May 28, 2007

0700 hours

Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Departure day is upon us! Exactly two weeks after arriving in Aventura and boarding Salty Dawg, and being in Ft. Lauderdale a whole week supplying and provisioning, it looks like we are off today.

Plans call for us to assemble at around 3:30 pm this afternoon at the Port Everglades terminal area. Nine yachts are going, ranging from 40-62 feet, all Nordhavns. We will pass slowly out the channel towards the last sea buoy with a hired helicopter circling us and a professional photographer taking photos.

Jim Leishman, one of the owners of PAE, the boat’s builder was on board yesterday relating how close the choppers came to the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally in 2004. We are sure it will be exciting; we’ll be photographing the chopper and other nearby boats as they photograph us. We are to proceed in a single line first for long shots, then in groups of three yachts each for closer shots.

I’m reminded of the trip Peter Pisciotta and I took on a Nordhavn 55 from California to Florida when a Mexican Coast Guard chopper gave us a close lookover.

Milt Baker, the Rally organizer sent the following today to the rally entrants.

“This route increases the passage distance to Five Fathom Hole
Bermuda to about 1,004 NM, and RBYC is an additional 17 NM, for a
total of 1,022 NM. Using an average speed of 6.7 knots, the trip
should take approximately 153 hours or six days six hours, which
would have us arriving after dark Sunday. If we can get enough of a
push from the Gulf Stream to boost our average speed of advance to
average 7.0 knots, and I believe we can, we should reach RBYC before
dark on Sunday. Here's a table showing the nominal trip plan:

Fort Lauderdale to Bermuda

Miles 1022 Hours
Depart Mon 5/28/2007 16:00 0
Tue 5/29/2007 16:00 24
Wed 5/30/2007 16:00 24
Thur 5/31/2007 16:00 24
Fri 6/1/2007 16:00 24
Sat 6/2/2007 16:00 24
Sun 6/3/2007 16:00 24
Time Diff Clocks ahead 1 hour -1
Arrive Sunday 6/3/2007 19:00 3
Total Hours 146
Speed Required 7.0
Total Days 6.1”

Of course, with Ollie Gardner’s training many years ago in the South Pacific, we know no landfall should be made in daylight if at all possible. Much better to come into a new harbor in darkness.

While we may not be able to publish daily updates, the Nordhavn web site at www.nordhavn.com will have daily reports with positions and happenings.