Selene - The first 24 hours

Well, after all the drama of delaying the start for the cruising division until Tuesday and one of our crew getting the jitters from all the dock talk, the start itself was very frustrating. The wind was fresh as we left the dock at 11.00 with enthusiastic waves from our neighbours, most of whom had decided to delay until Tuesday. What a great community spirit and feeling of camaraderie. There was even a Spanish Bass band playing some rousing tunes. Selene bent to her purpose ands seemed to enjoy the 20 kts we saw in the bay for an hour pre-start shakedown.

Then the wind dropped to 2-3 knots for the start. We lost steerage way after the 5 minute gun and had luckily made a call to rig the Code zero and keep the number 3 up in view of our depleted numbers. A great call as it turned out and we managed to pick up what little wind there was to cross the line only 10 minutes after our gun. No point in being over - no recalls, just a 3hour penalty if you were early.

We made good progress inshore and kept ahead of a number of larger boats offshore. Then the wind did kick in again and we saw 30+kts in the acceleration zone off the airport - nothing more than a fresh breeze in the Wallet and a similar uncomfortable sea state with a beat down to the SE corner of the island. Once through the acceleration zone the wind moderated to a comfortable 18-20kts fine on the port bow which lifted, allowing us to clear Gran Canaria to a beautiful sunset over the wind farm, just like Gunfleet.

We had a pleasant sail till about midnight when the wind picked up again to a steady 25 kts gusting up to 35. Luckily we had decided to keep our number 3 up to conserve the crew and we managed quite happily with just one reef in the main. It was wet and rather uncomfortable and not at all what we had signed up for. It did feel good however to be out on the ocean. The lights of Gran Canaria vanished behind us at around 3am.

The wind has been up and down and the reef has been in and out all morning. Now however at 3.30pm we are trucking along quite nicely under the three and full main in 15-18kts of wind and blue skies with the occasional fluffy white cumulus cloud. We had one squall come through which only lasted a couple of minutes but brought some rain and 35 knots of wind. We thought about the second reef, but before we could do so the wind had abated just as quickly.

We have been making good progress, just west of south,but it looked as if the wind was likely to veer rather later south so we put a couple of hours in on port to gain a little north until we were headed then tacked back onto starboard. Unfortunately just after we had completed the tack the starboard spinnaker pole broke free and was carried overboard and lost behind us. It also smacked the baby stay on the way and the top swage fractured. So now we only have one spinnaker pole and no stay sail - pity, but could have been worse.

Morale is good, helped by great food from Lily and a school of dolphins visiting us in the moonlight last night.

Selene Out.