Thursday, May 31, 2012

I like it!!

A great shot from Leslie Richter during her visit in April!!

Morpheus - Green Island, Antigua

Monday, May 28, 2012

Do as he says, not as he does!!

 Many of you know that my brother Bob broke his leg in three places riding a motorcycle recently.  

I went to visit with him when I got home last Friday, and found an interesting book sitting on the bookshelf in his office.

Maybe he should read it again???


Lake Tahoe

The View from Andrew and Liz's Place

After the tacky tour of the Cal/Neva

A very unlikely group of bowlers!!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

No Status at All

You know how every once in a while you find one of your friends sort of bragging that they are in the 100,000 mile frequent flyer club???

Well, deb and I are in the airport surrounded by a sea of humanity all wishing they were somewhere else. 

We have no status at all in this airport. No benefits, no free club membership, nothing. 

Now THAT is something to brag about!!!

Jim



Jim Gregory 

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Bermuda Race Inspection

We passed our Bermuda Race inspection today.  A big step towards actually being ready to do this race!!  After taking all the cruising gear off the boat for the last week we are floating about 2-3 inches higher and with the inspection behind us, it's time to have the boat hauled for some new bottom paint and a general inspection of the rudder, etc.


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Happy 10th Birthday Morpheus!!


Ten Years, Ten Pictures....

2002 - Christening

 
2003 - Equator Crossing







2004 - Hawaii post Pacific Cup Race

2005 - Big Boat Series!
2006 - Mexorc

2007 - Cabo Half Way Party

2008 - Pacific Cup

2009 - RYC Spring Tune-Up Crew

2010 - Cabo Post Race

2011 - Edgartown

2012 - Patrick in the BVI's



Saturday, May 12, 2012

Newport, Rhode Island !!!

We have arrived back at my center of the sailing universe!!

We pulled in just before sunset, tied up to Lyn and Peggy Comforts mooring, and before we knew it, Peggy and Kim were alongside and we were off to hot showers, dinner, and a night sleeping in real beds!!



Jim Gregory 

Friday, May 11, 2012

Debbie is clearly not impressed...

Currently 60 miles off Newport.

Not wanting have to cart a ton of fuel off of the boat in Newport as I prepared for the Bermuda Race, I filled the two fuel tanks and for the first time left our extra fuel jugs empty.

At the same time, I adopted the "Captain Ron method of calculating landfall".

From the movie....

Marty: "Go ahead Captain Ron, tell them how you know that we are almost there."

Captain Ron: "Well, listen carefully everyone. When we left (Bermuda) we had just enough fuel to get to (Newport). AND...NOW, (engine dies) We are out of fuel!!!"


No additional comment required.....

- Capt.(in the dog house) Jim

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Thursday, May 10, 2012

Just under 200 miles to go

WE had a long night last night with winds in the 30 knot range until 2am, and 20-25 knots and big seas ever since. All while crossing the last of the gulf stream and running into up to 5 knots of current in places that our weather model told us there would be no current at all! I guess we will be using different models during the Bermuda Race!

All are fine onboard and it looks like we will cross the front in the next couple of hours and then begin to see the winds drop into a more enjoyable range.

Cold, windy, and grey out here right now!

-Jim

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Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Goodbye Bermuda. We hope to see you again real soon!!

Ok, here we go on our practice run between Bermuda and Newport. We've checked all of our weather websites, downloaded our wind and current grib files and are off!

Our friend from California and the Richmond Yacht Club, Scott Gordon, showed up this afternoon at about 3pm, and three hours later we were sailing out of St. Georges harbor bound for Newport, RI. Not much time for Scott to enjoy Newport, but the weather window that we have works much better leaving now than waiting for Tuesday AM. It looks like late Wed/early Thursday will bring us some wind in the 25+ knot range and a cold front with lots of rain and perhaps some of that thunder and lightning that I hate so much. If we left in the morning we would still be in the Gulf Stream, and that's a variable that I'd really prefer to avoid.

So...here we are close reaching/beating in 12-16 knots, with the biggest moon you'll ever see, and for now, some perfectly clear weather.

Sounds good to me! Newport here we come. See you Friday morning!

-Jim

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Sunday, May 06, 2012

Name this boat!

She is one of the most famous and. Most successful racing boats of all time



Jim Gregory 

Friday, May 04, 2012

All safe and sound on Bermuda!!

We arrived last night, safe and sound, with no damage (that we know of!) onboard after 850+ miles. 825 miles were as nice as you could ask for. The last 25 were upwind, in the dark, in 20+ knots as we crossed a small cold front. I guess you need to pay the piper at some point!!

Already starting to think about the trip to Newport. The weather looks agreeable at this point. We shall see. Stay tuned...

Time to take Doug and Tom on a tour of Bermuda. Will be saying thank you with a few dark 'n stormies!

-Jim

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Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Just over 200 miles to go!!

All remains good onboard Morpheus today. We have been sailing all day in wonderful condtions. 10-15 knots on a close reach. Perfect!

It is sunset now, and the wind has dropped to almost nothing. This was forecast, and we expect to motor for a few hours before we trade in the last of the Easterly Trade Winds for a new Northwesterly breeze that should bring us into Bermuda sometime tomorrow night late. (Actually midnight or later.)

Doing our best to avoid the Bermuda Triangle, but we are very very close!!

-Jim

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Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Bermuda Triangle

Where exactly is it?? Can anyone send us the coordinates??

thanks,

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Just about even with Key West!

We are enjoying one of our nicer trips at this point. Still in the easterly trades. Still seeing about 15-16 knots of wind. Still warm, but not too warm. Just all sort of perfect.

Everyone is well settled into the watch schedule which with four of us is anything but difficult. 2 hours on, 6 hours off! Lots of sleep.

Will pass the half way point sometime later today.

Thanks to those that send info on the Ensenada Race tragedy. Seems like its all still a bit of a mystery. Will be interested to see what they found. I guess its possible for a big ship to run over a "small" boat without even noticing, but I find that difficult to imagine. Certainly provides more incentive to keep an active watch!

Happy May Day,

-Jim

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