"Wanderer" as I found her
What's her name christening "Wanderer" as "L'Esprit Libre"
My mentor, Jean Lacombe, 5-time solo transatlantic sailor in boats smaller than mine
The dream
When to leave? It had to be a Sunday with the tide running out. Noon June 4th it would be
Such a lot to do and to buy. This was first written on Januaru 2, 1977
Enter Jody
Enter Don Sweet, master woodworker
Those are only the canned goods
Fruits and veggies drying after the Chlorox wash
Inastalling the back-up bilge pump in the cockpit locker. (Backwards)
Oh, the spares
Good grief! More stuff?
Really? Anytime soon?
Bill of Sale, making Tim co-owner
The party
Jody: See you soon!
Tom's sister trying to look thrilled
Tom's mom! Yep, that's how she felt too.
Karen and Bob
Bob & Marion Pierpont
Bob and Bud, just like the Boardwalk 35 years earlier
Jean: "Mon Dieu, I never left on time, why should you?!"
“Dry” run on prototype
Late into the night of July 3-4
Remember Mykinos?
And late into the night of June 3
9 am, Sunday June 4
As ready as she ever well be -- 9 am 4 June '78
Notice how bright and shiny the brass (still) is
Chart/dining table, with restraining straps
The former hanging locker
Looking forward ,,, Tom sleeps under the left stuff!
Tom's bunk
Forward starboard -- veggie crates
Tim's bunk is there somewhere
Invites
Invite list thanks to Printronic
First guests arrive
Tim and his mom
Tim's mom disbelieving
Tom and Bob Race
The party in full swing
Bob and Marion in the cold light of day, with Tim's dad
Bette from Bette's Rolls Royce loses a customer
Oh, the media
Why are we smiling?
?? bidding farewell to Tom, Jody to Tim, with John Pocokcock's head
WGBH TV Boston
Abel wondering what is going on
Tim and Jody
Jody handing over Abel ... to Tim “See you soon” she whispered
The bell in the Customs Tower strikes 12
We are leaving!!
We're in gear
If I had seen how far down in the water we were, I would never have left
Even with the picture reverse, he still doesn't know where Gibraltar is
Oops. Accidental jibe. Anyone see that?!
Pursued by the press. Let's get out of here
His sense of direction was to improved immeasurably
Even a TV boat
They are all crossing themselves
The parents' boat
The beer boat
Friends are gone ... just us
Bow lines off
We would not see this until considerably later. Front page, Boston Globe, the day after we left. Werner never thanked us either.
The grey North Atlantic
Logbook June 4
5 June
June 10 / Force 3-4-2 NW
June 11 Sun line (actually reversed)
June 11 - Force 1-2 NW
June 12 / Force 3 > 5 SE
June 14 -- Barometer dropping / F 5 from S
No date! Force 8+ out of south - seas 20'
My confession (16 June)
Mea culpa, all over the place
God, I can go on!
17 June -- we give up
June 18 -- winds E-SE F 3-5 / Turned of EPIRB at 1420 / Spoke freighter and got position
The American Heritage
June 19 F 4 > 1
Our first dolphins
Abel talks with (not to) Dolphins
Dolphins
Sunset graph June 26: The precision of our navigation attributable to Tim's graphs
Oh, and the sunsets
A delayed breakfast anyone?
We did not do many star sights
June 22 -- Windes SE 2 - full moon - dinner of boeuf bourguignon (Dinty Moore base)
June 21 -- S-SW 3-4 Oatmeal with raisins, beautiful sunset
June 29 -- halfway to Big Rock
Tim takes a big plunge
Body surfing
Body surfing in the middle of the bloody Atlantic
My turn
Abel's favorite perch
See how close the main is? That would make a great scratching post!
Asleep in the captain's berth
Preparing the special midpoint dinner
Abel likes the ham too
Chilling the wine
Now about that scratching post. Tom won't yell and, if he does, I'll just dive for the forward hatch
Well, I missed. Tim saved me. And Tom saved the two of us.
Yep, I learned to swim. Real fast.
June 26 SW F3-4
Our daily Get-Off-It-and-Do-It Sheet
Now that is a whale. Blind and thinks we are a female in heat, we fear
The chart table becomes serious
And Mabel just works away
30 June AM Radio with Portuguese, French, Spanish and Arabic (?!)
What has Tim been smoking?
July 1 -- calculations to the Azores -- prediction to make landfall Flores 3 July at 1400 GMT
Those islands are small, our $35 sextant plastic
Plotting sheet approaches to Corvo-Flores
Detailed plotting sheet
Admiralty Pilot Book graphic of approaches -- this is what we SHOULD see
Getting a bit chillier and wetter. Must be getting close to land
July 3 -- at 1130 LAND HO! “Nothing more needs to be said”
Do I look happy?
That's Flores
And that is Corvo
So, it must be like the US. Can't bring in fresh produce. Let's gorge ourselves
That is (inhospitable) Corvo
And now for Flores. Looks like a night arrival
The next morning, we are fast to shore
That be Pierre's boat
That's us, the white one
The local restaurant. The crane to unload the lighter that meets the monthly supply ship
Hydraengas are the local hedgerows
Tom and Pierre, the (literally) single handed French sailor
Tim's love nest. In the shadow of the cathedral, no less
Is this where they shot The Godfather, perhaps?
Tim with his usual precision
One for the record
Jody prepping Tom for photo shoot
Plotting Sheet -- sights of 29 July
