After the 2 day delay due to weather, the ARC finally got underway for everyone today and Ceilidh started at 11:00 local time.

It was a very exciting start as all boats had been held at their marina berths until 10:00hrs to limit disruption to commercial traffic in the main harbour.

So there were close to 200 yachts preparing to cross the start line which was between the harbour outer breakwater.

There were lots of supporters and photos taken as Ceilidh had joined the convoy slowly weaving through the marina with Highland Cathedral played more than once through our deck speakers.

For the start itself we were well placed and were one of the first 20 or so in the fleet to cross. We had around 18Knots from the NE which soon increased to 25knots. Even with 2 reefs in the main we were surfing at 9-10knots with a peak speed already of 14.5knots. There was lots of great close quarter sailing and it was inspiring to see so many yachts going at full tilt.

At the time of writing we have already logged 30NM in 3.5hour which is a cracking pace.

So it is great to be underway after completing so many maintenance jobs, yesterday had seen us replace the mast wedges and also the internal mast to deck securing bolts which were found to be sheared.

So another great shift by the Ceilidh team with only a couple of hours off in the late afternoon for a swim.

The crew assembled just prior to departure for a photo highlighting our fundraising effort during the ARC for the NSPCC.

You can now follow our position using the “fleet viewer” page on the ARC website which has live position’s for every yacht.

Dave Sturrock