After a frustrating start and following the fleet out the harbour we worked our way up the middle left of the first beat, there was more pressure for sure on the shore but the old girl isn’t great at holding her lane against the newbies so we took what was sensible, by the top mark stormy rounded about 90 seconds ahead and set her Asy and Mizzen staysail.
We delayed the set opting for a course just above the thumb line. We tried the Mizzen staysail but it was a bad call, we then hoisted the new Asymmetric, tacked to the bow and instantly powered off on course. Next we tried the new spinnaker staysail and we fiddled with combinations of the 4 sails for the rest of the day. It’s been a great sight seeing the big boats sail through the fleet and the variance of courses to sail in which appears to be a point and shoot leg.
As the light fades on a great day’s sailing in sunshine and light breezes we are now back on the no1 full main and Mizzen heading for the first corner of Sicily where we expect to hug the coast line over night in search of some drainage breeze and a favourable shift.
Stormy is probably 2 miles astern with Winsome about 1/2 mile back still healing hard with the large sym kite flying. As the slowest boat In the fleet we are happy to be mixing it with the others. Ahead lies a difficult upwind night and fingers crossed we can keep in the breeze and hold our position until the sunrises and the decisions made in the darkness become apparent.
Jaffa et al