Day one - Just Amazing! (N26.32.9 W17.53.7 )
Amazing Grace
John and Julie
Mon 23 Nov 2009 12:00
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We crossed the start line in Las Palmas at the back
of the fleet. It was a magnificent sight and not to be missed. We chose
the back since we're in no hurry and we wanted to stay out of the melee.
However that didn't stop someone trying to spear our Parasailor with his very
close overtaking manoeuvre!
Since the wind was so light and we crossed the
start line doing 2-3kt some 20 minutes after most others, we kept inshore and
were soon overtaking some of the back markers. The wind steadily strengthened
and the wind acelleration zone was good to us with some nice wind allowing us to
get to a new record speed of 17.2kt! (Bit hair raising.)
We were complimented by a nice gentleman with in a
monohull with a red Parasailor as we passed him near the airport. He was
wondering what he could do to make his fly as steadily as ours - I suggested to
him to buy another hull - there was much mirth in his crew!
We made steady progress overnight and we even got
some sleep. We were in the company of as many as 18 other boats and they
were all going at about the same speed and direction. Interestingly, the
ARC requires 2 sets of navigation lights as a safety regulation and it seems
that many boats interpreted this to mean that they have to have both sets
on. It was also noticeable that some boats were going so fast that they
had put their anchors down and even remembered to put the light for that down
too!
Anyway, on a more interesting note we seem to be
being passed now by a string of large boats in the 60-80ft
class. They don't speak much - probably still quaffing
champagne!
We've run 178 miles since the start so we should
have a daily totalof 187 or so since we're going quite nicely direct for St
Lucia at about 9kt.
We allhope Ca Canny got its halyard unstuck - we
saw them until it got dark and then lost sight. I suspect Mr President had gone
for a more westerly course - we'll see you when we get there!
Well, thats about all for now. We are all iin good
spirits and have been blessed with good weather for another day. Bye for
now
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