Arrived in Mindelo – what a week! | The Yacht Spirit

While this past week was full of memorable moments, the last day really capped off the first leg of our adventure. Not only were we flying the spinnaker at night to make the best time possible, we ended up in a head to head race to the finish with the yacht PG Roshni, a smaller but much lighter boat. They finished about 1,500 feet ahead of us (after a 865 nautical mile leg) but after handicaps were applied Spirit moved ahead of them in the rankings. Our overall finish was 4^th in our class and 8^th overall – out of 63 boats competing, we’re very happy with the results.

Reflecting back on this last week we can’t help but think about getting up every three hours during for the night watches, and while shaking the cobwebs out of our heads trying our best to focus on all kinds of sail and course adjustments to maximize every ounce of wind. Every night was a learning experience – some lessons not to be repeated! We’ve de-briefed our strategies, made some adjustments and are ready for the next leg.

We’ll be here in Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cape Verde until next Wednesday the 18^th when we start leg 2 of the race to St. Lucia. Now that we’re in a marina and have all the internet creature comforts we’ve included below a photographic summary of this past week.

The journey continues…