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Day 1 Newport trip

Start of Day 2

Position: 14° 39.6999' N 062° 35.6282' W

Boat: THis is a very special boat and is really fast compared to the others i have sailed. Opela and Crazy Sophia are very similar but this is a very new racing cruiser and for those who want to look at what its about you can look up Pogo 12.5 on www.pogostructures.com
Last night during the night we were able to get 11 knots speed in 17 knots of wind and before that we were turning 50%of the wind into boatspeed so that is very good energy usage
Inside is very comfortable except for when i am cooking because i get thrown about a lot and the compromise for speed is great but saying that i am not happy at speeds above 10knots because i am a nervous sailor

wind at the moment is around 17 kts on our beam so we are speeding along at 8 to 9 knots

People: we are both ok
Speed: 8 to 9 to KTS
Wind: 17 easterly kts
Distance 172 miles sailed yesterday
Course: true , to Newport Rode island
Conditions: Choppy but good

24-hour mileage: around 172 miles with around 1666 miles still to go to Newport

Comments:
Yesterday was slow to start as the Customs and immigration people asked us to come in the the morning and clear out because they wanted to go home early the previous evening. So we woke late and did preparation jobs while we waited and I got the gas working using the parts from Crazy Sophia after the same parts on Tilt failed and i really wanted coffee. The guy in one of the Chandleries suggested we go like that and just switch the stove off after every time we used it but there was no way i was taking the chance after my previous singe from a gas explosion. (maybe i should write that story up one day as a blog entry
Anyway we had a really good english breakfast while we waited for the customs and then we cleared out and i dropped the papers off at the marina office and we were on our way back to Tilt to head out.
THe lines were loose in minutes and we started motoring off the jetty and while i was collecting fenders one fell into the water so John had to reverse up to it so we could retrieve it and because the back of the boat is so flat and near the water it was easy
We were soon out of the harbour and we were able to raise the main sail and get moving slowly because the wind in the lee of the island was not very strong and as we got further offshore the winds picked up and we let out the Genoa. As soon as the genoa was out the boat picked up speed and soon we were hurtling along at 8 knots in 12 knots of wind

By 12pm we were already alongside St Vincent and by 6 am we were off Martinique and our projected tie to the British virgin Islands is tomorrow so around 48 hours and on Opela i take 4 days for the same trip sailing solo so its a big difference.

During the night we came across many fishing boats and although they had AIS there were almost no lights on the boats and one of them just sat where he was and kept moving into our path so when I was around 1 mile away autopilot went off and i steered around him and luckily because we were moving so fast he just watched Tilt disappear around him and be on our way. It like John said they probably have never seen a sailboat moving past them at 12 knots speed in the middle of the night so they just didn't know what to do

I will be adding most days so look out for the adventure

Kevin

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