Well, we are off again, after a very light wind start that saw the fleet drift out of La Rochelle at 10am local time this morning. Our sailing instructions were minimal and simply read: Start, La Rochelle, Finish, Rio de Janerio.
We spent the morning sitting on the leeward rail, changing from windseeker to the light weight spinnaker and back again but as I write this we are doing a healthy 8kts in 4th position. I have just finished my 5 hour watch for the night and now have until 4am to sleep, eat and catch up with everyone on the email. It has been a nice way to ease in to such a long race and with the other clipper boat lights on the horizon the crew have stayed motivated, trimming every 10 minutes using the new egg-timer that we bought in La Rochelle to remind us to go forward and check the trim of the sails!
First dinner at sea was steak pie and mash potatoe with roasted veggies
- we eat like kings on this boat thanks to some cunning victualling by Heston and his team. I went in to the rope locker this afternoon to get some extra sheets and was faced with a wall of dried meats, salamis and hams that they bought in France; every possible spot of the boat has been utilised for this next leg, and most of it seems to have been given over to food storage. The chances of us losing weight on this race seem slim at the moment!
I am off to my bunk now, time to peel off the fantastic mid-layers from my sponsors at International Paints which I think I may be living in for the next week, and get some kip.
Thanks for all your emails, keep them coming!
Lauren x
