Drifting - 1: Volvo Restart

It was a slow restart to what is turning out to be a very very slow leg on the Volvo Ocean Race. We were positioned off Cowes at the northern end of the exclusion zone, our engine ticking over at exactly the speed of the tide so we could just hang by the Volvo Race boat. Unfortunately all the boats went close to the Island so all we saw were these far off shots.

What was interesting was the leading boats, Brazil and Pirates, took the island side in their hunt for wind, and found it, unlike ABN1 that fell into a hole and sat there watching the others take off.

It was all very different from the conditions for the in-port race, which as you will remember were like this......

We also passed close by the reconditioned Open 60 Grey Power on which Sir Robin Knox-Johnston - currently 68 - will compete in the Velux Seven Oceans later this year. That will be quite an achievement, even for the first man to sail around the world non-stop single handed.

Pictures (c) Captain JP