Bill & Joe’s Excellent Adventure Day #8

We are
Pounding
West into the
Old Bahama Channel.

This morning, after a great breakfast of bacon and eggs, Bill and I had to decide if we should backtrack to Ragged Island or reach for the channel. Bill set up the ham radio and we tuned into the cruiser net. Captains were calling in from all over the Caribbean getting information on the weather and waves. The “No Rush” did not subscribe to this service but we were patient and after listening to 8 or 10 briefings we were able to discern that the N.N.E. winds were going to be with us for awhile.

So… if we went to Ragged Island we would lose at least two days and I would miss my flight home. That was no problem, since there was no one waiting for me to return. About the only thing we would gain by going to Ragged Island would be a day of trailing seas and a break from the pounding we were getting on anchor. There just aren’t many options, we can’t go north and make the “Great Circle” over the Bahama Bank to Marathon, because the wind is all wrong for that. We can’t go south because Cuba is in the way. The only thing to do is, stay the course, sail to the narrows and hope we get lifted by a clocking wind. I would have loved to set foot on Bahamian soil again but that’s the breaks.

There is a commercial fishing boat a couple of miles to the west. They have deployed about ten small 2 man boats that are scattering around the bank. I’m not sure what they are fishing for but the process is interesting. They are using a diver who is being fed O2 through a compressor and hose system. The equipment looks old and beat. One boat came up to meet us but we were not able to communicate very well. I was too shy to try out my Spanish … just not feeling very extroverted today.

I’m starting to get into the rhythm. When it gets smooth and quiet… hang on… The bow will have finished it’s climb to the top of the wave and begin to drop. Then BANG, into the foot of the next wave… and it starts all over again.We will cross 5 or 6 waves between crashes and every third one is a bone shaker.
1420 hours Still working it. Course 279 degrees, steering by the wind and hoping it will turn by the time we get to the narrows. Right now it looks like we might be pinned. The seas are 6 – 8 feet and the wind is 22 kts. Outside the cabin house is loud, wet and windy. This boat is singing an anthem.

So far, we have traveled 766 nm.

2200 hours Just finished tonight’s movie Rolling Thunder. Bill predicted that the winds would start to turn shortly after dark and he was spot on. We are in the channel and have just enough lift to navigate. It’s going to be a saw tooth with the starboard tack favoring by a long shot.

I really enjoy these night watches, it is a different world and the boat takes on a new character.

Its pitch black , the clouds have obscured the moon and stars, the only visible objects are the instruments and the reflection of waves rolling away from the stern light. Its an illusion, but other senses seem heightened. A squeaking sheave in the boom that was hardly noticeable this afternoon sounds like a giant pissed off parrot. Voices on the marine radio are crystal clear and the wind in the rigging is singing a dirge. Every couple of minutes a wave breaks over the bow sending a bathtub full of water to crash against the front of the cabin house. Sounds are coming from everywhere..wood noise, fiberglass noise, water noise, mechanical and organic, without pause, not getting louder or softer, just going on and on. Below deck, the smells are stronger, ripening fruit, clothing that has been worn for too many days, wet bedding, they all combine into one big boat smell, that I perversely, really like.

0000 hours Bill is back on deck, time to go below and sleep. I wonder what tonight’s dream is going to be… should be good.

Bill & Joe’s Excellent Adventure Day #7

“Hold On”, Bill hollers… 5 seconds later the boat rolled 30 degrees to starboard. If the No Rush were a monohull instead of a catamaran it would be business as usual, but on this boat … not so much. Still, it wasn’t a big deal , just the biggest roll so far. Cruising cats don’t heel like a keel boat, but they do roll with the sea. So, when Bill hollered, I braced and as soon as the wave had passed I went on with what I was doing. Everything on deck and below stayed pretty much in place and there was no crashing or cursing from the galley. The big wave was more of a surprise, at worst an inconvenience, nothing more. Bill did catch a face full of seawater but we were used to that, it happened two or three times a night when we poked our heads above the pilot house to scan the horizon for other ships.

0600 hours We are reaching hard for the banks around Ragged Island. The front came in full force about 4:30. I had gone below about 0000 hours and Bill let me sleep until I woke at 0430. When I came up on deck the boat was hove to and losing ground at about 1.5 kts. Bill was stretched out on the port settee and I did the same on the starboard side until dawn.

0800 hours As soon as it was light enough to see without flashlights we put in the third reef and hauled in for a close reach to the narrows. We were overtaken by a big commercial freighter also heading for the mouth of the Old Bahama Channel and as he crossed our bow, plowing through the 8 foot seas…Bill and I looked at each other and knew it was going to be a long hard pull. Big wind and high seas, right on our nose.

1100 hours Three hours later and we had gained only 3 nm on the point where Bill had originally hove to. So… we changed tactics and turned the boat downwind toward Ragged Island. We held that course for about an hour and checked the chartplotter and the paper chart. The island was appealing, there is a small settlement that would be fun to explore. Unfortunately all the anchorages would be off the windward shore, not a good place to drop a hook. We didn’t know what the holding ground was and the wind wasn’t going to let up soon. So… we changed tactics and headed back into the wind. We steered toward a tongue of deep water that leads into the shallow banks above Ragged. The idea was that the banks to windward would calm the seas enough to give us safe passage, entering the shallows from the lea side. Had we tried to enter the banks directly from the windward side, the seas piling up on the shallow water would have been treacherous.

Right now…I’m in my nest, curled up with pillows. I just finished the movie Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure on the laptop. Bill calls me up when it’s time to tack, otherwise I’m content listening to The Beatles White album on the IPod or the “mystery music” coming from the boat. Both of us have been hearing music when no music is being played. It’s weird… Bill says he hears Opera and I hear everything from heavy metal to slow ballads. Just now I could swear that I heard a steel drum playing “Stand By Your Man”. There is huge variety of sounds coming from the boat… swishing water along the hulls, bangs and thumps from the waves, the generator humming… all mixing together making a grey noise that my mind is turning into something familiar. I kind of like the playlist my brain is creating from chaos.

1245 hours Bill must not be happy with the progress that we are making because he just started the motor.
1400 hours Still on motor the seas are pounding us.
1730 hours At anchor somewhere on the banks west of Ragged Island. It didn’t get as shallow as the charts promised but what can you expect from a chart that is based on a survey from the British Admiralty in 1845. (No lie… it says so right on the legend!)
2000 hours On the Banks I put out a fishing hook … just because… We lounged around reading and watching the sky. The winds are still high (18kts) but the seas are down thanks to the shallows. We are still bouncing around and it’s far from an ideal anchorage but it beats the hell out of the big rollers of deep water. We are in 35 feet of water which is a bit deep for the scope and the anchor did drag a little but seems to be holding fine now. It’s comfortable for us even if it is a bit blowy forward. Thank God there are no wives aboard or we would be in the endless anchor debate.

Time to watch “The Big Labowsky”
North of the Cuban coast and a long way from anywhere

Bill & Joe’s excellent Adventure Day 6

0030 It just doesn’t get any better …
Full moon and steady winds at our back. The boat is surfing along at 6 kts and there is nothing but open ocean for hundreds of miles ahead. To starboard, I can see Matthewtown glittering on the Northwestern tip of great Iguana Island. The village is about a mile across and can’t be more than 200 people. Ah well …maybe next time. I guess the same goes for Guantanamo it’s only 122nm. off my port bow… another day and maybe another Regime.

Yesterday was good, after Bill and I cobbled together a new mainsheet system we cooked dogs for lunch. I slept first, and the dreams just kept on coming, this one was about some “event at the library”, everybody seemed to know each other and were happy. Later we watched a movie and played cards. No Worries on No Rush. We talked about what to do and where to go when we get to Key West. Skipper says I get to pick the itinerary and hints that he would like to see The Dry Tortuga, he thinks there is some good snorkeling around there. I’ve seen it… but it was after a long slow sail from Marathon and nobody felt like getting into the water that day. So if he wants to keep going west after Key West…I’m good with it.

Dinner was a great beef stew made from scratch. While Bill was cooking I hung out on the bow and took pictures. The clouds parted just before sunset.

After Dinner Bill had some serious pain in his lower back. He had mentioned having Kidney stones a few years ago and the location was right. So… Bill took a Vicadin and went below. Fifteen minutes later I screwed up a wind shift and before I could get the boat straightened out he was back on deck saying the cramps had gone and he was feeling fine. I told him the problem must be menstrual and we both laughed. It was troubling… but there wasn’t anything I could do about it and I figured that if things went to hell I could set course for Guantanamo and call for help on 16. I’m sure we would have assistance in short order.

There was a good display of bioluminescence in the wake. The movie was Three Feathers about British troops fighting in Sudan during the late 1800s.
When the wind picked up right after dark we put a reef in the main and the boat settled right down. I stayed on deck until we saw the beacon on Grand Iguana.
0240 hours 6 nm southwest of Matthewtown. The winds are starting to increase and the cloud cover is lower and thick. I ducked below and cleaned up the dishes from last nights feast. When I came up I let out the main and tightened the preventer. It was all good … time to catch up on my murder mystery.
0500 hours Bill is up and I’m ready for sleep.
1145 hours We have been Wing on Wing since midday yesterday only having to switch sails once. The seas are down I so I used the opportunity to open the foreward hatches on my side of the boat. It was getting a bit ripe in there.
1800hours Bill made chicken with Bell pepper wraps for lunch. There has been no change in wind direction but it is starting to build. We are expecting it to begin clocking from east to south and then from the southwest which is going to make for a bumpy night. Spent the afternoon reading. Just for the heck of it I put out the fishing gear …no joy.
2100hours Storm at Sea

Bill and I were playing cards, the seas were 2-3 feet and coming from astern, as they had been all day. We were talking about putting a reef in the main and watching the clouds thicken ahead… Suddenly Bill put down his cards and said, “Lets do it RIGHT NOW”.
So… we reefed the main and furled the jib. As we finished the wind died and we could see a rain squall approaching from the Northwest. When it hit it shifted to the north. The best way to make good time in these condition was to motor and.. so we did.
Dinner was great, Pasta Bolognese, which we ate quickly. The weather was looking like it was going to get worse. We were still several hours from the narrows but the skys ahead were very dark. There was a midsized yacht tracking us on the starboard we kept an eye on it until it sped up and crossed our bow.

The night was pitch black and it was impossible to make out the horizon. It’s like being inside a bowl of India ink. We turned off the running lights for a second and you couldn’t even see the bow. I have never experienced such “blackness. Later the bioluminescence started up with a variation on last night.. Tonight it was a green cloud with brighter globs of light within. Amazing! Again we turned off the running lights and all the instruments. WOW…The only thing visible were little green flashes coming from our wake and bow wave. WOW… I stood on the transom steps and imagined it was the view of our universe from a million light years away.

Bill suspects the front is Northwest and will be on us about midnight, right now we are in the convergence and it’s strangely calm.
2100 hours Just before Bill went below he suggested that I disconnect the Garmin C-176 from the boat’s power just in case the storm knocks out the chart plotter. The lightning started from the NW but now it’s across the entire starboard side with an occasional flash to port probably from smaller storm cells. It would have been great to check it on the radar but it decided to be our latest mechanical issue and went down yesterday.

2300 hours I’m a little spooked…probably for no good reason but this is new to me. As the front approached the air became super saturated. Everything was wet. we are still motorsailing but the jib is out and we trimmed the main to starboard. Bill is up. Time to get some sleep it’s going to be a long night.

Bill & Joe’s Excellent Adventure Day 5

0200 hours What a night! I was sitting on one of the director chairs trying to read but the seas were so active that my chair I was sliding all over the deck.

At some point I slid over by the starboard wheel and wedged my foot into the helmsman seat to hold position and noticed that there was a strange clicking noise coming from the wheel. The auto helm was working hard to keep the boat on course, it was constantly in motion, turning the wheel 90 degrees and more and while I was watching, it failed. I could hear the electric motor trying but the wheel wasn’t moving. I disengaged the clutch and took over to prevent a crash jib.

When Bill came up he knew right away that the problem was the belt drive had failed and the only fix was to tear down the mechanism and replace the belt. He was sure there was a replacement onboard but it took an hour of digging through every locker and lazerette on the port hull to find it. I was hanging upside down with a flashlight in my mouth looking for something I’d never actually seen. Eventually I found it on my second sweep of the lockers. Bill took off the wheel and thirty minutes later we were back in business. Bill stayed on deck and I went below. This time I dreamed one that would have made Federico Fellini proud, featuring George W and the entire cast of the Nutcracker Suite with lots of kids all running around the Governor’s mansion. Got to love those trip dreams!

1000 hours It’s all good …Bill and I are listening to the Beatles White Album and I was marveling at our skill repairing in the auto helm after dark in a rocking boat. Bill pulled two watches letting me sleep so I was feeling rested and ready. He suggested we watch the new Star Trek Move and we were just getting into it when the 4th equipment failure happened. Captain Kirk had just ordered up a full salvo of Photon Torpedoes when, CRACK… the main traveler car exploded.

The large triple sheave block went flying to port and we were lucky not to be sitting at the helm or one was could have been injured. Bill jumped up and grabbed the block and secured the main keeping it from getting caught up in the stays.

We first tried to attach the block to the car using 5000 lb. test spectra but it didn’t take long to see that the steel straps we tied into were perfect for handling a vertical load but not the horizontal load from the main sail. After rummaging through all the hardware we could find and scratching and thinking, Bill came up with a working fix. There were two heavy duty eyepads used to lift the hull during transport located 12 inches on either side of the traveler track. Using the spinnaker sheet, the old main sheet, and several large single blocks we fashioned a way to trim the main that also served as a vang and preventer when going downwind. It added a couple of steps while tacking but it worked perfectly. Another triumph for the dynamic duo!

While we were working on the rigging a U.S. Coast Guard plane did a fly-bye from the south east, 40 minutes later he returned on the way back to Puerto Rico and hailed us on channel 16. He wanted to know… who we were? … where we had come from and where we were going? Did we have any firearms on board and what was the reason for our trip? Now we were in the system … Homeland Security had plugged us into their computer and they had a pretty good idea when we should arrive in Key West.

1900 hours Both of us took long naps during the afternoon. I’m feeling a little beat up with sore muscles but thats a good thing. No Pain No Gain … Right?

Bill & Joe’s Most Excellent Adventure Day 4

0445 hours Last night after dinner I went below and Bill took the 1st watch. The boat was racing along at 9 – 13 knots. Bill was tweaking every little thing to get speed. It’s great to have a computer manning the helm! The sea had come down to 3-4 feet and every couple of waves we would do some serious surfing. Lying in my berth was a rush… First the sound of the water would die down until it was strangely quiet, then my feet would start to go down and my head up and then suddenly it would sound like a freight train as we accelerated into the trough. After 30 minutes of enjoying it blind I went on deck and there was Bill looking like the Cheshire Cat with his grin glowing in the dark. I spent the first watch watching the new Bruce Willis movie Surrogates on the I-touch. The movie was so so but the novelty of helming a cat in the Spanish West Indies, under the full moon while watching a Sci-Fi from the palm of my hand… was priceless.
What a spectacular night, a few thin cirrus clouds making streamers up high and the perfect huge full moon.
Off watch 1-4 I had no trouble going to sleep. Strange dreams of shopping for a cell phone on Catalina Island with a cast right out of Alice in Wonderland.
0500 hours Large Ocean Liner off to port all lit up like a Christmas tree.
0830 hours 33 nm north of the Dominican Republic, just above Puerto Plato. The wind died just as my shift was ending and we are motoring at 5.7 knots. Bill came on deck just in time to see a beautiful moon set, we had a cup of tea and I went below to take a shower. It felt great to wash the bug spray and oily sun screen off.
1000 hours Breakfast and some minor housekeeping, I lay down for a minute and slept for an hour and a half. Had a dream about Garrison Keelor and my father telling me jokes. Gawd I love the “adventure trip dreams”, it seems like I can’t remember a dream to save my life but on good trips they stay with me forever. I still remember some of them from the European Bike tour of 81.
1300 hours Lunch was wraps made from last nights’ dinner.
Bill was able to keep it down which is a good thing because he lost the last two dinners. I’m thinking it must have been a gut bug rather than sea sickness.
1400 hours I’m sitting at the helm watching the winds begin to build, unfortunately it’s right on the nose. Bill is below taking a nap but I’m sure he can feel the boat and knows exactly what is going on. We are motoring but I suspect that we couldn’t do any better under sail. ( 3.5 – 4 knots ) The clouds are forming a big U with us sailing right into the center. I’m going to wait 20 minutes and wake the skipper. White caps are starting to form.
1500 hours We are under sail, tracking 011 degrees. Opps… wind shift sailing by the wind we are at 043 degrees against us. 10 more degrees and we can come about to a favorable tack.
1530 hours Tack to starboard 5.1 knots VMG.
1715 hours 6 foot seas off starboard bow, winds are 18 -20 triple reef main, boat is riding much better. Dinty Moore stew with giant pretzels for dinner. Bill enjoyed it twice …going down and coming up… Last night was mellow and beautiful, tonight looks to be an endurance test. I got some good rack time today so I don’t expect to be nodding off like a couple of nights ago. Since the front has arrived sooner than expected the winds are all wrong and we will probably not try to make Iguana Island. It wouldn’t have been difficult in good weather but arriving at midnight in a storm was asking for trouble.
2200 hours We have been on a close reach to starboard for awhile and when the wind shifted Bill decided to tack to port sending us almost directly north at 4 – 5 kts. Steering by the wind we varied between 001 degrees and 024 degrees until midnight when we jibed back to starboard. It bought us a little distance from Hispanola but didn’t advance our course. Sometimes the fastest way to a mark isn’t what you think it is.

Bill & Joe’s Excelllent Adventure Day 3

0100 hours Bill took first watch. Sea and wind is down. Learning how to use the Radar.
0245 hours. Watched movie on I-touch
0300 full moon breaks through. Seas 3 feet ….Average speed 6.5 knots
0400 hours Sea 3 feet speed 5.5 knots
0815 hours Went below at 0530 and good two good hours. We shook out the reef, wound up the Jib and popped the Spinnaker. Heading 310 at 6.5 knots. Not much in the way of sea life… one grouper hanging around a mess of jetsam and a tiny flying fish in the cockpit.
There is some blue sky on the horizon so maybe we will get some sun today. We are just about to enter the Puerto Rican Trench 25,000 feet deep.
1145 hours When I awoke from a morning nap I looked up through the hatch and spotted a rip in the spinnaker. We tried patching it with mylar tape but it did not hold.
1600 hours Rollers are getting big. Wind is abaft the beam and we are surfing along at a good clip. Bill suggested an early dinner since we had not eaten much all day.
I tried the helm for awhile. This boat is very responsive and with trailing seas it even more so….touchy.
1900 hours We just had our second equipment failure. I was below cooking stir fry chicken and Bill was on the foredeck when the auto helm alarm went off. I came up and reset it and the boat immediately jibed. I released the clutch and took over the helm. When Bill came back we discovered that the digital compass that controls the auto helm was out of sync with the magnetic compass on the pedestal. While I drove the boat Bill dug out the manual and tried to figure it out. It was a real challenge staying on course with trailing seas and big rollers…fun though! We decided to re-initialize the compass, kind of like rebooting a computer “no Joy”. This is supposed to be done on calm water not in 5 foot seas with 20 knots of wind. The computer kept aborting when the boat crested a wave and the bow swung. About his time both of us are thinking what a drag it is going to be if we have to pull shifts on the helm for the rest of the passage. It’s not a pleasant thing. Next we tried taking the sails down and doing it under power. Still “no Joy”.
I was just about to go below to find where the digital compass was mounted when Bill Suggested I check the connections at the instrument panel. I cut away the caulk, unscrewed the backplate and there was the problem. The wire had parted at the connection. Fortunately Bill had the right parts and we had it fixed in 30 minutes.

Bill and Joe’s Excellent Adventure Day 2

Day #2

Awoke at 7 to a beautiful sunrise. Bill was doing final prep and playing Kenny Chesney at full blast. “Kissing life square on the mouth … Sailing on the sea.” I’m not going to get to see much of Puerto Rico but from what I can tell it’s sort of like southern California with a tropical climate… The people are Latino but unlike California, English seems to prevail. I wasn’t able to connect with the internet from the boat so I walked up to the marina cafe and sent a goodbye to my girls on facebook. French kissing life square on the mouth…

The latest weather model shows a front moving in from the North over the next couple of days. Our current plan is to sail North West at the best possible speed and lay up at Iguana Island until it passes. No sign of weather here, it’s dead calm in the marina.

We set out at 8:30 with light wind and had cleared the Cape Icacos by 10:00. As we were approaching the Cape a single dolphin swam by and crossed our bow, a good omen. Bill shut down the motor and we set the Jib. Looking back at Puerto Rico I can see that it has topography similar to the Virgin Islands with hills rising 3000 feet ASL rather than flat like the Bahamas. The only vessels so far have been small fishing boats. Wind is still light less than10

Over the next couple of hours the clouds built with the wind and sea. By 1300 hours I could barely see Puerto Rico only 7.5 miles to the south.

1800hours Wind has built to 22 knots … double reef in main allowed us to pick up speed.

Tuscan Bean soup for dinner. Bill is feeling poorly. Bruce Willis movie was tonight’s entertainment.

Bill & Joe’s Most Excellent Adventure Day 1


The sail from Puerto Rico to Key West is considered a milk run. Steady easterly Trade Winds make for a gentle down wind sail. Usually…

I left Denver at 0100 hours and arrived at San Juan International at 1300 hours local. Bill picked me up and after stopping at Wal Mart for provisions we drove east to the largest marina in the Caribbean, Puerto Del Rey. It was not what I expected, there were lots of boats and it’s a huge marina but… very few people. I got the impression this was a place where people park their boat between passages. After stowing our stuff we went out for dinner. It was my only taste of Puerto Rico and I vowed to come back someday. It had been a long day and I was glad to crawl into my berth. Tomorrow we leave.

Day #8 Tuesday Glamis #397

Here is a link to Paul Anthem’s video of Flying at Glamis …Kudos Paul!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr3kxjp0zP8&feature=sub

This time, at Chad suggestion, I launched with the Eden III in a low hook in configuration. Surprisingly it worked great. I was able to let the trimmers in or out without any friction lock at the hang point rings. Perhaps because they were attached so much lower than on the Thumper, maybe because the load straps are more in line with the rings. Also the lower line guides on the cage were a help. I could grasp the A lines above the mallions which gave me a much better feel for the wing.
This flight was perfect in every way. I taxied at a slower pace and was able to recover the wing when it fell to the left and tip-touched. Most of the flight was flown with the trimmers out. The Eden III is so much more fun to fly at a place like the Dunes. I could yank and bank and even felt confident enough to get down and dirty with the sand. The 4 stroke winds up slower than a good two stroke so you have to anticipate need for power, it takes practice and it doesn’t approach the performance of a light guy footlaunching, but its do-able. At one point I was running along a sharp ridge with the right wheel kicking up sand on the crest. When I started to feel the trike lean to the left, I added power and it was no problem keeping things level. It is much easier to modulate the power with this machine, I think part of it is the longer movement with this throttle but also the Generic 32 has a wider power band than the Briggs & Stratton 22.
After landing I packed up… said my goodbye’s and set off for Albuquerque. It’s a long drive and I arrived at the Route 66 Casino barely in time for the $5 Buffet. My way of beating the casino is to avoid the slots and load up on the shrimp and prime rib. They didn’t make any money on me!
The next morning I was hoping to fly at Paramotor City but there was a front blowing in So I got back on the highway and headed for home. The snow started falling before I was got to Albuquerque and it was slow going all the way to Raton Pass. The rest of the trip was smooth and I arrived home by 3:00.
Trip Data: 2400miles 38 ½ hours 62 mph average speed. It was a good trip, I had a chance to clear my head and the flying was good for my soul.

I have no idea what the future holds …
But…I’m a little better prepared to cope with it.

Day 7 Monday Glamis #395 #396

It wasn’t the best nights sleep but I awoke raring to go.

The launch was good and I headed directly to the dunes. The air was smooth and cool. The falcon achieved 410 ft/min climb at 3500 RPM. The sky was overcast and not the best light for photography but I took a bunch of shots anyway and even a short video of Jeff Goin and company playing around a single dune below the “Black Diamond Face”. After an hour and 30 minutes my belly was screaming from being too far laid back so I turned to the campground and landed. What a wonderful day, the clouds were keeping the thermals down and several guys were still in the air at 10:45.
That afternoon I checked out Holtsville which is a small Agricultural community about 25 minutes away from our camp. The grocery stores were bare bones so I satisfied myself with a chorizo and some fresh produce.

When I got back , the group were all into “parawaiting”. Chad was assembling a MiniPlane with a couple of guys, the Canadians were sunbathing and a bunch were trying to figure out what caused the fire in the concert bus last night.

The afternoon flight was probably the longest of the trip. I had been out for well over an hour and was ready to return when I hooked up with the Canadian contingent. Luc …Ned… and Cyrille were skimming the dune tops as I approached. When I caught up with them they were approaching a couple of ATV who were running hard on the “Big One” and it wasn’t long before all of us were playing tag.

Mark MacWhirter took some great video earlier in the day of the same thing, http://vimeo.com/9247436 . About halfway through the video Phil Russman bashes into a dune and manages to recover with a few steps.

Later Luc joined up on my left side and I got some nice video on the way back to the campsite. The sunset…wings in the air…it was all good. Returning to the LZ, the sun had set and I turned on the strobe. It was dark enough that it was hard to see the surface and a little tricky timing the flare.

That evening Christian set up a projector and we watched Star Trek on the big screen. Later I watched a video about Donald Crowhurst and his insane attempt to win the first round the world, single handed yacht race. It was a good night for movies.