Sunday 11th Nov
We’ve been following the website of the Route du Rhum race and they are predicting that the arrival of the first 2 boats will be late this afternoon. We don’t want to miss it so we arrive to the museum early. There is music and animation and the place is already heaving. People are already staking their spaces by the rails in front of the sea as soon as 4pm. The whole crowd is being entertained by brilliant bands. Nice to see full brass section and excellent music is being played all evening. Both contenders in the race are now in view of Guadeloupe and live coverage is broadcasted on big screens. And the wind dies… we really feel sorry for them, so close but yet so far… and although their trimarans are race beasts , they do need some wind. It is excruciating to see them both struggling to get the boats moving… even more so when the leader, who led the whole way from St Malo, over 3000 miles away loses his place within 5 miles of the arrival. All very exciting to watch, especially as they beat the previous record by over an hour.
The crowd is delirious when they finally turn up around midnight. I am amazed to see that they actually can be so coherent in their interviews after 7 days solo at sea with rough conditions near enough all the way. What an achievement.
Monday 12th Nov
Slow day today, given that we did not get to bed before 3am , we are not rushing around. Light cleaning on board and 3 hours to the launderette… it is packed…
We should be moving in the next couple of days as soon as the weather improves… it has been raining quite hard on and off, even being cold.