Starting

5 August 2017

There is nothing much to report on watch again, it is overcast, but we are at last approaching the restart line, about 200 miles east of Cape Breton, after 3 days of motoring and nearing the end of the 24-hour available window of opportunity, which is giving us the best weather options. 
There have in the last couple of days been sightings of dolphins, shearwaters, at least one whale and a turtle, and the safety net has been put up during the night watch. Otherwise it has been a very easy and not over-strenuous time on deck, pleasant weather for sunbathing and chatting, in other words “crew bonding”, but gradually now the tension and excitement are mounting and preparations for racing are starting again. 
The restart line is only one mile wide. The radar is showing at least 3 other ships closing with us. And out of the mist they loom, the Gulden Leeuw, the Alexander von Humboldt II and the Blue Clipper.  It is extraordinary that after all the hours motoring we are all so close together in such a small part of the ocean at the same time. We are just in front as the Gulden Leeuw has to pass behind us therefore heading south, the Alexander von Humboldt is having problems reaching the start line being square rigged, and the Blue Clipper vanishes again into the mist, as we cross the line at 1631 UTC, first, on the renewed race to Le Havre. 
Silence later, only the wind and waves as the tension dies, and calm returns.  Apart from the radar the other ships have not been seen since. They all headed off in a different direction. Two sharks were seen some time later, silently crossing our stern.