Heading to the start line at 0530The start line was 26 miles from Breskens so it was an early 0530 wake up and underway.

SunriseThe sun was just coming in as we headed out. A lot of other ships had either spent the night at anchor or in ports near the river mouth so there was a convoy of us motoring out. We got sails up and there was just enough wind to keep us moving. We had a good start and were over in first place but Astrid Finne was soon past and into the lead. The wind picked up from the west during the night and we had some good sailing making 7 to 8 kts straight towards the finish line. We have to call in twice a day to Race Control to report our position then they come back with the placings of all the ships. After 36 hrs we were 4th in class and 8th overall out of 72 ships.

CalmThe wind wasn't to last though and it fell away until we were wallowing in a glassy calm with sails slapping and mast hoops jangling.

Ross playing as a big Maersk container ship passes our sternWe were on the edge of the Texel traffic seperation scheme, a maritime dual carriageway that seperates shipping coming and going into some of the huge contenental ports. We took down the mainsail and mizzen and drifted with the tide around in a circle all night. We were too near the seperation scheme to chance anchoring or we would have done.