Caribbean 1500 Cruising 2007

by Cruising Rally Association on 7 Nov 2007 The Caribbean 1500, 'Fun Race and Cruise', sails every year from Hampton in Virginia to hospitable Village Cay Marina on Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands.

This note from Kelly and Howard on Nana Maria says it all,


Nov 5th, 3 PM
'It’s been a slow start. Apparently Hurricane Noel sucked all the energy out of the area. So there has been little wind which means we have had to mostly motor. We have just crossed the Gulf Stream where we were able to watch the water temperature climb from 68 degrees to 78 degrees within a matter of minutes. Where we are now, the water temperature is 80 degrees so the sweatpants and sweatshirts are suddenly unnecessary. The skies are clear and blue. The water on this side of the stream is blue and beautiful. We haven't seen any wildlife yet with one exception.

After a few hours we ran into some big fish or manatee or some other large ocean animal. We heard the bump as we sailed by. It was probably as startling to us as it was to him. We did see a small 'green flash' when the sun set yesterday. The stars and the crescent moon were all out last night and we saw the most beautiful sunrise this morning. .It's really peaceful out here when the engine is off. We're currently sailing with our Mainsail and Genoa. The winds are fluky and light, but we're tired of listening to the engine. We're able to progress at 5knots even though the wind is less than 10knots. We've got a couple fishing lines trailing off the boat so we're hopeful to catch something special for dinner. Otherwise, it's pot roast and garlic mashed potatoes. Mmmmm. We sure do eat well on Nana Maria.'

Nov 5th, 7 AM
Many of the boats are crossing the Gulf Stream now and will enjoy its 83 degree temperature and beautiful deep blue color as the sun comes up. Winds are light and fishing will be good today. The sailors are getting into their routines and getting some rest after the excitement of the start and days of preparation. Light Heart returned to Little Creek, Norfolk over night where they will make some repairs today. La Bella Mae returned to Hampton for minor sail repairs.

Quantum's Jim Miller met them at the dock and will complete repairs this morning. Dress Parade got underway from Charleston, SC, and Nepenthe will depart from CT before long after Noel prevented them from sailing to Hampton late last week.

11 AM Light Heart reported being repaired and underway again. They praised local boat builder, Howdy Bailey, for his excellent help.

They are Off
At 12 noon EST the fleet departed for Tortola, BVI. Bright sun, a cloudless sky, cool temperatures, and a 10 to 15 knot northerly breeze sent the boats effortlessly to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Spirits were high as the sailors finally got underway after much time spent preparing and inspecting their boats for the voyage. Most will be underway for 8 to 10 days before reaching their first stop at Village Cay in Road Town, Tortola. There they will celebrate their arrival at the Mount Gay cocktail parties and awards dinner on November 15th.

Satellite Tracking for all Rally Boats
Starting now, we will provide free real time tracking of all the boats in our rallies.

A self-contained, sealed AXTracker miniature transmitter will be placed on each boat. Every four hours it will send a new position to a Globalstar simplex data satellite which will forward the message to the Magnalox software interface to our web page at www.carib1500.com. In this way the positions of all 70 boats in the rally will be updated 6 times a day without need for human intervention.

It will add to the interest in the event for the families and friends of our ralliers, but more importantly it will allow the race committee to arrange rendezvous with boats with problems and to anticipate night time arrivals. The Magnalox software provides user friendly tools that allow viewers to superimpose boat tracks and positions on both graphic and satellite image maps.

Helping us pull the whole system together with product and technical support was Fleet Analytics' President (and fellow boater), Mark Eklund. To learn more about our service providers visit the following web sites: www.Axonn.com, www.Globalstar.com, and www.Magnalox.com. For help in planning tracking systems write Mark Eklund at Mark@fleetanalytics.net.