Picture: "Sean" causing delays
Author: First Mate, JoAnne

As our son, Seth, keeps saying, when you're sailing,"You can pick the time or the place, but not both!" This couldn't be more true. All 64 boats on the Caribbean 1500 worked like crazy to get ready for the start of the rally to Tortola this past Monday at noon. Excitement was high. You could practically feel it. Then came the news early that morning that the start would be delayed at least two days due to a storm brewing down by Bermuda which has since been named "Hurricane Sean." The departure is now set for Thursday, with a longer delay possible. Now the frustration is high!

This past week in Newport News, Virginia has been incredibly exciting though. Tuesday, November 1st, was Toby's first day of official retirement! It was fun telling people that. The Caribbean 1500 is expertly run, with I think 22 years of repeated trips down to the BVI. We are incredibly impressed. There were many seminars on everything from medical emergencies, diesel engine troubleshooting, weather and gulf stream forecasting, rigging, provisioning, fishing, fuel & water planning, communications and SSB radio operation, and even a demonstration of a life raft being activated, something we all hope we will never see again!

ALL the people involved in the Caribbean 1500 organization, and all the sailors that are joining us are helpful, fun, and incredibly knowledgeable about sailing. (Toby and I are feeling rather overwhelmed.) I joked with one of the organizers that if they knew how new we are at this, they wouldn't let us go!

We are lucky that we have a wonderful crew. Toby's best friend since they were 12 years old, Norm, was the first to volunteer to join him. Then we were lucky to have Ed, who races with Toby in July in the Cape, also wanted to come. He is a very experienced open ocean sailor, and also a great person to spend 10 days in a confined space with. And last, but surely not least, is Tom. He has spent the last month of this summer installing all the new RayMarine GPS systems in the boat, reinstalled the old one down by the navigation table, did all the electronics needed for the new solar panels, and much more. He is a marine technician and an excellent, experienced sailor too! The bonus is that he's 30 years old, very fit, and a lot more agile then the rest of us. He said that he would volunteer to be hoisted up the mast, and to do any on-deck maneuvering necessary in rough conditions "for obvious reasons." Ha! We definitely took him up on that!

So Comocean is READY! Let's see what happens next.