First day

Dan is feeling a little seasick, so I (Nick Sr) am standing in for him.
We had a great start yesterday. We were across the line shortly after
the gun with Parasailor flying. Our departure from the marina was lots
of fun with bands playing, tons of spectators waving and somebody firing
off a cannon as the spirit moved him. Late in the afternoon we got into
a little trouble in the wind acceleration zone toward the south end of
Gran Canaria. The parasailor was too much sail. Good learning
experience for me and the crew and we got it down without too much
drama. Last night the wind died in a couple of places so we had to
motor for a while. Big seas with no wind to steady the sails isn't much
fun.

Today has been a beautiful day, sun is out, wind about 20-25 knots, big
seas but the autopilot is coping well. Adam Smith volunteered to be one
of the radio net controllers, so everybody in our group will know the
name Wassail when we reach the other side.

We crossed paths with another boat about 2 hours ago. It was another
Najad (Wassail is built by Najad), what are the chances of that?

Nick Jr has prepared some great meals so the crew is fat and happy.

The ARC had its first casualty this morning: one of the larger boats
lost its rudder so had to be towed back to Las Palmas.

Today's run (1PM Sunday to 1PM Monday) was 146 miles. Not great but not
bad, we'll do better tomorrow.