It was a great event, the start on sunday five days ago. Exhilarating to be part of 220 boats passing the start line in Las Palmas. The weather was beautiful and the sailing great. On the very first day we managed to bend the spinnaker pole, great if you are going to do three weeks of downwind sailing. We got it repaired by amputating the poor thing and transplanting the end bit to the fresh cut. Slightly shorter it still functions. On the second night the masthead tricolor light wouldn't work, so we started to get a little bit worried about what else was going to fail. However, the next night the tricolor miraculously reappeared. Further on the up side was the email via SSB that functioned excellently. Also good was the SSB radionet, just that you don't feel lonely, feel part of it all. We had to throw away some tomatoes and some oranges, otherwise we are doing well in the food department. It feels good to be underway after four weeks of preparation in Las Palmas, not to count the previous months. Not many ships on the horizon anymore today. We did spot some dolphins, but still no whales.