Race 1 - Day 1
Crew Diary - Race 1, Day 1
02 September
After the extreme highs and emotions of yesterday’s sail away from St. Katharine Docks we awoke to the wonderful smell of fresh bacon and scrambled eggs, brilliantly prepared by Tracey and Susan, delivered exactly at 06:00 (the time stated by our Skipper during our brief the previous night).
Although some had only managed limited sleep the previous night, due to a combination of late anchor watch slots and the adrenalin/emotion which had carried over from our sail away and journey down the Thames, there were no signs of tiredness amongst the crew as we gathered for breakfast in the galley - just a calm focus!
After breakfast, everyone naturally migrated to their tasks and got the boat ready for the race ahead. After successfully completing our Man Overboard drills everyone’s focus shifted to race start and there was a surge in energy levels as our Skipper and Chief briefed us on the approach we were going to take and allocated duties. There was a realisation amongst the crew that we were now so close to finally starting a race that we had prepared so long and hard for, and invested so much of ourselves in!
With each radio call notifying us of the time to race start, the excitement was replaced with extreme focus – we were ready!
We got off to a good start thanks to the expertise of our Skipper, and continued to advance towards the front of the fleet …… and then the realities of long distance ocean racing kicked in. A Spinnaker issue which took us too long to resolve, cost us our position and we fell towards the back of the fleet. With lessons learned and a commitment to avoid any repeats, we were back on our way and quickly gaining ground on the fleet.
When we crossed the start line today, we did so with our entire GoToBermuda crew and Supporters with us (many of whom were cheering us on from Southend Pier).
This is a marathon, not a sprint and we will make sure that we cross the line in Portimão having given everything for the team!
32N 64W – Bermuda!!