It's a new dawn, it's a new day and the crews are feeling good! Day 5 at sea and by now those on the leg to the BVIs have shaken off their 'landlegs', are well into their watch rotations and have settled into life at sea. For those headed to the Bahamas landfall is in sight and the trappings of land will be soon upon them - wifi, hot showers and cold beverages.
As you can see from the fleet viewer the boats tend to spread out at sea. They may be out of sight of one another but often visible on AIS and also they are emailed the positions of all the boats once a day (and can request it more often if needed). For those with SSB radios there are twice daily nets where boats can relay positions, weather and any other important info (fish caught!)
We have been receiving several blogs from the boats at sea, Numada, Air Power & Galileo to mention a few, and they have also been sending in some photos. (Click here for blogs) For those of us ashore we often wonder what the crews are up to out there day in, day out on the water. It often comes down to a simple routine of eating, sleeping and going on watch, but there will be the odd moments of fun! Numada has already had to send the skipper up the mast, “Richard has done it many times before but this was his first time out at sea. Everything went well but Richard felt a bit sea sick afterwards”. |  |
The Bahamas boats have started to make landfall with English Sally already in Marsh Harbour and next to arrive is Enjoy. They will be shortly joined by Kristy Sue and English Sally, each boat timing their arrival for the daytime so as not to be approaching the channel at night. After some time to relax they will all enjoy a celebratory dinner on Sunday at Snappa’s restaurant right there in the marina.
An update on two of the rally boats: Equus, they diverted to Beaufort early on as they were having some engine trouble and vibrations. They have had mechanics onboard inspecting the transmission and a diver under the boat. They hope to be underway again soon but it depends on these repairs and a good weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. Pytheas, they contacted us a day ago and said they would be diverting to Bermuda as they have a broken bowsprit and want to refuel aswell. They hope to have a quick turnaround and be back on their way due south 850NM to Tortola.