The company I work for has several branches, including a sailing center and a Hanse dealership. Every Fall, one of our Hanses heads for St. Thomas to be used by members. This year, one of our Hanse 400 customers decided to take his as well. There is a lot of preparation that is done to get ready for a trip like this.

I don't have any photos, but Martin van Breems (my boss) called everyone to a meeting a couple of weeks ago to review weather planning and other issues. He then took everyone out to practice man overboard drills.

The top pic was taken on Monday morning and shows Martin and the other captain reviewing weather charts before departure.

The second pic is one of our employees fitting a boom brake. Also added to the customer's Hanse was an inner forestay, storm jib, running backs, and jack lines. Plus the solar panels and bimini.

The third is one of our Hanses. With the diesel jugs and solar panels, it's looking a bit busy.

The fourth is finally getting underway.

One of the guys has a "Spot", which enables me to follow their progress on the Spot website. The first day they had light wind to start, but then it picked up pretty good. They made 160 nautical miles in 24 hours. Today and Thursday it will be fairly light breezes, but on Friday winds are forecast for 30 to 40 knots from a deep low east of Cape Cod. It will be an interesting sail, for sure. With 470 nautical miles to go, they should be arriving in Bermuda on Saturday. Then it's a crew change and off for St. Thomas.