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Starblazer - Day one at sea



Day one at sea

Sorry, I can't think of a snappier title. I have just written the midnight log entry and plotted our position on the chart, John is asleep and all is well on Starblazer. The night is certainly living up to our boat name, with a very bright starry sky and no moon yet. When I finish this blog I intend to play with the Star Walk app on the iPad.

Vital statistics first: we cast off at 0815 and waved goodbye to Cathy and Jamie, then motored towards the start. C and J were already ashore waiting for us when we got there. There was very little wind until we pulled out the genoa about 4 minutes before the start, a gust sent us hurtling ( bit of exaggeration there) towards the start line so we had to turn away and go right round, so then the wind dropped back to next to nothing. Sorry, Richard, it was not our most glorious start! We crossed the line safely with at least 3 of the fleet behind us. See Cathy's Facebook page for departure pics.

The sail out of Plymouth was fairly slow and there were a lot of coloured sails flying. As we are only double handed we didn't bother because the wind wasn't that settled and setting the chute, getting it snuffed, leading the sheet around the other way to gybe the sail and resetting us takes us ages. At midnight, 15 hours after the start, we had covered 75 miles, not quite the average we are hoping for and not all in the right direction. We only achieved this total by motoring for four hours so with a time penalty that rather lowers our average speed, but it was better than drifting at less than 2 knots. We are now sailing at 5 knots so the noisy engine does not disturb the sleeper.

Wildlife of the day: not a lot. There were numerous seabirds, possibly gannets, but the undoubted star was the little martin which made a number of attempts to land, perched briefly a few times then flew back towards Plymouth. I don't think he left a calling card but I haven't checked the life raft where he rested briefly.

Today we have eaten well, as our friends have come to expect. I made wraps for lunch: cream cheese and smoked salmon for both of us, cheese for me and Ikea crab paste for John. As today was Sunday we had a roast, turkey breast and roast potatoes with carrots and mushrooms.

This blog might be ancient history by the time you read it. We can receive e-mail but, so far, have been unable to send so I'll just have to wait and see if John manages to get the system working in the morning.

Joyce

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