May 4th - the actual starting day for the Rally and we were seeing Bermuda. It was around 2200 on the 3rd when we starting seeing the lights from Bermuda so we slowed down in order to time our entrance to St. Georges Harbor at daybreak. We ended up getting into the Harbour at 0745 and then waited our turn to go to the customs dock. The decision was made to drop our anchor over closer to the dinghy club as that is where the rally events will be. Anchor down, boat secure - time to head to town!
Since we have been on a boat for the last week we were in need of a nice walk. We set off and before long we had walked most of the town! Very quaint - narrow cobblestone roads. Pastel houses and the most beautiful water you can imagine. A breathtaking teal blue - so clean and clear.
The only drawback to Bermuda is the expense. Prices for most common items is about double what you will pay in the US. Fortunately, we were prepared for that so we provisioned heavily before we left. The wind is forecast to blow hard tonight - we had arrived in port just in time. So after stretching our legs we headed to the grocery and then back to the boat for a good meal. Since we are so far ahead of the rest of the rally boats we will have plenty of time to explore Bermuda - no downside there!!
By Wednesday we were all starting to adjust to life at sea. Still really tired but starting to feel a bit better. As expected a high pressure system settled in and the wind died off to nothing. At about 0330 Matt and Michael started the engine as our speed had really dropped off. In the end we took down the genoa and staysail but left the mainsail up for some stability. It is a beautiful sunny day. Since the seas are so calm the guys decided to jump off for a little swim. I stayed on board and kept an eye out for sharks. Sharks can hear you in the water when they are over 2 football fields away. Fortunately we saw no sharks. The guys did not tempt the sharks too much by swimming around the boat - just a quick dip- in and out.
What we are seeing is alot of Portuguese Man of War. At first we thought they were plastic bottles but Matt finally had enough sense to look with the binoculars. There is a fair amount of sargasso weed and the Portuguese Man of War seem to be floating on top of the grass. Ben also took advantage of the calm day and flew his drone for a bit. He got some really good shots of the boat. Even though everyone pretty much got caught up on sleep today we decided to change up the watch schedule to 6 hour/ 2 person staggered watches. We will see how everyone likes the new schedule. We have been doing 4 hour/2 person staggered watches which is okay but still not enough sleep. Another perfect day!
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| Sargasso Grass | | |
For all landlubbers, a little information regarding the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream is essentially a large river that runs in the Ocean. It is a constant current that runs north and then east. And it is large - about 50 miles wide typically. The current is swift running as much as 4 knots or more in places. So... if your direction is east the Gulf Stream will push you north. It is considered a treacherous spot because in addition to the swift current the Gulf Stream is said to "make its own weather". If there is a storm at sea it will be considerably worse in the Gulf Stream. So the goal is always to cross the Gulf Stream as quickly as possible. By Tuesday the wind did shift as predicted and after about 12 hours of light wind the night before the Gulf Stream had calmed down. We had a steady W/WSW wind that was blowing at 16 to 18 knots. By 0730 Ben and I had put up the mainsail and the staysail. About 20 something miles before reaching the Gulf Stream we set out the fishing gear. We are using a Cuban YoYo rather than a fishing rod and reel. Within about 15 minutes we caught a tuna! Today is Ben's birthday and he caught the fish - so that was a nice little gift. At 1000 we entered the Gulf Stream. It is thousands of feet deep and the most beautiful sapphire blue color. At 1030 the other guys were up and we put up the genoa. We were flying along under full sail at about 7 knots. Occasionally we were seeing over 8 knots. Our degree of heel was about 10 to 15% (that is how much the boat is tipped to the side). It was a perfect warm sunny day. In the evening we had a birthday dinner for Ben. I had made a peanut butter pie the day before when he wasn't looking. So we put a candle on the pie and had a celebration. By nightfall we were out of the stream and everyone breathed a little easier. That was the nicest Gulf Stream crossing you could possibly ask for!
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| The Captain and The Crew |
The official start date for the ARC Europe Rally is May 4th. However, as things turned out we ended up being the only boat leaving from Portsmouth, Virginia. All the other boats were departing from Nanny Cay in the BVI. Therefore we were able to set our own departure date. The decision was made to depart on April 29th at the end of one low pressure system and before the beginning of another. The 4th looked horrible as far as weather - we would have been stuck in a low pressure system for days and it would have made our Gulf Stream Crossing treacherous. Our crew arrived on Saturday evening which left us one day to complete the safety briefing and make sure the crew knew where everything is on the boat. A bit of pressure as we thought we would have a few more days with Matt and Ben before departure.
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| Filling the Jerry Cans |
The goal was to reach the mouth of the Chesapeake by 1900. The trip to the mouth of the Chesapeake from Portsmouth is about 5 hours. We left our slip at 1230 and headed to the fuel dock. We thought we would have enough time to go out into the Chesapeake and practice hoving to (a protective maneuver in the event of a storm at sea). But...as it was it took 45 minutes to fuel up!! There was still a north wind which made the Chesapeake choppy and uncomfortable. The wind was due to shift by the time we reached the Gulf Stream on Tuesday but that evening the wind actually died off altogether and a dense fog settled in as we were off the coast from Cape Hatteras. Unfortunately, there was also a lot of ship traffic to go along with the fog. We could see the boats on the radar and AIS but that was it. Ships passed us by and we never saw them... we never even saw their lights! Interesting start to say the least.
