Yes, North Star did get underway and we weren't last over the start of the 2017 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers at 1310 yesterday 19 November. The weather was beautiful. We had a spinnaker run until dark when we shortened sail for a more comfortable evening. Joshua Slocum did not cooperate. If you recall from our last crossing Joshua is the name of our wind vane self steering. It doesn't use any electrical power from the boat so it is the steering method of choice offshore. Henry and I disassembled it in the afternoon but the seas wouldn't work for its use during the evening -- neither did North Star's electrical self steering -- so we hand steered through the night. Not exactly fun, but necessary.

The number of ARC boats thinned out throughout the night and by morning we were down to 5-6 still either visible or showing on the Automated Identification System (AIS). This evening we can see three. One boat Infinity crossed close astern this afternoon. They were curious about why we were heading on such a southerly course. We are trying to get as far south as we can to avoid an ugly front that may be upon us later tomorrow, There is very little wind so we are motor sailing with main and staysail. We are expecting that once we find the Trade winds, they will carry us west and only require precious diesel for battery charging.

We are making water with every battery charge. It overflowed the water tank vent this afternoon and Henry's shorts got a little wet. I spend most of the day trying to get the SSB email and tracking down a possible fresh water system leak. We have plenty of water but we really never figured out if the problem was self generated or real. We will see as we go on. The new 150 amp alternator works incredibly, North Star's batteries have never seen such power.

We have plenty of homemade food aboard, imported personally by the crew, Rick and Henry. In fact the freezer and chillbox are packed. We have enough food to carry us through to January sometime. Our thanks to Carolyn and Janet for organizing for our survival. Rick has assumed responsibilities as galley manager -- refused the role as cook, but is doing a great job. Henry is as usual doing everything else that makes a long voyage fun.

More tomorrow.