Today, we were woken up at the crack of dawn to some lovely music. The Skipper and Crew had a dedicated goal to depart Cowes by 7am. Miraculously, we managed to leave at 6:59am into the Solent. Shortly after, we packed away our fenders and mooring lines into the sail locker. Once all the crew were on the deck, we hoisted the main sail for the first time together.

In quick succession, we also hoisted the Staysail and Yankee 3. We tuned our tacking multiple times until we reached the Needles. From there, we headed to Poole where we reached cruising speeds of 10 knots. After multiple games of eye spy and biscuit breaks, we reached the start of the Poole channel where we started

It all started with a rainy Lymington at 7 am with bagels for breakfast. Starboard watch then completed a swift deck prep with all sails and lines ready for departure. Once out into the solent the weather was beautiful and probably the best we’ve seen all week.

Once clear of the Lymington channel we had a hoist of the main sail and head sail so we could then turn the engine off. We practice multiple jibes and tacks in preparation for the race on Saturday.

We reached a heel of 40 degrees. This meant that Jack down below could practice his Micheal Jackson moves below deck when washing up.

The Solent was very busy today with a vast number of vessels practicing for the race tomorrow. Many boats got close so people at the helm had to ready to respond and steer to safer waters.

Both watches had a chance to practice the hoist of the staysail with the ships mate Alex setting the benchmark of 17 seconds. Port watch achieved 20 seconds and starboard watch 18 meaning they where one second off Alex.

To wrap the day, we transited into a very busy Cowes where the Red funnel ferries kept using their horns to clear the channel. Once the deck was cleared and ready for the morning the crew had an hour of shore leave to explore Cowes and the race village. Lots of food and merch was bought back on board with the mood in high spirits.

Everyone is hyped for the race and ready to beat Challenger 3.

Blog written by Fran, Rachel and Jack.