Shelena - Finished Leg 1 to Sao Vicente

Sorry for the silence but seems that pressing matters push blogs to the back
of the queue. The quick heads up is that the second part of our leg was,
well, boring. Winds stubbornly refused to blow. We had yacht speed of just a
couple of knots and Helen made the case for main engine use. Sacrilege! We
are a sailing yacht not a gin palace so the engine remained silent until
passing the finish line. The reality, it turned out, was that many yachts
did indeed turn on engines for which they are penalised with time added to
their actual time. Consequently we benefitted with a Group A finish of about
8th and, over all twenty something. Not too bad for a yacht that we are
still learning to sail.

A few days after our finish at Sao Vicente, Kathy and Jules left us for a
few days proper holiday in a hotel at Boavista. So sad to see them go. Helen
feels it hardest as she is now the sole brave female amongst us chaps. I
think she would prefer some female company. Kathy and Julles have been great
fun to have aboard and we look forward to their return soon.

When two leave we have just one new crew. Our friend David who sails his own
Moody yacht so needs no tuition> Better still David's second ARC and I
gather he will do it all over again next year on his own boat. So we are
just four persons aboard.

Regards to All,
Phil