Adagio - From Adagio (U.S.A.) 11/24/2018 (Saturday)

1: 11/24/18
Saturday ... it's all coming down to the wire now.

Such a mixture of anticipation and accomplishment; although Adagio was in pretty good shape for the crossing already, there arose a couple of items as a result of a pre-cruise shakedown that ended up being fairly stressful. This, of course, is all part and parcel to preparing for a rally because there are a lot of things on the list, and an ever shortening time span to get them done.

Thankfully, Las Palmas had most everything we needed in order to get the project list pretty well cleaned up (those items left on the list, while originally deemed necessary, somehow got put into the "eh, it wasn't really that important anyway" category and deferred until the next dock. I do promise I will install that new solenoid in the washing machine .. really, I will! ..

It's funny how the project management flow develops as you go about looking ahead to a 'deadline', which in our case is 11:00 A.M. tomorrow. Things take on a life of their own as a project that you thought would be a major challenge ends up being quickly and easily solved by the right person with the right tools and in-stock parts and conversely some small checklist item ends up costing much more time, money and walking steps or cab rides than you ever dreamed possible. Ah, boating :)

Neverthless, we were going to set sail without any major concerns and I was very pleased with how some of the 'major' problems had been solved.

My wife Robin has been an absolute champion at the provisioning and meal preparation front. I can't believe how much effort she's put into the planning and preparation for the trip and I will be forever grateful for her culinary skills. The idea that one will lose some weight on a crossing is way off the charts aboard this boat thanks to our amazing menu.

I think one secret "tip" that made a world of difference is that she was able to do the majority of the cooking and pre-freezing off site, as our arriving crew had booked an Air BnB nearby and made the kitchen facilities available for the meal prep. This ended up being a wonderful alternative to doing all the prep and cooking aboard (amidst all the other chaos of preparations) and also, by pre-freezing the food at the apartment before loading Adagio's chest freezers, we saved a considerable amount of amp-hours that would have been spent as the little freezers tried to manage a big load of food.

Most of the food had been prepared and then transferred into lock-n-lock containers. This provided a rectangular shape to most of the dishes. Once frozen, the dishes were separated from the containers and vacuum packed with the food saver. Nice, even stacking of evenly portioned meals. Science and technology meets cruising tummy :)

The Skipper's briefing and final social events marked the only non-"working" aspects of the day. Everyone is properly cleared out and everything is stowed away for departure. We had to have one last hamburger at Pier 19 (that is a running joke with us now; we're officially "regulars" at that restaurant) and tonight is the time to to make the final prep for departure.

Wow, it's really happening! I hope we can get some sleep! The emotions are high; excitement mixed with a bit of apprehension because this is our first TransAt in this direction, and will be our longest leg to date. I'm confident of the boat and very happy with the crew.

As we say aboard Adagio ... "Want to go for a boat ride?"
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