We left Hampton as scheduled on Saturday at 1300 hrs to avoid the Nor'easter that was due to hit on Wed. Larry Cohen (7th passage down) and I (4th passage) had commented that the forecast presented was the best we had seen for a trip down. The first day and night were uneventful and we started across the Gulf Stream at 0900 the next morning. The Stream as the calmest I have experienced until just before sunset when a squall appeared on the radar. The squall became a constant storm that persisted all night and into the next day before it dissipated. Winds were 35 to 40 with gust to 50 with heavy rain and lightning. After arriving in Tortola we were told that this was a small area of low pressure when we left that had developed into a large area that coincided with the fleets arrival in the area. Beyond that weather improved and we proceeded to get south down the rhumb line as quickly as possible to get out of the path of the NE'er. Most of the early passage was fast with the strong winds - up to 9kts. By Tuesday we were fairly consistently making 7kts with an occasional 8kts.
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| The Crew upon arrival - Larry Kron; Larry Cohen; Darlene Roberts; Jack Zacks; Me - yes I did not shave!! |
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| The Beach at Nanny Cay |
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| The Crew of Cutter Loose upon Arrival |
The biggest mechanical issue was that we lost the autopilot on the first day and had to hand steer until we finally were able to fix it after 6 days. We slowed down toward the end to arrive at the marina entrance at daybreak. We were the 11th boat to arrive, with cutter loose having arrived the next day.
Our path down was as follows:
http://www.findmespot.com/spotadventures/index.php/view_adventure?tripid=317612.
With this event, sailing for the year is now done. I fly back on Friday and begin planning my next event. I am trying to be a crew member on the ARC Europe which leaves in May. Fingers Crossed...
