Saturday night the crew had a nice dinner at the Italian restaurant, watched the fireworks. The crew of nine is made of Peter and Hillary from the UK, Pamela from Scotland, Phelim and Barry from Dublin, Eric from France, Jenny from the UK, Gabriela from Austria, and Val from Bulgaria.
Sunday morning, start day. We finish setting up Nisida and ... ready to cast off. Oh no! The engine won't get in gear. After a few minutes of suspense, the gear box finally cooperates and off we go at 11:00am to the starting line just outside the harbour. The committee boat is a Spanish navy ship, not as big as a ferry boat (see ARC 2006!) but quite visible. Good start on main and Genoa. The initial move will be to decide when to gybe at the southern end of the Gran Canarias. This is the initial run down the east coast of Gran Canarias. The crowd on the water thins a bit as some boats hug the coast and others stay clear. Desna and Fair do's VII show that they are not here for tourism, only.
We set the asymmetric spinnaker pole-less, and start watching the wind around our remaining neighbors. Val is eager to apply his dinghy racing skills, he sets a 14.1 knots speed. We pole the spinnaker, which gives us a better angle as it's time to make some westing. At 16:00, the watch system is started, first watch Hillary, Pam, Eric and Barry. First dinner at sea prepared by Hillary; chicken in red wine sauce. She sets the bar high for the rest of the crew!
Matelot passes by as the sun sets and Gran Canarias fades behind us. As we leave the islands, we get a couple hours with strong wind funnelling down from Gran Canarias, nice ride! We pole the jib for the night. The wind settles down in the 10 - 15 knots range. As darkness comes, we can still count a number of sailboat lights scattered around us, a few of them on a more southern route.
Monday morning, only one sailboat remains visible far behind us. we set up the spinnaker. First position reporting by Peter at noon, and we start our second day.