as many of the other boats are taking waves into the cockpit constantly. This is the worst weather we have seen to date. Fearless is doing great and just keeps on shedding the water and swinging back on course. The weather is very exhausting and really all the person on watch can do is sit there and watch. From down below it doesn't seem that bad. When I got up this morning to relieve Naomi and start my watch, I thought the winds had died down a bit and maybe the swell also. But when I poked my head out the hatch I could see instantly just the opposite was true. It is amazing how comfortable it is inside and how scary it is outside. We have many boats around us and we're all talking on the VHF, trying to keep in close contact. The talk goes on constantly, day and night as every boat has someone sitting in the cockpit at all times. It is possible we will get to Suwarrow in the next 40 hours and not be able to get into the pass due to the weather. This is not good news. One boat has already given up and changed course to Pago Pago which is part of American Samoa. We may have to do the same, but we are going to at least attempt a stop at Suwarrow as changing course to Pago Pago would means another 500 sea miles and possibly four more days of this bad weather. They are saying the weather should start to subside sometime tonight but it will take two days before the swells lay down. Right now we are running on a triple reefed main and nothing else. Our speed rockets to 8 knots as we ride down the swells and then stalls to 5 knots once it passes. The biggest of the swells push a wind in front of them so you can "feel" them coming before you can see them. This is experience we need so I am grateful we have had a chance to work in bad weather, but would not want it to be any worse then this for our level of experience right now. The trip to New Zealand is sure to be rougher still, so its good to take it up only one notch at a time.
7/19/2008
Another day at sea and Fearless is holding up great. We have had one boat in our fleet that is going from Bora Bora to Suwarrow get knocked down. It did some damage to her cockpit enclosure. While we have gotten "close" we have not had a knock down, though the waves are big and the wind is big as well. We are both tired and can't wait to put the hook down in Suwarrow. Here's hoping we can get in. They're a boat that will be attempting to enter today and if they make it in we will feel so much better about our prospects. If they don't make it in, then we'll have to keep going to American Samoa. That's another 5 days at sea in this crazy weather. I must say, another few days of this would not be fun. The VHF is going crazy all the time now. As I am writing this I just discovered that our friends on Little Wing have a cracked mast. These are angry seas right now. Little Wing is now motoring in gale force winds. Fearless is still doing well but we have just taken some added precautions. If we do get knocked down we will be ready, but I really hope we don't.
My son Brett and his wife Naomi are going around the world in their Hunter 460.
I'm Brett's mom, and I do the daily posting on their web site. http://www.fearlessmdr.com/
They have just left the Society Islands French Polynesia and are headed to Suwarrow.
Brett just loves his Hunter Sailboat.
At any rate, they are now in pretty bad weather and his postings just rave about his boat and how she is taking it on. Another boat has knocked down, and another has a cracked mast, but his Hunter is performing great.....so far.
I thought you might want to see his last two postings;
7/18 /2008
The wind and waves have continued to build for the last 30 hours. Last night we had steady 30 knot winds with gusts in the 40's. The waves are huge and chase us down one after the other. They come up from behind and push the boat into a spin. We've had two of them break into the cockpit but for the most part Fearless floats over them. Thank God we are a light boat as many of the other boats are taking waves into the cockpit constantly. This is the worst weather we have seen to date. Fearless is doing great and just keeps on shedding the water and swinging back on course. The weather is very exhausting and really all the person on watch can do is sit there and watch. From down below it doesn't seem that bad. When I got up this morning to relieve Naomi and start my watch, I thought the winds had died down a bit and maybe the swell also. But when I poked my head out the hatch I could see instantly just the opposite was true. It is amazing how comfortable it is inside and how scary it is outside. We have many boats around us and we're all talking on the VHF, trying to keep in close contact. The talk goes on constantly, day and night as every boat has someone sitting in the cockpit at all times. It is possible we will get to Suwarrow in the next 40 hours and not be able to get into the pass due to the weather. This is not good news. One boat has already given up and changed course to Pago Pago which is part of American Samoa. We may have to do the same, but we are going to at least attempt a stop at Suwarrow as changing course to Pago Pago would means another 500 sea miles and possibly four more days of this bad weather. They are saying the weather should start to subside sometime tonight but it will take two days before the swells lay down. Right now we are running on a triple reefed main and nothing else. Our speed rockets to 8 knots as we ride down the swells and then stalls to 5 knots once it passes. The biggest of the swells push a wind in front of them so you can "feel" them coming before you can see them. This is experience we need so I am grateful we have had a chance to work in bad weather, but would not want it to be any worse then this for our level of experience right now. The trip to New Zealand is sure to be rougher still, so its good to take it up only one notch at a time.
7/19/2008
Another day at sea and Fearless is holding up great. We have had one boat in our fleet that is going from Bora Bora to Suwarrow get knocked down. It did some damage to her cockpit enclosure. While we have gotten "close" we have not had a knock down, though the waves are big and the wind is big as well. We are both tired and can't wait to put the hook down in Suwarrow. Here's hoping we can get in. They're a boat that will be attempting to enter today and if they make it in we will feel so much better about our prospects. If they don't make it in, then we'll have to keep going to American Samoa. That's another 5 days at sea in this crazy weather. I must say, another few days of this would not be fun. The VHF is going crazy all the time now. As I am writing this I just discovered that our friends on Little Wing have a cracked mast. These are angry seas right now. Little Wing is now motoring in gale force winds. Fearless is still doing well but we have just taken some added precautions. If we do get knocked down we will be ready, but I really hope we don't.