Mike and I attended the skipper briefing Saturday to hear the rules, weather and all other important information about the start of the ARC 2024 the next day. I joked to Mike that an extreme race vibe hung in the air, even though it's a rally not a race.

Only 11 boats officially had entered in the race category while a record 45 multihulls entered along with 83 cruising boats in the cruising division. But we know better than to assume those cruising boats are "not racing", several of which reach into the 80-100 foot range and are run by professional crew. Even our crew were guilty of sizing up the competition in our Division 1, Cruising class C.
It felt strange to leave the dock as we had not sailed since arriving in Las Palmas mid-September. We had grown to really like the city, and Gran Canaria in general, that had a lot to offer. We had quite the community around us and we had made friends.

But the atmosphere especially around our dock, hummed with constant activity. You had to step around spare parts taken from boats and stacked on the docks. Workers from chandleries next to the marina worked long hours to complete tasks, a constant drum of food deliveries rolled up and down the dock. And we had worked so hard for months to get ready, filled to the brim with food and drink, it was definitely time to leave and face life on the broad Atlantic.
We said goodby to our boat neighbor, Daniel and crew aboard Ost Wind, a 50 year old boat he and friends lovingly restored that had belonged to his parents.

Daniel gave us a tour of the classic beauty and remarked how he and his brother and friends were in the ARC to win it! They were in Las Palmas even before we arrived and had constant workers on that boat, especially in the engine bay trying to make it come back to life. And Daniel and crew spent hundreds of hours sanding wood, polishing metal, hoisting new sails. We saw them put a ram's head on the bow sprint but I asked should it not be some buxom woman instead-a classic? His crew piped in that she was featured on their sail, and boy was she!
We prepped the boat, tied everything down, removed clutter, put on our matching shirts and life vests and let go the lines. The weather was forecast to be light and upwind at the start but increasing to 20 as we sailed down the island. We casted off our lines later in the morning to avoid the log jam at the marina "gates" to no avail.

It was still crazy busy. People lined the shore waving flags and encouragement.

Pelle was in fine form, wearing his pirate hat and shouting Swedish chants to the crowd!

As we made our way out of the main commercial port, Mike handed the wheel to me and I slowly made our way to a safe spot to put up our sails and as we did so, it got fairly crowded which made me nervous. This is especially true since the guys were all discussing the "not a race" sequence, where we would have a most favorable position on the start line and with 5 minutes to start, said we needed to head with 85 other boats toward the line! Instead, I turned the helm over to Mike.
With a respectable start, most the field immediately started sailing towards Africa as the ARC weather forecaster noted it would have the "most" wind. We stayed and sailed along the coast, just as instructed by Charlie, our awesome weather router. And boy did we have a wonderful sail!

We quickly caught up to the catamarans who had started 30 minutes before us and got ahead of a few race boats too which stoked our egos just a bit before they came around us, tacked and left us in the dust. But I was pleasantly surprised when the helmsman on the 70 foot Volvo racer did return my wave.

As darkness descended, we sailed steadily through the night giving the crew a chance to get to know the boat controls, get used to the motion (the sea state was calm!) and the routine of the watch system. In the darkness, mast head lights twinkled around us, and the occasional tanker had to weave his way through the fleet. Stars lit up the night sky.
A beautiful day came with the dawn and I treated everyone to a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs and told them to not get used to it! The seas were calm but with a gentle swell building, rocking the boat slowly from side to side. We only could see a couple boats by visual but we can see everyone on our AIS system. We had to turn on the motor by 4 am and remain motoring for perhaps the entire next day until the trades fill in. We laughed because the "race" committee has us listed a #1 in our class for several hours along with a great position among the fleet. (This doesn't count for much as we have a long way to go; it just meant we were closest -most easterly of our division-to St Lucia.)
Bruce and Pelle put out fishing lines and momentarily Bruce had a fish on the line.

Everyone is getting used to the heat, the movement of the boat, the best way to sleep under way. My meals are being consumed by a hungry crew. Cecil is experimenting with his sextant.

Pelle helped pump a few liters of fuel into our diesel tanks. Our water maker happily made water for the first time in 3 months or so-as we couldn't test the system with marina water it was a concern for us whether it would work properly. Lots of chatting, reading of kindle books and teaching how to use our chart plotter and auto pilot to keep us safe from other boats approaching.
So far so good for our first full 24 hours out!
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