A group of four Spanish boat builders planned a trip to Lanzarote to surprise the Globe 5.80 Transat entrants before their Atlantic crossing, only to find out the start was moved forward before their landing time on Wednesday (17 November), a day earlier than previously scheduled.
Just as they decided to delay the start of the first leg in Lagos, Portigal to greet competitor and Irish solo sailor Jim Schofield on arrival, the participating boats and race director agreed to delay the start for another three hours to meet the group of Spanish builders and show them the finished boats in race condition.
The spirit of the 5.80 family runs deep and delayed starts to meet fellow builders and sailors — now part of the race history — may well become a tradition, race organisers suggest.
The Leg 1 late starters, Schofield and class founder Don McIntyre, did not dilly dally this time — crossing the start line in first and second position right on the gun, leaving the youngster in their wake: Michal Krysta unusually under-canvassed, Peter Kenyon full-on with the A5 up and Etienne Messikommer closing the line in relaxed mode.
Immediately after the start, the 5.80 fleet divided in two decisive options on both side of Fuerteventura, with Michal and Etienne — the leaders of the first leg — sailing the shorter course west while Jim, Don and Peter chose the east side of the island to towards stronger winds along the west coast of Africa.
Today (Friday 19 November) it looked like the western option paid off, with Etienne and Michal sneaking in the lead of the fleet once again. But with the wind dying slowly, this is far from over and could well drag on until the skippers catch the trade winds further south.
In any case, time is not an issue for the Globe Transat fleet as the 5.80 sailors packed food, books and music for over a month, relishing the prospect of being alone at sea for a long while.
As class founder Don McIntyre said before the start: “The Globe 5.80 has the best price/fun/time on the water ratio of any ocean racing class!”