Annabella - Log Day 2 - Finding our Feet

Having spent the last week preparing the boat (which we know something about), buying the food (which we know little enough about) we were very pleased to leave the dock and start the ARC.

The weather at (and after) the start was livelier than we had anticipated with gusts in the 20s. We then got hit with a downpour which lasted for over an hour. During the soaking we found the furled twin headsail configuration to be a bit of a challenge until we figured out what to do with the sheets. Boat speed was 8-9 knots for the first few hours and that continued for most of the night. We are currently averaging 7 knots with main and headsail with wind from NNW. We followed the ARC advice to head south until we reach approx 20 degrees N to pick up the trade winds and then head west with the (hopefully) following winds. We were getting worried at one stage that we might end up in the sahara, but managed to gybe when Craig was taking over from Conor. We hope to drop the main and pole out the twin headsails later today and with a bit of luck we can stick with that configuration for a while.

The watch system is going well with one on watch and one on call when the weather is manageable. Getting plenty of rest. We are also getting into the food routine with salad yesterday evening, fruit salad with muesli and yoghurt for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and chicken with ginger this evening.

The fridge is the only problem so far. It's not working. Disaster you might say, but top section of freezer also doubles as a fridge so hopefully that will be sufficient. Water maker and generator working well. If you are reading this then the sat phone is also working for data, weather and emails.

Next episode tomorrow.

The Annabella Team

Peter (Pug- The Skipper), Stephen, Conor, Craig and yours truly,

Terry (Chief Blogger) Crew now want editorial access after the last blog.