Oyster World Rally Start pt.2

We’ve finally off on a trip of a lifetime. 25 boats, 25 dreams, some with mechanical issues, some with Covid. Reality is this rally is like life, it’s not about what happens its about how you adjust and deal with it. We have arrived in Bonaire after a 3 day passage and learned a lot about sailing and each other. I am now considered the squall king. (A squall is a storm with high winds and a lot of rain.) It is best if you can get your sails reduced in 2 minutes. After 3 squalls, Cullen and I now have it down to a pattern. Thank God.

Passage/Tracker

Irish Blessings first passage was 500 miles of glories sailing over approximately 3 days where we slowed down so we can arrive at sunrise because you do not want to show up into a harbor in the middle of the night. One fact that people do not understand is that once is turns dark you turn all lights off in order to not destroy your eye vision and you run with dim red lights which means you’re literally in the dark the whole night. I took a photo of Harry and Cullen and turned the red lights 40 times up so that you can see them for the photo. Notice at night everyone has life preservers and safety straps which latch them into the boat to keep them from being washed over into sea.

Everyones perception was the rally group travels together. Within 3 hours of the start, I can only see 3 boats. 5 days later we have boats in the BVI (British Virgin Islands), Grenada, Columbia, Antigua, Grenadines, and Guadalupe. The reality is the next time we will all get together is February 10th to be measured to go through the Panama canal.

Traveling 24/7 for days on end means you have to figure out how to stay in your bunk, while sweating, with no A.C., in heavy seas and squalls. You actually do start to adjust after a few days as you set your phone to wake you up for your next watch which is a 3 hour on 3 hours off, followed by 3 hours on 6 hours off. Really looking forward to when we can do single watches which will be 2 hours on and 8 hours off.

We have 7 days of scuba diving in Bonaire with Cullen and Issy getting their PADI Open Water and will hopefully give you an update before we leave about our diving experience’s on this wonderful island.