A Southerly wind direction ended the plan of the race to Trapani starting at 1600. All the crew had been eagerly anticipating the start, except for one young Italian lad on the Polish ship 'Pogoria' who was landed with galloping seasickness after all of 3 hours at sea!. The 'Tenacious' crew were made of sterner stuff and before we motored the 60 miles south to a new start line, we set sails and meandered for 4 hours.
Soon after we started motoring to the new start, the wind picked up from the ENE and we were able to stop engines and set sail once more. We enjoyed a quiet night under sail and had plenty of time to admire the magnificent night sky.
The race was re scheduled for 1100 at the new start position. 'Tenacious' was the most windward vessel and we looked stunning as we had 19 sails set, just about everything we carry. The light winds did not make for an exciting start as we were only making 3 knots. There were 18 vessels in the race, of which 6 were in Class A - the large square-rigged and fore and aft rigged ships.
As we managed what we thought a respectable 3 knots, Kaliakra and Oosterschelde seemingly took off at 5 knots. After 3 weeks alongside in Lavrion, the hull of 'Tenacious' had accumulated lots of weed and this was thought the reason we were not going quite so fast in the light winds.
With the sun shining we were sailing as fast as we could manage. The crew joined in enthusiastically and there was a good atmosphere onboard. From the new start line to the end of the race off Trapani, the distance is 360 nautical miles and a lot can happen in that time!!
I shall fall asleep tonight in the hope that I will wake up to stronger winds heeling the ship over.
written by Captain Barbara