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Domini - Day Three Begins….



Hello again Boatblog fans,

I hope you managed to find us ok on this, our new little piece of cyberspace. I guess if you're reading this right now, you must have done, so welcome back. Apologies that there will be no pictures in these latest editions, but they take too long to upload. The computer boffin from Mailasail did explain how I could do it by re-sizing everything but I'm still none the wiser. ( HIM:- "You send it as an in message, not as an out message, because there are no ins, only outs which collect the ins, so to get an in you need to send an out, which on the leg in, becomes a leg out, thought it's really an in." ME:-  So, you put your left leg in, your left leg out, in out, in out, shake it all about. You do the...") You get the idea. It's all very complicated unless you're a Cambridge graduate or a child of seven, so I'll just have to upload them when we're back on terra firma.

Our plan for the start of the race was to keep out of all the mayhem on the startline and hang back and let all the racers go first. Not a tactic that would impress Ben Ainslee but it suited us. Unfortunately, everyone else seems to have had the same idea, so it was still like D Day when we actually crossed the line. I've never seen so many boats in such a small piece of water. Very exciting, and just a bit scary! But we somehow managed to not hit anyone and we were off. Just thirty minutes after the starting pistol.

The first couple of days of our transatlantic adventure have been pretty full on. As you no doubt already know the start was postponed for a day because of inclement weather, but it was still pretty hairy when we left. It was F6 gusting up to F8, which in landlubber terms means very windy with bloody big waves. We were bouncing around like an old sock in a washing machine. And that was before we hit the acceleration zone about ten miles south. For those of you that don't know, an acceleration zone is where the wind is predicted to go from fast, to ridiculous. And the predictions were right. 

But Domini handled it all with grace and ease, unlike the crew who were hanging on tight trying not to be sick. Ju got drenched twice. As in proper drenched. The second time just after he changed into dry clothes. Doh! We live and learn.

Then, after all that, the wind suddenly dropped as we got in the lee of the island. In the space of five minutes it went from 30 knots to bugger all (another seafaring term). We bobbed about for a few hours (which if you followed our track is why we went round and round in circles for a bit,)  before we eventually gave in to the inevitable; with heavy heart we hoisted the iron mainsail and chugged merrily into the wind.

By now it was night-time, and I'm pleased to see that the ARC committee have arranged for more stars than usual, so thanks to them for that. They really are quite spectacular. And dolphins by the hundreds . Fantastic.

Day two was a lot calmer, and strangely that was when Lyn got seasick. Which is very rare for her. So she was completely out for the count, but I'm pleased to say she's a lot better now.

And so my Boatblog friends, there I must close. It's about 7 in the morning, and I am sat here in the cockpit, the wind on our tail and the sun peeping over the horizon. 

It is all rather magical.

Ju & Lyn

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