we're now about 100nm or so south-west of Gran Canaria blowing gently
downwind. I hope that we got a blog entry sent after the start
yesterday giving a flavour of the colour and excitement of 200 boats
starting a transatlantic trip together. We can't actually check the
blog from here - it's more "fire and forget", so please tell us if the
latest blog entry didn't make it online.
Soon after the start we took down the main and genoa and deployed our
secret weapon - the 'bluewater ruuner'. This is 2 generously-cut
genoas joined together down the luff on a roller-furling unit which
pole-out on both sides. It gives a big, stable slab of sail to take
downwind. We made progress through the fleet during the evening
although this stalled in the early hours as wind subsided for a couple
of hours.
During the night the fleet spread out so that we can now see only 2
yachts clearly out the original 200. Where have they all gone? It's now
mid-morning coffee and breakfast and we're getting into the rhythm of a
slow morning after night watches.
No Fish.