Under sunny skies off Lanzarote and with a north easterly of 15 to 20 knots behind them, the competitors in the second edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race got under way at 1200 today.
First over the line was the French Pogo 1250 Aloha closely followed by the 94 foot Windfall, with the other big monohulls Nomad IV and Valkyrie soon joining the lead group. In the second start 10 minutes later for the multihulls, Concise 10 seemed to have the upper hand initially but Phaedo 3 had pulled through to lead by about six minutes at the turning mark off Puerto Calero.
The MOD 70s are expected to take around six days for the 3,000 mile trip, and the leading monohulls should be in Grenada in eight to twelve days. The group of 40 footers are likely to take 14 to 18 days.
Glynn Thomas, general manager of Port Louis Marina, said, “We are very much looking forward to seeing the boats arrive in Grenada and will greet every one with very warm welcome and a very cold beer.”
The race can be followed on the RORC Transatlantic website and live on the tracker.
