DOUBLEHANDED LEG NOTES
24 June - The Awards Party was held today at the Newport Yacht Club with
about 70 people in attendance. Cole Brauer was the volume trophy getter.
Gregg Carville was awarded the Juan Perez Bermuda One-Two Sportsmanship Trophy.
It is really wonderful to see so many show up, even those that had no trophies
coming. The comradery amongst the skippers and crew was something to
behold this year.
21 June - The final results are posted for the Doublehanded leg and the
Combined times.
20 June 1900 Melanthon made it way home after a slow trip from Bermuda.
20 June 1838 Strummer finish. That's it. They are all in now.
20 June 1428 Windswept finish. Just Strummer left about 1800.
20 June 1400 - The DRAFT Combined Corrected results are posted. Click on
menu "Results CCT" on the left.
20 June 0955 Bluebird finish. Just Windswept (about 2pm) and
Strummer.(about 6pm).
20 June 0800 - Bluebird - Good morning. All is well on Blue Bird
and we have had an amazing 24 hours or so under spinnaker. A good mind eraser
for the previous 24 hours! We are 13 miles out and hopefully finishing around
9:30 or do. See you soon!
Strummer - Full main and jib. Going 6.8 knots on course 65 miles to
finish. Wind east at 16. Sunshine. Nice way to finish (if it holds)
19 June 2000 - Gryphon - all in good health, and good spirits
support Gryphon. We ripped Kite on a floating metal post with a diamond shaped
structure of flukes. We heard a little thing as it went past, then noticed three
tears. Taped and seems just as fast as before. Could use more wind.
Strummer - Just got spinnaker down in time before 18. Knot wind filled in
from east now on course for Newport at 6.5 knots
19 June 1422 Breakaway finish
1629 Cordelia finish
1811 Envolee finish
1839 Finale finish
2052 Dianthus finish
2341 Gryphon finish
19 June 1100 - Strummer - Barely moving under spinnaker
Finale - good news:now have code 0 up and hope to Finish in 8 hours.
19 June 0900 - The Draft Doublehanded Results are posted. Menu "Results
DH" on the left.
19 June 0800 Fearless finish.
0812 Resolute finish.
1036 Luna finish.
1050 Reveille finish
19 June 0800 - Finale - Becalmed since dusk last night moving
earlier with some favorable current. On the rum line with 66.2 miles to go now
moving at 2.9 knots hopefully the new breeze will fill in from the south? For a
spinnaker finish ever optimistic…
Bluebird - Good morning from Blue Bird somewhere off the Flemish Cap or
at least it felt that way last night. Current again not our friend but we fought
hard with little breeze to not get flushed. Good news now is spin is up and
moving at 5k minus Meg current of course towards Newport. Beautiful day out here
and all is good!
Strummer - Just kidding. Never expected first light. Kind of expect the
cook's prize but maybe windswept still in reach. Almost no wind and some left
over swell. Strummer barely sailing but slowly drifting in right direction. SLOW
SLOW SLOW
Envolee - Envolee reporting here. 2:38am. Heading is 311 with 10 knots of
wind at 155 true. Spinnaker is up (finally a spinnaker up after so much tight
reaching and upwind!)
Breakaway - Last night was a challenge, very very light from various
directions, mostly SW. we managed to keep the boat moving, but that’s about it.
This morning saw the promised easterly materialize and now we are moving along
nicely towards the finish. Looks like chute weather. While we were bobbing about
we wondered what the crews from the boats that finished were doing, at the bar?
In a nice soft bed? In a warm shower? All things to tantalize the mind while
slating sails are driving you nuts. Hoping to make landfall sometime later today
as long as the winds hold.
Envolee - Anout 70 miles from finish with 6 kts from behind
19 June 0108 Blur finshed.
0201 Abilyn finished.
19 June 0030 - Luna - This sailing has been so good that the Wind Gods
decided to really make us appreciate time on the water: nothing like 8kts dead
downwind with 3kts VMG to make us appreciate the last 50nm! Sawa couple of nice
shooting stars…make a wish…wind?
Young American Finish - 0024
Abilyn reports being 11.4 nm out.
Blur should be next boat to finish 5.6nm out.
18 June 1900 - Strummer - The heavy conditions. Light winds from NW so
stuck in Gulf Stream for nowWhen I asked about winning I wasn't talking about
Windswept. I was trying to catch First Light Anyway, auto pilot fixed.
Connecting bolt had sheared in
Envolee - This race is so wet! It’s wet and wetter. It’s like the Gods
are having a pissing context and we’re the targets. And let me tell you, their
aim is good. There is only one bunk that’s dry in the entire boat. The boat is
covered in salt crystal since we haven’t had a downpour since the last blow (saw
gust of 42 knots there). Some minor issues we could resolve: broken batten in
the jib, iridium go that needed power cycling. Also our mainsheet had a
wrestling match with the instrument repeater holder at the mast and won handily.
We need a new holder. All good otherwise. About 10 knots of breeze now coming
from 324…all sails are back up.
Fearless - just spoke with resolute who seems in good spirits despite the
rudder bearin g issue he mentioned to you previously. Light to no winds here,.
Every time I get becalmed I ask my self “why didnt you just take a nap?” Here we
go again, working and working and no progress. All well except the obvious. Phil
Blur - What a difference a day make. From "washing machine inferno" to
coasting along in the sun in 14 knots of breeze. And with the change of
conditions, the mood of the crew change as well. Finally a chance to get out of
the boots and foul weather gear that we've living in for the last few days And
to try to dry some of the things on board. We've been sailing with J/120 Abylin
and J/105 Young American most of the way, and after 600 nm it's turning into a
tactical challenge before the finish- The westerly breeze is giving way to a
southeasterly 20-30 nm from the finish. Young American opted to go right
and be first into the new breeze. Abylin in the middle just getting it
and we're still in the old breeze, but think we'll have a better angle when we
get the new. We'll see. Just trying to do what we can until the race is over, My
guess is that the Class 40 and J/121 will top the leader board, and the smaller
boats will struggle. We just had a fabulous Sunday dinner. Cheese and crackers
to start, then a Chipotle Burrito Bowl (with a number of additional hot sauces)
and to top it off, we got coffee and choclate. Yummy! ALERT: just got the new
breeze. Gotta go. See you all in Newport!
Breakaway - Well the sun is out and it’s been a nice day for a sail. The
waves are getting better as we get closer to land. However the breeze is getting
lighter too. We intersected with Finale, basically right where we were 3
days ago. We just took the long path, the one less traveled by…. Happy Fathers
day to all the dads in the fleet and a very special happy birthday to my son,
Julian, who turns 7 today! We can see Finale, hear Cordelia, and
that’s about it.
18 June 1230 First Light finished. Looks like Alchemy should be
next approximately 6:30pm this evening.
18 June noon - First Light is close to be finished. Light winds
close hauled; not a Class 40 fortee.
Luna - It was nice to see Yankee Girl from the Marion Bermuda Race!
Tom hailed me. They are doing the celestial class.
18 June 0800 - Cordelia - Still blowing 20 forward of the beam so
apparent is 25-ish. Saw squalls in the low 30's last night. Down to double
reefed main and staysail - unusual forCordelia. She's usually a beast and plows
through it, but between surfing and gusts we were all over the place.
Comfortable now but would like more speed.
Blur - Sunday, bloody Sunday. What a night! I can remember many miserable
nights on race boats. And on a J/111 they're very often at TWA 60 in +24 knots
of breeze. It's just an inferno. The boat is flying over waves slamming into the
next. At least a couple of times I've looked into the forepeak expecting a hole.
Water over the deck hosing down anyone that sticks their head out. Nearly
impossible to to live in a washing machine set to "crew breaking". A few times
we've had crew who newer been seasick and were bragging about fishing boats on
the North Sea. 30 minutes of this cracked them. Oh, and our third crew member,
the autopilot, have decided to protest our choice of settings and put in 3-4
spontaneous tacks, Very irritating, but we figured out a way to gybe back to
course. The positives? We're fast. We've been matching J/120 Abilyn all
night. The forecast indicate that the conditions should improve in a few hours.
We'll see. 122 nm to go, so early Monday morning ETA. Why we do it? Apparently
to appreciate normal life!
Side note about Blur this morning, the trackers have an alert capability.
Theirs went off around 0300 which woke me up of course. Supposed to be
only one but it kept coming for about an hour. Called the Coast Guard to
see if the EPIRB had gone off, No. Contacted ybTracking and they claim they
can't stop it. It magically stopped about an hour later. Asked Blur about
it. They hadn't touched it. Mystery!
Bluebird - Good morning Roy. This is Blue Bird. We fixed sat phone and
should have coms test of the race. We are enjoying a beautiful morning as we
continue our fight against evil currents. Finally pointing in the right
direction. All is well!
Finale - We finally picked up 3 knot favorable current during the night
and had a mostly nice ride back to the rum line . Now we have 2knots foul
current running against the south westerly so the seas are a mess 12’ waves in
places we have 80 miles to go to the canyons but are footing off to handle the
wave action.
Resolute - I think we may have broken our rudder bearinglast night. Can
still steer, but the quadrant is wobbling around and it sounds awful. We’re
heading to closest land and will try to work our way to Newport.
Fearless - Morning Roy - \we have had a recurrence of our reefing system
issue. It can be fixed but not in these seas. We are taking a comfortable and
safe heading until the winds decline and a repair is more feasible. We are NOT
retiring. Just need to give the boat some TLC. Otherwise all is well. 2
wet and weiry people fixed thee problem to get us to R2. Pointing as high as we
can. I look forward to an IPA. Cheers Phil
Strummer - 1 am. Sailing nicely in 20 knot breeze. Sudden big puff and a
loud bang. Autopilot failure! Wind settles in at 25. A real shit show. Am I
winning yet? On course making 5 knots. Bouncy
Reveille - I didn't raise anyone on the morning chat though I heard
several boats hailing some of the Marion fleet last night as we intermixed.
Yesterday afternoon as we stalled under a big black cloud we saw and conversed
with a French couple completing a 3 yr circumnavigation aboard their catamaran,
Caroligui. They are bound for Halifax, Newfoundland, and Brittany by August.
They were disappointed to have not been able to visit Australia and NZ (covid)
and the US East coast (no visas).
First Light - Good morning Roy! Interesting night of attempting to get
back west of the rhumbline for a better angle to Newport. Our trinquette which
is on a lock is stuck and we cant get it down meaning to tack we must unfurl the
trinq, furl the solent (the big sail we have been using which is attached
forward of the trinq) and then we tack with just the trinq and main. Once we
have tacked we unfurl the solent and furl the trinq, which I’m sure makes the
tracker look very weird when we start pointing south to cut the pressure off the
sail to furl. It’s a lot of maneuvering…Cat and I are pretty happy to see we are
finally pointed at Newport! Class40s don’t love going up wind so going upwind
since the stream has been a little painful but we are in good spirits and
hopefully won’t have to tack again!! Cheers!
Envolee - We’ll you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Not so light
anymore. Seeing 35 kts from 295 degrees. Had to take a second reef and fall off
of our upwind march. Seas are sizable at 8-10 ft. All of this taking and shaking
reefs has come at a cost. Main halyard 1 - instrument panel 0
Luna - Update from LUNA: we missed the evening update as we were hand
steering as the autopilot was not coping well with the big waves and confused
sea state when the wind clocked west after the front came through (front and
wind shift came much earlier than expected). Things quieted down a bit and the
GS crossing was very smooth. Things got excited again as we were approaching the
GS exit: we ended up crossing path with the fleet of the Marion to Bermuda Race.
We must have crossed at least 10 boats with LUNA on port tack. All while the
wind kicked up to 25-28kts for at least 3hrs. We did not get much sleep for
once. Sailing close to Cordelia and they seem to be doing well but have not
spoken to them since yesterday. Yep…we probably should have asked the Marion
race to notify skippers of a possible crossing. They had no clew why we were
there!
Abilyn - sorry for no updates yesterday. But I was dodging waterspouts.
Yes!, waterspouts. As we were crossing the stream (Egon says crossing the
streams could be bad), we were hit by squall after squall. Torrential goblet
sized rain drops. Low level clouds with rotational activity. Although we saw a
few spouts start to form, the surface wind never let any touch down. So that’s
why I wasn’t active on the coms yesterday.
Breakaway - This is supposed to be fun, right? The sea state has really
been a pain. We have breaking waves that hit the boat every 10 minutes or so,
our course is a compromise between what we can handle in the sea state and where
we want to go. Last night we took a big wave in the cockpit and washed the
bucket and engine key overboard. Fortunately we have spares for both and have
secured the same. Winds are 25-30 and seas seem similar to the way down.
Meanwhile we plug along. No boats in radio or AIS range.
Gryphon - Reports that Dallas had a serious case of seasickness but is
over it and they are back fully to racing.
17 June 1800 - Strummer - Having trouble charging my iPhone. May be
incommunicado soon. Wind back up. Double reefed main. NW wind pushing us east
unfortunately. Colder now in evening. Over half way home
Fearless - The boat is bouncing and as I type messages disappear.. all is
well great dolphins. And enjoying this GS crossing although its been close
hauled sailing. Phil
Cordelia - Luna, insight, reveille on AIS. Pretty gnarly
out here. We just entered the stream with wins 20-25 west. So pretty close
hauled. Cordelia not pointing well. If I remember the files correctly, we may
have these conditions for 24 hours. Going to be wet and bumpy.
Breakaway - Called me to report "At 2100 EDT the fishing vessel Roy
Kristian, reported that it was adrift without main engines. 37 40.673n 69
34.566w drift direction was approx 54 mag at 2.1 knots according to AIS. The
captain said he had sat phone but it wasn’t working? I had a bad connection too.
All is well with Breakway." I called CG District 5 and passed the info on.
They have contacted the corporation that owns the boat and are handling it.
Evidently it is 140' vessel that wants a tow!
Blur - Saturday June 17 20:00 EDT. Hello my dear friend Gulf Stream. This
time we founds the stream right were we thought it was. There hope for me as a
navigator after all🙂
After day with a mix of glorious and fast running down waves, and double
reefing in squalls, we were greeted by massive clouds rain and finally no wind
at all. When the new wind filled - we had upwind, closed hauled on port tack.
Now we're under jib and two reefs doing +8 knots towards Newport. Less than 200
nm to go. The Gulf Stream measured 50 nm south to nort,and we had max 3.4 knots
of easterly currents. Besides fighting with J/129 Abylin, J/46
Resolute has joined us on AIS. They're 10 nm to leeward. So I guess our
westerly route beat their rhumbline variant. It's hard to match the bigger boats
in these conditions (TWA 80 in 20-22 knots). But we'll do what we can. Over and
out from the uncomfortable ship Blur and two very salty sailors.
17 June 1430 - Abilyn - going slow in the wrong direction. In a
northerly! Nowhere in any gribs is any northerly shown. Trying to stay up at as
I’m forced to sail towards the meander. Abilyn's tracker battery is
very low and will probably die real soon now. Abilyn will be updating me
with his position and I will post it on the tracker website.
Strummer - Wind just now dropped below 20 and a bit of sun. Rough wet
night but moving well
Bluebird - Iridium working for the moment. Adverse current last 48 hours.
All is well. Gust and JOHN.
Envolee - I am OOO with little to no connectivity, so I will get back to
you as soon as I am able.
Envolee - Sorry for the delay in update since previous texts. We have had
a few issues with iridium. Other than that all is well. Have crossed the Gulf
Stream and are looking at dealing with this meander. Wind is 6kts from 280deg
which is unfortunate after having 20+ all night. Speaking of, we did cross
another boat around midnight, not sure whom.
17 June 0800 - First Light - Not sure if you received my previous message
from yesterday but just letting you know everything is good. Last night we were
blasting along when we noticed a very large frontal system that we were going to
walk right into. We furled the A5, put the second reef in and unfurled the
solent. We then headed up from TWA 135 to 100. Hoping to skirt to the east of
the storm. Well we ended up seeing between 35 and gusting up to 50 knots of
breeze. Cat and I went down below and stayed there while the autopilot and First
Light’s severely eased main stayed outside to brave the storm. She did great! We
had a small diesel spill from ending up on our side for a moment but all is
well. Been a wet trip! Now we are in the stream, and still seeing 25 gusts up to
32 but feels very civilized compared to 48-50! All for now!
Fearless - Trying another email simply to say. All is well except the
adverse current sucks.
Abilyn - Hit close to 21 knots of boat speed this morning in a 30 knot
gust while surfing. Dry night. All’s well aboard
Blur
- Saturday June 17 07:00 EDT. Fast and furious. Since 91:40 we've had 20-30
knots from SW and building seas. So we're pushing hard towards (what we think)
is the best place to cross the Gulf Stream. Still 70 nm to go. And 315 nm to
Newport. So half way celebration today, It's full time hand steering to not
broach or bury the bow in a wave. Quite hairy in the pitch black night with
thunderstorms and lightning on the horizon. So much easier after sunrise (got a
tiny glimpse of it. Otherwise life on board is good. We have 3 hour watches, and
two common ones for breakfast & dinner. That means 3*3=9 hours of possible sleep
+ some shorter naps during the day. Sleep deprived, but not too bad. We also eat
well (last night was Creamy Tuscan Chicken with pasta). Delicious. My ribs (that
I hurt on leg one) are better, but I'm still on painkillers. It's amazing how
many movements on a boat that affect the ribs. The common "I'll just reach a
little further and grab this" for example. Or steering. Or sleeping.
Time for breakfast. Then back
to work.
Cordelia - Neglected to check in last night. Sorry about that. I see
reveille and Luna on my AIS. Just chatted with Luna. All is well. Seeing
20-25kts, building seas.
Finale -We have had 2 reefs in all night and moving along . About
100 miles to the Gulf Stream . We have encountered quite a lot of foul current
now down to about 1.5 knots. Hope to dry out a bit today -been on the wash cycle
a long time and no spin dry!
Luna - Update from LUNA 0900: another uneventful night. A pitch black
night where the only entertainment was the bioluminescence in the wake of the
boat. Lucky to have no more squalls. One with lightening threatened us for
several hours but dissipated before hitting us. Connected with Cordelia
this morning. I can see Reveille on my AIS a few miles ahead and to
starboard. 80nm to the Gulf Stream. Should be fast with 23kts on the beam. Waves
crashing often on deck, so things are getting wet everywhere. But the sun is
out.
Gryphon - heard indirectly. They ripped there main but able to use it
with a reef in it. Good.
Breakaway - This is supposed to be fun, right? The sea state has really
been a pain. We have breaking waves that hit the boat every 10 minutes or so,
our course is a compromise between what we can handle in the sea state and where
we want to go. Last night we took a big wave in the cockpit and washed the
bucket and engine key overboard. Fortunately we have spares for both and have
secured the same.
Winds are 25-30 and seas seem similar to the way down. Meanwhile we plug along.
No boats in radio or AIS range.
16 June 1900 - Breakaway - All is wet here still. We are moving slowly
along in winds that are around 20-25 mostly from the SW, sometimes the W. Lots
of lumps in the seas. We have found current in our favor and current against us,
it all seems to balance out. The sailing isn’t particularly easy as we have to
find the balance between where we want to go and where the seas state will let
us. Sometimes the seas win. Heard Cordelia on the radio but could not
raise her. She is 5 miles ahead or so. That’s all we see on AIS besides the
occasional cruise ship. More, later.
Blur - Friday June 16 17:00 EDT Friday is Squall-day. Wasn't this
supposed to be a rather boring grey day with 20 knots of wind an a tight reach
going NNW? Apparently not. Got us a few massive squalls. More rain than I've
even seen, thunder, lightning, and enough wind to take the main down and survive
with jib only. Oh we had a front passage as well. And a few throughs with wind.
So we've been going back between full main and 1 or 2 reefs. Life onboard sucks
a little bit less than yesterday. It's still wet, bumpy and hard to do anything.
It's hard to make coffee or food, it's hard to go on the toilet, it's hard to
get dressed - i e getting into a soaking wet foul weather gear, The only thing
that's easy is falling asleep going off watch. But we're getting used to it.
Getting into our routines. Appreciating small things. And just keep hammering.
The jury is still ut when it's comes to Gulf Stream strategy. Our little J/boats
group (J/121 Alcehmy, J/105 Young American, J/120 Abilyn
and J/111 Blur) is staying together. We're 50 nm west of rhumbline which
should be enough to avoid the main stream. We have 1.5 knots adverse current,
but are not sure what it is. Anyway, we've committed to this and sill se how it
plats out. Good night everyone. Really appreciate all the followers out there,
and I can't tell you how much your comment mean to us.
Fearless - Evening Roy. An eventful day on Fearless. As you probably saw
on the tracker many of us got hit by a thunderstorm and winds that went from
normal to abnormal instantly. No idea of wind strength. Thank goodness for
tethers. After 10 minutes we cam through to then have some smaller squalls. The
big one caused some damage and you may have noticed our course has been erratic
as we addressed issues. After several hours we are back to 95% and pushing. The
boat is in good condition and held up well. Reefing and shaking out the reef is
now slow and cumbersome but totally feasible, So I am very happy, Part of this
experience is dealing with the …… staying positive and coming out the other
side. We are positive,. Our issues were minor compared to others this race. Hope
you are well, Fearless out .
Alchemy - Evening Roy- We're heading towards the Gulf Stream now. No
response from other boats on VHF. Fantastic sailing conditions today. David
Luna - Update from LUNA: a good day filled dealing with a couple of rain
and wind squall and a rainless squall that sneak up on us without warning and
30+kts. We had a 1kts favorable current for a bit followed by a nasty 3kts
current which makes you think you dragging a fishing net when you look at the
SOG! Best not to think about it. Connected with Reveille at 1900. He is
just ahead of us and dealing with the same stuff. We are all settled for the
nigh: full main and jib top in 16-18kts from SW.
16 June 1700 - Finale - All is well on Finale no reefs and moving nicely
. Some adverse current
Breakaway - We are moving along fairly nicely with a decent breeze. 20 or
so. One reef, #3 and staysail. The start was a blast, quite something to see
Young American fly the chute, we stayed with them for a while but then they took
off. I think they are about 7 miles ahead right now. Reveille is 5 miles to
leeward and more or less parallel. Not sure about the others in our class. We
had a great run out the cut and managed to hold off Luna who was right on our
stern at times. After rounding the kitchen we watched Finale and Reveille put
their kites up, sometimes wiping out, not sure how long they stayed with the
kites. We went high and had a fun and fast ride out of town. It was great to
have the cheering section at the cut, lots of fun. We had a nice squall around
1400 where we saw 30-35 steady with a gust to 40. We had reefed in advance and
that worked nicely. So everything is wet again, enjoy your dry journey to
Newport. Boats on radio: Cordelia, dianthus, resolute,
reveille, Luna (had to heave to for an hour for issue with hydro vane
detaching from the boat!) Luna saw strummer turn around to Bermuda? Can see the
class 1 boats (except First Light) on AIS up ahead with Young American.
A quiet night more or less, 20 knots mostly, sometimes a bit more sometimes a
bit less. Cordelia passed us this morning, looks like she is sailing along
nicely, we are not, tough wave state and we just don’t seem to find the speed
other do. Oh well we keep plugging along. Only boat in AIS range is Cordelia,
who is within sight.
16 June 1000 - Young American - we never seem to be reaty to chat on the
radio at the appointed hour sorry. as you can see on the tracker a few of us are
all together in a squall. been fast reaching with a few exciting times on the
YA. all is good but have ued our supply of sail repair sticky backn on the JT.
double head rig with the J3 and staysail and full main 20kts. current always on
the nose ! looks Like Cole whent for the full brunt of the current last tracker
had her at 3kts
Strummer - No one in sight. But could still be fairly close. Lose sight
at just a few miles especially since weather not clear
Abilyn - Abilyn update: all’s well aboard Abilyn. Had a 200+ mile day
yesterday. But now I’m in about 3 knots of adverse current in a warm eddy south
of the stream. Trying to make west to find relief. But just finding more! Tell
NOAA I’m pulling my tax dollars until systems improve :-)
16 June 0800 - Cordelia - Cordelia, God bless her, was able
to carry her full set of sails. Hopefully we madeleines some time on the other
boats. But have we picked a good line? Stay tuned... tomorrow should tell the
tale on that. Should have been "Hopefuly we made some time..." Cordelia just
heard frm Bluebird, Gryphon and Luna. All is well. Bluebird's AIS and iridium
are not working. The seas have calmed a bit which we all appreciate
Envolee - Should have been "Hopeful?y we made some time..." bunk dry -
Blake decided to just sleep on wet spinnaker in his foul weather gear. Coffees
brewing now and ready for a fabulous day. Sea state is moderate now so less
surfing but also less wetness!!
First Light - Good morning Roy! Tough night. Was ripping along when I
must have hit the standby button of the autopilot and we went into a tack with
the code 5 up. It was pretty windy (25-30knots) so it took us a while to get
situated, we almost lost a few sails overboard that were now dragging in the
water and we broke a stanchion leg, we then fought to get the code back on
course even with all the weight to the low side and eventually we did. We are
completely exhausted. Wind has since died down and we are going upwind now with
full main and solent something I haven’t seen since day one of leg one! We
downloaded some weather looks like a light spot continues for the next couple
hours so we’ll be here for a little while just fighting our way to the stream!
All for now! Cheers!
Blur - One. Of. Those. Nights. Pitch black. 20-22 knots of wind on the
beam. Waves washes over the boat. Everything is wet. Very bumpy, and hard to do
anything. Messing ab0ut with a reef. Makes it a bit more comfortable but seems
to be a tad slower. You get the picture, Just miserable. Anyone want to buy a
J/111? The good thing is that our westerly pack of boats are keeping together.
J/121 Alchemy is hard to stop in those conditions and is occasionally a
knot faster. J/105 Young American and J/120 Abilyn is very similar
to us. We still have 129 nm to go to where we think we'll cross the Gulf Stream.
But who knows. Sometimes after midnight. But before that there could be a front
with 30+ knots. Just to keep us busy. Weather models are uncertain. Back to the
mine,
Fearless - last night was spectacular for the stars and planets. Then as
the morning broke we were back to clouds. A dreary damp morning. But after
breakfast spirits are up, even though there is some fatigue. I find the first
24h the most difficult as one has to get into a rhythm. Progress is good and
looking forward to recording our 24h run. Will we beat 200nm?? Based on distance
through the water we have done so already but it would be nice to get distance
overland too. 16kts wind 235M 34.31N 66.56W
Cheers Phil PS: unusually talkative this morning
Luna - Update from LUNA: had an uneventful night. Sea state abating with
winds staying below 22kts. It’s a nice ride. No moon so the stars were amazing.
Milky Way perfectly visible and even some bioluminescence in the water.
Connected this morning with Dianthus and Bluebird. All is well on
both but Bluebird reported no AIS and the Iridium is down. Overheard
Gryphon as well but had bad connection.
Cordelia - Cordelia just heard frm Bluebird, Gryphon and Luna. All is
well. Bluebird's AIS and iridium are not working. The seas have calmed a bit
which we all appreciate
Strummer - Had to heave to for a bit last night to deal with the inner
forestry and a lost halyard. All sorted. Costly in time and distance
15 June 1900 - Strummer - Heading home to Newport. Won the start
with Ted driving. Now passed by all but sailing well so still in the game. Nice
conditions. Beam reach with wind about 20. Lovely for a while. Then the squall.
Drenched. Now lovely again. Several boats still within a few miles
Abilyn - Abilyn update: squall city after the start. Marveling at first
light screaming down the bay with her A5. Saying goodbye to the towncrier and
all the people waving us off at town cut. What an eventful first few hours. Now
trying to stay fast and in control in 22-27 knots. But where’s the SW breeze?
Seeing S and SE!!! Heard from alchemy and fearless on coms from class 1. Heard
from a bunch of other boats on other classes. Luna lost her hydrovane.
Cordelia - After Cordelia probably sailed through the Cut last in fleet
she's been making up time. We had 20-25 kts most of the afternoon. Low 30's. In
some squalls. On tonight's chat we heard Dianthus, Bluebird,
Luna, Reveille, and Strummer. Luna's hydrovane had
detached earlier so she hove-to to remove it. All well now. Broken transmission
from Strummer noted she had also hove-to, I believe to recover a loose
halyard. All good there now.All in all a nice start it as we head back to
Newport.
Alchemy -We're having quite the match race with Blur out here! I
talked with Abilyn, who have weathered the several squalls. I also heard
Fearless on the radio, and can see Young American on AIS.
Alchemy is enjoying her replacement main and humming along happily.
Blur - BLUR Thursday June 15 20:00 EDT Thank you Bermuda!!! Beautiful
location, great weather and wonderful people, But it was time to leave. No
matter how fantastic a place is, at some point you need to set sail. The start
was right inside St George Harbor, in SSW 12-18 knots. Downwind start so a quick
getaway through the narrow "cut" that separate the harbor from the Atlantic
ocean. As in Newport, we were the first boat over the line. We opted for full
main and jib, but were ready to put the A5 up as soon as we got out to sea. The
Class 40 went with a flat gennaker and passed us after 500 meters. We managed
to keep all the other boats behind, and when we left the island and popped the
chute we quickly extended on all the other boats. We gybed around the first mark
and had a short run with the gennaker before we needed to take it down to go NW.
The Class 40 quickly vanished, and we lead a pack of boats aiming for a westerly
route. We managed to keep them behind. but just now being passed by J/121
Alchemy. J/120 Abilyn is just behind and J/105 Young American aft to leeward. It
looks like everyone have the same strategy as us. Feels better than being alone
:-) Wind is 18-24 knots from 200-230. So a bumpy reach with main and jib.
Average speed is 9.2-9.5 knots, and we keep pushing. We had a couple of squalls.
One with 35 knots and massive rain showers. Had to take a reef to ride it out.
The forecast is for more of the same. So we need to be careful tonight if we get
more squalls. It's great to be at sea, and to have someone to share the workload
with. And the experience. See you all tomorrow.
Finale - All is well - a very bumpy ride tonight and wet earlier!
Still 2reefs in the main
Contrast in spinnakers; First Light and Envolee.
Courtesy Steve Baldwin
15 June - They are all off. 18 boats started, all doublehanded.
Melantho could not get his autopilot working. What he needed is stuck in
Customs and he couldn't get it. So Melantho is on his way to Norfolk after
watching the start. Two boats in Class 1 put up their spinnakers after the
start; First Light and Envolee. First Light was flying having started a
bit behind the rest of the class, Envolee was having problems keeping the
spinnaker flying. Two ferries came through the Cut during the race one of
which came through when Class 1 was going through the Cut. Don't think
there were any issues.
Bluebird - about one hour after the start Bluebird sent this to me: Will
try to sort it out, but may not have comms again.
14 June - Frank's latest
Gulf Stream is now posted. The latest
weather brief. Also, 24 of us went
to the WhiteHorse restaurant for a nice group meal.