The First Stretch

We are finally really on our way! We left Halifax this evening around 5pm local time (6pm ET) and we are headed north! Well, east at the moment, but eventually north. We are going up the coast of Nova Scotia and tomorrow we are cutting through Brass Lake?? (I think that´s what it is called) It´s the really big lake at the very tip top of Nova Scotia and you go in and out of it through locks, which will be a first for me. Anyway, I´m sure it will be gorgeous. Everywhere so far has been really pretty, although I think 1 day was enough for all of us in Halifax since no one came on this trip with the intention of being in a big city. We are on our way up to the west coast of Newfoundland, a trip which in total should take us about 5 days I think. I´m still trying to get a handle on distances and times up here so don´t quote me on that. Now that we´re finally on our way I can take a few minutes to catch up and fill everyone in on some details that not everyone is familiar with. We´ll start with the basics and go from there. I´m sailing through the Northwest Passage on Nordwind. She´s an 86´ yawl built in 1939. For more info on the boat the best thing to do is to visit transatlanticrace2011.com and visit the boat´s page on their site. There are 6 crew on board for this trip, as opposed to the 12 we sailed with in the Transatlantic race. They are: Alex the boat captain, Xurxo (pronounced Surso) who is the captain of a maxi yacht in Antigua and used to skipper Han´s, the owner, other boat Veronique, Franco who also sailed the Transatlantic last year who is a naval architect from Argentina, Laura who is a career classic yacht crew primarily in the Mediteranean but who has sailed all around the world, Robert who is a 20 year old scottish kid who is taking a year off from University to travel and sail, and myself.