Martinique Start

Our Blue Planet Odyssey Flag

All dressed up!

Blue Planet Odyssey (BPO) starts tomorrow.

During this past week of preparations we have felt more like we are part of an event. Kathy and Roger have been here representing the BPO and helping with logistics. We have passed that ”final exam” to go and are looking forward to beginning.

There is a race of local sailboats called Yoles tomorrow at 10 which is supposed to be our start time. So the plan is to leave the dock between 9 and 10 and anchor near the harbour mouth and watch the race. Then at noon we will have a classic starting line to cross under sail just there. We are expected in San Blas a bit more than a week later. We are lucky to have mild weather for the beginning at least.

Tonight there was a skippers’ meeting with all our last minute instructions, weather, and other logistics. The local tourist board had a reception for us and our logbooks were distributed and signed by the mayor of Le Marin. We had an earlier meet and greet and many visits with Kathy and Roger. One night a local high school student gave us some tips on fishing. Hope we can catch something!  I think we all would have liked more time to visit but everyone has been so busy doing last minute things.

On Maggie we have repaired the main sail, added mast steps and installed the new life raft. We deployed the old life raft near the garbage as a demo and removed some of the emergency supplies for our use. Our courtesy flags are up and the BPO flag and splash guard with our number 22. We decided in the end to hire someone to install the new engine throttle. A good thing as he was here from 10:30 to 5 yesterday with Rob and Bob helping most of the time. Food and supplies are quite limited in San Blas so I have been buying as much food as I can fit into the boat and getting it packed away.

Our tracker is started now. You can check it at http://cornellsailing.com/sail-the-odyssey/blue-planet-odyssey/follow-the-rally/track-the-boats/

You can subscribe to receive a daily summary of all the boat positions via email. Just email   positions-bpo-subscribe@cornellsailing.com

Next time from the high seas!