2007 Singlehanded Leg Notes

• 20 JUNE 1800BDA - The cruisers, Spirit, Frog Kiss 1 & 2 and Palangi arrived during the day for the awards.  Palangi announces that he gave the wrong finish time; 1300 (for 3pm) vice 1500 so I had to redo some of the results.  Totally understandable mistake.  We first started with the cocktail hour then went into the awards around 1915.  Brian Oatley, Vice Commodore of the St George's Dinghy & Sports Club (SGDSC), was the master of ceremonies.  Brian introduced the Commodore of SGDSC, the Mayor of St. George's (and past Commodore of SGDSC) Mariea Caisey and myself as the Newport Yacht Club and Goat Island Yacht Club representatives.  The Mayor handed out the trophies to the competitors.  After awards we went outside to take pictures of the singlehanded skippers and the steak fry.  After the steak fry we had live music and many people danced to their music.  It was a very good night.
Tomorrow's schedule is Customs at 1300 and Weather Briefing/Skipper's Meeting at 1500.  The start was moved to 1400BDA due to a cruise liner leaving St. Georges at 1200 when we were scheduled to start.
   

• 19 JUNE 1800BDA - Bugaboo is finally in!  Finished at 1500 BDA.  Brian Oately and I went out to the finish line to tow Bugaboo in.  He cleared customs and is taking his first shower after the obligatory Dark & Stormy.

• 19 JUNE 1100BDA - Bugaboo is about 40 nm out and projected to arrive late today.  The awards are scheduled for Wednesday night with a steak fry.  Thursday afternoon at 1300 will be customs and 1500 will be the Skipper's Meeting and Weather Brief.  Friday is the start back.

• 18 JUNE 2000BDA - Today a group of us took a tour of Blue Hole park and Tom Moore's Jungle thanks to Patrick who is a Bermudian.  A group of  us went swimming in a big cave that was in Tom Moore's Jungle.  He took us to the Crystal Cave afterwards for lunch.  Ray Renaud and Kris Wenzel went to Church Bay and Ray introduced me to snorkeling, stopped at Bailey's for ice cream then some relaxation amongst the racers (with of course a Dark & Stormy).  Later a group of us ate in the town square at George & Dragon (alias Fredies).
Bugaboo about 60 nm away projected to arrive Tuesday afternoon.

• 18 JUNE 0800BDA - The results are updated for Robin's time.  Now waiting, still, on Bugaboo who is making decent time towards Bermuda.

• 17 JUNE 1300BDA  Rubicon was spotted going thru the Town Cut towards the Customs dock.  Now all that is left is Bugaboo and he is making good progress.  See preliminary results minus Robin who hasn't given us his finish time yet.

• 17 JUNE 1100BDA -Robin was just spotted going thru the Town Cut towards the Customs dock.  Bermuda Radio says that Rubicon stayed outside for the night.  We should see him soon. Bugaboo is moving smartly, thank god, towards Bermuda.
The wind picked up big time out of the North West which caused havoc to the boats docked med style.  Convergence's anchor slipped and took all the other boats sideways.  Chinese fire drill at 0730.  All is well with some minor damage to Convergence.
Williwaw, Rusty, left this morning to return to Maine due to tight work schedule.

• 16 JUNE 2200BDA - Robin and Rubicon are still out there but making good time. The winds have picked up and should be good winds tomorrow.  Bugaboo is moving at a good clip in the correct direction.  Harbour Radio reported that a cruise ship had communication with Bugaboo yesterday and all was well.

• 16 JUNE 1600BDA - I arrived in Bermuda at 1300.  Got settled in my apartment, rented a scooter and headed down to the St. George's Dinghy and Sports Club (or just the Club).  Rumor has it they had two wild parties Thursday (Swizzle Stick Inn) and Friday (on Perseverance and Flash of Beauty) nights.
Robin, Rubicon, Mini Red Dress and Bugaboo are still not finished.  Some of the racers are going out to meet Kate on Mini Red Dress.
Tonight is the Dark and Stormy Party and Fish Fry and I'll get to meet everyone and listen to all the varied stories.

• 15 JUNE 2000 - Peter Bourke, Rubicon, called again.  Still in a wind hole along with Kate on Mini Red Dress.  Peter has been in contact with Kate via VHF and all is well. Hoping, wishfully, for wind.
Windswept and Komera have notified me that they will not head down to Bermuda to meet us but will see us in 2009.
I am flying out to Bermuda tomorrow morning to meet all.

• 15 JUNE 0830 - Jay Sharkey, Josephine, called to say he is starting his engine due to lack of wind and thus withdrawing.  He has been out of power for the past 3 days.  He expects to be in Bermuda around 1800 EDT.

• 15 JUNE 0800 - Curlew emailed me again this morning.  He is in real light SE winds which makes it real tough to get to Bermuda.  Given the forecast, light winds, he is suspecting he will have to turn on the engine. Curlew, Tomkat, Mini Red Dress, Rubicon, Robin and Bugaboo are still out there.  Bubaboo is not making any progress towards Bermuda.  Rubicon, Peter Bourke, called to say he has been in a wind hole the past 24 hours but is continuing on.  Peter said he had heard from Mini Red Dress but that she did not hear Peter.

• 14 JUNE 2200 - I have the following additional boats finishing: Flying Tiger, Mirari, Panacea, WAFI, Convergence, Rutaine, Spanky, Reality, Indigo and Williwaw who finished at the same time as Panacea which must be a first.  I have been entering finish times into the iBoattrack website.

• 14 JUNE 2000 - Nimros reports that he is circling Bermuda.  He had no wind for a while and now has 15 kts SE.  He is 10 nm out but wont finish until tomorrow.
Bugaboo called to say he fixed his headsail problem and can now use it; very lumpy seas.

• 14 JUNE 1300 - Rumor has it that the first of Class 4 to finish was actually two boats about the same time; Panacea and Williwaw.

• 14 JUNE 0800 - I have the following boats finishing since last nights report; Aggressive, Dirigo, Palangi, and Perseverance. To see unofficial finish times go to iBoattrack.com and select Leader Board at the top menu.  It looks like more have finished but I haven't heard from Bermuda.
Sam Aumus, Spirit of America, called.  He is about 34 nm from the finish with lighter winds than he was hoping for, 5 kts at 330.  He will be giving the local sail maker some business; ripped two spinnakers.

• 13 JUNE 2000 - A bunch of boats have finished; all of class 1,  and 5, 2 minis Ryan and Brandt.  Curlew emailed me that he is talking to Tomkat via Ham Radio, beam reaching in W 15-18.  Bugaboo called; he is 250 miles from Bermuda in 10-12 ft seas.  He will need two batteries and an alternator when he gets to Bermuda but the motor should start if he gets a booster battery.   Indigo reports 25 miles to go with WSW 18-22 knots all day.  Nimros reports NW-W, good winds and nice weather finally.  Pilgrim reports 18kts with wash boarding seas and had 6-8 rain storms today.
I have the following other boats finished: Flying Turtle, Spirit, Valkyrie, Wazimo, Flash of Beauty, TRPXPRS, Warriors Wish, Ariana, Myrna Minkoff, ER Tape.

• 13 JUNE 0800 - Frog Kiss called in to say he finished early this morning at 0329; wow, what a run.  Indigo and Aggressive have blown out their spinnakers (sail maker's dream!). 
Myrna Minkoff finished thus being the first mini to finish and beat most of the fleet with ER Tape finishing 2nd not too long after.  Obviously wonderful conditions for the minis!
Indigo reports running or broad reaching for a very long time.  Convergence skied his spinnaker halyard the jury rigged something, flew the spinnaker and later wrapped the spinnaker sheet around his rudder requiring him to dive to clear it.
Pilgrim reports lots of little storms, 18-26 kts, confused seas.  He has been hand steering for quite a while; doesn't want to trust the autopilot with those conditions.  About 140 nm from the onions.
 

• 12 JUNE 2000 - Wildeyes finished however I do not have the time yet.  Wazimo, Valkyrie and Spirt can't be much farther away.  Unofficial finish times are being entered into iBoattrack.com in the LeaderPage.

• 12 JUNE 1000 - Gryphon Solo Finishes: Gryphon Solo finished at 0130 this morning which appears to have broken the record that Artforms Kip Stone did in 2005.  Artforms did the singlehanded leg in 66 hrs 57 min.  By my calculations Gryphon just did the singlehanded leg in 62 hrs 37 min.  WOW.  Joe reports that he had pretty good wind for all but the start area and just out of the Gulf Stream where he was becalmed for a little while taking him SW away from the direction he wanted to go.
We heard from WAFI, Drew.  He is moving along.  Has power issues since no sun till today.  Slept some with the helm lashed.  Wind N @ 10 kts.

• 12 JUNE 0800 - ER Tape had a two hour stop getting the code 0 out of the water which wrapped it self around the keel; the guy line for his bow sprit broke.  He took his sails down, cleared the problem the took off again.  All is well. Jan reports finally seeing sunshine for the first time. Jan would have run out of power except that he happen to have a little generator on board.
Reality had a change of course between 0230 and 0630 where he was heading NE at 2.4kts.  The last report at 0830 showed him heading south at 5 kts. Hopefully he was just hove to sleeping because he may have lost power; lack of sunshine to charge the batteries.
A number of boats report that there have been a quite a few squalls where the wind jumps up to 22 kts.  The front group report calm sees with about NW to SW breeze at about 13 kts.
Bugaboo looks like he got some rest and is heading down towards Bermuda.
A number of the boats reporting in say that they haven't been in contact with others.

• 11 JUNE  2000 - The conditions vary amongst the fleet.  Perseverance says he has 20 kts and had a couple of small storms up to 25 kts with a little bit of rain.  Dirigo reports that Warrior's Wish fixed his auto pilot.  Dirigo is seeing 15-20 kts at 340 and almost lost his spinnaker last night.  Pilgrim reports 16-18 kts NNE and is out of the Gulf Stream but in the stream he had 24-26 knots.  Nimros said he had the most comfortable ride through the Gulf Stream however he had talked to Flying Tiger who says she had a rough time of it in the stream.  Amazing.

• 11 JUNE  1300 - Bugaboo: 2000 - John's wife called again to say that John is heaving to to get some rest, wind is 15-20 with 6-8 foot seas.  1300 Just heard from John's wife Bonnie.  Bugaboo is having his problems however he can easily continue to Bermuda.  His jib furler is jammed, his engine wont run and his electrics are out.  He has a handheld GPS with plenty of batteries and his charts so he should make it to Bermuda fine.

• 11 JUNE  0800 - Nimros reports that Rubicon has a problem with his goose neck (ala Dirigo in 2005) and is sailing along at 7 knots with jib and staysail.  Nimros has ripped the foot of his main but since it is reefed currently, it isn't a problem.  He does have a spare main.  A lot of the boats are seeing 17-20 kts.  A lot of the fleet has entered the Gulf Stream and some have gone through.  Valkyrie reports that the wave action in the stream was fairly calm.  He is seeing 15-16 kts our of the NW and is on starboard tack.  A mini went by him this morning with his spinnaker flying. Perseverance reports 25 kts N, doing 8.5 kts and just passed the Gulf Stream.

• 11 JUNE 1230 - Josephine still racing:  Josephine (Jay Sharkey) called to say that after talking to Convergence he decided to stick it out.  He has lost his jumper struts, both auto pilots and spent 2 hours untangling himself from a fish trap. He is going to try to make one auto pilot out of two.  So I expect to see Jay in Bermuda.  11 JUNE 0630 - Josephine withdraws??: Convergence reports that Josephine (Jay Sharkey) has withdrawn due to some problem with the mast.  He is headed back to Newport under small jib and doesn't need assistance at this time. Later in the morning we received a phone message from Joe Cooper that Jay was continuing on to Bermuda.

• 11 JUNE 0630 - Pegasus has arrived in Newport:  Pegasus arrived sometime during the night and is back on the dinghy dock at the Newport Yacht Club.

• 10 JUNE 2000 - Komera may return: Duncan will have the mast makers look at the mast/spreader connection and if it can be fixed soon, Duncan will be heading back to Bermuda.  Duncan wants to participate.

• 10 JUNE 2000 - Pegasus called to say that he is returning to the Newport Yacht Club early Monday morning.  The water leak is less after turning to Newport.
Perserverance, Indigo, Pilgrim and Nimros report lower winds 10-15 with fog.  Valkyrie and Spirit are neck and neck in 20 knots out of 69 degrees.  Valkyrie actually heard Wazimo on the radio.

• 10 JUNE  0800 - Lots to report this morning.  Ted Fisher on Pegasus reported taking on water and Williway and Convergence went to standby Pegasus.  Pegasus continued sailing under main.  He found the leak which was at the centerboard cable.  He wasn't able to stop the leak although was keeping up with it.  He eventually decided to withdraw and is headed west just to be safe.  Don't know at this time where he is headed.
Valkrie reports loosing his spinnaker during the night when the winds hit 28 knots as he was taking it down.
ER Tape reported that he hit a two by four. while doing 9kts. The only problems he is having is the keel is vibrating and the speed sensor was pushed into the boat a little.  He has slowed to 7.5 kts but is continuing on to Bermuda.
Warrior's Wish lost an autopilot but has a backup and has lost the spinnaker halyard.
Did I mention that all are complaining about how cold and damp it is?  Very anxious to get by the Gulf Stream.

• 9 JUNE 2000 - Most boats reporting very light winds.  They are all continuing on.

• 9 JUNE 1820 - Duncan Gladman on Komera calls to say that he is returning to Newport.  Nothing has broken but the interface of the spreaders to the mast is not good and the result is a pumping mast. He is afraid that with any kind of up wind work he may end up with a broken spreader and decided to avoid the possibility.  Duncan was in the lead at the time so he is rather disappointed but he says he will return in 2009.

• 9 JUNE 1200 - AND THEIR OFF: All 6 classes started on time this morning however at 8am it wasn't looking good.  Pea Soup Fog!  An Easterly came in and the fog cleared.  The wind shifted to the North West, light, but good enough to start all the boats.  It was a little dreary however all the skippers seem to be enjoying themselves.  Sam Ausmus on Spirit of America  wandered from the line just a wee bet too much and ended up spotting the rest of his class 20 minutes.  Awfully nice of him.  There was an amazing number of boats observing the start and cheering on their friends.  It was quite impressive.  We were also lucky to have the Commodore of the St George's Dinghy and Sports Club Andrew Branch, his wife Helen and the Rear Commodore/Dock Manager Brian Oatley along with the Newport Yacht Club's Commodore Nelson Chafee all on the Vice Commodore's boat Trooper observing the start.

• 7 JUNE - FOLLOW ALONG THE LOCATION OF EACH BOAT:  Click the iBoattrack menu on the left to follow the trail of the boats to/from Bermuda.

• 7 JUNE - FOLLOW ALONG WITH STORIES FROM JOE HARRIS GRYPHON SOLO: http://www.gryphonsolo.com/page/skippers_logs

• 23 MAY - MINI CLASS KICK-OFF PARTY:  On Tuesday 5 June 5:30-7pm the Mini Class will have a kick-off party at the Newport Harbor Hotel and Marina where all  the boats will be.  Cash bar and complimentary cheese and crackers and live music. Come out to see what the Minis are all about.

• 20 MAY - LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE 43 BOATS THIS YEAR!  Yup, most boats that I am aware of including 8 Open 6.5 Minis and Open 40, 50 & 60.  One look at the scratch sheet and you realize that about 50% of the fleet are first timers to the Bermuda One-Two which is very interesting.  We will be working on the classes this week  Of course we need those PHRF-NB forms.

• 24/25 MAR - SLEEP AND WEATHER SEMINARS HELD AT NYC: These seminars were held this weekend thanks to Katie Ambach and Drew Wood and thanks to the presenters Dr. Claudio Stampi and Bill Biewenga for fitting us into their busy schedules.  All enjoyed the seminars.

• 16 MAR - MOE RODDY MEDICAL KIT ADVICE:  Due to overwhelming requests for input from Moe, she offers a write up about the medical kit.  Check it out.

• 3 MAR - SKIPPERS' FORUM/PARTY:  About thirty people showed up for the Spring Skippers' Forum. The Skipper's Representative was away on vacation so I took the reins. Three skippers submitted applications and fees for this year's race; Ned Caswell on Lolligag II, Mike Hennessy on Indigo and Rusty Duym on Williwaw.  We now have 15 registered. I had just received a shipment of burgees and about 7 of them were sold.  I reviewed the dockage arrangements and fees both in Newport and St. George's.  Life Raft and Survival gave a short pitch on why the skippers should go see them.  Kris Wenzel briefed the plan for new activities in Bermuda including a Open 6.5 mini match race in the harbour.  Moe Roddy, who is in a leg cast, offered help to any skipper who needs help with their medical kit.  We briefed customs procedures of recent past and that return crew will need a passport and letter from the skipper.  Bjorn Johnson briefed the Safety Check procedure.  Ted Singsen is the Safety Check POC.  All skippers need to schedule safety checks through Ted.  People traveled from all over for the meeting: Steve Perry gets the long distance award, Florida, Rusty Duym and Peter McCrea from Maine, Mike Hennessy from Connecticut, Bjorn Johnson from New Jersey, Jim Linsley from New York and Erick Johnson from Annapolis.  Afterwards twelve of us went across the street to Locas to gab, drink and eat more food.  Not a bad evening at all.

• 20  FEB - AWARDS IN BERMUDA DATE CHANGE: The date of the awards for the singlehanded leg in Bermuda has been changed from Tuesday the 19th to Wednesday the 20th to allow those that cruise the islands of Bermuda to have a little more time.

• 18 FEB - SLEEP AND WEATHER SEMINARS: We are doing the Sleep Seminar by Dr. Claudio Stampi and Weather Seminar by Bill Biewenga on the 24th and 25th of March at the Newport Yacht Club 9am to 5 pm both days.  The Sleep Seminar will be on Saturday 24 March and the Weather Seminar will be on Sunday the 25th of March.  At the moment we have room for one or tow in the Sleep Seminar and more room in the Weather Seminar.  We are charging $150 for the Sleep Seminar and $110 for the Weather Seminar or $250 for both.  Drop me a note if interested.

• 7 FEB - The March newsletter has been posted in the Newsletter section.

• Notice Of Race and Amendment:
The NOR and an amendment have been sent out.  See left, 2007 Downloads.   This year, those that submit an Endorsed IRC Certificate will be scored additionally all in one class.  The results will be provided to the Double-Handed Ocean Racing Trophy committee for a combined score with other doublehanded races.

• The following skippers have expressed that they plan on doing the race in 2007:
Dimitri Antoniadis, Doug Campbell, Ned Caswell, Murray Danforth (in what boat he doesn't know yet), Jon Desmond (Swan 48), Raymond Dionne, Ted Fisher (Cambria 46), Tom Gaffey, Brian Guck, Joe Harris (Open 50), Bjorn Johnson, Earl Libby (Peterson 43), Rick McCally, Peter McCrea, Louis Meyer, Mike Millard, Tristan Mouligné (Frog Kiss), Patrick Nugent (who delivered his C&C 35 Mk II 10/17/06 to RI from Michigan for next year's race), Robert Patenaude (C&C 41), Ray Renaud, Jean-Claude Rizzi (Pogo 8.5), Scott Rosenthal (Bristol 40), Michael Schum (C&C 110), Dan Stadtlander (Bristol 39/40), David Treadway ( Luders 33), John Van Slyke (Catalina 35 Mk II).

• The following mini skippers are planning on participating in the demonstration class:
Jesse Rowse, Jan Brandt, Duncan Gladman, Ryan Finn, Sam Ausmus, Drew Wood, Jay Sharkey, Kate Ambach, Craig Horsfeld and Christian Riemer.

• The dates for 2007 have been assigned:
Newport to Bermuda Start: Saturday 9 June
Bermuda to Newport Start: Friday 22 June
See Calendar in the menu to the left.