Race 2 - Day 1
Skipper Report
16 September

Ian Wiggin
Ian Wiggin
Team Unicef
Back to ReportsView Team Page

Good morning everyone.

We woke this morning, as the wind is gradually dying. We had breeze for far longer than expected yesterday, which made for a glorious sail out of Portimão. We blasted southwards at over ten knots, driven on by a lovely southwester over a flat calm sea. Perfect conditions to let the crew regain their sea legs, and switch back into sailing mode, after our week of generous Portuguese hospitality, late nights, sardines, Vino Verde and too much dancing.

Spirits are high, and the initial nervousness at the prospect of crossing an ocean and being at sea for four weeks is well and truly past. The crew is jumping into jobs, and any ring rustiness dispelled by a faultless first spinnaker hoist.

We face a tricky few days ahead of variable and light winds, but with a good moon to light our nights and the prospect of spreading some sunshine during the day should keep us hungry as we work hard to stay up with the leaders. We did well to climb back up the leader board after a slow start - we were a bit dazzled by the fun and razzmatazz of an amazing send off from the marina and a start line crowded with spectator boats, which compounded our usual conservative approach to race starts (safety first is our motto) - and we need to build on that.

Hopefully we will see more of the dolphins that kept us company through the night on the first race, and some more interesting seabirds as we sail further out to sea. Certainly all the encouragement we will need to help us spread a little sunshine.

Here we go...

Ian and Mike