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Skyelark of London - Day 1



Skyelark World ARC 2014/15 Blog

Day 1 / 12 Jan 2014 32? 52.525 N, 64? 04.125 W

... And they're off! The horn sounded at exactly 12:00 on the 11th, and 32 

boats were off on Leg 1 of the World ARC, headed for the unspoiled Caribbean
islands known as the San Blas Islands, a group on the Caribbean side of the
Panama Canal. After graciously allowing all but one or two boats to cross
the start line ahead of us, Skyelark has now assumed a good position,
trailing only a couple boats toward our first waypoint, a northern edge of
Venezuela which we will round - at a distance respectful of the strong
swells in the area - and aim for the San Blas Islands, which are slightly
more south of our current course of approximately 267?. We`re making about
8 Knots on our headsail alone and the seas are slight other than the
occasional swell/wave which has us rolling a bit.

Our group has now spread out in a larger footprint and no other boats are
visible. I`m sure that will change over the course of the next few days.

Our night voyage has been under the beaming rays of a nearly full moon, and
day and night we`ve found ourselves escorted by schools of flying fish and a
few birds. So far, no dolphins or whales, but it`s still early, of course,
so perhaps in the coming days...

The big event of the day, far overshadowing the start, was the birthday of
our co-Skipper, Dan, who celebrated his 32nd birthday today! Congrats and
Best Wishes, Dan! Among the numerous gifts was a sport fishing pole stand,
which Dan promptly mounted to a side stanchion and allowed Sam the honor of
setting out a line. Hopefully, sushi and/or fish steaks are in our near
future.
Our crew consists of Co-Skippers, Dan and Emily, and the six crew members
who`ve signed on for the leg, Robin (Dan`s father), Sam and Kim from the US,
Jan from Norway, and Marita (from Germany) and myself (from various parts of
the globe, most recently Berlin, via the US). All are generally well,
although Marita has been suffering a bout of sea sickness, and I may not be
far from it myself. We`ll leave those symptoms behind us in a day or two,
I`m sure.

Arvil



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