Arc first days 23:19.38N 22:11.78W
Marestail
Thu 29 Nov 2018 15:48
A busy morning, collecting bread, taking down flags and taking last minute photos. There are 179 boats, divided into three starts, with the racing boats first followed by the multihull then the rest of us, at 13.00. We were interviewed by one of the Arc support boats on the line, but in all the excitement it’s hard to think what to say! We started with a full main and the blue water runner up. During the first night the wind dropped to nothing, which was very frustrating, so little progress.
Day 2
After such a hectic start, there were just 1 boats in sight this morning. We did our rig checks, tried some fishing but didn’t catch anything, and baked a cake. The wind is still light.
Day3
A bright, sunny morning with 10-12 knots of breeze behind us, so making good progress. We put the generator and water maker on, and saw 2 boats today. Had a sing around with Jonno on the guitar this evening.
Day 4
Woke at 07.30 to a call that dolphins were around! There was a large school of small black dolphins, that stayed with the boats for ages. Then a much larger dolphin with a speckled belly came round too. It’s getting much windier so progress is better. By 13.00 we had done 378 miles
Day 5
A windy night with big rolling waves. We all tried to spot different star constellations. We saw a cruise ship with 3 masts called the Sea Cloud, 117 m long. A boat from the RORC race from Lanzarote called us up on the radio, but we couldn’t see it. 13.00 we have done 516 miles.
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