Sea Monster - Joins World ARC

We made it to the start line of World ARC, from Lombok to Christmas Island and Cocos Keeling. There was very little wind, and while Sea Monster put up her main sail, none of the others in the fleet did, and we all started under engine.

For this, the second leg of World ARC (part two from Darwin to Saint Lucia), and Sea Monster’s first leg, this fleet was split into two, because there are only a handful of moorings available at Christmas Island. In fact, there are only eight available and as we are 10 boats sailing across, there will be the need to raft up for some. Eleven boats will leave on Monday, and generally, they are the slower boats, and the first lot including Sea Monster, should have left by the time they arrive.

Sea Monster, at 50 feet long, is one of the smaller boats in the fleet, so we are in cruising division B, and were originally slated to leave on Monday as well, but as we’ve been in Lombok for three weeks already, we were ready to take off as soon as possible.

We weren’t completely ready when we crossed the start line though. We had quite a scramble yesterday to get the boat into shipshape condition and to put all of the food away. A few things were overlooked, such as not enough garbage bin bags or paper towels! But we will be fine. Plus, there’s always a long list of jobs to do on the boat, and so we can do a few things while we are underway, which will keep us busy for a few days.

They say, if you don’t leave until you are ready, then you will never leave! So I am glad we left when we did!