We left Hampton Virginia at 7:30 on the morning of November 12 and set off for Antigua in company with around 60 other boats. The first day was fairly routine as we settled into life on board and began our watch system. We crossed the Chesapeake Bay bridge / tunnel and were out of sight of land within a few hours.

On the first night we crossed the Gulf Stream: This is generally the toughest part of the passage but went well (I was going to say it went smoothly, but it was actually pretty bouncy!). The water temperature increased dramatically and we really never needed the sleeping bags and warm gear we’d all brought.

The first four days of the passage were fairly rough as we passed across the Gulf Stream and dealt with a passing front. Annoyingly our weather routing guy went MIA for a couple of days and we weren’t getting good updates on expected weather or optimal routes, so we probably went more east than we needed to. We continued to see other rally participants around us, both visually and on our AIS system, and checked in with them from time to time. The boat was heeled hard over on port tack and for some of the time we sailed under reefed jib only. It was hard moving around the cabin (or even sleeping), and cooking was challenging, although fortunately our galley is on the starboard side so at least food wasn’t flying across the cabin! Things weren’t helped by the fact that our autopilot broke on the first day so we had to hand steer the whole way. However, we had wonderful night skies with plenty of shooting stars, and lots of flying fish keeping us company!

After that we had two days of relative calm which was a huge relief for all of us. We spent some time sailing in gentle breezes, but had to resort to using the engine for about 36 hours. We were able to get the fishing lines out, relax a little, and sleep somewhat better than we had been. We tried to work our way east before venturing south to hit the trade winds. By this point we were seeing fewer boats although there was the occasional sail on the horizon.

The last part of the passage was a close to beam reach through the trade winds. We were expecting classic sailing conditions but found these four days more challenging than we’d hoped for. The seas were large, we had frequent squalls, and the winds were consistently 20-25 knots rather than the comfortable 15-20 we’d expected. Once more we were hard on port tack, and getting fed up with everything below getting damp and refusing to stay in whatever place we’d put it down. However, we made good progress, despite a consistent knot of adverse current. On the last afternoon we found ourselves in a huge squall just north of Barbuda, and had to run downwind for about 15 minutes – kudos to Jeff Dinsmore for some excellent steering!

Late on the night of November 21 we slipped behind the lee of Barbuda and were rewarded by a break in the waves if not the wind. There weren’t many lights on west side of the island but there was a glow from a small town on the other side. I was woken up to go on watch at 8pm and didn’t sleep for the rest of the passage. At 2am I was steering us down towards Antigua in 25 knots while everyone else was asleep, and am pretty sure I was tripping as I tried to figure out which lights were land, cruise ships or local fishing boats!

At first light we pulled into Five Islands Harbor and dropped our anchor for an hour as we dropped and lashed the main, tidied up a bit and got ready to come round to English Harbor. We were tied up on the wall at Nelsons Dockyard by around 9 am. It took a while to get fully tied up, with boats squeezing in as they came in, and no one else was able to leave the boat until Jeremy had checked the boat and crew in with local customs and immigration. He returned around noon with cold beers in hand and we celebrated our arrival. It feels great to be here!

A huge thanks to our crew, Jeff Dinsmore, Kim Pandapas and Russ Chapman for all their hard work, and to Persephone for handling the conditions well and keeping us safe!

Sailing around sunset on the first day – thank you Tiger Lily for the photo!

Sailing at sunset on day 5 – calmer by now

Fishing (but not catching!) on a calmer day

This was a favorite spot to sit and doze while your watchmate steered. In the last few days it got rather smelly and we were each concerned as to whether it was us! After we arrived we found a dead flying fish hidden in the main halyard!

Slipping into Five Islands Harbor at daybreak

Coming into English Harbor at last!