Sun. morning arrived with overcast skies and light rain. But the rain quickly cleared out and gave way dryness. I awoke, like I had the past couple days, totally amped. But, like the previous days, I quickly realized the futility of that exercised and told myself to take a chill pill and enjoy the ride! So while the crew was ashore taking care of last-minute items, I rocked to the soundtrack of the "Rocky Horror Picture Show"!! (They give hyperactive kids speed to calm them down, and this strategy works for me!!)
We followed some of the big sleds out of the harbor and it was really touching to see our French friends on Trifon waving us farewell. All of us have received so many well wishes from our friends and family. On behalf of everyone aboard, THANKS!!! It means a lot to each of us.
My plan for the start was to stay clear of the "mess". With 200 untrained boats and crew vying for a spot on the line, I didn't want to get tangled up and screw up our ARC before it had started! But as we entered the 5-min. countdown to the start I noticed that most of the boats had the same thought -- they were going to stay backed off. That meant there would be room on the line. Plus my racing instincts took over and I "went for it"!
We hit the pin end of the line and were 30 sec. late to the start. Since they give over-earlies a 3-hour time penalty, this was the perfect start for us. 30 sec. over 3 weeks is nothing. It was a downwind start and we were under main and jib. The pin was offshore, so that end of the line allowed us to work out to clean air -- vitally important in a big fleet.
From there we set the kite and put the hammer down. We were sailing with "the big boys" -- 50, 60, and 70-footers, so I knew we were in good company. After about 4 hours we could only count about 50 of the 250 ARC boats ahead of us -- and most of those had started 20 min. ahead of us anyhow! I wanted the race, er, rally, to end then!! :-)
The Tim lost his 'Spot' GPS transceiver overboard. We made the quick decision to douse the kite and practice our "Spot overboard" procedures. We went back looking for the Spot. Unfortunately, that will be the last time we practice that procedure because we couldn't find the floating, orange transceiver. It was weird sailing upwind watching these big sleds that we had been ahead of us pass us by!
We quickly got back underway and sailed through the night with mostly hand-steering. We want that first position report to be a good one, so we have put the hammer down! The fleet has spread out this morning, so it is tough to see any boats. You probably have a better idea of where we are n relation to everyone than we do!!
We have worked further east of the fleet. This may be a problem since St. Lucia is to the west and we will need to make up those miles. But we are expecting a better breeze along the African coast before the whole weather system turns to shit on Tues./Wed. We expect to have to motor at some point, and that will be a moment of truth for this rally, I think -- getting through the dead spot.
The sailing thus far has been incredible -- nothing like the Med. We have consistent 10-20k winds with a following sea and it is just a kick to surf and sail on and on!!!!
More later.