Marathon Delivery Gets Longer as Intense Weather Halts Progress

14:00 GMT

27° 10’ North 72° 28’ West

Heading 000°

With just 400 miles to go, progress of our new (to us) Open 60 racing yacht in its quest to reach Charleston has been halted.  I guess it's sort of a fitting end to this most extraordinary of transatlantic marathons...I mean, deliveries...

In some ways, I wish I was with the boys to help them through what has proven to be a serious ass-whupping, and my help routing them feels a little inadequate considering what they've been dealing with.  With the mountains of weather data I had available ashore, I knew it was coming, and just before the storm hit them, I told Jeffrey "if you feel like boat or crew are at risk, even though it is a tough choice, just take a big left and put Charleston behind you."  Sure enough, after my fourth call with the crew last night, they'd done a big about-face and limped South with the handbrake on in 50-60 knots of wind.  The breeze isn't necessarily dangerous, but the sea state can be, and with the crew hand-steering in 30 minute shifts through true 30-footers (with the occasional monster breaking wave) in full survival gear, getting washed to the end of their tethers on a regular basis, they did what they had to do - stay safe!  

The end result is that our lovely new girl and our good friends are now 500 NM from home, having been beaten back about 100 miles by the weather.  Hopefully that's the last of it, and be sure to stay tuned to this blog and our website at www.oceanracing.org for an updated arrival time, and for stories and pics from the crossing.

Thanks for checking it out!

Brad