Raritan - Raritan - 11/26/18 – Day One

It’s Monday afternoon and the wind is finally back and steady. We’re under full main and asymmentric and hurtling along at close to ten knots. We’re quite far east compared to the rest of the fleet, as we are unable to sail directly downwind with our sail combination. We plan to jibe west sometime tomorrow morning, headed for our first waypoint of 20N 25W.

We headed offshore after the start yesterday, which proved to be a mistake, as we missed the wind acceleration zone on the East side of Gran Canaria. Most of the fleet passed us on the inside, and we’ve spent the last 24 hours trying to reel them back in. The wind has been light, frustrating our plans, and we even had to motor for a few hours during the night. The thwacking of the sails was irritating.

Rob cooked another spectacular meal last night which we ate in pitch black with the aid of our headlamps. We try to keep the boat’s lights off so that our eyes become used to seeing in the darkness. It works. When I came up on deck for my midnight to 4AM shift, the ocean looked like it might in broad daylight, and I could see all the boats around us quite clearly. The moon was spectacular, and we sailed with the aid of the stars in the rigging. This will be the last night that we see boats around us though, as tomorrow we’ll be spread out.

Matt