Plan A was to stay well back and watch the mayhem of the
start from a distance before picking our way through the wreckage.
Plan A didn't last long and soon we were in the thick of it running down to the
start line with boats all around us. Order soon returned and with
light winds we decided to put the Parasailor up, an action we hadn't
successfully archived since we bought it. It was a shaky operation but
soon the big blue sail was pulling and instead of falling behind we were keeping
up (at least with the smaller boats).
By evening the fleet had spread out and Chris prepared a
chicken tea which we ate with a cold can of beer on the back of the
boat.
We are working a 4 hour watch system with Roz and Jack
on one watch and Tom and I on the other. Settling in to broken sleep
patterns is always a chore but we had a good night sailing under the full moon
and by 12 noon we will be about 120 miles from Las Palmas and only
about 2600 miles to go.
Chili con carne for tea tonight
Jon