Those who are still at sea in this year's Atlantic Rally for Cruisers certainly seem to be enjoying themselves... for the most part. The trade winds have filled in, the boats are ticking off the miles, and a fair chunk of the fleet is already in St. Lucia.

For a small boat, Sunset Chaser carries an awful lot of docking and mooring paraphernalia. Small boats are inherently much more vulnerable to storms than large ones, and get knocked around more by smaller waves, so our inventory shouldn't come as a surprise: four 4"x12" fenders, two 6"x15" fenders, seven 3/8" docklines (four 12', three 20'), plus of course the anchor, its rode, and assorted light cordage.

Raccoons are kind of cute... as long as they're not on board your boat, rummaging through your food bins. I've had them raid campsites before, but I think this is the first time we've been boarded by the clever little critters.