Saturday we awoke to a weather report suggesting leaving soon is better. This was predicated on the possibility that a storm system could develop about 5-6 days into the trip just off of cape Hatteras. We fueled up and left immediately.
Sailing for first day was through the islands and straits around Puerto Rico. We had to maneuver around various obstacles such as shoals, sand bars, and wrecks. The autopilot, George (we were informed that George was the given name of the autopilot on all proper UK flagged boats) did his duty tirelessly and with aplomb. The scenery was amazing sailing along seeing uninhibited islands with beautiful beaches as well as the hilly coasts offering occasional glimpses of the only rainforest national park in the US.
Late afternoon, we got out past the coast and into the “Briney”. All went well for the afternoon with wind coming off the back on a run for most of the day occasionally shifting to a broad reach. We set the pole out for putting the Genoa sail on starboard, the main sail on port. When the wind occasionally shifted we would bring the genoa over to port and leave the pole up for later. With this setup, we were able the chew up miles at a rate 6.5-7nm per hour, not bad for 15.5 – 17 nm wind speed.
