New Morning, Gulf Stream passed
Here’s Russ and Fay enjoying the christening of New Morning last August (as did I). They’re now beyond the Gulf Stream en route to Bermuda. It would be nice if they posted a new entry on their blog (via Iridium/XGate, I think) and/or fired off a Spot OK message (which I get a copy of, and also gets plotted on their share page), but I’m confident that all is well.
New Morning has the most comfortable salon I’ve ever felt on a sailboat this size, and also perhaps the coolest nav station (better photos here). And we know Russ expended a lot of energy on systems. But the North Atlantic in November, even the deep blue part, can tire a crew out. No one knows that better than the 30 Vendée Globe single-handers who are right now headed out into a Bay of Biscay gale. Here’s wishing all these boats safe passages.
They’re OK! They sent a number of OK messages the past 8 hours, and are now 2/3rds of the way to Bermuda. 200 miles to go!
At around dawn New Morning pulled into the wonderful harbor of St. George’s:
http://tinyurl.com/6525xy
Thanks for the concern and visibility. We are in beautiful Bermuda, have the boat cleaned up and are relaxing. I’ll try to post a couple of pictures on the New Morning blog later today.
SPOT was useful and many of our friends expressed their enjoyment in watching our progress. It needs some modifications to be better suited for usage on a boat, but there is clearly an opportunity for a product like SPOT.
We got pounded pretty good in the GS with a cold front and 30-40 knots of true wind on the starboard bow. We had no major failures, and only a couple of minor failures, but nothing that put us in danger.
Thanks again!
I enjoyed reading about the specifications and your choice to build custom.
Althought the charting and instrument choices is an exception … we are of like mind on most of the other boat systems above and below deck, even down to the bilge pump sizing, arrangement, and monitoring … which most other people would find overkill.
Enjoy !
WOW AGAIN … this time with Russ!
Hey Everyone. I found New Morning today … and I don’t mean on SPOT.
Rather I found her on page 34 on the December 2008 issue of “Sailing” that arrived in my mail today. Look for “Lyman-Morse 54” … while no mention of Russ or New Morning, this is very obviously (to anyone who went to Russ’s blog) none other than New Morning.
Page 34 by the way isn’t just anywhere in this magazine, and certainly not the used boat section … page 34 is in the best section of the entire magazine … that being Robert Perry’s monthly series “Perry on Design” !!!
WOW. It is very rare for custom boats to appear here.
Robert Perry is legendary in the area of boat design. His monthly articles critique boat designs comparing the stated purpose of a design against the schematics and other design documents.
The article does speak about the “design is intended to be a fast cruising boat for a San Francisco couple”, the “hull lines are beautiful”, and also given who the builder is that this will be a “fabulous” boat … but WOW … in addition Perry remarks this boat is the last design in the distinguished career of designer Chuck Paine as he finishes this career to become a painter, artist, and author.
It’s always good to know your boat is well designed, well built (Lyman-Morse is the best wrote Perry), but it’s quite another thing, I would imagine, to find your boat is of the finest pedigree from a man that finishes his distinguished design career on your boat … and then have that go on to get the approval of Robert Perry.
If you can’t get a copy of this issue where you are right now Russ, drop me a line and I would like to be the first to forward this to you.
Best Regards
Dan
Dan,
Thanks for the many kinds words. We checked around here in Hamilton and can’t find Sailing. If you’d send a copy (electronic or paper) that would be great. You can reach me through the web site email contact info (hate to post an address where the spammers will find it).
Thanks again!
Ok, left you my email address via your web site.
Dan
Hey Everyone. I found New Morning today … and I don’t mean on SPOT. (read above Nov 22 10:06AM