Final prep!

Last two days spent between the Cabrillo marina and our weekend charmer in San Pedro. Final prep. Final details. Final everything.

The nice thing is that our dock is near that of other competitors so we can learn about others’ experience. Everyone does the same thing as we do. Fine-tuning (not in an AI sense), getting water, getting fuel, getting food. We also see some stunners. Aragon is 70 feet and she’s both a racer and elegant at the same time. Wow! We see some real pros. That said, everyone is looking at us strangely when we show up with bottles of wine, close to 50 jars full of boeuf bourguignon, poulet basquaise, et blanquette de veau. It seems to us that most other boats freeze-dried food. They want to minimize weight. This has not been our strategy…

We pack an unbelievable amount of things into Ruby’s belly. We thought it would never fit but everything magically finds its place. Ruby drops a bit in the water because all of the added weight so we may not fly. Oh well… On the bright side, we get rid of the sail stay pack to look more professional, we finish the rigging of the gybe preventers. We start looking like home improvement as we fit Ruby to be our home for the next two weeks. We get the transponder from the race committee so that we can be tracked and friends and family know where we are.

We’re approached by Andrea’s crew to join them in a trisail. This is a new prize given to any team of three boats with the best ranking. We immediately call Charlie to be the 3rd team. He says, yes, of course.

At the end of two days of work, Antonia, Gaby and Milan pay us a nice visit. It’s good to spend time with them before leaving.

With Bertrand, we review our safety instructions, we set the rotation (the shifts). We will have shifts of 2 hours and a half each. I will start with Seb F. Everything is cool.

It’s the end of a 16-month preparation. We’re ready to go. I can’t wait. Tomorrow is the big day.