Edinburgh Inspiring Capital off to a good start

The start went to schedule at 14.00 hours. Strong South Westerlies werethe order of the day with winds varying between 20 -35knts and 1.5 hoursfoul tide below us.

It was a 'downhill' start which always presents a challenge as ourhelmsman, first mate Jimbo had to balance the power and speed of theyacht against the proximity to the line. Being over the line at thestart would have been disastrous as we would have had to have beat ourway back to restart. However timing was spot on and the No 2 Yankee washoisted on the gun and we shot off the line in the top third of thefleet. We powered down the Solent on a broad reach to see what thechannel can offer us.

The crew are in great spirits and looking forward to the challenges thatlie ahead and I think I can speak for most of the crew when I say it isgood to get started!

Calum Macaskill

Day 2 - Tue 24 Aug 10, 0225 hrs

Just cut the corner of Goodwin Sands with 1.5m under the keel - plenty! Great sailing so far; all downwind and not much below 10 knots. Max speed so far 15.2 knots. Mostly reaching and poled out jib downwind. Have just taken down the kite which was good stuff going past Dover. In the past 12 hrs we sailed 116 miles at an average speed of approx 9.6 knots. Hoping to do about 230 miles in the 24 hrs. Boil in the bag for supper - thank heavens for Army ORP! Everyone well and enjoying the sleigh ride. Slightly concerned when I noticed that starboard watch had cornered someone from port in the aft cabin...

Next update off Lowestoft.

Skip

Well we are 2 miles from Ramsgate. Now on the two watch system, 66444hrs.

Nick, Steven, Martin and John having a snooze.

Brett's on the helm with Gary on the main. Gareth getting the weather update and doing the nav(thank fully) and Ken (me) doing the blog.

Bearing 20degrees ish.

Wind has dropped to 11 knots, clear starry sky with the full moon behind us.

The run along the south coast was great with 30+ winds and some good surfing.

Were all suprised to hear leopard has retired, it's one less to beat!

KenSent from my BlackBerry wireless device

It's 615 and we're off the Thames having changed watches at 6. Nick's now on helm with John on main. Steven on Nav with Martin in the cockpit. Gareths brewing up with Brett, Gary and me already off for a kip.

The night went well with the Jibtop doing its job. Wind on the beam around 15knots, building to low 20's from 430am. Gary did lots of helming, and being a tiller man, he is quickly sorting his nemesis otherwise known as 'the wheel'. Gary also handled the Nav getting us through the tricky stuff after the huge spooky windfarm.

Gareth's huge joke book came out at 5. Its a cheap one and not for sensitve types. There's a scottish section for later in the week. Like the one about........

Now for a snooze while Nick, Steve, John and Martin reach us up the Anglian coastline. The big questions for today are 'do we go to the number 3'?, 'can we be bothered to catch Encore!'. And 'will the joke book survive?'

KenSent from my BlackBerry wireless device

-----Original Message-----From: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.: Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:36:23 To: RBI RORC BLOG; My hotmailReply-To: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.: GBR9793T Cheeki Rafiki

Well we are 2 miles from Ramsgate. Now on the two watch system, 66444hrs.

Nick, Steven, Martin and John having a snooze.

Brett's on the helm with Gary on the main. Gareth getting the weather update and doing the nav(thank fully) and Ken (me) doing the blog.

Bearing 20degrees ish.

Wind has dropped to 11 knots, clear starry sky with the full moon behind us.

The run along the south coast was great with 30+ winds and some good surfing.

Were all suprised to hear leopard has retired, it's one less to beat!

KenSent from my BlackBerry wireless device