After yesterday’s briefing we finished our tasks onboard before heading out for dinner. I would be our last meal on firm grounds for presumably the next 28 days. So we got some Tappas, fresh fish and a big portion of dessert. Well fed we can start into this first ocean crossing race towards Uruguay.

The day started then quite early. We still head to complete a few safety briefs before we were allowed to head out. The local organisers had organised a small farewell, where the representative held a truly emotional speech. We then said goodbye and headed to our boats. There we took the compulsory team photo before throwing off our mooring lines.

already in the marina entry there was a lot of traffic. But it only got worse moving out further. Dozens if not hundreds of boats were out. Some with their very own plans and some to watch the race start. So we had to navigate through wind surfers, optis, motor and sailing yachts. That is also where we encountered our first problem trying to hoist the mainsail. We could only fix this last minute and get our mainsail up for the parade of sail just in time. That made for a first rise of hear rate.

After the parade of sail we went through two safety drills before heading for the start line. Once again our start was not perfect, but the fleet was close together. In the slightly stronger than expected winds we have managed to work our way up and are currently in third position. With all other boats still in sight we are tacking out of the bay, until we clear the last mark on the northern hemisphere in roughly 40 nautical miles. Afterwards we are free to head south.