Leaving Pedro's Texaco dock to a blast of Spanish bullfighting music and punctuated by lots of horns and hooters we passed lots of spectators lining the marina walls and joined the other 220 or so boats to start the ARC.
To avoid a messy beginning we started under white sails (half of the crew not being sure what a spinnaker looks like) and so were the last racing boat to cross the line but had a clear start and plenty of room to make our course, heading slightly east of south to give the island's acceleration zone a wide berth (as by this stage we were already looking for a peaceful night). By now, Sam is looking very green having already passed the grey and blue stage and by the time it got dark he started throwing up
More tomorrow,
Kevin