And so we have started the longest leg of the trip - in fact the longest passage any of us have ever made ( NY to HK flight does not count !!). too early to say but early estimates think we could be doing 3200 miles.
Now you would expect a boat such as K8 to take preparations seriously , we were delighted that the race organisers chose to have the official prize giving dinner on Friday night , - avoiding the last min rush , hangover , food poisoning that could come about from a WARC dinner the night before the start . That said - with prizes for "the tortoise" -(the slowest boat) , the Spirit of WARC(a family boat), and tea towels for voluntary radio operators, to name a few - we knew we were never going be justly rewarded for our performance (under engine)on the last leg.
Thus, with the boat in good shape, other then missing the DVD series 3 of Lost and a couple of pints of Guinness for the K8 St Patrick's Day party , we saved our energy and $$ for a proper last night quiet dinner . which started out sane enough in the Rock Restaurant -which unfortunately make great Mojheatos , so after a little while and once we had paid the dinner bill, it was time to come to grips with the restaurant music computer - 5000 tunes mostly in Spanish , however MC:NICK , managed to find 3 hours of fun entertainment , which had everyone joining in ( even the locals ) at one point 20 people dancing on tables, with people joining via the windows as they had closed the main doors ( ah... the benefits of not been able to post photos from sea) - ( Brian Collins and Robbie Williams - would be proud of the live version of Angels preformed by all in the bar)
So we woke the next morning - thankful for the invention of Berocca , some last min runs ashore , Book & DVD swapping and we were ready to go . Alas not all boats made it to the start line - we were down to 25 boats for various reasons , mostly last min repair and provisioning challenges for some fellow competitors. Our new weatherman "Bruce" ( one guess what country he comes from) has been most diligent in his advise - and has so far provided fair winds ( and not too many thunderstorms ) although we did have to motor for 7 hours in the first 24 just to get away form the islands .
So we are back in pole position (again), steaming along at 9+ knots and ETA bets are in a sealed envelope .
That's all for now