Weather Window

More waiting…

Sandy, keeping it real and bottoming out the barometer.

After riding out Hurricane Sandy and sitting around for a few days, we are now once again waiting for the weather to be just right.

This time of course it is for the Big Trip, our passage from North America to the Caribbean.

Apparently it is November there in the British Virgin Islands, just like it is here in Hampton, VA.  Of course it is approximately TWICE the temperature in the BVI’s, it was in the 30’s this morning.  We don’t actually own a whole lot of of winter clothes anymore!

We aren’t waiting and traveling alone.  This year we are joining the Salty Dawg Rally, which is a group of around sixty boats that are all headed in the same direction at the same time.  There is another rally out there too, the Caribbean 1500, which left Hampton a yesterday morning headed for the BVI’s as well.  Hopefully they, and the ten boats from the Salty Dawgs under way already,  will get out there fast and not get pasted by the Nor’easter that is making it’s way up the East Coast this week.  Wednesday might be…uncomfortable…for those at sea.  It’s why we are here still.

Did I mention we finally got far enough South for pelicans?

After a Hurricane like Sandy the seas are a bit roiled and unhappy.  A storm system that large messes up a LOT of ocean.  Coming down from our hurricane hole up the Piankitank River to Hampton you couldn’t really tell a monster storm had come through, but offshore would be a different question entirely.

The original departure date for the Rally was yesterday, November 4th, but with the coming of Sandy we all knew this wasn’t likely to happen.  People like us lost days of preparation time and many people were stuck far from the rally point.  After some initial confusion when we got to Hampton it became very clear that even if we decided to leave on the original date we’d be taking a risk of some serious weather on route, and it was almost certain we’d hit some rough stuff.   As it turns out the boats that left early have passed a few rough moments with some squalls with up to 50 knots of breeze.  Frankly, I’d rather be freezing my butt of here in Hampton.

The way it is looking now we will be leaving this Friday morning.  There is this nor’easter than is supposed to clear through on Wednesday with some seriously unpleasant wind and waves.  After settling for a day or so, Friday should start out with some breeze in a good direction and we will be off.