Tom McDonagh

@tommcdonagh

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sv RedShift

East Greenwich

We purchased our new to us Tayana37 and rebuilt her throughout the pandemic. Retired July 2023 for cruising the Atlantic coast as we prepare for a transatlantic crossing in 2025

In Norfolk to take care of some business before heading back to the boat in the Abacos. Then we make tracks north! Check out this cool ship in a bottle Daniel Reilly made for me. Check him out on SeaPeople. @idlewild

Norfolk, Norfolk County, VA, USA • Apr 19, 2025

Some say you can buy a new 2-stroke outboard in Marsh Harbor. So far, I am oh-42. Many of the shops were destroyed and never reopened. No selection at the car parts store and National Marine closes @ 2pm. So, I’ll give it a shot tomorrow. The motor from Lynyard Cay was twisty and turns and has a different vibe when compared to the Exumas or Eluethera I hear the Jib Room is the place for dinner and drinks!

Marsh Harbour, Bahamas • Apr 7, 2025

Distance

19.2nm

Avg. speed

5.7kts

Duration

3h 20m

Looking for an Outboard

Farewell Eluethera, Hello Abacos!

Lynyard Cay, Bahamas • Apr 7, 2025

Distance

52.5nm

Avg. speed

5.4kts

Duration

9h 41m

Too much of a good thing is the old adage? I enjoyed my stay in Eluethera but left plenty to discover on our next trip south. I was thinking the Abacos trip was going to be a quick drive by but Mother Nature is thinking differently. Let’s find out what the big deal is with the Abacos, shall we? Near perfect beam reach run from Spanish Wells to Little Harbor Cut. The old girl was rolling from beam to beam with the heavy swells rolling in from the east. I was planning to go through the North Bar Channel but all the cool kids were making tracks for Little Harbor. Anchored off Lynyard Cay in 17’ of water with wind rising from the south. Time for the anchor alarm to earn its keep.

It’s amazing how different 8.3 miles can be.

Bahamas • Mar 31, 2025

Distance

8.2nm

Avg. speed

4.7kts

Duration

1h 46m

Repositioned after a truly restful evening off Current Settlement. I went from 10-12 Knots true to about 20 knots in a mile or so. All in the right directions I might add. The south anchorage at Spanish Wells was fairly open but rocking and rolling. I dropped in 9’ and put out 90’ of chain and followed up with 20’ of 3/4 nylon as a snubber. The wind has moderated a bit and luckily 1 foot swells do not bother good, old Redshift.

Tired of waiting for perfect conditions

Bahamas • Mar 31, 2025

Distance

50.9nm

Avg. speed

5.3kts

Duration

9h 32m

It’s time to head home. It is pretty clear 50 mile jaunts will take me forever to get home. I hope to jump from Marsh Harbor into the stream in the next week or so. I took advantage of the winds from the east to make a pretty straight shot to Current Cut from Rock Sound. It was a bit lumpy and rolly at times but overall a beautiful 50 mile deep broad reach. Current Cut was thankfully uneventful even though I arrived somewhat late. The Current Settlement anchorage to the west of the cut is one of my favorites with an east wind. The skies were perfect for viewing after the thunderstorms throughout the day seems to settle the skies. I slept like a baby with two anchor alarms on watch. Spanish wells is in my sights today.

Long passage but some of the best sailing in the Bahamas

Rock Sounda, Bahamas • Mar 23, 2025

Distance

73.3nm

Avg. speed

2.3kts

Duration

1d 8h 31m

Decided to break from the Exumas for Rock Sound. Weather suggested it might be a beam reach but ended on the nose all day. The close hauled sailing was great with a reef in the main to flatten her out then another as the wind piped up through 18 knots. I did motor through Davis Channel all the way to RS as the wind was one the nose and I was done for the day.

Beautiful day for run up the Exuma Sound

Bahamas • Mar 21, 2025

Distance

26.3nm

Avg. speed

4.6kts

Duration

5h 41m

I Splurged and stopped at the Marina at Emerald Bay. Nice folks but there was a significant surge bouncing around the marina. I thought I figured out how to back my drunkin elephant of a boat. Well that did not happen. I was lucky I did not crease any expensive yachts. Seas were near flat so I raised the main and unfurled the Yankee. I had 7-10 knots anywhere from SW to NW. I trimmed the sail for 50 degrees apparently and set the autopilot windhold. It was a fun ride up to Rudder Cut Cay. My course oscillated with the wind. I thought I timed slack tide but found about 2 knots against me. Dropped anchor is 9 feet of water ML and put out 90 feet of chain as we may have gusts to 15 knots. Overall, nailed it today and nobody got hurt.

I set an artificial goal to cross the TofC this winter and went out of my way to cross. It’s time to start heading north! I’ll mosey my way north to the Abacos then jump for the USA.

Great Exuma Island, Bahamas • Mar 19, 2025

Distance

27.3nm

Avg. speed

5.1kts

Duration

5h 21m

Tropic of Cancer? Check!

Bahamas • Mar 15, 2025

Distance

99.1nm

Avg. speed

4.5kts

Duration

21h 53m

Afternoon trip

Warderick Wells Cay, Bahamas • Mar 13, 2025

Distance

19.1nm

Avg. speed

6kts

Duration

3h 10m

Evening trip

I tend to go from one extreme to the other. Leaf Cay was an idyllic quiet island with pink iguanas. Now I am in the hubbub of Georgetown. It is time to reprovision and take care of some business. Do I continue south to the Tropic of Cancer?

Bahamas • Mar 12, 2025

Distance

28.3nm

Avg. speed

5kts

Duration

5h 40m

As far as I go?

Big Major Cay, Bahamas • Mar 15, 2025

Distance

17.5nm

Avg. speed

5.3kts

Duration

3h 18m

Morning trip

All hunkered down for the next blow

Bahamas • Mar 9, 2025

Distance

8.9nm

Avg. speed

5.3kts

Duration

1h 42m

Easy motor with no wind to leaf Cay. The current was still strong (2 knots) 1 hour before slack exiting Rudder Cut. Rudder Cut Cay was a nice stopover after the Staniel Cay Madness.

Met up with my friend Tom.

Bahamas • Mar 9, 2025

Distance

38.8nm

Avg. speed

6.9kts

Duration

5h 35m

Headed north

Sure seems to be getting more crowded as I head further south. I am guess that will change once we get past Georgetown.

Bahamas • Mar 8, 2025

Distance

25.3nm

Avg. speed

5.3kts

Duration

4h 49m

Change of plans

Maybe we will have better weather now that I have moved.

Staniel Cay, Bahamas • Mar 7, 2025

Distance

18.8nm

Avg. speed

4.1kts

Duration

4h 35m

Back to civilization to get a beer. Warderick wells was awesome but the weather made it tough to enjoy. Hopefully Staniel Cay will dole out better weather.

Quick shot back up to Rollesville

Bahamas • Feb 24, 2025

Distance

27.3nm

Avg. speed

5.1kts

Duration

5h 19m

I guess this boat was not big enough for the both of us

Rock Sounda, Bahamas • Feb 22, 2025

Distance

14.7nm

Avg. speed

5.5kts

Duration

2h 42m

Family emergency cut our plans short and now without my co-captain! I guess I will get some more experience single handing this beast. You may want to read that as stay clear when anchoring near svRedshift!

Found a wonderful little marina to recharge the batteries

Bahamas • Feb 20, 2025

Distance

24.6nm

Avg. speed

4.9kts

Duration

5h 1m

Staging for the crossing to Cat Island to meet good friends. Cute little marina that can handle just about any boat. $1.9/foot and $10 for water. Nice people. Don’t let the approach scare you. It is worth it.

The weather has been so fickle of late we have largely motored. Fair light winds accompanied us on our journey to Rock Sound. Recovering from food poisoning, we did not go ashore. We hope to explore and reprovision today

Rock Sounda, Bahamas • Feb 18, 2025

Distance

37.1nm

Avg. speed

5.8kts

Duration

6h 24m

Enjoyed motor sailing!

Made our way through the infamous old current cut at 1.5 hours after Nassau high tide. It was a quick motor dead into the wind. Hatchet Bay hopes to be a honeyhole as we are expecting gust to 20+ knots.

Hatchet Bay, Bahamas • Feb 14, 2025

Distance

19.2nm

Avg. speed

5kts

Duration

3h 52m

Anchored for a blow

Meant to head to Hatchett Bay but the Current Cay anchorage was too nice

Bahamas • Feb 13, 2025

Distance

10.5nm

Avg. speed

4.8kts

Duration

2h 13m

We dropped anchor to wait out the current. Decided to stay! We rowed in and walked about Current Settlement. Quiet village with little infrastructure. Post office open two days a week. Library closed with no foreseeable date of reopening. Small convenience store that we missed as we walked right by it. Met a group of Canadians that have been returning for the past 40 years. The locals are beautiful people. No, really beautiful. Great smiles and manners!

Repositioning for supplies

Bahamas • Feb 10, 2025

Distance

7.3nm

Avg. speed

4.1kts

Duration

1h 48m

Getting the heck out of the Berrys!

Royal Island, Bahamas • Feb 9, 2025

Distance

47.6nm

Avg. speed

5.7kts

Duration

8h 18m

It was fun while it lasted. We are set to explore the Eleutheras. We picked the calmest day to motor the distance between Little Harbor Cay and Royal Island.

Moving to stage for Spanish Wells

Bahamas • Feb 9, 2025

Distance

20.1nm

Avg. speed

1.3kts

Duration

15h 32m

An easy run down to Little Harbor Cay. We enjoyed dinghying to Flo’s for beers and Conch Fritters. Lots of giant starfish and sea turtles!

We enjoyed the check in process of checking in through Great Harbor Cay Marina. We watered and rested, now off to an idyllic anchorage.

Bahamas • Feb 4, 2025

Distance

18.3nm

Avg. speed

5.7kts

Duration

3h 12m

Back to Nature

Let’s make our way to Bahamas. Shall we!

Bahamas • Feb 2, 2025

Distance

135.1nm

Avg. speed

5.3kts

Duration

1d 1h 43m

After two attempts, we have arrived. Ask about our journey.

With this strong south mind, it was too rough to start our journey east. We will wait till the winds begin to drop

Lake Worth, Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, FL, USA • Jan 31, 2025

Distance

3.4nm

Avg. speed

4.1kts

Duration

50m

Testing the waters

With the last offshore I saw a lot of play and heard a lot of grinding from my steering system. I was pretty anxious to be sure. We made it safely to West Palm Beach and contacted Cracker Boy Boat Yard. They connected me with Ben to check out the complete system. So far, I think we are on track for being back in the water in 7 days or so. Think positive thoughts!

Riviera Beach, FL, USA • Jan 15, 2025

Distance

2nm

Avg. speed

1.6kts

Duration

1h 18m

Trip to Cracker Boy

A little mix of everything

Palm Beach, FL, USA • Jan 14, 2025

Distance

253.4nm

Avg. speed

4.2kts

Duration

2d 12h 55m

Weighing anchor at the plantation had us cover a very interesting portion of the ICW. We were able to view many cookie cutter expensive homes with manicured waterfronts. It’s definitely a path we rejected and prefer to spend time out on our boat traveling over what we witnessed. We cruised through St Augustine passing an old friend as he anchored on his classic Tayana37. The remainder of our time was spent motor-sailing to West Palm Beach. The dichotomy of lifestyles is clearly evident here also. I cannot wait to point our bow eastward toward the Bahamas. A different contrast will be evident I am sure as we mingle amongst the natives.

Finding a hide-di-hole for the night

Northside, Jacksonville, FL, USA • Jan 11, 2025

Distance

17nm

Avg. speed

4kts

Duration

4h 18m

After a long run from Charleston we needed a spot with protection from the south and west. Well, we did get half of the equation correct. We aggressively anchored with 120 feet of chain in a small anchorage just off Kingsley plantation just south of Fernadino Harbor. We had a very quiet night till the wind shifted to the west. The boat shifted with the changing wind direction and setting current. That was our queue to get a move on! Anchor came up with a nice hard packed mud with little chain cleaning required! All and all, sleep was just what the doctor ordered.

Picked ourselves up and kicked some ocean butt

Fernandina Beach, FL 32034, USA • Jan 10, 2025

Distance

161.1nm

Avg. speed

5.8kts

Duration

1d 3h 37m

The weather was better than expected and out the old girl to the test. Set all the laundry and had her doing over 8 knots at times. The wind came around to out stern and it was all downwind sailing. That is the worst point of sail for the Tayana37. We slogged between 4.5 and 6 knots through most of the night. The wind failed us and with a big blow working, we enticed the iron Jenny to bring home the last of the ride. 4 hour on, 4 hour off worked pretty well for us.

One step forward, half step back.

Charleston, SC, USA • Jan 9, 2025

Distance

193.8nm

Avg. speed

5.9kts

Duration

1d 8h 55m

Great sail but weather got in the way

Cold start to a long day down the icw

Carolina Beach, NC 28428, USA • Jan 6, 2025

Distance

44.2nm

Avg. speed

4.9kts

Duration

9h 3m

Woke up to icy cold conditions at Mile Hammock Bay, NC. Just fired up the iron Jenny and pounded our way to Carolina Beach.

Can’t go a day without some drama

Onslow County, NC, USA • Jan 4, 2025

Distance

37.2nm

Avg. speed

5.5kts

Duration

6h 44m

Started out with wind and current conspiring to pin us against 2 pilings. With our 80 foot ship line we were able to pry this old girl off and get her facing into the wind and water. Local mariners were very helpful. In hindsight, we should have pivoted the boat using spring lines We also ran aground a few times due to shoaling, once hard. It took some concerted effort to pry us off. Thank the goddesses for a 57hp engine. It was cold setting the hook, where we dragged in loose mud. Only the third held firm at 2000 rpm. The Antarctic heater is fired up and we expect temps to drop to the high 20’s in southern North Carolina. Getting south is a priority but I am anxious as I move into unfamiliar territory.

Dolphins, Pelicans and running aground on the ICW

Beaufort, NC 28516, USA • Jan 2, 2025

Distance

21nm

Avg. speed

4.9kts

Duration

4h 16m

Had a great stay in Oriental. Very nice people we found. Decided to lay low in Beaufort as a big low is moving in. We hope everyone stays safe along the eastern seaboard!

Oriental, NC 28571, USA • Jan 2, 2025

Distance

48.3nm

Avg. speed

3.3kts

Duration

14h 29m

Saw 35 knots of wind

Pushed too hard or left too late?

Hyde County, NC, USA • Jan 1, 2025

Distance

60.3nm

Avg. speed

5.5kts

Duration

10h 53m

I guess we should have left by 7:30am. Between relaxing with coffee and spending 1/2 hour cleaning the mucky chain, we ended up leaving an hour late. The last hour of our trip through the Pungo alligator canal was in the dark. We found a nice anchorage with protection from the south through west. New Years Eve on Redshift!

Great day to get back on the water and making our way south! Very little traffic other than two barges that preferred go 2 rather than 1. Just a beautiful way to start our migration south.

Camden County, NC, USA • Dec 30, 2024

Distance

44.1nm

Avg. speed

5.6kts

Duration

7h 53m

Broad creek is broad!

Great Hurricane hole to hole up. They can repair any and all damage generated by the passage south. We will be using their services! Come on by and say hello. We are berthed in Sailboat Alley behind shed two!

Butts Station, Chesapeake, VA 23322, USA • Oct 4, 2024

Distance

10.2nm

Avg. speed

2.4kts

Duration

4h 14m

Almost home sweet home.

Dang, that was a run! One for our record book. Broke tons of stuff and was genuinely scared.

Portsmouth, VA, USA • Oct 4, 2024

Distance

406.8nm

Avg. speed

5.5kts

Duration

3d 2h 30m

A beautiful run around Prudence

East Greenwich, RI 02818, USA • Sep 15, 2024

Distance

30.8nm

Avg. speed

4.3kts

Duration

7h 11m

Took an old friend out for an afternoon sail. Near perfect conditions. Also includes a snack run to the local grocery store.

Greenwich Cove to Potter Cove

Portsmouth, RI, USA • Sep 8, 2024

Distance

3.6nm

Avg. speed

3.4kts

Duration

1h 4m

Cool wind from the west made it an easy beam reach. We picked up an empty mooring for the night. Hopefully, owner does not arrive home tonight.

Bittersweet return after our near perfect trip to Maine. Lots of great memories and we learned a lot about ourselves and the boat.

East Greenwich, RI 02818, USA • Aug 16, 2024

Distance

40nm

Avg. speed

5.2kts

Duration

7h 44m

Home Sweet Home

Buddy boating with a salty Captain

Cuttyhunk, Gosnold, MA 02713, USA • Aug 14, 2024

Distance

18.6nm

Avg. speed

5.4kts

Duration

3h 27m

Vineyard Haven to Cuttyhunk involved some new experiences for us. Traversing Quicks Hole (and Woods Hole) can be a bit stressful but with proper planning, it generally goes smoothly. We are buddyboating with another friend as his motor is acting up. We are anxious to get home but welcome a slowdown over the past week.

Keying in on Predictwind, we figured we would have leisurely run to Gloucester from Boothbay area. To our surprise, the wind continued to build and shift from west to NW with sustained winds of 20 knots plus. While having so much fun and knowing sailing conditions such as this is rare, we opted to skip Biddeford, Portsmouth or Gloucester and drive for the Cape Cod Canal. We were lucky enough to hit the latter half of the ebbing current. On the western end of Buzzards Bay is where the wind failed us. Cuttyhunk or Martha’s Vineyard were both a motor jaunt, so we flipped a coin.

Vineyard Haven, Tisbury, MA 02568, USA • Aug 13, 2024

Distance

174nm

Avg. speed

5.4kts

Duration

1d 8h 3m

Quite the Sleighride!

Sail to the birthplace of the Friendship Sloop

Boothbay, ME, USA • Aug 11, 2024

Distance

37.2nm

Avg. speed

5.2kts

Duration

7h 8m

Splurged on a mooring at the famous Paul Luke boatyard. Spied anchorages and storm holes for future trips east as we made our way west. We knocked off ~40 miles toward home. Sorry to be one of the first to retreat from downEast Maine.

Made a leisurely sail of it from Winter Harbor to Rockland making notes to make sure we hit these spots in the future. It was great to know we had a secure mooring to ride out the coming storm. Thanks Dennis!

Rockland, ME, USA • Aug 9, 2024

Distance

27.4nm

Avg. speed

0.9kts

Duration

1d 4h 49m

Running for cover!

Well, we had wind on the nose the whole trip. Beautiful sunny day but with the west wind came a chill. We are grumpy knowing our time is short. So we dropped anchor in our happy place, Winter harbor. We don’t see a good opportunity to sail for the next week west so may have to do short motoring jumps for the near future.

Vinalhaven, ME, USA • Aug 7, 2024

Distance

12.2nm

Avg. speed

3.6kts

Duration

3h 26m

Paying the piper

East or West which direction would you take?

Stonington, ME 04681, USA • Aug 7, 2024

Distance

13.6nm

Avg. speed

0.7kts

Duration

20h 14m

For whatever reason we always seem to be swimming against the tide. A few days ago, we made the difficult decision to head home. A refit for Redshift and Laura’s busy work season is upon us. As we head west, we are finding more and more boats heading east. We left Frenchboro where we noted some beautiful boats and met friendly people. It was a bittersweet destination as the winter played havoc with the island people and infrastructure. We decided to run through Burnt Coat harbor and the situation could not be more different. Many boaters enjoying the beautiful harbor and facilities. We did not go ashore so cannot comment on life ashore. We dropped anchor in the beautiful quiet anchorage of Round Island between Round and McGlathery Islands. We shared the space with another sailboat and a motor cruiser. We dropped anchor in 23 feet at high tide expecting an 8 foot tide range. McGlathery hosts some of the best hiking trails of the Maine Islands. Beautiful quiet night with some minor rocking in the morning from lobstermen plying their trade. We will return!

She is a great old girl but she hates to go to weather

Frenchboro, ME, USA • Aug 5, 2024

Distance

27.1nm

Avg. speed

3kts

Duration

9h 4m

Laura loves to sail. She also hates to motor. Maybe your partner is the same. I personally am a destination kind of guy unless it’s champagne sailing. We dropped the mooring in Winter Harbor at around 10am with a light north wind. That dropped off quick. We wrestled for the next 4 hours to make it halfway to Frenchboro Island. We reluctantly threw in the towel and motored between great duck and little duck island. We pulled into Frenchboro Island Lunt harbor just in time to pickup the last mooring. We took a nice walk around town before we settled down for a a sundowner. It was a lot of work to sail 20 freaking miles!

Winter Harbor, ME, USA • Aug 5, 2024

Distance

27.9nm

Avg. speed

1.1kts

Duration

1d 17m

Motoring in the Rain

Rogue to Dyer NE Cove with a Mistake in the middle

Harrington, ME, USA • Aug 2, 2024

Distance

23.4nm

Avg. speed

4.8kts

Duration

4h 53m

Well, it’s that time to head south with Roque Island being the farthest east for us this year. Our first night heading west was to be Mistake Island. Obviously, folks did not get the memo as SOMEONE was anchored in our spot! We did not want to crowd the other boats so we decided to check out Dyer Island NE cove. With winds topping 16 knots overnight, we wanted a spot that might cut the wind down a bit. It turned out to be a beautiful little cove with good protection from the from the south thru the NW. our first attempt at anchoring in 15 feet of water dragged a bit with thick mud coming up with the anchor. We deployed again in 11’ of water at low tide. Paying out 80’ of chain and another 15’ of snubber will hopefully keep us tight. Stay tuned!

Roque or Rogue Island? We are going with Rogue

Jonesport, ME, USA • Jul 31, 2024

Distance

22.9nm

Avg. speed

4.1kts

Duration

5h 36m

Nice sail from Trafton island to Lakeman Harbor. Very quiet as most boats elected to anchor at the beach. Anchor set in 13 feet of water at low +1hr. Wind may blow Tonight so another watch night.

Sporty beam reach from MDI to Trafton Island

Harrington, ME, USA • Jul 30, 2024

Distance

20nm

Avg. speed

4.6kts

Duration

4h 20m

Nice run from MDI to Trafton. Winds all over the place from 7 to 20 knots. A late start had us thinking about pouring a nightcap around 6:30pm. Maybe not the best protection from projected 30 knot gusts tonight so I’ll sleep with one eye open tonight. Maybe we should have stayed on a mooring for the next few days, but, Summer is half over and it will take us that long to get back to RI!

Into NE Harbor for a provisioning run! Need anything?

Mt Desert, ME, USA • Jul 28, 2024

Distance

2.3nm

Avg. speed

3.1kts

Duration

45m

Provisioning time

Just messing about on an old boat

Cranberry Isles, ME, USA • Jul 27, 2024

Distance

7.8nm

Avg. speed

2.5kts

Duration

3h 11m

The Commodore wanted to beat down the sound so that’s what we did. I got a great workout with all the tacks. Anchored off Little Cranberry Island for the night. Hopefully a quiet night.

Took the jaunt up to Somerville to procure propane from what appears to be the only spot on the island that fills tanks. I called ahead to make sure they could help me. We dropped anchor in the somewhat crowded out anchorage. I prepped the dingy and made the slog to Freshies, a gas station convenience store that fills tanks. When I arrived, I was told no one was available to fill my tank. Needless to say I was somewhat dissapointed.

Mt Desert, ME, USA • Jul 27, 2024

Distance

7.6nm

Avg. speed

2kts

Duration

3h 53m

In search of…

Perfect day to make the trip to Southwest Harbor. Motorsailed with the headsail.

Southwest Harbor, ME, USA • Jul 26, 2024

Distance

30.4nm

Avg. speed

5.1kts

Duration

5h 54m

End of peace and quiet