Privateer LYNX Underway- Destination Baltimore, Maryland and the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race

Privateer LYNX en-route to Baltimore, Maryland for the start of the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race.

09 October, 2010
Day Three: Mid-Coast Maine to Baltimore, MD
1200 Pos. 41° 03.5' N, 071° 32.3' W - Due South of Block Island
56 NM Run since Weighing Anchor at 0530 off New Bedford.
Barometer at 1020Mb and falling slowly
Breeze at Force 3, NW
Seas: 2-4' swell out of the WNW.
Motorsailing under Fores'l and Stays'l at 1800 RPM, Pitch 2, 8-9 knots.

A strange week of weather and ship delays for Lynx ended on Wednesday when we departed Boothbay, ME ahead of a North Easterly Gale, and made it to Portland to snug in for 24 hours as the winds veered toward the South West - exactly the wrong direction - at nearly Gale strength, and then eventually moderated while becoming due West. Leaving at sunset on Thursday, 7 October we motorsailed to keep a healthy pace and reach the Cape Cod Canal on a fair tide.

Clearing the canal, we expected to motor into moderate conditions, based on the forecast for W to NW winds 10-15 knots. But in reality, just past New Bedford, we got it handed to us. The breeze was consistently over 25, gusting close to gale force, and worse yet, it was WSW, so dead on the nose. The seas quickly built to nearly 5' and stopped us cold. With no good harbor ahead, we turned back 12 miles to anchor in the famous whaling town of New Bedford at 1630.

Actual position of the Privateer LYNX.

After 11 hours of building, then moderating conditions, we weighed anchor just before dawn and are making all speed toward the lee of the Jersey Coast. Conditions are supposed to be mild and favorable for tonight, but then come contrary again mid-day tomorrow. With luck, we will be into the Delaware Bay and experiencing milder conditions by then. We are hoping for a landfall off North of Cape May, and then follow the coast into the Delaware. It is a bit of a gamble - and appropriately so as Atlantic City's Casinos will likely be our first sight of shore - because there are Southerlies to come later on Sunday. But with luck, we'll get there ahead of them and maybe even use them coming up the Delaware.

The Lynx Educational Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan, educational organization, dedicated to hands-on educational programs that teach the history of America's struggle to preserve its independence. Visit their web site at http://www.privateerlynx.com/.