33:10.70N 062:11.70W Fri 17th April

Excellence of Dart
Peter Coxon
Sat 18 Apr 2015 11:44

We are on our way east! Well 070 degrees to be precise and we are on course sailing close hauled in 16+K SE wind at 6-7 K. Cast off at 1400hrs from St Georges in Bermuda with the sun mostly out and some warmth in the southerly breeze. It is now 1730 local ie 2130 BST.

Too fast to fish but we have lots of fresh meat and veg on board so no starvation rations or scurvy due for quiet a while

We had 1935 miles to St Miguel when we left and already in 3 hrs we have done 1% of the route and down to 1912 miles to go. They always say the journey is the destination ad not to start thinking about arrival times/dates etc but my mathematical brain ant help but do the maths, or the math as we are still closer to the USA than Europe at present.

Oddly both Tony and Anika are fast asleep already. I couldn’t tempt Tony with biscuits or anything earlier and he didn’t even want to talk much when he saw the waves and felt the heel as we entered the Atlantic from the safety of being behind the Bermuda reefs for the last little while! I am sure he will settle in. Anika is tired as she yet again spent 3 hours + skyping her latest flame from Jamaica and was certainly logged on around 3 a.m.

 

Bermuda was a pleasant island full of 65000 locals of Colonial or African origins. Everyone we met seemed very friendly and cheerful  although there were a few hints that racism continues, more apparently the older generation than the youngsters ( like us). It is very expensive to live there- a loaf of ordinary bread was over $5 ( say £3.60). Beer is also something like £5 a pint, so what is  a man to do? Man cannot live on bread alone so it has to be bread and beer I suppose. Only joking- we will be pretty dry ( in alcohol terms) for the trip as befits an alert crack team like us ( no they are still both asleep).

Tony did find out that they only pay2% tax on the island so he did think about establishing himself as a resident ( look out HSBC) but affordable houses start at $700K so may be not.

Islands always do strange things to me. I like visiting them, imagine living there then need to set sail and get away from the confinement fairly quickly. Some of the business men wear smart navy blazers, smart shirts and ties then don brightly coloured shorts and knee length navy socks and brogues. Don’t think it will take off in Devon...

Another minor brush with customs as we were about to leave- am I getting more bolshie as I get older do you think? Surely not. Answers and opinions welcome at excellence {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com.

OK more tomorrow all being well. I will ask bro Neil to be shore base support if anyone needs to learn more about  the adventure.

 

All well and 2/3 still asleep!

Skip

PS update- could not send last night so now it is 0840 and we are heading for the fastest 24hr trip to date, all being well. We topped 9.5K in the night before we reefed down a little more and have done 134M in the first 18 hrs so ahead of schedule and approx 7+%  there. Overtaken by Club Med II in the early night but no one wanted to go clubbing at the time so they kept going past.

All well

P