Hi all, first of all thank you for all the messages of support i received during this tough leg from kinsale to santander, from friends and family, some from well wishers that i met only once and even from strangers that simply wished me luck.
It was a tough leg, I arrived this morning just after half seven, of 20 starters only 10 of us made it here showing how men and machine at the mercy of a gale in biscay need that little bit of extra luck even after the long preparation. We all had some damage or malfunction or other but some had failures in critical systems such as autopilots other were non critical and allowed us to carry on. Last night was a dog of a night, the worst in some ways for very different reason, the wind was light and variable and i started with the asymmetric kite then changed to the symmetric but with no autopilot working i had to hand steer all the time. At one point I was so tired and the GPS still said 12 hours to go so i took the spinnaker down and run with white sails with the wind then a little stroger. This wind luckily held till this morning although it was so variable in strength and direction that it made it impossible to leave the boat unattended and sleep.
This morning, just before dawn i realise i'm sailing along another boat, i couldnt tell who, but it really lifted the spirit to see fellow racer so close on the way to the finish line after almost 4 days of racing, in fact three of us, British Beagle, De Franschman and Vela Fresca finished all within half an hour, amazing after all this time and with such different boats and different stories to tell about the big seas in Biscay.
I think i know where its reputation comes from nonetheless i'm so happy and relieved to have made it here, not just because it was a tough leg and tested all of us but mainly because i'm now officially a fully qualified entrant in Ostar 2009. One step closer to the dream, and even a few hours in Biscay gave me the chance to see some clear weak spots that will need addressing before then. One for example is to fit a tap to turn off the shower of water coming in through any possible little hole during the big seas.
I havent slept yet and although i could just collapse if i closed my eyes i will first and share a few of the moments of this race over a pint at the Club Real.
Ciao,
Marco.
British Beagle.
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