Start of the race

10 October 2013

At 2pm this afternoon we sailed past the ‘heads’ to open sea. The starting line for the race to Auckland is about 4 miles from shore and at about 3pm all ships have started. It is not a big group, we are with 6 ships in total. The challenge will be the weather for the coming days. This afternoon it was very warm: about 30 degrees with a strong warm wind from the northwest. The forecast predicts a passage of a front tonight, with wind from the southwest, force 35 knots. Instead we now have wind from the north, of about 4 Bft (15 knots). We are watching out for the ‘southerly buster’ that we encountered last week on our way to Sydney, so all the sails are reefed. Not very good for our place in the competition, but is good for our peace of mind! The other ships are also careful and don’t use their topsails, so we are all still quite close together. The wind has gotten significantly colder. There is not a cloud in the sky so there it is full with stars. The front is coming closer and we are keeping our eye on the sky to watch out for any sudden wind shifts.