After a spree of last minute stores buying, and fitting a boom brake, to prevent involuntary gybes, we started on time on Saturday 19th at 1100. Second across the start line we watched as the fleet drew away from us, even the smaller boats. The end of day 1 saw us level last with one retirement, but I suppose with a ruffy tuffy crew of four we could have had the chute up as we crossed the line, but hey its not a race. The wind died after day 1 and we were back to motor sailing, with on off sailing till day 3 when we set the goose wing and hydrovane steering and thats still where we are on day 4, albeit with several reefs in. We did 134 mikes in the last 24 hours, all under sail, quite respectable for us. We are heading to the 20 deg North and 30 Deg West waypoint from whence we can start to turn and one other boat is near us doing the same. We can talk to them on VHF and we have an SSB net but there is only one other boat responding. We do miss the contact and chat between boats on the radio, as you know where they all are, how they are doing etc, but if you dont have one an SSB set is expensive compared to a sat phone, which gives direct access but only to one person. Makes one think about why join a rally, other than someone is monitoring you and you have a deadline to stick to. So we are at least sailing, although its very rolly here, with the prospect of being last in to port, but think of the savings on mooring fees. Lets hope we can keep up and improve on the first four days.