Second Star to the Right

S/V Agua Dulce sails around the world in search of Neverland

Vessel Name: Agua Dulce
Vessel Make/Model: Hylas 54
Hailing Port: Park City, UT
Crew: Charles & Gretchen Cunningham
About: Charles is a retired lawyer from Dallas who started sailing Sunfish in Corpus Christi, TX when he was a boy. I'm Gretchen, and I was a stay-at-home mom who doesn't stay at home much anymore. I fell in love with sailing on our first bare boat adventure in the Caribbean 30 years ago.
Extra: Special thanks to Peter Pan for inspiring generations to stay young and keep searching for their own Neverland.
15 December 2019 | 14 04'N:60 57'W,
12 December 2019 | 14 18'N:59 07'W,
11 December 2019 | 14 39'N:56 13'W,
10 December 2019 | 14 56'N:53 33'W,
09 December 2019 | 15 15'N:50 25'W,
08 December 2019 | 15 31'N:47 45'W,
06 December 2019 | 16 15'N:42 29'W,
05 December 2019 | 16 41'N:39 38'W,
04 December 2019 | 16 54'N:37 13'W,
03 December 2019 | 17 31'N:34 13'W,
02 December 2019 | 17 51'N:30 58'W,
01 December 2019 | 18 12'N:28 13'W,
28 November 2019 | 22 18'N:20 41'W, Between the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands
28 November 2019 | 23 36'N:19 48'W, Between the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands
28 November 2019 | 24 49'N:18 12'W, Between the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands
28 November 2019 | 26 12'N:16 25'W, Between the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands
28 November 2019 | Between the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands
27 November 2019 | 23 28'N:19 54'W, Between the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands
Recent Blog Posts
15 December 2019 | 14 04'N:60 57'W,

Log Day 20 Ð Hello, St. Lucia!

Log Day 20 Ð Hello, St. Lucia!

12 December 2019 | 14 18'N:59 07'W,

Log Day 19 Ð Last Full Day at Sea

All of us are extremely excited to get to the marina in St. Lucia. We've been talking about what will be the first thing we are going to do after we arrive and get the boat tied up. It's hard to say right now. Agua Dulce has been our cocoon for the last three weeks, and she has seen us safely 3000 miles [...]

11 December 2019 | 14 39'N:56 13'W,

Log Day 18 Ð Two more night watches to goÉ

12pm

10 December 2019 | 14 56'N:53 33'W,

Log Day 17 Ð Are we there yet?

10am

09 December 2019 | 15 15'N:50 25'W,

Log Day 16 Ð Counting down the miles!

We have broken the 700NM to go mark, and at 750NM to go, we were three-quarters of the way to St. Lucia. During my 11pm-1am watch tonight, we should break the 600NM mark as well. We're all getting excited to be in the Caribbean! I wish I had downloaded some steel drum Christmas music to get us in the [...]

08 December 2019 | 15 31'N:47 45'W,

Log Day 15 Ð Squalls + Swells Lack of Sleep

It was a wet and squally night. We had lots of rain and gusts in the 30's, but it was all manageable. The worst part about squalls is that when they pass they suck the energy out of the air, and we have practically no wind for a time. In addition, the seas were extremely rolly last night and they have [...]

Log Day 1 Ð Ready, set, go!

28 November 2019 | Between the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands
After an exhilarating start to the rally, we are shaking off the dust from the Sahara that has coated our boat for months and heading home. At the start, there were almost 200 boats milling around until their designated time to cross the start line. Party music was played over loud speakers, tons of people lined the seawall to wave goodbye, and even a live band played while marching down the pontoons. The multihulls took off first, followed by the racing boats which included some of the former Volvo race boats. The cruising division (that's us!) crossed the start line at 12:30. I've never seen more sailboats in a concentrated area in my life. Some were flying their spinnakers, but we opted not to since we knew the forecast called for higher winds as we proceeded.

So far, it's been downwind (my favorite kind of sailing) with winds up to 26 knots. We've poled out the genoa and are sailing into our first night wing on wing.

Dinner was early as it was dark by about 6:30pm. Since we like to eat up top together, it's much easier to have dinner while it is still light outside. As we travel west, it should be staying lighter for longer each night, so we won't have to eat as early! We had white chicken chili which was one of our meals we had frozen earlier. I loved having an excuse to use some of the great cumin we got in Morocco!

More to comeÉ
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