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Day 5 for Tortola Fleet; Land Ho in Marsh Harbor!



It’s the start of Day 5 for the Caribbean 1500 fleet. Most of the crews will by now have their sea legs and will be firmly into the ‘philosophical middle phase,’ as I like to call it, of an ocean passage.

Moonwave, the Gunboat 60 catamaran, is leading the pack, as expected. Their carbon-fiber construction, powerful sail plan and professional crew had them as the odds-on favorites to finish first in Tortola, where Rally Staff Andy & Mia await the fleet’s arrival. Thanks to the three-day weather delay, rally staff have a much-needed extra few days to chill out in Nanny Cay!

As is usually the case in a fall passage to the Caribbean, the Gulf Stream crossing was challengeing. After a beautiful weather window to get out of the Chesapeake and offshore – 15-25 knots of wind from the N-NW – the weather began changing. As the fleet entered the Gulf Stream the wind dropped right off. Some boats popped their spinnakers and kept sailing through the light winds, while others turned to the iron genny and powered their way into the Gulf Stream. The calm didn’t last.

By early Thursday morning, an approaching cold front from the west brought high winds in the Stream as the fleet battled their way east. At least three different boats reported gusts from the SW ahead of the front in the 40s.

“As night approached, we double reefed the main and were just streaming under main and staysail in 25 to 30kts,” wrote ‘Sailaway’ and Irwin 52 ketch. “The winds continued increasing into the forties; we were flying under double reefed main sometimes seeing up to 10kts of boat speed. I don’t really like to push Sail Away this hard, but she seemed to be handling it OK and we were making some great progress toward our easterly target.”

For us back ashore, hearing reports of 40+ knots of wind, even if they’re only gusts, makes for sleepless nights thinking about the happiness of the crew onboard. We’re confident that each boat in the fleet is properly outfitted to handle it, but still, 40 knots is a real gale and can be very mentally and physically challenging. Yet they seem to be taking it in stride, at least if you can trust the log entries!

Aboard Isbjorn, Andy & Mia’s Swan 48, crewmember Walter Rush sent in the first blog, seeming to enjoy his first taste of proper ocean sailing. “Last night's cold front passing, brought with it gusts to 40 knots and bits of hail during which we reduced the genoa to the size of postage stamp,” Walter wrote. “And I got a piece of the real deal of ocean sailing!”

The frontal passage, though rough, has brought perfect conditions in its wake to the fleet, with a strong ridge of high-pressure filling in behind it, giving brisk following winds from the N-NW-NE as they head east and south. Isbjorn ran all through the night last night under spinnaker in 10-13 knots apparent wind, blasting along at 7-8.5 knots and enjoying an engineless thrill ride.

Of course it’s not all fun and game. Several boats, as you’ll have noticed, appear off course on the fleet viewer. Avanti, a Hanse 430 and perennial entry in the 1500, was forced to divert to Bermuda, siting rudder bearing issues, and should safely be in port sometime today (Sunday). Resolution, at the back of the fleet (a custom 50+-foot steel ketch), experienced steering problems before ever exiting the Chesapeake and was forced to anchor to enact repairs. They managed, and got back to sea the next day, but are lagging behind the fleet. Big Frisky, all the way at the back, never departed until yesterday. Kurt and Pam on their Outbound 46 blew their engine a few days prior to the start and were forced to remain in Portsmouth waiting on parts and enacting their own repair. We received a message from them yesterday that all is well and they are heading to sea. “We look forward to meeting you in Tortola for our rum punch!” they wrote enthusiastically.

Geronimo was forced to retire from the rally, returning to Annapolis with as-yet-unknown issues.
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While the Tortola fleet continues to fly towards Tortola, the Bahamas fleet has mostly made landfall by now, at least the multihulls.

“Libelle and Blues Traveler are safely in Marsh Harbor,” wrote J/World Annapolis’ Kristen Berry, skipper of Libelle. “We’ll be on standby to help with local knowledge for the rest of the fleet arriving outside Man-O-War inlet.”

We expect Traveling Light to make their landfall sometime today (if they haven’t already). Encore looks to be the first monohull to make it to Marsh Harbor, while Jubilee and Satori are bringing up the rear.
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Follow the fleet on the YB Tracking page at carib1500.com and don’t miss the boat logs being sent in from at-sea!

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