Exciting start to the race today. Good wind at the start and out the gate, picking up to 18kts before dying down to mid teens. We're about to lose sight of the coastline, so the only other objects we'll see now are the boats around us, which won't last long -- visibility to the horizon is only about 10 miles, a drop in the bucket of the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. Not too many different ideas so far on which course to take -- we're all headed SW towards the ridge crossing.
The fog threatened to come in but has since cleared, and it is a beautiful sunny day out. As I'm writing this we just spotted a whale and its calf about 100ft to starboard. So far the vastness of the trip hasn't fully sunken in... it still feels just like a Farallons race. I'm sure the length of the trip will start to hit us on day 2 or 3 when it'll feel like we've been on the boat forever yet still only at the beginning.
-david