24/10/10 11:00
Mike Slade has obviously not lost his sense of humour, as Leopard continues the hunt north of Sicily.
Skipper’s Blog
Usual excitement as all the boats prepare for the start in Malta’s magnificent Grand Harbour. A gentle breeze with light air forecast for most of the race.sent all 76 boats on their way with thousands of spectators crowding the ancient bastions. Its just not true when they say ‘once you have seen one bastion then you have seen them all’ !
Its not long before ICAP Leopard and Esimit Europa pull away from the fleet heading up to Sicily and the Straights of Messina. Wind was 8-12 knots from the SE giving us a beam reach at 110 TWA with full main and A5 fractional spinnaker. Esimit is the ex-Alfa Romeo, our old rival from the Rolex Fastnet 2007 and the Sydney Hobart 2009. So far our record against her is won one lost one. Sadly this race, like the last Sydney Hobart, is forecast to be a light air race particularly for the front of the fleet.
It has been a frustrating night, nothing to read as the boat has been stripped of all reading material in an all out effort to reduce weight. A number of shutdowns and dying breeze leaves us some ten miles adrift as we the perils of Scylla and Charybdis, Homer’s (not the Simpsons!) mythological sea monsters who guard the Straights of Messina.
At 10am we round Stromboli as it erupts and we wonder at the wisdom of a residential development scheme on its shores ! A lot of catching up to do as we head for Palermo doing 13 knots reaching in 11 knots of SE wind, hoping to catch Esimit in the anticipated new breeze tomorrow morning. Wish us luck.
Mike Slade and Chrissie darling from ICAP Leopard