I wake up and before I have time to focus properly, Mike hands me my computer so that I can catch up on the last three days of the blog. I hate getting behind and have been playing catch up for days now. It takes ages but I am finished by 10 am then have to quickly get washed and dressed and over to the Dodo Bar to publish it because the internet is too bad from the boat.
Mike and Andre from Eowyn attempt to clean our boat but only manage to remove the top layer of dirt. The constant footprints have caused havoc and it now really needs something like a gel bleach to get rid of the marks.
Photo: Mike and Andre, early morning scrubbers
There I find Bev and Charlie also frantically trying to do last minute things on the internet before leaving although they finish quickly and leave me to watch Windows Live Writer painfully slowly upload my pictures while I eat a somewhat soggy chocolate croissant. Immediately the last bit is published, I put my computer away and run back towards the boat.
Lots of the boats have already left including the two which have been rafted next to us for the last week, Eowyn and Thor VI. I see Chessie go past and wave goodbye. We are wedged in quite tightly between Wild Tigris and Grand Filou at the stern, and some none-WARC boats at the bow so we wait for the two at our stern to leave as the wind is blowing us against the harbour wall and manoeuvring will be difficult enough as it is. Richie moves Grand Filou out expertly, backing her out and then turning her around on a sixpence. Thank God for bow thrusters, eh Richie? Sean has a harder time trying to swing off the harbour wall with us still behind, and as Wild Tigris backs out the wind brings her precariously close to Jeannius causing Mike to jump down the back steps and push her away with his feet. It’s close but he manages it.
Then it’s our turn. Bill, Matt and Jim are there to release our lines which always helps. They are staying on until Monday but will probably overtake us sometime during the next ten days as they go so much faster than us. We get blown back a bit against the huge chain that is hanging against the harbour wall but our rubbing strip and the fenders just about manage to hold us off so no damage is done although there’s a nasty grinding noise from somewhere!
We motor out into the bay, waving goodbye to the crews of Crazy Horse and Ocean Jasper who are now sitting on the rocks at the point of the harbour. There’s the usual jockeying for position near the line but we manage it across last as usual.
Photo: Over the line
There is an added little obstacle today. The rally crew has placed a yellow buoy near to the shore and make us all go around it after the start line. Having fun, boys and girls? Within an hour the boats are all separated. There is very little wind and some people start to motor almost straight away although we manage to sail for a while before just six knots of wind makes us give up.
Four hours after the start we can see just two boats clearly , Voyageur and Chessie, although a few others are visible on the radar and as little specks on the horizon. Just as night falls, enough wind picks up for us to be able to sail the course properly and for the first time in ages, we have a full main and genoa out, and trundle along at around 6 knots. That’ll do us.
Photos: A sunset at last
We are back to our now usual 5 hours on, 5 hours off, so at 9 pm I trot off to bed.
Our position is: 21 deg 42 min S, 54 deg 26 min E
Distance so far: 16542 nautical miles
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