Everything is now stowed and we are ready to go. The veg turned up last night and was turned away until this morning, as buying veg in the dark is never a good idea but we seem to have done alright and hopefully it’ll see us through to St Lucia.

 

The skippers briefing was held today at the Santa Catalina hotel, where we received our start instructions and the radio scheds. The port of Las Palmas is being closed to commercial traffic for 2 hours during the start which gives some idea of the weight that the Arc has on the island and it will be quite some sight to see the walls and breakwaters covered with waving people as we leave. We’ll leave our dock space at about 1200 for our start at 1300, all dressed in our crew kit for the exit of the marina, but getting into offshore gear before the start. It’ll be a cold (relative) couple of nights before it’s tee shirts and shorts for night watches- can’t wait!