Title:RACE 2: Course Description! (it's not too late to join the race!) : (MDidia ) : eques of Rome: 7/27/2001,20:00:44< prev next >

PANATHENAIA BOAT RACE RACE 2 Sail from Megara past Eleusis, and head back towards the harbour of Pieraieus. OBSTACLES As you pass into the narrow channel between Megara and Eleusis, you will come across the symplegades (moving rocks), which are forever shrouded in sea mist (so you can't actually see them!) and they move to crush ships that attempt to pass between them. The race organisers asked Zeus to move these monstrous rocks from the mouth of the Bosphorus and located them here for the duration of this race. The symplegades are charmed so that they won't actually hurt you, but they can hurt (i.e. sink) your boat! Don't worry too much, Jason might be able to help. If you survive the symplegades, you then have to try not to get sucked around and around (and around ad nauseum) by Charybdis. If she does suck you in, and you escape, I hope you're not too dizzy to negotiate the fiendish maritime labyrinth (special thanks to Daedalus for coming all the way out to design this one for us), or you may get lost forever until we find you! You have to sail to the centre of the labyrinth and collect a little bronze statue of a minotaur (alas we weren't allowed to use a real one because it's not considered polite to ask women to err... get intimate... with bulls anymore - you have to wait for the Roman Circuses for that sort of thing). Finally, as you make your way back to the harbour of Pieraieus, you need to avoid the monocular gaze of the Cyclops who is tending his flocks. I hope you didn't drink all of your wine? You won't be able to stock up on anymore! WEATHER: The weather today is dull and misty (a bit of rain in the air too). The wind is now whipping up into a fairly strong easterly direction (ie, blowing from the west towards the east). DEADLINE: Post your logs between 11:00pm and 11:30pm GMT on Saturday 28th July (that's 36 hours to write your log). It is not too late to join the race - the point system means you can still gain a place if you did not joint he first race. Or you can sail for fun! PS: Don't forget to join the feast at Harpies' Cave before you sail (if you don't mind the stench). Happy sailing! The Judging Team