Tortoise and the hare...

Monday 21st, 0900
The morning finds us off Aberdeen. Dawn was an unspectacular affair, as it
generally is in these latitudes and consisting of a slow transition from
twilight to a lighter hue. The grey sky is reflected by a sea of slate and
it's bitterly cold. A seal came up earlier and gave me a look that said it
all. The air is heavy and damp, but our mood is not.
Our departure from Lerwick was like all the others so far on this race - all
on our own and in the early hours. The local population was on the streets,
but not for us. Winding down from their annual summer festival, people were
making their way home after a heavy night on the town. The incongrouous
fancy dress they wore reminded me of an "extras" party from a opera -
vikings, complete with cardboard shields and Ugg boots criss-crossed with
leather, accompanied by "little maids from school" queueing for taxis in
the twilight. More like "grape and spillage" than the traditional ancient
Nordic pastime of their race.
We motored our way out, readied the sails and crossed the line at 0320.
after a little, we hoisted the kite, but after a few hours, it was clear
that the sea state was going to make it very difficult to sustain. The
autopilot was unable to cope with the fierce cross-chop that overlaid the
long rolling sea, so we decided to sacrifice a bit of boat speed for some
much-needed sleep. There never seemed enough time to catch up whilst in
port and a downwind leg provided us with the opportunity. And, we reasoned,
there was not much point rushing with the others o fall into the wind-hole
that awaited us.
So now we're both much refreshed and only about 20-30 miles behind our main
competitors who started earlier than us, with the beginning of the wind hole
in front of them. Tortoise and the hare.....
Trev