Day 135, Monday, November 4th

Day 135, Monday, November 4th

Well today is the day for departure.  We are scheduled to depart at noon.  There is a Bahamas bound meeting at 8 am to finalize the communication and routing plans.  Greg, Julie and neighbour John Teed head to the car return place where there is a coffee shop for blogging.  Julie nips to Subway and buys 8 sub sandwiches to sustain the crew for lunches over the next 2 days. 

Back at the boat we stow anything loose, secure the dinghy, remove the shore power and cast off.  No problems getting off the dock.  The winds are strong and we just watched a Catamaran have some difficulty but we manage just fine.  It is 11:55.  5 minutes ahead of schedule.  Forty Roses in just 10 minutes behind us and we see another 3 boats ahead of us.  Julie gets confused on the exit and we start down the wrong channel but luckily there is enough water to cut back to our position quite easily.  We'll never get that 5 minutes back!

We clear the shoals to the south and then hoist sails.  We have decided to start with a double reef and full 110 jib.  It is easier to shake out a reef than put it in.  We maintain a speed of 7 to 7.5 quite easily and even see some 8's and 9's on the knot meter.  We have about 5 hours of daylight sailing until darkness comes.  We are tooting along quite nicely. We are only underway a couple of hours when Greg spots some dolphins.  True as you hear about 20 dolphins start racing beside us and crossing our bow for about 20 minutes.  It was just thrilling.  We did not take any pictures though as we were embracing teh moment.

Rob at the helm

Down the coast is Hatteras, and Cape Fear before we head east.  Both these places have horrendous reputations for ship wrecks so we are on the alert to ensure our navigation is correct.  We actually stay about 20 miles offshore.  Nightfall comes and Dawson takes the first shift.  We are doing 2 hours at the helm then 2 hours as assistant then 4 hours off.  Julie goes to bed after cooking dinner and cleaning up for all.  Julie's first shift is 10-2am and she is successful in sleeping from about 7-10 which is great cause it is noisy and the boat is rocking.  It is very important to sleep when you are not on duty.  Dawson and Julie will be on opposite shifts as will Rob and Greg.  That way there is always a boat owner who knows where and how everything works, plus then we can alternate who gets the sleeping berths.  Julie and Dawson's double has been converted to a single, as barricades to prevent us from being careened out of bed while sleeping have been put in half the birth.  Rob and Greg will alternate in the aft cabin.  Could not imagine them having to spoon.  It is not a very big double cabin. 

Greg on board

The overnight passage is uneventful, other than a few boats being seen and avoided, and a beautiful starry night.  It is pretty cool here.  We have the enclosure up so it is like we are travelling in a bubble.  We feel very small.  There is some phosphous in the water which looks like fire flies in the waves.  At night it seems like we are going much faster as there is only the water beside you rushing by.  No perspective from the land.  We manage to sail 200 miles on first 24 hours and are thrilled with our progress.  It is mainly a downwind run so a fairly comfortable point of sail.

Cheers
 
Julie and Dawson