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The crew of Gyatso
work on final preparations on the day before departure in Hampton,
VA. This photo and the next were taken by Kat, another rally
participant and liveaboard who we met on F dock at Port Annapolis Marina
over the summer. |
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Some of the
Caribbean 1500 fleet lined up before the start of the rally at the
Bluewater Yachting Center in Hampton, VA (Photo by Kat on Yemaya). |
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We jumped in to
the procession of boats headed out the the starting line near Thimble
Shoal light. |
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David signals
that he is ready to hoist the sails in preparation for the start. |
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Gyatso
in dense fog at the start of the Caribbean 1500 Rally in Hampton, VA
(Photo by Patricia of Northstar). |
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Several other
boats in the fleet can be seen in the distance as the fog started to lift
on the first day. After the first day, we saw other boats about a
half dozen times. |
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Spirit, another
boat in the fleet, motor sailing along with us just before sunset and
after the fog lifted and the winds dropped on the first evening. |
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David enjoying
the passage. |
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Gyatso
sailing in lovely tradewinds on our way to the Caribbean. |
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Roger caught
nothing but Sargasso weed for the first few days, but was finally rewarded
after Lisa switched from the florescent pink lure to the "Dr. Jekyll"
lure that looked like a flying fish. |
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We caught one
Mahi Mahi during the passage, and after making a mess cleaning it in the
cockpit, we decided one fish was enough for this trip. |
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Lisa quickly
turned the catch of the day into a lunch special, sauteed in olive oil,
fresh lime juice, salt and pepper with a side of couscous and snow peas. |
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One of the
equipment problems we experienced on the offshore trip was losing an
improperly secured nut at the base of our ProFurl system on the
staysail. This was something that we had paid a professional rigging
company to overhaul during the summer, but found that they had re-installed the
system with a standard threaded bolt versus a ProFurl bolt with locking
washers on both ends. Although it turned out to be a minor problem
since we discovered it before it broke completely, we very easily could
have lost the entire rig if the same problem had occurred with the main
headsail. Compton, a rigger in Tortola quickly diagnosed
and fixed the problem. |
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Ahhhh...at
anchor in Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands after the
rally had ended. |
