Day 1 -  Noon 6^th May to Noon 7^th May

Here we go again with the first leg of the big trip – the return crossing from the Caribbean to Europe. This leg takes us from the British Virgin Islands to Bermuda – about 850 miles due North. Bring on the Bermuda triangle!

The morning of the start we finally took down all the signalling flags that were used on each boat to help create an festival atmosphere in the marina.

Just time for a quick team photo and then it was out of the marina and off to find the start line.

We made a spectacular start at midday local time and crossed the line in last position. Undaunted we goosewinged the sails and sailed by the lee for the technically minded and by the end of the first downwind leg had overhauled at least 6 boats. There’s only about 20 in this rally unlike the 200 when we came across in November.

Soon we turned North and left the islands behind. The swell became uncomfortable and nobody slept much the first night. But we made great progress and racked up 160 miles in the first 24 hours.

We had the company of other boats for the first day with their sails on the horizon during the day and then their navigation lights all night. After that the horizon was empty – just us and the ocean.

The wind has started to get lighter and the swell is much easier but the boat has slowed down and the forecast is for even lighter winds for the next couple of days. I don’t expect another 160 miles on day 2.

Paul - Peejay