2 009 ATLANTIC RALLY FOR CR UISER S
START DAY
FROM GWYLAN’S LOG: “An amazing start with 225 boats. Skipper failed to read the sailing instructions and we were 5 minutes late across the line, which doesn’t really matter when you have nearly 3,000 miles to go! Winds quickly built from 10 to 20 knots and we had our Parasailor spinnaker fl ying within 10 minutes. It is still up, even aſt er executing our fi rst spinnaker gybe in the dark in 18-knot winds, which was a pretty good start! It’s an Oyster party here. We at 56ſt are up with an Oyster 82, 72, 655 and another 56!”
FIZZ OF COWES: “It wasn’t the greatest start for us, but as the fl eet started to spread out, we hoisted Big Blue, our cruising chute, and Fizz started showing her pace. We had been warned about the acceleration zone to the south of Gran Canaria, but still managed to get caught out with a couple of broaches. We are all a little subdued as the scale of the challenge ahead begins to dawn on us.”
SPRAY: “T e start was very emotional for all of us. Spirits were up. What most intrigued us was that in just 12 hours of sailing the 225 boats almost disappeared from our view. We were alone with an ocean to cross.”
KATHARSIS II: “What a fantastic atmosphere at the start! Once the winds had begun to build, our asymmetric spinnaker gave us over 10 knots of boat speed. We gybed at 1800 and set our heavy spinnaker for the fi rst time. T is sail works great in 20 knots+ and by midnight we had overhauled the Oyster 82 Rivendell.”
DAY 2
GWYLAN: “By noon we had completed 178nm in 23 hours. Will we make it to a 200nm day? Bit of a parasailor drama last night when the wind was gusting to 25 knots. T en at dawn we poled out the foresail and have been making a very steady 8 knots. Our plan is to head south until the butter melts. Big event of the day has been fi shing! And see what we got – Mahi Mahi – so far eaten raw as sashimi. T e rest will be cooked for dinner. Delicious!”
DAY 3
GWYLAN: “Aſt er not having seen another boat all day, supper was somewhat disturbed by a big race yacht that passed us and then gybed 600m away!
Our main rival, Sator, is a Farr 64 and we think we are 25 miles ahead of them, which is pretty good since they are faster than us.”
SPRAY: “We have been catching Dorados all aſt ernoon. Ricard, a great surgeon, has been cutting and slicing and now our fridge is full. We are now into our watch routine and with each surf, each one of us is getting more immersed in their own world.”
SU MMER 2 0 10
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