9am Monday morning. The sun is shining and we have dolphins accompanying us on our way. Yesterday was full on, we chose what we thought would be the quiet end of the start line, only to find the big boats and everybody else of the same opinion. Having watched the large cats disappear it was our turn to start. Lots of jockeying for position and we went over the line with a boat 5 metres away on port and another the same distance on starboard. We tacked all the way up the Solent as the wind steadily grew. By the time we got to Hurst narrows, the really big boats were coming past. More excitement as we tried to keep clear.
We have been sailing to wind, putting in and taking out reefs to our current position coming up to Start Point having crossed Lime Bay last night. There were spectacular sunsets and sunrises with a clear starry night in between. We saw several shooting stars to make the night watches more interesting.