Sailing Sea Dog: We are in Bermuda!

Leg 1 Liberty Landing Marina to Annapolis MD done.

Leg 2 Annapolis MD to Norfolk VA done.

Leg 3 Norfolk VA to St Georges Harbor Bermuda done.

Leg 3 was the first of three offshore legs on route to Lagos, Portugal. We left Norfolk VA at 7 am on May 5 and arrived in St George's Harbor Bermuda around 11 am on May 9, 4 days 4 hours. The first two days were spent motoring and hoping for wind. Well we found the wind and plenty of it. The last two days were spent hoping for a bit less wind. We had wind against current as we crossed the Gulf Stream which can make for an uncomfortable ride. This combination creates steep tight choppy waves, and if you have ever boated in really choppy waters its just not much fun. Once out of the Gulf Stream the wind continued to increase, which in turn created larger confused seas. The winds built to 25, gusting to 30, then 30 gusting to 35 for more that 2 days. As the winds increased, our sail plan (amount of sails out) decreased, from full genoa and main to a triple reefed genoa and main. Our course was a starboard deep broad reach for most of the passage. Those of you following our track via PredictWind will have noticed a slight jog to the north to get back to the rhumb line to Bermuda. Prior to the job, we were flogging sails in light winds and PredictWind was showing wind to the north. After a short port gybe, we found our wind, gybed back to a starboard deep broad reach and made excellent time to Bermuda. For most of two days our speed was between 7 to 9 knots. With a combination of wind and surfing down the backs of decent size waves we saw boat speeds in excess of 11 knots, which is fast for Sea Dog. Note, these speeds were with a triple reef in both the genoa and main sail.

We are currently on a mooring ball just off the St George's Dinghy and Sport Club. There are currently several other boats that are part of the Arc Europe 2023 rally in the harbor. The fleet from St Maarten, which left a day later than us, May 6, are currently about 210 to 400 miles to the south of Bermuda, with some low wind areas in-between. The fastest boats should be arriving tomorrow night, and the rest of the fleet sometime Friday into Saturday.

We depart on Leg 4, Bermuda to the Azores on May 17, which will give all the boats sometime to re-coup, re-fuel and re-provision before we set off on the longest leg of the voyage.