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Widago - Bermuda-Azores Start



We left the Parrish of St. George's Bermuda this morning with beautiful weather, five souls on board, and way too many cinnamon buns. For the non-rally readers: each leg of our journey cruising with the ARC is done in spirit of friendly competition. This means winners get booze & bragging rights. The vessels are divided into different classes according to size & number of hulls. The start of each leg is staggered by class so as not to increase the ensuing mayhem. Today, Multi-hulls were set to go off at 11:00, followed by the monohull classes in five minute increments. The St. George's Harbor was chalk full of bustling boats, each shaking out their sails and jockeying for the best position at the start. With just a few shy of 40 vessels, plus the regular traffic, it was the tightest maneuvering WIDAGO has encountered. So with less than thirty minutes to the starting horn, and boats warming like angry hornets, Ahab decided it would be a good time to go below decks to "get comfy" with a hot steamy shower.

"Ummm, I'm sorry," I queried, "Did you just say you needed to go take a shower?"
"Yeah," replied Ahab. "I got the wheel locked. Just spin it around if anyone gets too close."

Perhaps it was the quizzical expression on my face, or just maybe the hand gestures, but Ahab quickly came to his senses that indeed a shower was unnecessary only thirty minutes after the leaving the docks on a two week passage.

The start was otherwise easy. Seeing all the boats squeeze through narrow cut - perhaps not more than 100 meters wide, was beautiful. We left to waving residents and ARC Rally Yellow Shirts against the beautiful limestone bluffs of the island. Brightly colored spinnakers, CodeZeroes, and Para-sailors could been seen all about.

Many thanks to the ARC team for a great visit and program in Bermuda. We look forward to coming back.

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