Finally! We Are Ready to Sail

Monday is Departure Day!  11:00 AM start. It seemed like the day would never come after all the weather delays. It looks like we should have a great sail. We are not in the racing classes. We just want to have a nice experience on the open water without thinking about strategy and sail trim and time. Of course, we will do our best to maximize the boat and crew's capabilities to get a good crossing.

While out at sea, there will be no more postings since we will lose our Internet and cell phone connections. We do have a satellite phone for weather updates and emergency calls and emails. Our main mode of communication with the fleet will be the twice daily SSB (single side band radio) chats where we all call in our positions and have the opportunity to ask questions and get help.


Dennis studying the communication systems

The land-based command center will be feeding us the weather forecasts and suggested routes to avoid as much nastiness as possible. We have a new iCom 802 SSB (single side band) radio so we are learning how to use it for weather reports and net chats. There is so-o-o-o-o-o much technology to learn with "on the job training."

They have put the transponder on Trillium, so you can see our location with updates every 4 hours. Go to http://www.carib1500.com/ and click on the Follow the Fleet at the top of the page. We are in Rally Class 7 and should be a yellow line. Hopefully we will be traveling the same line as the others in the fleet and not off by ourselves!

Everyone is anxious to get the show on the road. Final preparation is being done; flags are flying in the breeze. We should have a nice 20 knots of wind out of the north and northeast which will be perfect for going east then turning southeast. We are hoping for a beam reach all the way with few course changes.

This waiting experience sure has made an impression that you just don't mess with the storms. Moving at 5-7 knots per hour, you just can't move quickly enough to outrun or dodge them. Patience is a sailor's virtue!

We have used the extra time to catch up on emails, work and little details. Dennis has kept his office running thanks to virtual office technology. He even attended an all day deposition from here. Sherry is continuing to work with clients virtually as well. Although, she is not keeping up her business blog while traveling.

It seems like everyday someone shares a new tip from experience so we add or adjust accordingly. There was a great lecture on Tropical Medicine and the need to carry antibiotics, have an up-to-date tetanus shot, and hepatitis vaccinations. We will need to address these when we come back at the end of the month and before we continue sailing down the chain of islands. It is so easy to take our good health care environment for granted! 

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