We had much more time preparing for the rally this year compared to last. Also, this year Pratique and Wynot were joined by 4 other Outbound 46's: Pneumatic, Hedonism, Hippocampus and FuhGedAboutIt. Another familiar boat was Legato, a beautiful Tayana 48 owned by Larry Terhaar. Larry sold us our previous boat, Breezin,' when he had Legato built, and later I helped him sail his boat from CT to Florida.
This year Hank was able to do the rally, and we were joined by Ed Cotter who has done lots of cruising on his own Valiant 42, as well as newcomer Bob Herbert from OPO.
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| Ed |
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| Hank |
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| Bob |
This year we decided not to leave a day early since the sea state was still a bit bouncy on Sunday. So instead we got going around 0830 on Monday Nov 3. We set the pole for the Solent sail and went down the coast wing-and-wing. Then turned east to cross the Gulf Stream at the location provided by Chris Parker. We spent the next few days sailing and motor sailing the rhumb line toward Virgin Gorda. However, more and more during the passage the wind was on the nose. After two days of relative slow going mostly into the wind, I felt that we had enough fuel to continue motoring east toward 64° 30' W, then tack to the south for the last two days in the developing trade winds. That strategy was confirmed by Chris, and we made it to the BEYC in 9 days, arriving early morning on Wednesday, Nov 12! Along the way we caught two Mahi, but only one was a good size to eat, and it was delicious!! Thanks to Hank's usual culinary expertise we ate quite well along the way.
At the Bitter End we were greeted by the crew of Wynot (although Tom was exchanged for Talya by the time we got there!) Then when Pneumatic, Hedonism and Hippocampus arrived, the Outbound celebration started!
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| Tina, Geof, Talya |
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| Bob from Hedonism |
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| Kurt |
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| Skip |
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| Ed |
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| Kurt gets braided! |
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| Time for the Drone! |
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| Lee Corwin, Hippocampus |
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| Our charter neighbors at the end of the dock provided live music all afternoon! |
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Making Phil Lambert proud: Hedonism, Hippocampus, Pratique, Pneumatic, and Wynot!
(FuhGedAboutIt went to St. Martin) |
Just like last year, reluctantly I had to move the boat from the Bitter End to Roadtown, Pratique's new home away from home. Lee came with me to scope out marinas in Tortola:
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| Village Cay |
Another boat clean-up, then a walk to the ferry. Time for a last lunch before traveling home:
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| Spicy yellowtail roll. |
