After a few hours rest, we checked off the final items on our To Do list and departed Ocean Yacht Marina in Portsmouth around 7:40 am on Sunday. The crew was ready! We were the last of the ARC boats to depart but we could see at least one of them on AIS about 5 miles ahead of us.

The weather was a bit miserable, rain, followed by fog and not much wind, so we motored out of the estuary towards the Chesapeake Bridge-Tunnel. The fog was so dense, especially as we passed over the tunnel, that we couldn’t even see the bridge, as you will see in a photo when I get a chance to upload it. Thank goodness for GPS, radar and AIS, as I don’t think a fog horn or ships bell would have kept us out of danger from all the shipping in the area. We continued to motor practically all the way to our Gulf Stream entry point. We probably broke from the rest of the fleet in that we chose to enter the GS closer to Hatteras whereas the ARC forecaster, WRI, recommended crossing further north, basically on a rhumb line straight for Bermuda. I’ll be interested to see the tracks….

About 24 hours into our passage, we entered the Gulf Stream and began to sail, finally. But, there was some lightening around so, by the time my (Hope’s) watch started at 8am, we were entering a large area of squalls. The rain was so heavy such that my eyes were stinging from the impact. The wind was all over the place in terms of direction and was in the 20’s most of the time so, even with reduced sail, it was all I could do to just keep the wind on or just forward of the beam. Our track was very wobbly! Not too far away was a US warship and an assisting ship that appeared to be in the middle of some exercises. I was very thankful they didn’t hail us and ask us to keep clear, as on occasions, I was heading straight for them!

One issue we identified during the passage through the Gulf Stream was that one of the two anchors on the bow was clanging back and forth in the roller, even though we had tied it down as best we could. So, a decision was made to try and stow it onboard in the anchor locker, not an easy task at the best of times and even less so when being bounced around and doused by the waves, but between Mike and Howard, the task was completed in short order. Unfortunately we later discovered a line that had been securing the anchor, was left on deck and of course, it worked its way into the genoa’s furling drum and jammed it when we next tried to deploy the genoa shortly before darkness fell. We managed to sort it to the point where the genoa is furled but something is still amiss with the system so we won’t be using the genoa until we are happy it is functioning the way it should. We have been motoring all day today as the light wind was generally easterly and on the nose.

The wind has recently clocked to the South and seems to be picking up in strength. The forecast says we could be in for some more squalls overnight so we have been checking to make sure everything is secure onboard. We want to avoid any more mis-adventures.

We are glad to report that the watermaker is now working well. It just needed to be used and is producing up to 17 gal/h, about spec, mainly thanks to Benjy.