Le Havre, 2 June 2010
Part of the crew left Delft with MummaDuck around 23.00 on Tuesday. The rest followed then by car and left around 03.30 in the morning.
Early Wednesday morning had a little surprise for us as one of the tires of the trailer blew up. So the guys had to replace the tire on the highway. With that job done the boat safely reached Le Havre around 8 o'clock in the morning.
The goal for today was to have the boat completely ready for racing and do a few hours of sailing. We started with repairing the boat while still on the trailer and polished her for the last time before she would hit the beautiful waters of Normandy. When the polishing was finished the mast was put up. Pieter did a great job last week preparing the boat and fixing our new lines so she was ready in no time.
Because of the tidal differences it wasn't possible to crane before 13.30. We where the second boat to go in but unfortunately the first boat had a lot of trouble with getting the mast in correct. We had to wait for quite some time and did some other useful things. One of those useful things was having our brand new Quantum Sails measured and they all passed that test.
So the boat was in the water and we where ready to go…. Ohh wait Laurent wasn't in Le Havre yet! We agreed to meet him at 14.00 in the harbour. And Laurent was in the harbour meaning the one in Deauville where the event was held for the last years but it moved to Le Have this year and he wasn't aware of it. But no worries at 15.00 the complete team pushed the boat off the docks for a small training.
The larger part of the training was focused on polishing the boat handling and speed. Laurent shared lots of useful tips and tricks. He also tried to create new and uncomfortable situations for the team to see how they handled themselves. Afterwards hints were shared to evaluate and improve.
After this three hour training we went to our mobile homes for some dinner and off course some dessert. Tomorrow we will start with some small jobs on the boat and aim to leave the docks at half past twelve. The first warning signal will be given at two in the afternoon. Now we are all of to bed as a large part of the Mumma Duck crew did not sleep at last night due to our travel.
Signing off,
Remko
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