Day 2

Blog from Aft Port Watch… Gemma and Jenni….

Woke up to a lovely sunny morning in Falmouth, had breakfast and then up on deck as we hauled the two gangplanks on to the top of the deck house and then cast off from the dock and set off under engine. The ship briefly anchored in Carrick roads whilst we waited for 12.00 and the start of the parade of sail. Hundreds of small craft sailing around us and waving…. great atmosphere and sense of anticipation as we waited for the start of the parade of sail. Great excitement as we raised the anchor and were finally on our way. We followed Gulden Leeuw and others past Pendennis Castle and along beaches in Falmouth down to Helford River where we waited to move to the start line. Whilst on the parade of sail there was lots of hauling on some ropes and easing on others as we started to set sail.

We were on watch from 1230 to 1600 and handed over to the next just as we came up to the starting line. Racing had begun!!… More importantly time for tea!! Just as we were heading for a sleep before our next watch at 0000 dolphins appeared – a pod of about 20 adults and juveniles played around us for at least half an hour. Everyone was taking pictures and video. What a special end to a simply brilliant start of this trip….