We are now 120 nautical miles down the road from Tortola to Fort Lauderdale. Our first day and a half was involved with prepping the boat and crew for the trip. Tom Trimmer, crew from Tucson and Birmingham Michigan (really Birmingham and the North Channel where he and his wife Nancy sail every summer), and Miles Poor, our refit partner, were hard at work in the morning to diagnose the lack of Amps being generated by my Solar Panels. Tom had spent the day before helping me prepare the freezer and fridge (that is code for shopping) for the trip. I might add, we don’t count our fish, before they are caught. John Hoffman and Tom were also up on the deck tying down the dingy for any possible roughness in the total passage. Norm Weill Comocean’s off shore live in was busily trying to get the Raymarine Chart plotter filled with course way points. One of our other partners, Raymarine, the designer of our Auto Pilot and chart plotters, had plotted against us by making the adding of a full way point route a miracle. Norm, by 2:45 had performed the miracle. Our other crew mate for at least the trip to Georgetown. Ron Theis, also from Birmingham and occasionally China (Consultant to the China Auto Industry in his past GM working years), and I were busily sorting through many of the other pre-departure requirements, including filling and loading the 5 gallon jugs which give us 40 additional gallons of fuel reserve. Importantly, he also brought me the fabulous pre departure hot dog that held me, and the rest of the crew through the evening. So much for the first planned meal. That meal, I might add, had been cooked by the chef at Jenneckers, a Nanny Cay restaurant. Seth Hynes, our on shore weather advisor and part time event chronicler, had given us our first passage information. Twenty plus winds and some rolling seas for the first few days before it would get fairly light air.
During the day yesterday, we had taken the outer passage of St Thomas. Although the boat was easily handling the wind and waves, the north roll across an East North East breeze, created sometimes uncomfortable conditions. We made the decision to go for comfort and headed with the wind south toward the leeward side of Puerto Rico where we find ourselves as I write this note. Today is utterly beautiful. 12 knots of wind, flat seas, a crew that is taking showers and feeling 100% themselves. We got adequate sleep last night. Ron’s addition to the crew is giving us more sleep than a regular crossing. We have always been within sight of land since we left. John, our fish Captain has three lines out. The birds are circling bait in the waters near us, and the pressure is on for our first catch. Norm, communications officer is down below and tested out our equipment. And Ron and Tom are fitting right into the Comocean crew pattern that Norm, John and I have had over our numerous other passages.