11/10/11 - Captain Barbara on Lord Nelson

Lord Nelson got off to a blistering start to Leg 1 of the race with virtually all canvas set as we crossed the start line in style. The race was started by cannon from the Royal Yacht Squadron and this was the first time that the two ships had raced each other. Though Tenacious crossed the start line seconds ahead of us, the fact we had more sails set enabled a swift over-taking a minute or so later. Five minutes past the start-line, we rounded the Prince Consort buoy and were able to come on to the wind and set the main Course and the Spanker. We now had all sail set and it was the first time that Lesley, the Bosun, had seen everything flying. And we flew.
We flew past No Man's Land Fort and the Isle of Wight.

We were slightly baffled by Tenacious going to anchor for a few hours - did they hope to win a tidal advantage?

Once clear of the Isle of Wight we headed south, and despite the slightly lumpy seas, were soon making 9 knots. As we went so fast, we rounded the waypoint on the French side at 0130 and wore ship. We managed to wear ship with just the one watch, all BMs, 2nd Engineer, medical purser and supernumerary and myself. A good effort.

By 0230/12th we were heading north and rounded the next waypoint at 0400.
Despite our best efforts, the tide carried us to the east and we did not quite manage the following waypoint. The way this race was structured meant that we had to build up miles between waypoints - so missing a waypoint just meant that we did not earn the miles between two points. So we tacked ship at 0930/12th to head to yet another waypoint. Another two waypoints later and we tacked again, we're getting good at this tacking lark, and headed for the finish line. A good cheer rang out as we crossed the line.

All the crew had joined the ship in anticipation of a good race and that is what they got. They probably got more rope pulling than they bargained for but at least had the pleasure of knowing that we had clocked up 27.5 miles more than Tenacious.

However we cannot be complacent as the distance from Race 2 has to be added to that of Race 1.

Captain Barbara