1900 update: We're now 1 hour into our watch system and heading due west into the setting sun. We're doing around 11 knots with 14 knots of true wind speed. Moral seems good and looking forward to the adventure ahead.
The start didn't quite as planned. An attempt at a port tack flyer was quickly stubbed out when we were unable to accelerate the boat quickly enough and got caught by a barrage of starboard tack boats at the squadron end of the line. A restart and a penalty turn later and we were off.
Short tacking out of The Solent as tough for all the crew on the boat. Performing lots of tacks in short spaces of time isn't quite what a Volvo 70 was designed for, requiring a team manning each of the dagger boards, the 2 primary winches, the 3 pedestals, main sheet and 2 runner winches. Also proving interesting is ensuring that our Russian crew members fully understand the manoeuvres were are about to perform and work in time with the rest of the crew / boat.
We were well into the IRC 3 & 2 fleet when approaching the hurst narrows with a couple of close passes with Artemis Open 60 on each tack. We continued a small way south of the needles in order to separate from the fleet, only to create more room around us, never part of the strategy.
A few small tacks up to and round Anvill Point set us up on a nice lay line towards Portland Bill. We are now round and heading towards Start Point. Waiting for the wind to move right (North) before tacking to take advantage of the shift. Approximately 2.5 miles behind Bella Mente, the Gen 3 Volvo 70s have shot off ahead, we can still see Azzam on AIS on seem to be doing an OK boat speed against them.
Current ETA at lands end around 0600 tomorrow
We're also updating our Facebook page with onboard photos as www.facebook.com/MonsterProjectVolvo70
Monster Project Team Russia
