Libeccio - We are off the docks!

We are very pleased to report that Libeccio and her crew left the comfort of Rodney Bay Marina at noon today and have, finally, started our first passage of the World ARC!

Our crew mates for this leg, Bill and Marianne, were delayed due to the snow storm that paralyzed the NY area. While they arrived late yesterday afternoon on St Lucia, their luggage was not so fortunate and so they had to go out and purchase everything for the trip. There was a little delay today as Marianne was scouring the shops of Rodney Bay (remember it is a Sunday) for, shall we say, underclothing. Otherwise, once we had filled up with fuel and checked out we were very happy to get on our way.

The day has been brilliant so far. Winds out of the East, perhaps a little south of East, ranging from 18 - 25kn and seas that are 1 - 2 meters have allowed us to make some pretty good west-ing, although not as direct a route as we would like. With the seas behind us (Jane nor I can remember the last time that this happened!) we have hit a lofty 12.3kn for about a nano-second while surfing down a wave. Average speed has been mid- 7 knots which is pretty good going for us. We have reefs in both our main and our genoa, just to be on the safe side.

One thing that is new for us with the WARC is the twice daily net. For those of you unfamiliar with a Net, this is where everyone on the WARC tunes their SSB (single side band)radios to an agreed upon frequency and a Net Controller coordinates a programme where each of the participants provides their position, whether they have had any problems or not and any other interesting information. In last nights net, we learnt that a few boats on the fleet had been adversely affected by some of the squalls passing through. We are looking forward to tonight's net for a catch up with the fleet.

Dinner this evening is a very healthy chicken and avacado salad (maybe with a couple bits of bacon thrown in)- the chicken could be prepared in advance and its easy to put together if the seas were busy.

It looks like it is going to be a pleasant sunset.

We hope you all have had an enjoyable day!

The crew of Libeccio.