Dili Here We Come!

Hi everyone,
We are now on our way to Dili. The fleet of 17 yachts started at 1100 yesterday in quite a festive atmosphere. The start boat Spririt of Darwin was crowded with spectators and several boats saw us out of the harbour. Winds were light at the start and most of the cruising division motored-sailed over the line. After about an hour a light sea breeze settled in and we had a good sail for a few hours. We stayed in touch with most of the cruising fleet during the day.

Zen Again approaching the start

In the late afternoon the sea breeze gradually faded away and we had to motor. The wind returned briefly at about 2200 and we had a great close reach for an hour, reaching speeds up to 7 knots. Sadly the wind died again and our boat speed fell back to 4 knots. We rounded Cape Fourcroy at about 0200, battling adverse tide which reduced our ground speed to 2 knots. By then most yachts had passed us (unsurprisingly since most are significantly larger than us and have bigger engines!).

Nice sail across Beagle Gulf

At about 0300 the moon rose, followed by Jupiter, Venus and the constellation Orion. The night sky was clear and full of interesting objects. We saw a few "falling stars" and a couple of satellites. Quite a bit of bioluminescence in the water at times last night too.

The sun is now up and we can identify some of the boats still in sight. Kokomo V is about 3 miles ahead. Cutting Edge (we think) is about a mile off our starboard bow. Raucous and another racing yacht (Scott Free 2?) are falling behind on our starboard quarter.

We've covered just under 100nm since 1100 yesterday. We hope more of the miles we cover today will be under sail!

Hope all's well where you are.