Location: Atlantic Ocean
Today was a very special day on Vela. It was passage day, the most anticipated day of the whole trip. The AM started to my alarm, waking all five guys up in our room. I don’t think I have heard a louder alarm than this AM, but that meant if all five guys were still in the room, breakfast was not being made. The chefs had a late start to the AM so that breakfast would be late, but that did not stop Anda from making his grandmother special fried eggs. They were so good. We also had Nate make his signature sausages, which were so crispy and good. After breakfast was done, we did our final boat check before we sailed for 20 days nonstop to the Azore. It was busy! Everyone had jobs plus tasks to complete. People were taking sail cover off which is its own challenge in itself. Plus, putting halyards on all 5 out of 6 sails on Vela. We also had to make sure our rooms were 40/40, which means they had to be ready to take 40 degrees of pitch and also 40 knots of wind so it doesn’t fly recklessly around the cabins or galley area. After we completed the pre-sail checklist, it was time for lunch.
Lunch today was goat cheese salad, which was the healthy option, but Nate and I chose to have leftover cake (Sorry, Lisa). After lunch, we did our final count-off in the BVI. We were so close to raising the anchors and heading into the deep, vast open ocean. Tom did a full 180 and poinVela’sla’s bow into the wind, and it was time to raise the sails! We raised the main sail very fast, but it took the life out of us. Tom said he liked it so much that he wanted us to do it again!… That was not the case (oops). We twisted the halyards and had to bring it down and try it again. Once we finally got all four sails up, we headed into nothing but the open ocean. Once we got out here, we were split into our watch teams. I am watch team 3, so we are currently on watch as I am writing the daily blog. Today was a very memorable day on Vela.