Well finally! Day three and I have enough sea legs to sit down below and do some typing.. What a send off from Las Palmas! - it was fantastic seeing so many people lining the walls of the marina and out on the water to watch. I can safely say it is the first time I have had a Frigate as a committee boat, and being over at the start with that array of weaponry pointing along the line didn't bear thinking about. Thankfully there were no start line incidents and we set off from the inshore end just under the bow of the Spanish Navy, and watched jealously as several boats up to windward hoisted kites of all shapes and sizes including a very smart looking ARC special edition Parasailor. Maybe next time we'll have one of them! The wind angle was ok for white sail reaching with the staysail out though, and we made good time along the shore although there was much early mutiny among the crew with lots of calls of 'everybody else is going that way' as a number of boats headed over the horizon to windward. Mutiny seemed to peter out when start line nerve settling beers were passed around and we started to get into the sailing routine. Final mobile phone contact from the shore were encouraging texts and phone calls saying we were going great in the cruising division at the very first position report - thank you Al and Norma!
The first couple of days have been all about getting used to living afloat and deciding how we are going to spend the next three weeks or so - Willow has mentioned baking but we've yet to see any output from the pastry kitchen, while Gillian has an epic piece of embroidery that looks like we'll have to sail all the way to Australia and very possibly back again for her to finish it. Irene has been keeping a very detailed log, Chris has been doing sterling work in the galley and on deck while I have been busy trimming as much as possible (mostly to avoid having to go below and cook) and trying to work out a way of avoiding the calm patch that looks set to smother the cruising fleet like a large man on a barstool - are we far enough East? will we get around it?? Where is Chris Tibbs with the weather analysis when you need him! Progress and wind has been good so far but it rather looks like the engine may have to make an appearance over the next few days - Jen we promise to try our best to get Chris in in time for his epic December journey and if that means we don't quite manage to 'sail' across the Atlantic then that will have to wait for next time too. Willow has had to point out that if I wanted to race we may have bought slightly the wrong boat so I am gradually accepting that I should just sit back and enjoy the ride, so I think it is time to go and bask in the sun for a while..
Gareth