Day 1 - ARC 2010
Sulana's Voyage
Alan and Sue Brook
Mon 22 Nov 2010 11:50
Day 1 - ARC 2010
Hello and welcome to the Friends of "Sulana".
After the cruise down and weeks of preparation, the loading of stores,
including amazing amounts of food, various seminars and loads of parties,
the 2010 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers finally started at 13.00hrs. on Sunday.
233 yachts crossed the start line in three large groups and set off in a
Southerly course down the length of the Island of Gran Canaria Our crew
includes Alan and Sue, the owners, Fiona and James, two of their children,
and hands, Peter and Ben.
We are pictured here just before we left our berth in the marina.
The start made a colourful scene with spinnakers flying in the light
reaching conditions and "Sulana" made a fine start in clear air half way
down the start line, after a maroon rocket fired from the Spanish corvette
committee boat.
As the sun set we were making good speed among the leading group of our
class. The plan is to sail south, avoiding the wind shadow due south of the
Islands and carry on for some 500 miles to pick up the trade winds which we
hope will carry us across the Atlantic to St Lucia.
By 20.00 we had covered 50 miles of the 2,900 odd miles of this voyage.