Munslow across the Atlantic

The former Mini sailor gives his perspective on the Transat AG2R

The start of the race is tomorrow, Saturday at 1300hrs. The weather forecast is for pretty big winds probably topping 40+ kts in the gusts, there is a front coming so it will be wet and the seas will be big too....

There has been hardly any wind here for the past week and now it's time to leave the weather comes in, oh joy... In fact it will be windy all the way to the south of Portugal.
It will make for a more interesting start to the race, there are more choices to make, things may break and mistakes can be made.

We are ready... Sander bought a mainsail, nearly new, from Armel Tripon. Everything is lead sealed (plombaged) in the boat. They are pretty strict; they seal all the water containers, safety gear, bunks, fire extinguishers, prop shaft. The only things we can stack are the food, spares/tools, sails and ourselves. Some rules are ridiculous, like you may take extra fuel but it must be sealed at the transom, miles from the fuel filler - how are you supposed to get the fuel into the engine? If you take another container to
transfer it they want to seal that down as well!

The prologue was on Wednesday went ok, but our lack of training was apparent. I think we were about 9th or 10th to the first mark, then we slipped back, by the last mark we were second last but pulled back seven places on the long spi run in to Groix. We finished 22 out of 30. Our boat speed and height was good so we are pretty happy. Even for the prologue there were press boats and a helicopter following the whole race.

The race organisers used a picture of Sander's boat for the promotion of the race. The posters are everywhere here in Lorient, cafes, bars, shops and street signs, and apparently he is all over the metro and buses in Paris as well. All our race documents have got him and his boat plastered all over them... everybody knows him. If only we had a sponsors name on the hull...they would be laughing.