Salty Dawg Rally Sails South

The Salty Dawg Fall Rally is in full swing as over 70 boats make passages south to the BVI, Antigua and the Bahamas. The fleet started from Hampton, VA in early November after a week of festivities and seminars at the Bluewater Marina. The rally has a free-form start in which skippers make their own decisions, based largely on the forecasts provided by Chris Parker, on when to leave. A lot of boats left on the 5th and 6th of November and many made their ways south to Beaufort to wait for a good window. The weather on the 7th and 8th was rough in the Gulf Stream but everyone got through okay. The boats headed to the BVI or Antigua were held up in mid-passage by a trough in the northern Caribbean that looked like it might become a tropical storm. It didn’t develop and the fleet was able to carry on. The tracking chart above, supplied by rally sponsor Ocens, was as of noon on Wednesday. The fastest boats have made landfall in the Bahamas and the BVI, while the lead boats heading to Antigua are still at sea. The whole fleet will be in by this time next week and the parties will begin. The Salty Dawg Sailing Association is an all-volunteer Rhode Island registered non-profit organization that offers rallies, seminars, rendezvous for cruisers and a crew list. Membership is open to all and is growing rapidly. Check out the website at www.saltydawgsailing.org.