Istvan and Ian on Puffin

Istvan and Ian preparing to depart for Bermuda

Saturday, May 5, 2018, 1740 hrs

NEW YORK

Hello to all of our supporters and followers! I just landed at JFK. The trip took 5 days, 22 hours dock-to-dock. We left Sunday morning (April 29) at 0930 from Oyster Bay, NY, and arrived in St. George’s, Bermuda today (May 5) at 0730. The trip was long as we were generally sailing at a leisurely pace testing and working on the boat—and we were forced to fight against an average of two (+/-) knots of adverse current all the way from the Gulf Stream to Bermuda.

Puffin at dock in Bermuda

Puffin at the dock after arriving in St. George’s, Bermuda

We were very pleased with how Puffin handled the conditions we faced and she sails very kindly with her double headsail rig. Undoubtedly the new sails we will be taking delivery of in Southampton will have a huge impact in increased boat speed. The new Selden rig performed flawlessly and sail handling was very fluid as a result.

Istvan was seemingly reconnecting with old friends as he relied on the now retro technology for the onboard ship detection system (beep, beep, beep) and the Windpilot weather vane steering system proved very reliable at holding a course once we figured out how to set it accurately and then adjust it accurately—it clearly has some real advantages over the steering system he used on his first solo circumnavigation in 1990-91.

Puffin cockpit in Bermuda

A view of Puffin’s cockpit after her arrival in Bermuda

The Wempe barometer tested very accurately against the pressure gradi

ents forecasted for, and then experienced on, our route. Istvan is looking forward to setting the Wempe Chronometer before leaving Bermuda on Monday as he will be fine-tuning his celestial navigation routine on his way to Southampton, UK.

Thanks to Istvan’s wife Eva cooking in advance, we did not have the opportunity to test the survival food rations on this trip, but Istvan will be delving into these on his way to England. You can continue to track his transatlantic journey on our homepage or at https://my.yb.tl/puffin37.

Puffin Map to Bermuda

Puffin’s journey to Bermuda (tracking points transmitted once every 12 hours)

Editor’s Note: Ian Gumprecht is Istvan’s Team Manager for the 2018 Golden Globe Race. With the start of Puffin’s journey to Europe in the run-up to the GGR, we are now transitioning our blog series from “Puffin Restoration” to “Puffin in the Golden Globe Race.”