Monday, May 5th, 2014 – First news of the boat

The 7th Continent expedition is heading for the North West of the Atlantic Ocean! We left the port of « Le marin » in the afternoon, around 3 pm, warmly encouraged by our families and by the visitors of the port, before the eye of the camera of Martinique Premiere. The morning of preparations went at top speed, with excitement good mood.

The journey towards Sargasso Sea is going to be long course! The catamaran will sail on a northerly/north-easterly heading for 1000 miles, to wit : 1800 km during one week of journey with the catamaran which will speed at an average of 7 knots (a knot = one nautic mille / hour or 1.852 km / hour).

The weather is nice, the sea calm and the captain unfold the mainsail as soon as we exited the canal. We sailed around the southern tip of Martinique to pass on what we call the windy coast on the Atlantic side. It is the East coast of the island which is directly hitten by Alizées. We will go away from the coast of the West Indies, because our cape is 15 degrees. In a few hours… no more land in sight for 3 weeks!

The first dinner is being prepared. Romain the cook, and thus the most important person on board after the captain, decided to make a simple and substantial dish to help all the crew to get accustomed to beingat sea : pasta!

The first night of navigation is being planned: the crew organized the night watch. We will be 5 to take turns every two hours, to ensure the boat safety. It is indeed essential to have a night wtachman on the deck to make sure that everything goes well 24 hours a day.