A post from one of the crew

Like many of you, I am sitting at a desk in front of my computer, watching the little blue dots appear on the GPS tracking map as my father, Wiley and Kel begin their adventure. In a week, it will become my adventure too.

After a few days' delay preparing the boat (this is inevitable - everything but the hull has been rebuilt for this trip), the three men anxiously casted off from the Isle of Capri, FL on the evening of April 26th. Their first destination is St. Augustine, FL where the Atlantic Rally Crossing (ARC) begins the 8th of May. Hopefully they arrive well before that, as I fly to meet them on the 3rd. We'll spend several days provisioning and taking care of any issues discovered in the shakedown, before the start of the race.

On 8 May, the four of us will depart for Bermuda, roughly 900 nautical miles away. We'll start by sailing a bit north to catch the gulf stream currents along the east coast (and avoid the dreaded "Bermuda Triangle"), before taking a straight course to Bermuda, winds permitting.

Based on her trips to and from Isla Mujeres, we expect Severance to average 100nm per day. We should arrive in Bermuda with a couple of days to reprovision, before the ARC starting gun fires for the Bermuda-Azores leg on May 21st.

Leaving Bermuda, again we'll sail north of the great circle route to pick up favorable currents and stronger winds.

My girlfriend Robyn and my mother fly to the Azores on June 5. Their flight from Boston will take 5 hours. It's about 2000nm to the Azores from Bermuda, and will take us around 3 weeks. I better not hear complaints about how long the flight was!

They'll both be there for two weeks, where we plan to do a little cruising, diving and touring in the Azores. Wiley and Kel will get a brief shore leave. These islands look amazing, I'm really looking forward to visiting them by boat.

June 19th, we'll drop Robyn and my mother off near Ponta Delgada, and cast off for the Isles of Scilly.

The Isles of Scilly are British Isles, and the southwesternmost point of England. From here, our plans are less defined. Plymouth is a possible next destination. My father would like to circumnavigate the UK. I need to be in London by mid-July to return home to Portland, Oregon but I'll tag along as long as I can. Wiley, Kel and Scott's adventure will be just beginning.

-Eric.