26.2.4N 17.32.3W

We slipped our mooring at 11:00 on the 26th eager to do battle. We even put our battle bowlers on to show we meant business! The people of Las Palmas gave us a great send off. Two brass bands played with gusto and many locals lined the marina to wave us off.

We had a clean start at 13:00 and sailed through a good part of the fleet by keeping close to the island, which we have now left far behind. Within a few hours the fleet of 253 starters had spread out considerably. We passed our first night at sea fairly comfortably, with just a dozen boats in sight. We are beginning to settle into our watch regime: 4 day watches of 3 hours and three night watches of 4 hours. This weird sleep pattern will take its toll until we are fully adjusted.

We have now sailed for 24 hours and have cleared 183 miles. Our average boat speed has been 7.6 knots, peaking at 12.2. We have 660 miles to run on our South Westerly course until we meet our first waypoint, where we hope to find the trade winds. We can then hang a right and hopefully charge across to St Lucia in perfect down wind sailing conditions. That’s the plan anyway.

To our great surprise we were joined by a tawny owl at 10:00 am today. He settled on our masthead, where he has remained. We are concerned he might eat some important electronic gear up there, or worse still decorate our deck (or heads) from above. How to get him down humanely?   Two suggestions to date: 1) blast him down with a flare 2) hoist the ship’s cat to the top in the boson’s chair. Since we don’t have a cat, but do have a flare, option 1 is favourite.

Just 4 boats on the horizon now.