Location: West End BVI
Today was the first day that the sails went up. We woke up early and got the boat all ready for sailing, which might seem like a straightforward task, but really is more work than some would imagine. The dinghies got tied down, the rigging was put up, everything was stowed away, and finally, we were ready to put up the main sail. We put up four sails: the main sail, the main staysail, the forward staysail, and the jib. We then sailed out around 10 miles out and got a feel for how the crossing might look. In that vein, we also had lunch underway, which involved a lot of holding onto your bowl and the rail at the same time, as well as a lot more precision with scooping the food. We then headed back to Soaper’s Hole, where we started off this whole trip and put the boat to bed (sailing terminology for putting all the sails down), and went out for a fun pizza dinner right on the shore. It was a big day, the first real sailing day, and it made us all even more excited for passage.