Almost a week ago we left Washington DC and drove through the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay back into the Atlantic Ocean. The weather for our departure was very rainy which meant that both the farewell ceremony on the stage and the fireworks had to be cancelled. Nonetheless we did our parade with the Washington Monument in the background and left the US capital with a police escort. Even though the big fireworks was cancelled esch yacht ignited a smoke signal on their foredeck. This certainly made for some great pictures. I am really looking forward to seeing them once we are back ashore.

While I had slept through our passage under the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge when coming into DC I had the prime spot for watching from the foredeck this time. The dimensions of the bridge are astonishing by themselves but with the illumination at night the view is simply breathtaking. And so we passed together with the nine other boats heading for the open ocean.

Once we had left the Potomac River behind and were somewhat free we hoisted our sails. And this is where we met three tall ships. Unfortunately they were all underway using just their engines and no sails. One of them was the Gorch Fock, which is taking part in various activities around the 250 year’s anniversary of the US Independence. Although the other two ships are most likely on a similar mission, it was particularly nice to see a familiar sight so far away from home.

The start was not very exciting. The first part was dominated by light winds so all the boats tried to reach the Gulf Stream as quickly as possible to let themselves be carried along. Our strategy seems to have worked alright as we are part of the leading group. Though this doesn’t mean much as we still have about 2’300 nautical miles to go until the finish in Oban. But the progress in the last few days has been good and we were able to maintain an average of over ten, sometimes even over twelve knots for some time.

Two boats apparently damaged their main sail on the way to the start area. At least they showed up with their try sail to the start. We on the other hand had only minor breakages so far, which we could resolve in a timely fashion. For instance one of the spliced loops we attach to the head and tack of our head sails worked itself loose as we ran through our practice Le Mans start. The timing was pretty fortunate as we managed to regain control of the halyard and splice a new loop before the actual start. A few days later we found another loop on one of the spinnaers that was about to undo itself. And the day after someone noted a hole in the other spinnaker so that we dropped it to avoid further damage. Both problems have been resolved since. But even in the other watches we have sometimes done a few sail changes to make the most out of the wind. As the weather forecasts have not really been reliable so far we have to play it by what we see.

And also the wildlife seems to present itself from its best side. While the Atlantic has been a bit disappointing so far we have already seen a few big dolphin schools since the start. And we also had a few unwanted visitors. Flying fish not only lad on deck but some people have suffered a direct hit already. Maybe another side effect of having so many people on deck.

Even though the temperature is starting to go down it still remains warm under deck. The few possibilities for venting the accommodation are not enough to allow for all the heat to be carried away. And now it often gets so wet on deck that we have to close the hatches to not take on too much water. That makes things only worse. On the other hand we have enough people on deck for the most part. So the off-watch does not get woken that often to help with evolutions. And there is also a greater variety of discussion topics which is especially welcome now towards the end of the race.