We approach the starting line with fewer than ten training sessions under our belts, at the first offshore race for all members of the team, finishing the last preparations the morning of the race during the transfer from Marina Cala de' Medici to the starting line in Livorno. The tension and stress are palpable in the air, but so is the eagerness to start and take on the challenge.
We start, with wind between 5 and 10 knots, and manage to free ourselves from the dirty air after the start. We round the first marks in good positions and head towards the Giraglia after rounding the buoy off Marina di Pisa. The course is a broad reach, with the island of Gorgona ahead of us, and the wind gradually weakens as the evening approaches, eventually dying out completely by sunset. Night falls with little to no wind, and we begin taking shifts to rest and try to keep our nerves steady.
As dawn breaks, the wind starts to pick up, reaching up to 12 knots after sunrise, with the Giraglia Island in sight. We're unsure if we've lost positions during the night, but observing the boats around us doesn’t give us a good feeling... We change sails, switching to the medium-wind genoa, but soon have to return to the light-wind genoa as the wind dies again, eventually reaching Giraglia, where it drops to about 4 knots.
We round the Giraglia, hoist the spinnaker while trying to take advantage of every little gust of wind left, and make the strategic choice to move away from Corsica, heading toward Capraia and Elba. We face a nerve-wracking morning and early afternoon with light winds, but by the afternoon, the wind starts to pick up again, allowing us to close the gap on the group downwind and overtake many boats at the Fetovaia mark at sunset, where, unfortunately, the wind dies again.
After rounding the Fetovaia gate at Elba Island (the course was shortened due to the light wind), a night full of spinnaker hoists and drops begins to take advantage of whatever wind remains. We find a stable, good wind of around 7-8 knots on the broad reach, which allows us to fly on the water at 7-7.5 knots and reach the finish line in Punta Ala during a surreal, silent night under the full moon with calm seas, only the gentle rustling of water against the hull... simply magical.
We cross the finish line at 04:48:00 on Saturday, June 3, 38 hours and 18 minutes after the start.
This allowed us to finish our first offshore race 33rd out of 126 in the ORC category (the rating category with the most participants), being one of the few boats still using a spinnaker, despite the outdated electronics that began malfunctioning after the first night and the "patched" sails.
