Iain and Tammy arrived safely, since then they’ve had to endure the ‘sundowners’, various sponsored parties, crew dinner and just about every other excuse there could be to down tools and start drinking at the end of the day. Our days have been filled in Las Palmas with making vast amounts of food, water and spares disappear under floor boards, into lockers and under bunks, as well as fixing things that weren’t broken before we got here and generally trying to make sure nothing too untoward happens out there on the briny. We’re all itching to leave and waking up at 3 am remembering something that hasn’t been done has been happening for a while now. I think we’re nearly there and as our last food and hopefully another VHF handset arrives tomorrow, by the evening that will be it, nothing more to do. We are eating out a bit because the boat is full of food but we’re not allowed to eat it until we set sail, and using any gas is very much out of bounds.

 

The weather is looking light for Sunday, hopefully not too light, with more than 200 boats milling about some wind would be nice to keep everyone moving. Being in a collision before the start seems to be every skippers nightmare!

 

We left the dock for a shakedown sail today, main and genoa for a couple of hours and then an asymmetric run back to the marina. Five hours in all, light winds and a small squall to end. Ghost is handling beautifully even with all the food and fuel aboard.