Road to Bermuda

Saturday May 11, 2024

Woke up early with great anticipation and excitement, as today is the day we have been preparing for for 2 years. We are finally making our journey to The Mediterranean. Out first stop, Bermuda, 860 nm away. The plan is to be ready to leave the marina around 9:30 am, hand out in Simpson Lagoon and wait for the 10:30 bridge opening. One by one the boats in the ARC Europe fleet cast off of the dock with the assistance of the marina staff. Patiently we wait in the lagoon circling and a slow and steady speed as more and more boats join in.

Finally the bridge opens up and one by one we all make our way out into Simpson Bay

Now another waiting game. The rally doesn’t kick off until 11:30. Just enough time to do a few things while we wait. Mike cleaned the bottom of the boat while I got the sails ready to hoist 😂

The countdown is on. And finally the starting bell.

It was a bit of a rough start getting out of the bay. The winds were on our nose and the sea was a little rough. But once we got out and started heading west to clear the island the wind, as predicted, died down. We hoisted the gennaker, which is basically a very large parachute type sail, designed for sailing downwind in very light air. It was going to be a very slow start to a very long journey. The weather forecast predicted very light wind for the next few days, which meant we would be motorsailing. Not ideal, but whatever! We were all in the same boat, so to speak.

We made the most of it. We got our workouts in, rode the bike, did a little fishing and really just enjoyed the calm seas while they lasted.

We even had a little stowaway for most of the morning on Monday.

The weather really started to change on Monday. There was a noticeable change in temperature as I traded my swimsuit for sweats. Before the sunset it was still quite calm and we still had the engines running. But that soon changed. We could see there was weather up ahead, so we made preparations. The gennaker came down, we put a reef in the main sail and the rain enclosure was zipped into the fly bridge. We were now ready for the night and I was ready to sleep so I could be ready for my 3 am watch. I woke to a very different sea. Winds were no longer behind us, but right on our nose at around 15 knots and the sea was very confused causing a great deal of slamming. But the autopilot was set and there wasn’t much to do but ride it out. The wind should be moving around to the east and south throughout the next couple days and we should be able to ride a nice following sea right into Bermuda. At least that’s what the weather forecast says right now. I guess we will see!