We are just about as ready as we will ever be. We’ve been cleaning and doing laundry, touching up caulking, lashing the drogue and parachute anchor to the deck, and stowing all loose items. We’ve put new 80lb test line on our fishing rod, and I’m determined we will not be skunked this time across the Atlantic! We’ve received deliveries from the butcher, the produce stall at the market, and the supermarket. We have fruit hanging from nets in the main saloon and have stowed all the provisions. For the next three weeks, instead of going to the market, I’ll just go to the port side cabin lockers to get fresh eggs, milk, snacks - you name it, we’ve probably got it. We’ve reviewed emergency procedures and checked our pfd life jackets to make sure everything is in working order. We’ve planned the watch schedule for our four crew, and will be doing 2 hour watches 3 times a day. It should be interesting since we will stay on UTC time all the way across, but we’ll start gaining an hour every 5 or 6 days. That means at the beginning of the trip, the 7-9pm watch will be in darkness, but after about a week, it will be light in the beginning of the watch, and then daylight for the entire watch by the time we arrive in the Caribbean. We’ve tested the SSB and the VHF and have our frequencies programmed for the Net, a daily chat with boats in the fleet who report positions, weather, and if they’ve caught fish or other exciting news. I’m looking forward to being the Duty Net Controller on a few days of our passage across the Atlantic. I think most of the other Net Controllers are British, and they all have wonderful British accents. I hope they understand this Texas girl when I do roll call for the fleet!
Charles and I are looking forward to this trip with our friends from England who are joining us as crew. Tracy and Keith are easygoing and lots of fun and are sailors themselves, Keith having logged MANY miles in ocean sailing and racing. By the end of this trip, I’ll know how to make a proper cup of tea!
The weather looks good for our start tomorrow - moderate NE winds and sunny skies at the start time. It’s raining now, but the fresh water will clean the deck before we set off. We will be heading south toward the Cape Verde Islands before making our turn west. We want to be well into the established trade winds before we turn west so that hopefully we will have more consistent winds for the trip.
Stay tuned!
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