We get a little help from our friends.

I received this urgent e-mail from golf buddy Bob, who was monitoring our progress on the FIS tracking system. Noticing a problem, Bob took no chances, and immediately sent this message to Morpheus via SailMail, to my home e-mail, and left it as a comment on the Morpheus Sailing Blog.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Monitoring the Morpheus
Date: Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:02:27 -0700
From: Bob
To: Mike, Morpheus

Mike, I took a look at your progress back. Looks like you need to talk to the captain (or take over) The U.S. is off to the right. - Bob

Well, I got this message just in time. Double checking Jim's navigation procedures, I was quickly able to determine the problem. The grateful captain posted a reply to Bob as we narrowly avoided disaster and an inadvertent cruise to the Bering Sea:

Bob,
Thanks for that helpful hint!! As Mike suggested in his response to you, I WAS holding my charts sideways. Have worked that issue out now, and I think you'll see some improvement the next time you check the tracking info.

Thanks again, - Jim

UPDATE: Bob continued to monitor our progress, and a few days later reassured the rest of my worried foursome.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Mike's Journey
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:26:27 -0700
From: Bob
To: Mike
CC: Rick; Don; Roy; Dan; Mike K.


All - I sent an urgent email to Mike on the Morpheus when I noticed it looks like they were going to miss the U.S. They are headed in the right direction. What are friends for?

Track last updated Aug 11 at 2:25 PDT. /Bob

Whew. That was close.