26:32.25N 15:14.05W 

 

Date: Monday, 22 November [06:30 UTC]

 

A carnival was held at the Las Palmas Marina on Sunday to see the yachts off for the 25th ARC. The run up to the start of the race was very spectacular with many well-wishers clapping and waving as the yachts headed out of the marina for the start line. The Division 1 yachts started 20 minutes ahead of the rest of the fleet.

 

Weather was perfect for the start, but the winds were a little light. Jockeying for position on the start line was very well managed by Skipper Campbell ensuring that we kept well out of harms way whilst remaining on the right side of the start line before the starting gun was fired.

 

It was approximately 4 hours or so before the winds started to freshen to a F4-5. ‘Ocean Hobo’ being a heavy displacement yacht, requires a F4 to really get moving off the wind.

 

Evening dinner was prepared by Dermot, Jimmy and Joe and served up to the crew in their very own dog bowls! (See the pictures if you don’t believe me!!).

 

Steady progress has been made throughout Sunday night/Monday morning leaving us approximately 60 miles west of the African Coast (South Morocco). We have been sailing almost due south from Gran Canaria and the intention is to get an up to date forecast via satellite and the MailaSail service this morning before deciding what course to steer later today. Our average speed (over the ground) is 6.8 knots.

 

‘Ocean Hobo’ has been performing very well so far and the crew are now starting to settle down into a routine of watches or shifts. We did have an issue with the battery charging system which was traced by Charlie to an incorrectly terminated wire. The electrician who installed the new engine and domestic batteries attached a switching wire to to wrong battery causing a ‘split’ between the engine and yacht power circuits. After a 3 hour period of trouble-shooting, the fault was identified and promptly rectified ensuring that the 5 batteries could be recharged. Had we not been able to fix this fault, we would have had to return to Las Palmas. 

 

Another interesting day lies ahead for us all and we will keep you appraised of our progress.

 

Kind regards from the Skipper and Crew.

 

PS> The Oceanhobo#mailasail.com (replace the # with the @ symbol) email address is the only one in use presently.