Tecla on her way to Trapani

The Dutch vessel Tecla is racing down to Trapani in the Garibaldi Tall Ships Regatta, Janette Sluik on board has sent back the following report of their experience of the race start:

“Today we started the race! After a night of motoring, early in the morning a little breeze picked up. We all hoped that it would stay and it did. The Race Control announced the start would be between 09.00 UTC and 11.00 UTC and fortunately all the ships were already near the starting line. 

“The weather forecast was difficult for us. It was reported that there would be more wind later on the morning, so our dilemma was to start immediately or start later on? Well, we decided to start later but the wind dropped – it was perhaps not the best choice because the wind then got less and less. 

“The wind was from the north-east for the whole day so we all had to sail with the wind behind us which for some ships is good but we prefer it more from the side. And because there are a lot of islands in our way, we chose to pass the island of Capri on our starboard, as did Far Barcelona, who is faster then we are.  Luckily the wind picked up as the sun went down and now we are in the race again. 

“Near the island of Elba the wind turned which meant that we needed all hands to the sheets. The young Italians like to pull robes thankfully so it was done in a minute. Last night we made 8 knots for the first time.

At 19.00 UTC we got the results of the day and discovered we were third in class and 11th overall. Its the first day, and if the wind helps us a little bit,

who knows.”