We have been out here a week now, and rest assured we have most definitely been making the most of it. Santander has definitely provided on weather, hot and sunny every day. Though it seem the mornings are a little slow. Im not sure there has been a single day where the wind has kicked in before 11am.
The slow morning has given us a good opportunity to get some final bit of boat work done, and on the odd occasion we have take the time to explore the local area a little. Yesterday we all woke early to make trip a little down the coast to a national park and beach. There was some stunning scenery on route but the best bit was the almost empty surf beach we discovered at the end of our trail. We spent a bit of time having fun in the waves despite the water being a little on the chilly side.
Following our slightly whistle stop tour, it was back home for a quick bite to eat, before getting down to the boat park. Yesterday was one of the hotter days we have had since being here and that meant the sea breeze built more than usual. We launched in a glorious 15kts and sailed a long way upwind, to one of the race course areas for some practice races. Our speed on the way up felt great and as we arrived at the race course we joined in with an already happening race. We seemed to be going really well, but as I squeezed a little more cunningham, BANG! i did it again. In a similar way to that at sail for gold i had literally pulled the sail in half. I should definitely mention that the superb repair Matt from demon sail had done was fine, and again it was a failure of the original sail in a slightly different location. It seems if you fix one weak link its not long until you find the next!
Fortunately we were using our training mainsail, so we still have the race one to see us up to and through the regatta, Hopefully!
Today is Wednesday and as of tomorrow our regatta officially starts. Registration and measurement runs though until monday when racing starts. We are really excited to get going now. But between now and monday we plan on getting in some final good hours, and also a little rest before the main show begins!
I will try and get some pictures of us actually sailing, as it truly is champagne conditions out here!
Cheers for now, and more updates soon
TP