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El Mundo - 25/11 - The first night at sea...blown fuses!



The start of the ARC was just as exciting as last time but it was a relief to finally put to sea. Conditions were quite boisterous on the first leg down the east coast of Gran Canaria, with gusts up to 35 knots and quite an active sea, making helming a good workout! Gybing and running down off the south coast, the wind finally began to moderate a little. Unfortunately we then abruptly hit a patch of wind shadow, despite being 50 miles offshore, and the new sails flogged for nearly an hour before we decided to motor. It was only an hour and a half before we picked up the wind again and it continued for the rest of night....mostly in the 18-23 knot range. As I write, we have 160 miles on the log, so quite fast so far.
The watch system was also changable, adapting to the weather, but everyone got some sleep. We all enjoyed a visit from some dolphins before dusk.
El Mundo has sailed well but we have had a couple of challenges. A primary winch failed but this just turned out to be an incorrectly rated fuse in the control box....then the VHF blew a fuse (or two) on transmit, so we will just be using it for radio watch for the rest of crossing and the handhelds for transmitting. This VHF has never worked properly, despite two attempts by Raymarine and Oyster, so we will swap it out at the earliest opprotunity (I bet Pauls got a spare on Juno!). A float switch in a sump pump stuck on as well but that can be controlled manually and is not urgent.
Overall, not a bad first day ay sea....and it looks like a beautiful day dawning...



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