RACE DAY 1
Simon Pettifer – “As had been the normal for the last 4 days, we awoke to the sound of the wind in the palm trees and huge waves crashing in the distance on the outer reef, yep, it was windy in Pointe d’Esny again!
We jumped in the car with Christo and headed off to the sailing club for the briefing. This consisted of mind a couple of shallow bits and don’t break down by the fish farms!! Being a bit naive, we’d never thought about fish farms being like a fast food restaurant for sharks!! The format was sail for 25 km and do a couple of laps around a giant slalom course set in what’s lovingly known as the ‘joyride’ section of the course, because it’s so darn flat! Then 25 km back to the finishing line, just out from the sailing club. So 50 km of turquoise water, palm trees and stunning emerald green mountains as the backdrop, basically pure joy, a touch of foot cramp, a mouth as dry as hell towards the end and a lot of smiling!
The starts were to be the same all week – rabbit starts, same as at the Défi wind in France. Neither of us had too much experience of these, but a starts a start right? Setting the countdown on our watches with an hour to go, we went back to the apartment to get our gear and get started with the “crossing”!
Everything went pretty smooth, the start boat cruised down the line and we were off! I didn’t get the best start, but not bad and in the front pack. Kev was upwind of me and was soon ahead, so I figured why not tag on the back of Kev and form the British love train! Kev was slowly pulling clear from me, but I could only see 7 people in front, it was hard to tell, we were still spread far and wide at this point. The scenery was stunning, I mean we’re both from the south coast, Dorset, it’s beautiful….on the right day, but this was a whole new level, breathtaking crystal, clear water!
The trouble with long distance races is knowing where to go and how high to point to make it to the next mark, it’s not like you can see a boat with a flag on it from 20 km away! Even so, by the end of day 1 team GB were topping the leader board!