Day 1 at sea
28 November 2012 | Atlantic Ocean, 150NM SW of Gran Canaria
Dan Jenkins
Well, we are at sea!
Not a huge amount to say from the first 24 hours so will keep it brief.
We set sail at 11:30AM Tuesday morning, 30 mins later than expected after a final equipment test through up a few battery/electrical problems. Thanks to Jon Crouch (a good man to know in Gran Canaria), we were able to resolve the majority of the issues reasonably quickly.
We sailed out and across the start line into fairly big seas. 5 metre swells and the boat pitching and tossing. This weather has been fairly consistent ever sine with a few bursts of sunshine and a few showers. Despite a bit of sea sickness the crew are settling into their watch patterns and Shane is doing a great job of skippering the boat and making sure little problems (e.g. water in the bilge today) are sorted out.
We've seen a few other boats on the horizon and a big tanker passed us by, no sign of any fish or sea birds yet however.
Our planned course is to head SW to Cape Verde at which point we'll hopefully pick up the trade winds for our journey west.
Thanks for all emails so far, they have been received and will be replied to ASAP.
Thinking of you all at home.
Canapesia