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Adagio - Off and Running: Leg #2



Leg #2, Day 1:

Woke up and got going early. We left our spot, rafted up at the City Dock, and, expecting a big line-up, motored over to the City fuel dock to top the water and fuel tanks. We were pleased that it was open and vacant and we came right in. Water and fuel cost about the same (not really, but it's cool to say) and as I was paying our tab I had one last look around the store with that particular sense of "what on earth could I possibly be forgetting?" and finally decided that a bottle of orange juice might be nice to start the day :)
Motoring away from the last fuel and water and supply dock we would see for 1,800 nautical miles sure puts a feeling of anticipation in you. "Is everything ready?", "Will everything behave and work and come together on the boat?", "Are WE ready??" As a "yes" came to my mind about those things that I thought most important we dropped anchor to wait for the rally start and began double-checking some things. Conclusion:?? We are ready! and excited!!

Hauling up the anchor about 15 minutes prior to the starting horn we were in position to cross the start line at (ok, close to...) our 11:05 starting time. From there, the Town Cut lay ahead and then a lot of open water.

I almost wish I weren't at the helm as we started out from St. George's Harbor. There were so many cool things to see and some great pictures to be taken that I ~almost~ regretted not being able to stand on deck, take in the sweeping views and cheering onlookers (you know who you are :) and capture some good photos (which I hope my crew members did!) But I was busy. This was a very, very cool rally start. All the boats gathered in the harbor then crossing the start line at their assigned interval and the totally awesome visual of the parade out through Town Cut. There was quite a bit of planning, yielding and watching-out-for-that-guy-who-might-tack-soon attention demand/. It was exhilarating and we all were full of anticipation about the long leg to the Azores ahead of us.
Then, we exited the channel and promptly turned ... South ("you can't control the winds, but you can adjust your sails" I've heard and the winds dictated a start to the southeast unless we were to motor straight out (which some yachts chose to do).

The forecast seemed spot on and after only a couple of hours making good boat speed, but pretty minimal speed toward out goal, we tacked and started heading Northeast ... along with most of the fleet. We gradually began turning further toward the east as the winds slowly clocked around and by morning we were able to point within a few degrees of our desired course. The winds were fairly constant and approaching 20 knots which allowed us great speed on a close reach. By evening the fleet began to spread out, but not before I managed to capture a screen shot of our AIS showing us five abreast even after about seventy-five sailing miles.

This morning I had the watch that would include getting to see the sun rise. It is with just a little bit of awe that, after three times back and forth to the Caribbean and the first leg of this rally, I still didn't quite expect the big red rising ball to show up right on the bow. We've been seeing it rise and set on one side or the other for a lot of days at seas, and when it broke the horizon dead on the nose it seemed to say to me, "now for something completely different!" as we were heading east now into the wide open Atlantic.

It's been a good first day, but we more sunrises to chase!!

Gary, Robin, Steve and Lynn
Adagio

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