Beyzano - First Log At Sea

The memories of the ARC start will stay with us all for a long time, as the spectacular of the start line and the excitement of the last few hours in the marina were amazing. Thanks to Kym, Liz and Jo for flying out to see us off. What an adventure! R pontoon, in typical fashion, supported one another to the last and we were played out to 'We Are Sailing' by John from Chiscos, on his trumpet as we slipped our berth.

The crew are all safe and well and settling into our routine of meals, sleep, watches and comms.

We have just logged over the 300 nm mark and been at sea for 1 day 20 hours, with a run of 180 nm in the first 24 hours. The swell is uncomfortable at times making the genoa flog but the cruising chute worked well yesterday when the wind dropped below 15 kts. We took it down at dusk and just used the genoa through the night as it is easier to handle..

We can only see a couple of other ARC yachts now, with another few on AIS and we haven't seen any marine life nor caught a fish yet! The Rally uses the VHF radio to keep in touch with one another and the SSB radio net has a daily call. It is nice to be able to stay in touch with friends as we cross to St Lucia over the next 3 weeks.

All the equipment on the boat is working well and we are running the generator twice a day to keep the batteries topped up. We haven't used much water so haven't tested the watermaker yet but with some of us needing showers today, we should be using it within the next day or so.

So far, all going well and enjoying being out at sea again.


Rhian