Location: Underway to Barbados
It may seem vain, but I can’t help but feel a sense of reward, not just on a personal level but as a staff member in general, when I step onto the deck of Argo and see all her crew busy preparing her to sail with minimal guidance. Just 50 days ago, when first handed a checklist of unfamiliar items and processes, which consist of our Pre Passage check sheet, one may have balked and froze. Now preparing a 112 ft schooner to sail has a very coherent and familiar feel to it as students work together in unison like a well-oiled machine.
We weighed anchor this morning with all halyards attached, sail covers removed, fuel transferred to relevant tanks, and sheets fair led. After a tricky sail set off the wind into a ripping current, we were making way once more, this time for the island of Barbados, lying approximately 90 miles east of the Caribbean Windward Island chain. While we continue our sail along the South American coastline in the shallows of the continental shelf, the seas remain a little choppy. Still, the wind is fair, and Argo is plowing onwards at a very respectable 11+ knots riding the favorable Guyana current to the North West.
We are all collectively eagerly anticipating a new destination, scenery, and cultural vibe with fingers crossed for a calm anchorage whereby Argo may once again rest easy in clear waters above the white Caribbean sand.