Start day
Anastasia
Phil May and Andrea Twigg
Sun 20 Nov 2011 08:58
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After two days of frenetic activity here we are on
the day of the start. We have been loaded enough "planned" food for three
weeks and then we have enough dried/tinned food to last for a couple of months
if necessary.
We have had our "Yellow Brick" device installed
which means that we will be appearing on the ARC position website (www.worldcruising.com) as well as our
own blog site.
My finger is getting much better. I will not
be able to use it properly for three weeks, because of the bone
fracture, but the seam is starting to heal,
there are no signs of infection and surprisingly little pain. We will be
taking the classic "south until the butter melts then turn right" route, which
takes us quite close to the Cape Verde islands, so we can take a checkpoint in a
couple of days time and make a final go/no go decision for the Atlantic
crossing. Once downwind of Cape Verde there is no turning
back.
At the skippers briefing yesterday we were given
our instructions for the start. The organisers have decided to start the
catamarans separately at 12:30, together with the Open class yachts, followed at
12:45 by the Racing division and then at 13:00 by the monohull cruisers.
It does mean that we avoid some of the melee, although I suspect there will
still be a lot of monohulls to dodge at the start. The "committee
boat" is a Spanish warship, which will show the start flags and then fire a
maroon for each start. My plan is to approach the start with just a
jib and unfurl the spinnaker (symmetric or asymmetric depending
on wind direction) when we are in clear
water. It should be exciting.
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