How did I end up in a Viking costume?

The week leading up to our departure has been happy hours and get togethers galore. Funnily enough I can handle an ocean passage but put me in a crowded loud room with a ton of new people and I am ready to run to a safe harbour. 

Back to the Viking costume....On the night of the cruiser “Once Upon a Time” costume party I remember thinking that I would fight my social anxiety by drinking a lot. What could go

wrong, right? I put my pink rubber gloves on and my do-rag on my head and called myself “Cinder Crew”. Graham dressed up as a light version of Popeye. We were ready. 

We all had pre party drinks around the table on our catamaran. A few bottles of wine later and we were off for the party. I was the perfect amount of tipsy at this point. All the edges were just sanded off nicely. Conversation flowed easily and laughter came often. If only I hadn’t had a drink at the party. Lol

Two sangrias later and I found myself stepping into the middle of a group of men dressed as Vikings. As I started to dance amongst them one of them started putting an extra costume/burlap sack on me and then another was tying the belt around my waist and then another put the horns

on my head and the dancing continued. In the morning as I awoke and hazy, cringe worthy memories began to come back to me and I said to Graham, “I wonder how I ended up in the Viking costume?”. He replied, “let me show you the video!” Oiy. Video evidence. All in good fun.

Aside from a ton of parties we have also been completing a long list of prep:

• grocery shop for 5 adults for 20+ days: dry goods, meat, fruit/veg, drinks, hygiene supplies, cleaning, alcohol and of course cheese and an Iberico leg of ham
• Find room in the boat for everything and stow safely and remember where you put everything 
• Safety check and repair of all rigging and lines - up the mast
• Defrost fridges 
• Clean boat
• Do laundry - loving the washing machine on board!
• Make and put on a preventer on the main sail to limit the boom’s ability to swing unexpectedly 
• Get all fishing gear and lures ready
• Prepare meals for first few days
• Check the weather and route recommendations constantly and discuss it with everyone 
• Walk through all systems and equipment on the boat together
• Ensure the beacons inside our life jackets work correctly and will be picked up by the Automatic Identification System on board 
• Overview all potential emergencies together and our plan as a team to address each 
• And a ton of other little things

Lucky for us we have 5 adults to divvy up the work. This has been a great way to get to know each other before we set off together. As each day passes the excitement builds. We are looking forward to casting the lines on Sunday, Nov 24 at noon! If you are interested in tracking our progress you can do this via either method below:

Method 1: Use the following link https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Mareas  and you will see only our boat and you will also see the boat speed and wind speed and direction. You can see our path and such. 

Method 2: You need to download the app called YB Races. This app will allow you to see all boats in the 2019 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers. You will need to add this race and then search for our boat called “Mareas” to see our progress and position in the fleet. 

Currently all boats are pretty much at dock unless they are out for a sea trial. The departure date is this Sunday November 24th! Please follow along.