As the front of the fleet nears Tortola and Nanny Cay Marina, the last of the fleet that missed last Saturday's start are putting to sea from Hampton. "We found a 4th crew member at the last minute," said Jeremy and Jamie from Miramar, the Tayana 37 that's been undergoing repairs in Little Creek. "So we're all set for a Friday morning departure!" Jeremy and Jamie were excited to be underway, and happy that they'd discovered some last-minute problems on the boat while the still had the chance to fix them. An improperly installed bilge pump system was siphoning water into their bilge when they first departed with the fleet last weekend. Thankfully they noticed it before heading to sea. "There was no siphon-break loop built into the system," Jeremy explained. "We noticed all this water in the bilge with the following sea, and spend the better part of this week re-engineering the bilge hoses." Only a day before the start last weekend, Miramar had decided to switch to the ARC Bahamas fleet. Now, however, with the boat seaworthy again, they're back on track for a landfall in the BVI, the goal from the outset. Blu Dog II, the big Hylas 54, also plans to depart today around noon. With the nor'easter on its way to Canada, the weather is clear and Patrick and his crew are ready to put to sea. Blu Dog II suffered a setback of their own last Friday when a short-circuit nearly caused a fire in the engine room. A crew member noticed an odd smell and caught the problem before any damage could be done. With local repair resources on-hand, Patrick and his crew left to do some sight-seeing in the surrounding countryside before returning to the boat a few days ago. "We're off at noon tomorrow!" he said yesterday. The ARC Bahamas fleet that staged in Beaufort is also getting underway today. T'ai Chi underwent repairs to their fuel system, and after being towed into the inlet at Beaufort, are not underway on their own once more and bound for Green Turtle Cay with Turbo's Tub - who caught up to them via the ICW - close behind. Irish Rover has been ambling down the coast on their own, trying to catch Susie Q and Mariannina, who both decided to make a run straight for the islands rather than wait in Beaufort. They ought to be in - are nearly so - to the Abacos this morning. In the BVI fleet, Jeremi from Avanti checked in via sat phone with the rally office this morning. "We had a pretty incredibly experience last night," he said. Avanti was apparently caught in a whirlpool current for 3-4 hours he explained. "Inside this hole the water was flat! The compass was spinning faster than I could turn the wheel!" With genoa flying and the engine running hot, they finally managed to get back into stable water. Jeremi writes off the incident as being in the Bermuda Triangle. "Look at the GPS track! I've never experienced anything like it." The rest of the fleet is reporting fine ocean sailing and lots of fish on the hook. Several boats recorded Mahi Mahi for dinner, and everyone finally seems to be over their first few days of jitters. "Our shift schedules have changed a bit after my wife Ginny and daughter Ellie (9) recovered from seasickness early on in the trip," wrote skipper Rob from Helia, the only family boat in the fleet this year. "Although Ginny and I are still keeping to the 3 hours on - 3 hours off, Ginny takes her watch in the cockpit and then immediately rests on the settee down below, especially between 6pm and when the moon rises each night providing better visibility/perspective," he continued. "Hannah and Mia did a shift last night from 6-9 PM at hull speed while I napped in the quarter berth right by the companionway. Hannah tracked the apparent wind angle, the rudder angle and the heading on the instruments after we had discussed boundaries for each. She said it felt a bit like a ride on Space Mountain!" As the fleet continues south and gets the sea legs, the logs have been flooding in to the website. Stay tuned on worldcruising.com/carib1500 to follow them, and check back often on our facebook.com/carib1500 page for real-time updates from the yachts, the Rally Office and people watching at home. |