Good morning and welcome to Day 1 of Race 11.
It feels crazy that we’re already onto Leg 7, sailing towards Panama. The race will be over before we know it and we will all be left twiddling our thumbs back in normal life.
After a very pleasant motor out of the Puget Sound surrounded by stunning mountains, we found ourselves lining up with the fleet ready for a Le Mans as we’re well practiced at now. We got off to a good start and changed from our Yankee 2 to the Yankee 1 as soon as we could. The wind speed and direction was perfect, and we were close reaching and making good speed, but of course, that only lasted a few hours. So, we’re now sailing close to the wind, still making good speed, but with a few extra green faces around the boat. It’s always a tricky introduction to the race when we have conditions like this from the get go. I imagine the new joiners are left thinking ‘what on earth have I done signing up to this’ and it’s probably quite hard to believe when we tell them it will get better.
Soon, a front will pass over us from the west, and life on board will get better. The wind should veer and the boat will flatten off as the wind swings behind us, making everyday tasks onboard much easier and the sailing more exciting as we start to fly kites.
We’re still surrounded by the fleet, with only a small split between western and eastern boats. Perseverance is just ahead and Dare To Lead just behind, giving us good motivation to keep trimming and helming straight
Ella, Hannah and the Washington, DC crew