Race Start & 1st day on the Atlantic

We’ve arrived to the Atlantic yesterday around 9:00 am, after hours of motoring through Potomac river.
We were due to have a Le Mans start at 10:00 under Quingdao leadership.  Their preference was to have Y1 to start with, and as per the Les Mans start rules we had to sail with that, and at the same course for 10 mins before we can follow our preference.
Following the first 10 mins we dropped our Y1 and hoisted Code 1 up, then our staysail.  From then on we have had multiple changes and now at the time being we have our Windseeker on, which we hoisted in our previous watch as there was nearly no wind.
In terms of the others we’ve seen UNICEF, PSP, Ha Long Bay, Bekezela, Our Isles and Oceans around and mostly behind us.  Perseverance and Zhuhai seems to be gone at the very front of the fleet.  Interestingly we have some boats heading towards the Gulf Stream and some boats heading to north, for a shorter course.  We’ve just started our watch again and will be around for the next 4 hours.   We were just talking about taking down Windseeker and have Y1 going up again as per the changes expected in the weather.
Other than the technicality of the race, I’ve had my very first night in Atlantic Ocean, probably one that I won’t easily forget.  We had a wonderful sunset and the clouds were amazing.  It was such a beautiful passage of the colours on the water, some parts were pinkish, others were purple, such an amazing view, which reminded me of French Polynesia, Bora Bora and Moorea.
We’ve also sighted a submarine, and a group of dolphins.  There is also a residential dragonfly on our boat.  We’ve started stargazing with the apps we have and trying to see which satellites are passing above us.  Such fun, and Olly’s Spotify list has really good vibes.  No sign of whales yes but overall we’d like to see sperm whales.
I had few instances where I was about to meet with the green monster but I guess I managed it well, I feel much better at this moment.  I ate quiona with salad (thanks to Vasi’s Greek salad inspiration) for lunch and  plain pasta for dinner.  Vasi had been amazing in baking us cakes which went down very quickly and still staying there.
That’s all from my first day on the Atlantic Ocean, it seems still unbelievable.