Updated 26 December 2004 14:34
The following are only a few of the hundreds of photos taken during Sea Scout Ship 25's Long Cruise 2004 as part of the Bermuda Ocean Race. For the official log, statistics, and other links, click here.
Click on any photo below to enlarge to print-quality size
The York Dispatch graciously carried our story on Page 1.
To view a PDF file of the full news article, click here.
Thursday, 10 June 2004 - Race Preliminaries
Left: Carl, Bryon, Drew, and Phil at the Eastport Yacht Club pre-departure party in Annapolis the night before the race start. After the party, we had to go back to Pasadena, MD to bring Kuan Yin down to Annapolis for the next day's official start. Right: In Pasadena, Bryon checks the mooring lines.
Left: Phil attaches an automatic safety light to his inflatable PFD. Right: Underway from Pasadena for Annapolis Roads, Skipper compares our GPS position with the radar.
Friday, 11 June 2004 - Race Day
Left: Eight crew on a 43' boat makes for cozy berthing accommodations. Here, Drew and Phil get some rest in the forward V-berth before coming on watch. Right: Race morning in Annapolis. Drew comes on deck refreshed and ready for action.
Left: As Boat Captain, Drew has the honor of getting us underway for the starting area. Right: checking the flag bag to obtain and display our class identification flags.
At the last minute, the race committee gives us a large decal with our race entry number and race logo. The trick is to affix the decal to the bow of the boat. Here, Drew attaches the main halyard to Phil's Boatswain Chair so Phil can go over the side to affix the decal. Right: Phil signals to take up the tension on the main halyard.
Left: Decal affixed, Drew climbs the mast to re-attach the main halyard to the head of the main sail. Right: Kuan Yin at anchor off the starting line, ready to hoist anchor and get underway for the starting line when the Prep signal is given by the race committee. The weather has turned to cold rain, but there is lots of wind.
Left: The crew in readiness for the start: Phil, Drew, Jim, Skipper, Bryon, and Steve. Skipper is wearing his famous "racing goggles" to protect his eyeglasses from the rain and spray. Right: Kuan Yin coming up to speed under power off the USNA seawall en route to the starting area.
Left: Pre-race jitters? Not for Bryon. Even though it is now raining, he's got the foredeck well under control. Right: Drew and Carl await the starting gun.
Left: "And they're off!" A 35-boat fleet charges out of Annapolis Roads under full sail. Right: one of two boats that sandwiched Kuan Yin rounding the first buoy. To be caught between two 20+ ton boats charging along at 8+ knots only 18" away from you on either side is a thrill you have to personally experience to believe. It is still giving the Skipper nightmares.
Saturday, 12 June 2004 - Out of the Chesapeake Bay and Into the Atlantic Ocean
Left: The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel from Cape Charles to Cape Henry marks the exit from the Bay and the entrance to the Atlantic Ocean. Left: John at the helm with Drew and Bryon as lookouts. The rain has stopped, but the temperature is still cool. On leg one of the race, from Annapolis to the Bay Bridge Tunnel, we were 4th out of 8 boats in our class. Not bad for a relatively inexperienced crew.
Sunday, 13 June 2004 through Friday, 18 June 2004
Out in the Atlantic - Blue water sailors at last.
Left: The air temperature gradually warming, Phil sheds his foul weather gear and keeps an eye out for "aquatic mammals", aka Dolphins. We eventually sighted twelve, but in the excitement, no photo was taken. Right: Drew and Carl listen while Navigator Steve discusses route tactics. While the shortest distance between two points is just that, the shortest distance, following it doesn't necessarily result in the shortest time. Accurately predicting the effects of the Gulf Stream, winds, waves, and warm and cold Gulf Stream eddies is perhaps the most important piece of a winning strategy on a long ocean race.
Left: Bryon and Phil listen in on the navigation discussion as well. Right: Typical scene during the first few days in the Atlantic: warm sun, beautiful blue water, clear sky, and good wind.
Left: Off watch, Bryon learns from Steve the fine art of a sailmaker's whipping for the end of a line. Right: Skipper updating the ship's electronic log (an Excel spreadsheet on a laptop computer).
Left: Phil lightens the load by pumping bilges. Right: Jim enjoys the "best seat in the house" during an off-watch break.
Left: John admires the ability of a sea gull to survive several hundred miles from the nearest land. Right: Gorgeous sunsets were among the rewards we experienced during the voyage. Home is now days away below the horizon.
Left: Bryon finds an interesting way to stay upright while Kuan Yin glides along on a steady starboard tack. Right: Later, the winds begin to diminish as we enter the influence of the "Bermuda High", and Bryon catches some rays of the sun while topside.
Left: Bryon prepares to lower a bucket over the side to collect sea water for washing the dishes. Right: Kuan Yin's galley after a good clean up.
Drew (left) and Bryon (right) catch up on their sleep when not on watch. Standing watch 4 hours on and 8 hours off day after day soon leaves all sailors tired and ready to "check their eyelids for light leaks" whenever possible, wherever possible.
With the forepeak and forward cabin (left) full of gear and sails, and with the after cabin occupied for the moment by Drew and Bryon, Carl (right) sacks out in the only spot left: the dinette.
Left: Kuan Yin's beautiful butterfly hatches over the main cabin allow plenty of fresh air and sunshine below decks. Right: the Nav Station, home to the Skipper for much of the voyage. With accurate time from the atomic clock, accurate position from the Garmin GPS, and good instruments (indicating at that moment 90.1 degrees sea water temperature and 6.26 boat speed over the ground), the Skipper was able to keep a very detailed log.
Left: Bryon peels potatoes for the evening meal. Right: The "Bermuda High" really kicks in - we are virtually becalmed on a sea of glass. In order to get to Bermuda in time to maintain our schedule of commitments there, we finally reluctantly agreed to drop out of the race and motor the rest of the way. The sunset, however, was beautiful.
Friday, 18 June 2004 - Arrival In Bermuda
Left: The SPIT buoy off Saint David's Head, Bermuda at 0458 Friday morning, 18 June 2004. This is the official finish line for the Bermuda Ocean Race. Right: We prepare to motor in through Town Cut into the harbour at Saint George's, British Overseas Territory of Bermuda.
Left: Bryon has fenders at the ready as we prepare to do a Mediterranean moor to the sea wall at the St. George's Dingy and Sports Club. Right: Moored at last, Skipper proudly prepares to display the Bermuda courtesy flag at the starboard spreader - a dream that has taken him over a year to fulfill.
Left and Right: Getting out our passports and filling in Customs Declaration forms confirms to each of us that, yes, we have indeed sailed from the U.S.A. to a foreign country, and crossed a lot of water to get there.
The official "victory" photos. No, we did not win the Bermuda Ocean Race, but yes, we accomplished our goals which we had set for ourselves at the very start of this endeavor: to bring our crew and our vessel safely into port, and to have a ton of fun in the process. To realize a year-long ambition is sweet victory indeed. Left: Drew, Bryon, Carl, Phil, Jim, John, Steve, and Skipper. Right: the youth who together did the work that got the job done: Drew, Bryon, Carl, and Phil. So far as we are aware, this is the furtherest off-shore any East-Coast U.S.A. all-Sea Scout crew has ever ventured.
Left: Boat Captain Drew, first ashore, savors a bagel while Bryon, Steve, and John rig the gangplank. Right: Drew dons his "cruising shades" and prepares to "hit the beach" while Steve and Bryon still work on the gangplank.
Palm trees, and turquoise water - "Toto, we're not in Maryland any more." Left and right: view of the sea wall at the St. George's Dingy and Sports Club.
Left: Carl's mom, Eileen, flew down to Bermuda to greet us and enjoy the island with us. Right: Phil and Carl tell Eileen all about the voyage so far.
Left: The York Dispatch comes through for us again with more publicity. Right: John, Phil, Drew, Carl, Bryon, Mary (from our Ship 25 committee who also flew down to join us in Bermuda), Jim, and Skipper look more like tourists than sailors outside the Town Hall of St. George's.
To view a PDF file of the full news article, click here.
Left: City Dock in Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda. Yes, some people do choose bigger boats when sailing to Bermuda. Right: Town Hall in Hamilton.
Left: The sea wall at the Dingy Club. Small tender in the foreground was used by Chris, the club's amazing tender operator, to get us back and forth to land when we had to anchor off the sea wall for a brief period of very windy weather. Right: the Dingy Club.
Left: The BOR Fleet Med moored at the Dingy Club. Note the prevalence of American yacht ensigns flying from the sterns, and Kuan Yin's Blue and Red Sea Scout Ship 25 flag from her starboard spreader. Right: The night of our arrival, we paid a courtesy visit to the Bermuda Sea Cadets at their base T/S Admiral Sommers in St. George's.
Left: A very long and very expensive sailing yacht leaves the sea wall. Right: Kuan Yin replenishes her water and diesel fuel supplies at Dowling's Marine in St. George's.
Left: Getting around Bermuda was easy. A short walk from the Dingy Club would get us to the bus stop, and our bus passes would get us anywhere else on the island we wanted to go. Right: Stuccoed homes with beautiful pastel colors are a trademark of Bermuda.
Left: The post boxes remind us that we are in a country founded by the British. This Royal Mail post box carries the cipher of H.M. King George VI, and therefore dates from 1936-1952. Right: Another beautiful home on the way to the bus stop.
