The race to Genoa started on June 11, with a delayed start again as we waited for enough breeze. The morning had begun very early with the last minute buying from the boulangerie (bread, rolls, baguettes and pastries), bouchier/butcher (pates, freshly made canneloni), patissiere (chocolates), fruit and vege market (cherries, apricots the size of apples, peaches, tiny cos/romaine lettuces, tomatoes, avacados, berries, oranges, mangoes, pineapples, melons, passionfruit, 24 bananas), the gourmet shop (ham, prosciutto, saucicon, cheeses, superb yoghurts, biscuits/crackers), and the supermarche (7 dozen cans of beer, 3 dozen cokes, 2 dozen sprite, etc). Just as well the boat has 2 very large fridges and a big freezer for the minestrone soup and beef casserole I had made and frozen in small containers. I'm not nearly as good as Terry as boat chef and steward but I'm learning!
The start of the race was extremely exciting with 200+ boats jostling for position and the wind had picked up quite well. We first sailed about 25 miles west along the coast in the opposite direction to Genoa to round an island and then head south east for Giraglia Rock off the northern coast of Corsica before sailing north to St Tropez. The wind strengthened considerably in the first leg and so we needed to change from the number 1 headsail (biggest) for the number 2 and the main was reefed down a notch. Soon after that the bottom stay of the number 2 sail popped out making it useless and so it had to be taken down and a smaller sail put on. Unfortunately that sail was really too small so we were not able to sail as fast as we could have. When we rounded the island we put up the spinnaker and had that up on the same course for the next 130 miles of the race, all the way to Giraglia Rock, where we arrived about 8.00am the next morning. It was a great leg because we sailed very quickly, even doing 17 knots at one stage. We rounded the spectacuarly beautiful and huge "rock" (really a little island) with its lighthouse and set out to tack our way to Genoa. BUT ... The wind died where we were and so we drifted for several hours with the sails slapping and bashing as we tried to coax the boat to move. 2 baton tracks popped out of the main sail so it had to be taken down. At that rate we would have been another 2 days or more before we reached Genoa and we didn't have much fuel (to keep the boat light for racing) if we found ourselves needing to motor to get there. So we decided to pull out while we were close enough to motor back to Corsica for more fuel. No one had expected a trip to Bastia on the island of Corsica so that was an unexpected treat after such a disappointment at needing to pull out of the race.