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GEM - GEM Blog Entry - Day 0



After a one day delay due to extremely high winds and seas off of Cape Hatteras we are prepping to get underway. Jim Underwood is checking on deck to ensure nothing is left to chance. Craig Simmons is making sandwiches and thinking about dinner. My son, Jay is cleaning/polishing the bimini windows. 

Grant has just arrived from his place in Norfolk and I am penning this to you all. You can feel the excitement throughout the fleet, some boats in the Open class have left early since they are not being timed. It’s about 1 hour till we leave the dock and the crew is eager to get going. Looks like a light air day, clear blue skies, forecast is for 61. Should be a smooth start. We depart with the other multihulls at ~11:50 in the first wave. We’ll motor out to the start area which is inside the Hampton, VA bridge and then sail down the chesapeake. 

Our target is to get down the Bay and to Hatteras which is about 100 miles and enter the Gulf Stream just off Hatteras where it is the narrowest and not as strong. By this time tomorrow should be across the Gulf Stream and in warmer water and air. This is being sent via wifi, next entry likely to be from satphone. We haven’t been able to use the Iridium for data yet due to interference from the Navy yard nearby.


Later….
Vin Ratford at sea



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