The second leg of the bluQube solo 1000 has started just hours ago, at
11BST and we're sailing in fine conditions, a 10-12kt SW wind and
sunshine. What a change to last night when the wind was houling and we
woke up under pouring rain.
Looking at the GPS all looks rather daunting, Santander 490 miles to go!
Wow, looking on the bright side it means i have already covered 35
miles, which normally is a respectable weekend sail, something like
Cowes to Poole.
I have received the latest position poll, not all boats reports at the
same time (Martin?) so it is not as easy to readbut it looks like the
fleet has spread across about 18 miles from leader to last but we've
heard on radio De Franschman and Polynya had some problems at the start
so they will be eager to catch up now.
I have lost some ground when the wind went light but i'm pleased to see
there is still plenty of boats around me and 10 of us including the
leader seem to be spaced within 5 miles.
I'll try to enjoy this last sunshine, the weather is set to get rainy
over the next few days and i'm sure everyone in the fleet is trying to
keep at the back of their mind the 30 knots forecast for friday in
Biscay, that will be something for all of us. Before that we have to
contend more light winds until tomorrow afternoon probably, in the light
airs the lighter boats will do well but when the wind will pick up to 20
knots and more the heavier boys like me can play catch up with their
boats whose bows will be bounced of the big waves giving them a very wet
ride.
I'm sure in Biscay many of us will think about the great times we had in
Kinsale where beer seemed to taste particularly good after the sail
across from Mylor. And a big thank you to Michael, Sophie and Keith at
bluQube, with their sponsorship the whole event makes us skipper feel
part of something special, a little closer to the pros on their big
boats that we always look up to with envy: this time we had too stickers
to stick, flags to fly and t-shirts to wear so we could walk around the
marina with an air of someone with a purpose.
It's time for some late afternoon touching up of the tan, with what
comes ahead I must look rather pale, i mustn't forget that this is my
qualifier for Ostar 2009, i will sail hard but safely, it wont help at
all to have some damage in Biscay and have to retire somewhere in
france.
Ciao for now.
Marco
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