06.00hrs, the other yachts began to arrive down from the Marina, Voyaguer just kept going having decided not to wait around for the start. Kallopie on the other hand took off around the same time for Paradise Island, about 300 miles to the NE of Brazil, and Wild Tigress is well on its way to Granada at this stage.
We slipped our lines from " Grand Filou " and made our way to the starting line just outside the harbour, The wind was ENE 15knots and our course for the first 180 miles or so is just east of N. The sea state was good and conditions generally were excellent.
09.00hrs The START of leg 24, the final leg of this around the World trip, and a distance of just over 2,000 miles. We are in no rush to crack the start, afterall , we have 2,000 miles to go, so no need to kill ourselves on the starting line. There was a clean start, and soon we began to claw our way through the fleet, passing all boats ,except " Grand Filou" and some other boats that decided to motor the first 10 miles or so. We had a close pass with the two American Sundeer 60's, however we were on starboard so they had to pass behind us and thats where they remained for the remainder of the day.
As we headed north, the wind was 60 degrees on our starboard side, so we had a close fetch, but with light winds , progress for the first few hours was slow. However, as the day passed , the wind increased and went more easterly giving us a broad reach.
We ran into some very fresh squalls, with winds of 36 knots plus, and plenty of wind to go with them. So lots of frantic action to take in quick reefs.
Aileen served her cottage pie lunch / dinner, made yesterday and enough for 2 days, it was yum, yum, Suzana took it easy on the food, as it usually takes her a couple of days to settle into the rytheme of the boat. so , lets not overdo it on the first day.
Late in the afternoon, we could see " Tzigane" close behind, ( Half a mile )followed inshore by the 2 Sundeers, Grand Filou had gone out to the eastern horizon, but we could still see them.
It was lovely to see the lights on the shore , all be it 14 miles away, and a small moon to give some light , We passed through a couple of fleets of fishermen, all fishing on the bank where the edge drops off from 26m to 1,000 m's
21.00hrs, ( The First 12 hrs ) we covered a distance of 79 miles, ohhhhh, not great, but good in the conditions,
Our first night at sea again for a while, just 11 more to go.
Thats all for today.
Signed :- Stephen Hyde, ( Skipper )