Iberdac-GAES Solidaria rounds the mark at the Marina Rubicon
Pilar Pasanau
© Juan Luis Moreno
Yesterday, 20th January, the Spanish solo sailor Pilar Pasanau rounded the obligatory mark at the Marina Rubicon at the Spanish island of Lanzarote. Six days have passed since last Thursday, 14th January when the fleet set off from Cadiz’s Puerto Sherry for Santo Domingo. Some of the participating entries chose a technical stopover in Lanzarote to pick up food and other provisions to take to Haiti.
Two tactical options split the fleet after the boats rounded the mark at the Marina Rubicon in Lanzarote. The choices were to go East, between Tenerife and Gran Canaria or to go West between Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura. Barcelona’s Pilar Pasanau chose the first option, between Tenerife and Gran Canaria hoping to increase her speed.
Pilar’s on board life
Pilar Pasanau commented on her life on board since the start at Puerto Sherry: “It’s been a tough course so far with lots of shifts in breeze that aren’t giving us a break. The first night passed pretty quickly with NW winds between 20 and 25 knots that allowed us to go fairly fast. However, it’s a long course, so I decided to take a reef so that the boat and I could get used to one and other. The autopilot has been giving us a few problems, and with breeze it’s not responding as hoped, so that means that I’m vigilant the whole time with it. However, you never sleep very much the first night with the starting nerves still going. The conditions changed quickly and the next day the wind shifts South, so that gave us the chance to sail a more direct course to Lanzarote. Since that point everything has been about strategy, sometimes pushing the boat to go faster and others looking for wind closer to the coast, which was risky, but it allowed me to move away from the group I was in. Until we get past Lanzarote we won’t know who chose the best course. Little by little my body’s getting used to these conditions and I’m able to eat a little bit more easily, because at the beginning with the wind and the swell I was only able to eat ready-made foods in small amounts, although fairly often. Now I have started to force myself to eat warm food and to sleep a little when the wind seems to stabilise. After we’ve got past Lanzarote we’ll be catching the trades to Santo Domingo”.
Seventh place
At 09:56 CET yesterday, 20th January 2010, Iberdac-GAES Solidaria rounded the obligatory mark at the Marina Rubicon in seventh place in the provisional rankings. Pilar also took that opportunity to pick up a new aerial for the boat, as her current one has been giving her a few problems. This means that should the other aerial fail completely, Pilar will have a back-up so that the race organisers can track her progress normally.
