SINGLE-HANDED LEG NOTES

6/18 1500 - Propane tanks refilled and Ice was brought in for those that needed blocks. Customs visit before the Skipper's Meeting - Weather Briefing by Ken McKinley. Then we talked about the start and the finish in Newport. Afterward their last meal. Some went to the White Horse Restaurant and others went to a dinner at a residence. Start is tomorrow 1100 EDT.

6/17 1730 - Awards were held. Madam Quinell Francis joined us again to hand out the trophies. Commodore Lacey Rance also joined us to hand out the trophies. Pictures were taken of the single-handed skippers for the website. Following was the Gombey Dancers then dinner by Brenda and friends.

6/17 1300 - 5 people went to the Bermuda Radio tour at 10am and 5 went for the 1pm tour.

6/16 1830 - 23 people went to Wahoo's Restaurant for dinner split between 4 tables.  Nice time. Even ice creame afterwards for some of us.
Earlier 4 people went to the Brewery Tour.

6/15 1900  - About a dozen people participated in the open grill. The Dinghy Club rented a wonderful grill and the skippers cooked their own food and of course there was plenty of gab.

6/14 1900 - 19 people enjoyed Brenda's Fish Dinner. We were very happy for the meal and there was plenty of talk about everything under the sun but especially the trip down. Eric even graced us with his presence. Several people have gone back to show others and revist.

6/14 1100 - 8 of us enjoyed a tour of the recently cleaned out Fort Albert by Patrick Paley. It was truley impressive to go down the multiple levels and tunnels of the fort with it's deep moat.

6/14 0700 - All the chickens are in the hen house! Strummer arrived safe and sound but desiring a shower! The rescue was in very difficult conditions but it went well. There were many situations where it could have gone bad.

6/13 2000 - Tonight the St George's Dinghy & Sports Club put on a Happy Hour followed by Gozlings giving a brief on Gozling history and seven different rums he had to sample. Afterwards the rums were sampled followed by plenty of gab.

6/13 1435 Strummer -Rain squalls this morning, but lovely light wind sailing since - louis meyer. Expect to arrive in Bermuda early Saturday morning. He's going to miss the Gosling's Rum tasting.

6/13 0407 Windswept finish time approximately. That is the last boat to finish. Strummer is due in Saturday morning with Alex from Mini829. Strummer has withdrawn from the race.

6/12 1800 - Ten of us went to the Swizzle Inn for our traditional Skipper's Arrival Party. Nine of us arrived via taxi however Brian Gray drove his scooter (brave soul). I hope the other groups on the upper porch with us didn't mind the loudness.

6/12 1300 Fathom finished drifting over the finish line. His motor wont start so we have arraigned a tow from a club member to bring him in. Fathom was put broadside on the outside of the pier.

6/12 0936 Draft results have been posted. Seen menu on the left.
Strummer texted that Alex is helping so Strummer is no longer racing and that all is good.

6/11 2253 Strummer texted All good on Strummer.

6/11 1121 Chicama finished.
1134 Flying Turtle finished.

6/11 0830 Fathom called. He is doing fine. His diesel will not start. Has not been in communication with anyone. Although he thinks he may have been hit by lightning and my not be in good working order.

6/11 0624 Strummer texted Alex has been sleeping for the last 12 hours. Plan to clean up Boat, which is a complete mess, and start heading to Bermuda. Eperb taken off, Alex did not have PLB. OK, just woke up. Need to get Boat sorted out and then we're heading to Bermuda. They are on their way.

6/11 0508 Alchemy finished.

6/11 0434 Young American hailed us with his finish time. Alchemy is not far behind YA.

6/11 0430 Long night with light winds as the High has settled in over Bermuda wind backing to the South East and the boats having to tack to get to the finish.

6/10 2210 Abilyn finished.

6/10 1850 Humble Pi texted Hi Roy. 6:50 check in. All is well. 45 miles out but it's a full beat to the finish line. Chicama is next to me and will provide for some good action. I hope!!

6/10 1708 Groupe 5 finished!

6/10 1537 Strummer texted us that Alex from the Mini829 is safe onboard Strummer and in time for Cocktails.

6/10 0946 Humble Pi texted Hi Roy. All is well.

6/10 0912 Dragon finished!  First to finish!
Fathom - was contacted and all is well. Some minor damages. Can't wait to get in!

6/10 0815 Dragon hailed that he is 30 minutes to finish.

6/10 0730 Young American texted All is well on YA. Saw what happened to mini 829. Such a bummer.
Chicama texted Good to hear about the mini (that Strummer is redirected there). All good on chicama. Nice coffee with sunrise. I had forgotten that aspect sailing. Also small sails damage.
Groupe 5 texted Caught my main halyard cover right before it went up the mast, mostly fixed. Everything is drying out.
Strummer texted that Rough conditions and auto pilot stopped working, but on my way. His speed is slow due to conditios.

6/10 0625 Mini829 - Strummer has been contacted and is heading to Mini829 to pick him up.

6/10 0500 Dragon texted that he expects to finish around 0730.
Mini829 contacted us that he was dismasted. Rig is fully cut away. No immediate danger. Alex is fine. Looking at options. The Coast Guard has been notified about 0520.

6/9 1930 Humble Pi texted It's beautiful out here. I'm having a great time! I'm checking in, everything is okay.I'm happy for you.
Chicama texted Nice sunny day. Helps with battery state! And the moral! It been 18-25 most of the day. See state is difficult. SlowS you down.
Young American texted All is well aboard YA. Had to deal with patching some stitching tears on the main but they seem to be holding well.
Abilyn texted All good on Abilyn. Just waiting for some buffalo chicken Mac & cheese to hydrate.

6/9 Strummer texted Lots of squalls. Now 18 kn apparent wind, Sailing close hold. Starting to see patches of blue sky.
Groupe 5  texted All good on g5, seems to have finally calmed down. Hovering around 20 after a sizable squall with 30s a few hours ago.
Young American texted All good on YA. 18-22 knots calmer sea state and clear blue skies.
Alchemy texted All good on Alchemy.

6/9 1238 Abilyn texted All good on Abilyn. Had a moment of zen this morning. Very grateful and humbled to be out here doing this.
Strummer texted Tough going all morning. Several squalls came through. Now hard on the wind, heading to Bermuda with high teens apparent. Single reef in the main. Boat moving nicely, but very wet down below. Tiring but getting a lot of sleep so generally doing well

.6/9 1000 Groupe 5 texted All good on g5.

6/9 0825 Alchemy texted All good on Alchemy. Still trying to figure out the boat’s crossovers for these variable conditions!

6/9 0637 - Strummer texted All good on strummer

6/9 0545 - Alchemy texted I saw nothing more than 21.5 to the west.
Young American texted 20-23 knots on my end nothing crazy. All is well but a bit more humid below.
Chicama texted That sum up the night. Humid and in 20ish.
Dragon texted Very gusty until 0300 or so. Was high 20s gusting to low / mid 30s. Now it's high teens. Partly overcast. Ses state still lumpy. Lost my pilot for a while around 0430. Turns out the compass and bracket had popped off the bulkhead with all the slamming. Worked through a few ideas and ended up super gluing it back in place. Miraculously didn't glue myself to the boat.

6/8 2200 - Humble Pi texted God evening Roy. Sorry for the late check in. My wind instruments broke during a squall. I've been hand steering until I can get up the mast. A mast climb u not happen until Bermuda. It's hard to gauge but I suspect I've had gusts in the 30's Otherwise all is well.
Strummer texted All good on strummer.

6/8 1931 - Alchemy text All good on Alchemy.
Groupe 5 text All good on g5. Seeing high 20s low 30s after the squalls, thankfully reaching this wouldn’t be fun on the nose.
Abilyn texted Heard from Alex. All good on the mini.
Groupe 5 text Even a bit more now, I think there’s a good sized squall about to hit. 30-38 now. Will report changes.
Dragon text that I'm in it and it is sustained. 25 to 30 with gusts to 35.
Chickama text Chicama all good. The last squal was a good one. Mid 35

6/8 1834 - Young America texted All good on Young American!
Dragon texted All good on Dragon. Been through 5 small convection events this afternoon. Rain, some lightening. Sitting one out as I type this. Maybe 25 peak in one or two of them. The rest were high teens.
Abilyn texted all good on Abilyn. Glad somebody flipped the breeze on switch finally.

6/8 1613 - Dragon texted Finally exited the stream. Further south than the files. Mercator had the north wall nailed. It's lumpy out here. Lots of slamming. Water over the deck. It's also blowing 20. Then it's definitely a sail. This edition has a tremendous amount of close hauled sailing.

6/8 0900 - Groupe 5 all good here on g5.
Alchemy text all good on Alchemy besides tired from that looong still period.
Young American text All good on YA.

6/8 0800 - Dragon texted Long night. After trucking along on a starboard reach yesterday afternoon and evening, it went patchy and light around 1 AM. Flopped over onto Port for several hours. Went light again around 0600 this AM and now back on starboard. The Mercator forecast has been spot-on for the stream and I hit the north wall around 0400 ish. Temps went from 21 C to 28 c. Super choppy, making typing difficult. Otherwise all good.
Strummer texted Coffee. Bacon. Pancakes with butter and maple syrup. And a nice east wind. Just need some sunshine.
Abilyn texted Not a faboulous night. Newport or Lng ISland sound after these breeze dies. All is well on Abilyn. Trying to catch up with everybody else after a windless night in teh worng neck of the ocean. Heard from Mini829 on sat. He says all is well.

6/8 0000 -  Strummer texted nice and easy.
Groupe 5 texted Seeing some pretty exciting weather for tomorrow. If we get through this light, looks like an endless line of squalls, lots of cape. To which Abilyn replied Anything but this.

6/7 2035 - Chicama text All good here. I must have missed the vhf call.
Alchemy texted Good evening everyone. My vhf relay with dragon wasn’t very good. Just wanted to say all good on board Alchemy. Happy GS crossing!

6/7 1915 - Fathom called to say he hasn't heard from anyone. Wind around 10 kts, 8-10 ft seas. Very sloppy. Need more wind.
Abilyn texted that he heard from Murray and Adrian (weakly). Seems like all is well.
Dragon texted that he heard a broken transmission from Alchemy.
Humble Pi texted I think I'm out of range for the other boat right now. But the wind is a steady 15 and the fog is as thick as pea soup. I don't like pea soup. But I do like pork and beans and think I'll have that for dinner. Everything is well here and I hope you are too. I'll check in later.

6/7 1824 - Strummer texted Just picked up light west wind. Drifted for hours. Just picked up light west wind

6/7 1500 - Chicama - All is good on chicama. The pack is approaching the GS!
Strummer - No wind. Just drifting through fog

6/7 1439 - Abilyn - Forgot to report coms from this morning. Spoke to dragon. But could not hail anybody from class 2. Heard from Alex via sat. He says he’s going back though his batteries very quickly and is using his autopilot sparingly.
All is well on Abilyn. Just trying to push through the light stuff. Expect to be back in bigger breeze within a few hours.

6/7 0700 - Dragon - Alchemy relayed through Josh. Spoke with Flying Turtle. All good on board. The usual long night getting to the shelf. Fishing boat traffic was relatively limited. Fog cleared around 1800 hours. Mostly cloud cover but the moon peeked out occasionally. Got one shower around 0300. We were on starboard until 0100 when the wind dropped out and then shifted about 100 degrees. Tacked to port and am now sailing into the low. The fleet ended up a bit further east than I was expecting.

6/7 0509 - Strummer - Slow going

6/6 2054 - Dragon - Heard from Alchemy, Humble Pi, and Flying Turtle in Class 1. All are doing well. Lots of concersarion about the wind farm and the fog. Conditions are reasonble out here. Fleet is headed a bit, hard on the wind and being forced east a bit. 14 knots. The fog has lifted and visibility is 6 miles or so. Light chop on the surface. Will check back later tonight.

6/6 1909 - Humble Pi reports all class1 checked in without issue

6/6 1611 - Abilyn says All well on Abilyn, btw. Just passing the exclusion zone. Soon will be at the next wind farm. Steady 11-13 knots out here.  Close reaching.
1800  Heard from Chicama and young American. Everybody doing well and in good spirits. Trying to find others. No response from Alex on the Mini. Alex txted me on sat phone. All is well.

6 June 1700 - My first scare.  Strummer was heading West, quite a contrast to the rest of the fleet.  He said the fog came in thick and decided to head west to avoid the the Wind Farms. He is headed SE now.

6 June - The day started with breakfast at the Newport Yacht Club; eggs, bacon, cereal, bagels, fruit salad, etc. There was no wind come time for the warning for class 1 at 1050 so we postponed. Fortunately the wind came in from the SE and we were able to start the boats.  Class 1 started at 1120, Class 2 at 1130 and Class 3 at 1140. Some of the boats had trouble getting past Castle Hill but some how Abylin scooted out ahead of everyone for a while but then Scowling Dragon started stretching its legs and is now in the lead.
Thanks to those on the Race Committee Boat: Peter Jencks, Caryn Cummings, Jane Fontaine, guest past B12 skipper John Drozdal, and me.

5 June - Skipper's Meeting was at 1400 today.  Ken McKinnely gave the weather brief and Frank Bohlen followed up with the Gulf Stream brief.  I followed up with the particulars of the race.

30 May - Two new files again from Frank Bohlen: an update to the Weather & Gulf Stream links and Note #2 on the Gulf Stream on 29 May.

18 May - Two new files from Frank Bohlen: an update to the Gulf Stream Primer and Note #1 on the Gulf Stream on 8 May.

9 May - I have been informed that Susan Oatley has passed away recently. Susan was the wife of Brian Oatley who ran the Bermuda One-Two for the St George's Dinghy & Sports Club and passed away at the end of 2013.

22 April - Just posted the slides from Frank Bohlen's pitch on weather and the Gulf Stream at the 1 March Skippers' Forum.

14 March - Juan Perez is unable to do this year's race due to health reasons however he had purchased a brand new life raft last year and wants to sell it hopefully someone that will be doing the race this year. Also, John Drozdal's 1987 Warwick Cardinal 46 is posted.

1 March - 21 people participated iin the Skippers' Forum/Shore Party held at the Newport YC.  After intorductions Frank Bohlen again gave us a brief on both weather and the Gulf Stream stressing that the skippers start looking at the data NOW!  Frank has provided this list of web links and will provide his slides after he cleans them up. He is expecting to provide updates to the Gulf Stream leading up to the race and at the Skipper's Meeting.

3 February - The March Newsletter has been posted to the website.

10 January - Amendment #1 to the Notice of Race has been posted.

5 January - Our second entrant and first new entrant; Timothy Brewer on Fathom a Little Harbor 42.

1 January - We have our fist registration for 2025; Josh Reisberg. This will be Josh's third race.

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Potential Skippers for 2025 - The following have told me (that I remembered) are planning on doing the 2025 race: Adrien Blanc on Young American with Peter Becker on return, Peter Bourke on his Class 40, Jeff Daudert on his C&C 121, Pat Dionne on Chicama, Glenn Greener on his  Brendan Dobroth design 1990 45’ sloop, Michael Hennessy on his new Class 40, Rick McCally, Louis Meyer, Juan Perez on his new to him C&C 29-2, Josh Reisberg, Theodore Rice on his Pacific Seacraft 34 named Rhapsody, Michael Schum on his new boat Karelia a Nauticat 39, John Youngblood in his Little Harbort 52.

23 November 2024 - The Notice of Race (NOR) and Calendar have been published and available for downloading. Online registration opens on 1 January 2025.

2 November 2024 - Twenty 22 people participated in the Fall Skippers' Forum/Shore Party.  After introductions, our sponsors (Joe Cooper for Quantum and himself and Daniel Martinez for New England Yacht Rigging) gave  little briefs.  Jon Bixby, Skipper's Representative, talked about a couple of safety events that will be held next spring: Cruising Couples Safety Class and Man Over Board (using a dummy that weighs around what a human weighs) hands on experience. More information will be forth coming.  Our guest speaker was Sheila McCurdy on getting a boat ready for offshore.  Sheila has had an amazing offshore sailing career.  You can download her slide pitch here. Thank you Sheila.
The Notice of Race should be published later this month and Registration will be opened on 1 January 2015.
Afterwards everyone partook of the food the club put out for us.

7 October 2024 -  The October Newsletter is now published on the website.

18 April 2024 - Ted Singsen and I were able to get tickets for Cole Brauer's first talk after her second place in the Global Solo Challenge in First Light. This was the first of two talks held by the Mystic Seaport Museum Talk Series on this day. Cole talked about her getting into sailing, the Bermuda One-Two and of course the Global Solo Challenge.
    

7 March 2024 - Last year's Bermuda One-Two Skipper finished the Global Solo Challenge today in 2nd place. The whole Bermuda One-Two community congratulates Cole in an amazing feat; she became the first US female to sail solo, nonstop, around the world, by the three great capes.

15 February - The March 2024 Newsletter is now posted.

26 January - Cole Brauer on First Light rounds Cape Horn and now is back in the Atlantic in the Global Solo Challenge.

15 January - Past skipper Mike Stevens passed along to me that his crew member for Mike's two Bermuda One-Two races, Andrew Conn, has recently passed away.  "My memory of Andy will always be linked to our time on the boat and the things that happened to us. Our friend Russ passed away a few years back and his boat went to Pete and Jeannie Conn who renamed it “Gratitude”. They in turn gave it to Andy. He was intending to do the 1-2 himself and was working on the boat. I am sorry he did not make it to the starting line because it was something he needed to do."

1 January - Registration is now open for both the New Englnad Solo/Twin and the Offshore 160.

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4 November - About 30 people participated in the November 2023 Skipper's Forum/Shore Party at the Newport Yacht Club. Wonderful seeing past participants (for example John Drozdal, last raced in 2011, and Marge) as well as several potential future skippers.
After introductions of everyone there, our guest speaker was Chief Warrant Officer DJ Holcomb from the Coast Guard stationed here at Castle Hill. Chief Holcomb was peppered with many questions especially about PLBs and EPIRBs. Chief Holcomb later provided this link to NOAA's SARSAT website with a breakdown of how the system works. https://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/about-sarsat/
Roy Greenwald promoted the 2nd annual running of the Northeast Ocean Race Symposium which will be held 16 March 2024 at Bentley University again. More information will be disseminated as it becomes available.
Joe Cooper gave his 90+ seconds of thoughts on the shorthanded community.

3 October - The October Newsletter is now available on the website.

18 August - One of those pesky Morris Justine 36's for sale.  Corvus

7 August - Another Express 37 for sale with plenty of offshore racing experience.

7 July - The dates have been finalized for the 2025 Bermuda One-Two.  Singlehanded leg start on 6 June and the return doublehanded leg start on 19 June 2025. Mark your calendars and start getting ready.