Originally Posted by MoAlpha

If you look at the tracker, you'll see everyone going south of the most direct route initially, which is because the Gulf Stream pushes you north. Also, virtually everyone is using routing software, which should put you in the most favorable wind and current for your boat.

Here's a recent snapshot of the Gulf Stream across the course. We'll have to hit the favorable sides of that "coldˇ eddy" shown in blue and deal with the subsequent "warm eddies" in orange. We are paying for proprietary info, which may help with that, but it's going to be tricky. Wind forecasts look pretty good so far. I'm hoping for a finish latish on the fourth day, but if the wind decreases near the island, which it sometimes does, or we break something in the Gulf Stream, which happens, we could be out there for a week.