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Mischief - Log day 1: St Lucia here we come!



Slipped lines at 1105 in glorious sunshine having eaten a last breakfast of croissants, listened to the brass band marching up and down and headed out of the Muello Deportivo (marina I believe in Spanish - no taxi driver knows where "the Marina please" is). All the superyachts were leaving around the same time so we were accompanied out into the bay in some very esteemed company. The harbour walls were lined with spectators and well wishers waving and wishing good fortune which is quite emotional.

The starboard end of the start line was a local naval vessel with a huge great howitzer on the bow either to fire the starting signal or perhaps to penalise those boats who were over the line at the start - the Spanish version of the "Black Flag" rule? We watched the catamaran class and the racing division get under way then it was our turn and at 1300 GMT our maroon went up and we were off! The wind was giving us a close reach on port tack and as we freed off around the first headland we went for the code 0 (large offwind light headsail) and we took off. Great sailing - message started arriving whilst we still had G4 signal that we were 11th in division then 9th, then 7th, then 5th all within a couple of hours so at this rate of progress we were going to win by a country mile by St Lucia! By 1600 the wind had come sufficiently behind us and being in the wind acceleration zone giving us 25 knots of wind we put up the spinnaker, much to Neal's chagrin (who believes a spinnaker has as much a place on a yacht as a leak). Of course it is not necessarily the setting of the spinnaker that is the difficult bit and naturally just as I was about to serve Green Chicken Curry for dinner it became clear that we needed to gybe and it was getting too windy for the kite anyway so we went to drop it. So I turned off the rice and Neal and I went on deck. However, it didn't turn out quite to plan as is usual with spinnakers in a breeze (they develope a mind of their own and seem to take control of their own destiny - hence why Neal has this healthy disregard for the beasts). We couldn't de-power it and as the sheets loaded up we were continually having to let go or risk being bodily lifted and thrown over the side. Anyway, we eventually managed and tamed the thing and Neal buried it in the fore deck locker whilst I spreadeagled myself over it to prevent it blowing away. Panic over, back to dinner.

There was a really confused sea into the night and the boat was rolling like a good 'un much to Wendy's concern as she was feeling a little sea sick and with a bad back still. I think Dave must have told her it was going to be sunny and flat all the way across and the reality was turning out to be somewhat different! We were hitting 10 knots boat speed at times and rolling all over the place so no-one got any sleep, but it was exciting stuff - welcome to trade wind sailing!

However, at 2250 the wind dropped to nothing and what there was came on the nose so in the tradition of Treacle Miner sailing, on went the engine for an hour, when the wind came back again. The stars were all out - Dave counted them and confirmed all were present and correct - but there was no moon and it was really dark.

Looking at the AIS it would appear that of the two broad routes suggested by Chris Tibbs the weather guru, namely Westerly direct (faster) or Southerly (slower but more comfortable), literally everyone has chosen the Westerly option. Accordingly it is like a motorway out here, boats everywhere! But at least its starting to thin out as boats decide which way around a large wind hole is best. We have taken the ostrich approach are just hoping it doesn't happen at all.

Hi Ho.....

Charlie


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