Well, we did it! On the first night out of las palmas punching into a head sea , the clew pulled out of the genoa, and then we had a system failure to the hydraulic main winches.
It was decided to return to \las Palmas for repairs, where we got an English sail-maker to repair the genoa, and we obtained parts for the winch system.
So we eventually set off again, three days late! Although the boat is fast, it seemed an impossible task to catch up with, or indeed overtake any opposition. however after 24 hrs we were surprised to learn that we had already moved up 15 places. Wow maybe we can catch some more boats?
we thought. Well to cut the story short we finally crossed the finish line in Rodney Bay after 17 days, and as we did so we touched bottom! no Deebee the keel touched the sand, and we were lucky not to run aground (Chart showed 15ft depth where we touched ( our draft was 9 ft.)
We finished 62nd having overtaken about 180 boats in the 3000 mile voyage since our restart. More surprisingly we got 2nd in our class . There were many wonderful sights along the way -Dolphins swimming on their sides and looking up into the boat, leaving a flourescent trail , whales blowing beside us, we rescued a turtle trapped in an old fishnet, had flying fish come through portholes (one landed in the toilet!) One of the crew did not sleep properly for twenty days! poor guy was a bit tired!. We swam in the ocean 1500 miles from land in water 3 miles deep! We caught fish including wahoo, snake mackerel, and Dorade( a ten pounder and very tasty!). We avoided two hurricanes( not the Schatzi kind) and a water spout. The night sky was awesome, with so many stars. and the sunrises and sets were magical
All for now
Best wishes to all for Christmas
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