Thankful and Proud - Blog by Kaj Bjerre Westphal
At 3:30 a.m. I got up. We had to be on deck at 4:00 a.m. to depart from Liberty Landing Marina in New Jersey to Atlantic City – a sail of approximately 90 nautical miles for about 13 hours with shifting watches. Joan and I had the first watch for two hours, and I was so ready. It was freezing and starry and we had a very beautiful sunrise. New York slowly disappeared astern; that sight I will never forget, I thought to myself. I am so honored, thankful and proud to be a allowed a part of this fantastic project with all these wonderful people, and I can only recommend others to apply to come on a trip with Oceans of Hope.
Regards,
Kaj
Danish Translation:
Kl. 03:30 stod jeg op. Vi skulle være klar kl. 04:00 til afgang fra Liberty Landing Marina i New Jersey til Atlantic City - en sejltur på ca. 90 sømil i ca. 13 timer med skiftende vagt. Joan og mig havde vagt de første 2 timer, og jeg var mega klar. Det var hundekoldt, stjerneklart og vi havde en meget smuk solopgang. New York forsvandt langsomt agterud; det syn vil jeg aldrig glemme, tænkte jeg. Jeg er så beæret, taknemmelig og stolt over at få lov til at være en del af dette fantastiske projekt med alle de dejlige mennesker, og jeg kan kun opfordre andre til at søge om at komme på tur med Oceans Of Hope.
Hilsen Kaj
Report from Bosun Bertram:
Arriving in Atlantic City yesterday at 17:00 we completed the first leg of our American tour in the circumnavigation. It was a chilly day, but the sailing could not have been better. 13 hours of perfect winds with an average around 8-9 knots all the way down the coast. As we would do our usual "high points versus low points of the day" in the crew mess for dinner, the atmosphere was ambivalent. On one hand it was hard not to think about this being our last sail together, but it was just such a fantastic day in the company of this amazing crew.
Today the plan for Oceans of Hope consists mainly of cleaning her inside-out and checking up on a couple of technical features such as the furling gear on the forestays and the track for the mainsail up the mast. Later we will go out for dinner and celebrate the current crew on their last night on board Oceans of Hope.
Local time on board is 10:10 and our current position is 39°37'834N 74°42'776W