Day Five

As many of you know, our original plans included doing a shakedown cruise of Hold Fast in the Bahamas. If all worked well, we would go northeast to Bermuda/Azores. If we encountered some concerns while in the Bahamas and south, we could come back to the states and address the concerns. We have been busting our tails to get Hold Fast going. Since the hurricane season was upon us and last week Jamaica had a low with a potential tropical cyclone, the door was shut to us for the Bahamas. We chose to visit Cumberland Island and consider our alternatives, one being to conduct the shakedown in route to Bermuda.
During the previous four days we have certainly conducted a shakedown sailing around the Atlantic. We identified some wonderful aspects of Hold Fast and the new features Myron has installed. We could not be more happy about things like our hard top, the solar 'farm,' the Ham radio communications, the multiple sail configurations and the way she handles under either auto pilot or wind vane. As previously noted, on Day Two we almost ended the shakedown and came back, then changed our minds and pressed on in light and often contrary air. Still, we both could not ignore the feeling that Hold Fast was not ready. On Day Four, we had equipment break, a few hours later we blew the tack out on ol' Grandad, and just before sunset we were overcome by a storm and, frankly, shocked to find that Hold Fast would not heave-to in 40+ knots of wind with eight foot breaking seas. Heaving-to is a critical defensive mechanism we employed with our previous boat to reduce damage, fatigue and potential for injury during impassable weather. We think the problem is solvable but it will take some time and testing. Therefore it is with heavy heart, but a clear mind that we tell you we are heading back to the coast. We expect to land in Moorehead sometime tomorrow. We plan to rest for several days.
We can still serve God while we prepare for the next fall season in the Bahamas. We are actually getting excited about serving God in a new area outside typical hurricane reach, such as Chesapeake or points north.
We have not given up, our service to Him will just be temporarily re-commissioned up the east coast.

{GMST}33|52.600|N|075|31.300|W|Heading to Morehead|Day five{GEND}