Crew member on 03 Phaedo 3

We had a great week in Lanzarote, getting lots of preparation jobs done on the boat with our race crew and with wonderful help from Marina Lanzaote and the RORC team...Big thanks from all of us on board..

Its been an action packed first 24 hours of the RORC Transatlantic for the 6 of us.

The start had perfect conditions for the downwind leg to Puerto Calero.. In the last 4 minutes we had some exciting jostling for position with Concise, 2 giant multihulls match racing for the favoured pin end start on port. Concise had a great start at that pin, and we were just behind , but with more speed, and were able to overtake to windward within a minute. We all played by the rules, and I think it would have given the spectators a good show!

Then we had a really clean sail down to Calero amd then around the wind shadow tp the south of Lamzaorte with a fair lead over Concise...Then it was a broad reach over to round Tenerife which we passed at sunset.. Then the downwind fun started in the acceleration zone between Tenerife and Las Palmas.. Wind up to 27 knotss and a really short steep sea...No moon till later and a cloudy sky meant it was fuil concentration on the helm to go fast, but not too fast so that you would not faceplant into the next wave...

Till the end of the Canaries we had the position of our competitors every 30 mins but after midnight there was a gap till 8 am and Phaedo3 and Concise diverged and we now have about 50 miles of lateral separation as we head towards the cape verdes on a reach to get south to the tradewinds..

Which route wins out, which weather model is more accurate for this section to the Cape Verdes, will be decided by tomorrow evening. Watch the tracker to find out! Then the long downwind gybing duel will start from the Cape Verdes to the finish in Greneda...

All going really well on board, and everyone into the watch sysem and catching up on sleep after the big push to get though the variable and windy conditions last night..... Lunch today in the sunshine was a buffer of ryvita with ham and cheese for starters and then nutella and peanut butter spooned on the ryvita for dessert...A veritable feast!

More news tomorrow!



Pure Grenada
Calero Marinas
Port Louis Marina