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NOTES
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.
2 0 2 5 2 0 2 5 2 0 2 5
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.
2 0 2 4 2 0 2 4 2 0 2 4
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.
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.
13 June - Award night started with Goslings rum taste and purchase, then
the Awards (Prize Giving) then the wonderful meal put on by Brenda and gang.
Cole Brauer was the big trophy getter toinght.
10 June 7pm - Thirty people attended the Fish Fry put on by Brenda Smith
and her support staff a really great meal and cake afterwards. Thanks
Brenda & company.
9 June 6pm - Happy Hour at the Dinghy Club was well attended. Well,
there was food after all!
The boats that are at the Dinghy Club. Resolute moved to anchor after this
picture. II Tendor went to Hamilton. The rest of the boats are down town.
9 June noon - we had two groups get the tour at Bermuda Radio at Fort George. Very interesting tour if you can get it.
8 June 1800 - 22 people went to the Swizzle Inn via a bus set up by
Brenda. It was a great time. Unfortunately we were inside vice on the
upstairs outside porch due to rain. We were kind of noisy inside that
room. See pictures below.
8 June 0800 - Saraband has been towed to Shinnacock Harbour on LI by the
Coast Guard. They will be evaluating the boat for the trip back to Marblehead,
MA.
Abilyn is on his way to Bermuda for the DH leg back. He also is
bringing another life raft for Fearless who lost his overboard in one of many
waves breaking over the boat.
7 June 1320 - The singlehanded leg results are posted now. A rating correction was made on 8 June to three boats; Young Amercan, Dianthus and Gryphon, all due to my errors.
7 June 1045 - Windswept finished. LAST ONE. Melantho came in after Windswept hower he had withdrawn due to electronics issues.
7 June 0700 - We had some excitement in the morning. I woke up in the
Duty Office to Finale and Bermuda Radio talking about Finale aground.
Evidently he was trying to anchor, fouled his prop on something, drifted across
the channel from the Dinghy Club and ran aground. It took a while but he got off
with his jib and rising tide and is now at the Custom's Dock. Correction
Finale was towed to the Custom's Dock by the Pilot boat. Gregg from
Breakaway is diving to clear Finale's prop at Customs. And yesterday
Resolute while trying to dock at the Dinghy Club outside ran over a
painter and fouled his prop and is currently still stuck to that mooring. A
diver has been called for help.
We have Windswept and Milantho left to finish by noon it looks.
In local news yesterday a car accident happened on the causeway tying up traffic
for hours. Only way to get off or come back to St. George.
Yesterday Cole Brauer, Gregg Carville and Carol Vaughn (5 trips) helped take
boats to the Dinghy Club from Customs. Ted Singsen was the traffic cop directing
boats to Custom's Dock and helping them tie up as they come in. Was very busy
for a while.
7 June 0011 Finale - finished!
Strummer finished at 0245 and spent the night outside not wanting to come
thru the Town Cut during the dark and anchoring and wanting to rest I'm sure.
6 June 1300 Finale - I am about 76 miles out and going like the clappers
in heavy surfing swells No kite needed -unless one wants to buy a new one in
Bermuda! Expect to finish around midnight. Probably bounce around outside till
the morning light, pending direction from Bermuda radio Not sure my VHF base
radio Is working properly but have several handhelds.let me know when you see me
on AIS Great surfing!
Strummer - C 155. S 6 App W from NE at 13
Saraband - She is slowly making it back to the main land where ever
she can get to preferably Newport where her return crew will join her to bring
the boat back to Marblehead. She gave a valiant effort to get the motor runing
to no avail. She has solar charging for small electronic charging. No auto
pilot so she has to stop for rest periodically such as now at the Continental
Shelf. She make it out of the Gulf Stream. Slow going up to 3 kts.
Been kind of busy, here is a group of inishers:
Envolee 1102
Blur 1139
Young American 1210
Breakaway 1225
Alchemy 1229
Reveille 1303
Fearless 1201
Resolute 1307
Luna
1627
Bluebird 1720
Dianthus 1723
Cordelia 1839
Gryphon 2129
6 June 0958 II Tender finished! 2nd boat to finish.
6 June 0800 - Envolee - Yay and i got this. I know we spoke but
for envolee number 89. Twd 326. Tws 9.3 i see one light but no ais. All is well
aboard. Nathalie.
Finale - It is 4:00 am on June 6th (I think). I made it back to the
rum line avoiding a line of nasty looking squalls and jibed over to 172 degrees.
The seas have a small swell with some breaking waves and with the wind out of
312 degrees and averaging 17-20 knots I am on an adrenaline rush: averaging 7.5
knots with nice surfs up to 8.5-10 knots in the puffs. Instruments say I might
finish before midnight but we shall see how the morning progresses. Holding on!
Alchemy - Morning Roy- I'm beginning to wonder why I had a mainsail
in the first place! The fo'csle crew are having their day. Looks like a downwind
finish for me.
Blur - Tuesday 06:00 EDT Best feeling ever: sunrise, an espresso and
trucking along with the A2. And painkillers :-) Last night I had J/121 Alchemy
15 nm ahead, an now they're 12 behind. Maybe not in race mode anymore? We were
doing similar speeds, but since I put up the A2 at 02:30 we've been faster than
most boats around. I could have deployed it earlier, but I wanted some sleep to
be ready for anything. Wind is steady at 10-12 knots from NNW. Sea-state is good
so the autopilot manages really well. We're gaining more and more trust, me and
"Frank". He did'tr do well in the huge seas Saturday, so there was some yelling
on my part. But getting to know him better (and playing with the settings) has
improved my trust in him. He's called "Frank" after "The Transporter"-movies. If
yo know, you know. Just 40 nm to the finish. I guess I lost track of time, and
it sure doesn't feel like I'm on day 4. I could just continue sailing like this
for days or weeks. I guess that is a clear vote for this type of sailing. But at
the same time I really want to hang out with other people, have a few cold beers
and some laughs. And being interrupted by silly texts from Molly and Anneli
(daughter & partner). Miss them. I guess it's the contrasts that appeals to me.
I wonder if the weather is nice in Bermuda? I've never been there but many
people seems to like it. Anything that should be on my list of "things to do"?
Oh, I also need to know where I can find a really good barber?
Breakaway - I can’t see Bermuda but supposedly it is 35 miles away. Young
American and I have crossed paths a couple of times this morning, they are in
the lead. Though my angle I deeper, should be interesting to see how it all
plays out. I don’t know where Resolute is, last I saw they were on the gybe to
the east. No response on vhf. I hope to be in after lunch time. We shall see.
Strummer - Had some InReach glitch but now working All good. Moving well.
Melantho - All is well here. Continuing to take advantage of the
wind WNW at 12 kn. Had some funny waves at the start of my driving stint, maybe
there was a countercurrent. Things have evened out now. I can lock the helm for
1 - 2 minutes before a wave pushes us off course. I'm thinking that I'll arrive
in Bermuda Wednesday morning.
Fearless - all good on fearless. Not hearing comms on vhf. I do have
handheld for closer in., Hopefully AIS is still working so Bermuda radio can see
me. Looking forward to a dark n stormy.
5 June 2000 - Envolee - Called. We seem to have texting problems,
can't connect but the call works. She is in very light winds, 2 kts but doing 3
kts. Don't see anyone nor hear on VHF. All is good.
Blur - Monday 18:00 EDT Yup. Like any regular Monday I punched in bright
and early and kept hammering all day. Sunny and nice, but winds are very
variable with both wind cellsand patches of no wind. Have been going back and
forth between A3 (light reaching) and A2 (running in >6 knots). Quite a
procedure to get one down and the other one up, running around the boat
connected. And then someone need to pack them. Who? Looking at me? I've passed a
few boats, and I just got J/121 Alchemy showing up on my AIS. 15 nm ahead, but
still I have contact. I think they were almost twice that ahead at one point.
Now wind is 6-8 knots from 260. Pretty comfortable now, but we'll see what
happens 127 nm to go. Thanks for all advise regarding my broken ribs. No
bruises, no blood in the urine, and generally feel very good except when I bump
into things or when try special bowman poses (like jamming yourself in the
pulpit to sort out the tacklines. PAINFUL! But I can scream out loud without
anyone hearing. After 500 nm, I'm asking myself if I enjoy this type of solo
sailing? I thought the feeling of being alone for such a long time would feel
different. I'm not hating it (I might have a few days ago) but I don't get that
special feeling I hoped for, or maybe feared, I might need some perspective
before I decide.
Corvus - I arrived safely today at 1830 at the Newport yacht club
Fearless - Hi Roy - what a different day, lots of wild life. Dolphins,
Portuguese men of war and flying fish to clean off the deck. All is well,
enjoying the conditions. Have a drink for me tonight. Cheers. Phil You
bet! i
forgot to mention 5kts breeze from 321M
Finale - I just finished my pasta
primavera ( freeze dried of course) 4 Oreo cookies,some English breakfast tea
and listened to Willie Nelson on my speakers. So net- net life is good and it is
a beautiful sunset with 11 knots of breeze as I travel slightly west of the rum
line in some favorable current. May make Bermuda tomorrow late or early Tuesday
Tom
Breakaway - Moving right along now after a lot of light air in the mid
morning to early afternoon. I did circles amongst the comb jellies. Right now
I’m flying the staysail with the headsail and am moving along nicely. Cross my
fingers we keep breeze up thru the night. We shall see. Last I checked it looked
like First Light and Young American were well on their way to finishing. Pretty
cool. I’ll be curious to hear their tales of the Gulf Stream and the choices
they made. Both went west early and often. Resolute is still beside me. I can
see Scott in the sunset. Otherwise no other boats on AIS. I presume that I will
see more as we converge on Bermuda. It will be interesting to see where people
are and how they line up. I know it is early but I would be thrilled to finish
in the daylight and not tomorrow night, we shall see. My DTW is 105 to Kitchen.
Luna - All good with Luna. Day messages up by a big spinnaker wrap. Will
sort it out in the morning. Crossed wakes with Dianthus at 2000. He is doing
well too.
Cordelia - I saw Dianthus and Bluebird but couldn't talk to them.
5 June about 1556 - First Light FINISH skippered by first time skipper,
Cole Brauer, crossed the finish line first in the fleet of this year's Bermuda
One_Two. The next boat is not expected to finish until late afternoon
tomorrow. Lots of excitement welcoming Cole into Ordanance Island. They put her
on the south side vice at the Customs dock due to her draft.
5 June 1100 - Cordelia - Sorry
about no a.m. check in. I had an asym debacle. The halyard block separated from
the mast. Took me a while to straighten things out still poking along. Winds
have dropped to 6 kn from the north. it's hard to make any progress at all. But
on the bright side use sunglasses and sunscreen for the first time today.
Kiwi Spirit 2 - Stanley Paris just called to say that the boat will not
make it to Bermuda. Engine is toast. In process of gettng it
replaced. However him and Alan will be flying down to Bermuda to join in
the ....
Finale - After all the horror of the last two days today is a Champaign
sailing day! I am sailing with a full main and number 3 jib in 13-15 knots of
wind coming from the northwest . With 2.5 knots of favorable current . My speeds
are consistently over 9 knots ( just hit 10.0) surfing down some nice swells.it
is a little overcast and cool I am 230. Miles out close to the rum line with an
ETA of 25 hours if this keeps up I could break out a spinnaker but why add
stress when you are having fun!
Breakaway - Things are very slow right now, breeze has eased and I’m
nosing along towards Bermuda. Got the chute up this morning around 3 and it has
kept me moving. I’m afraid those west of the rhumb line might have more breeze
from the west, we shall see. I’m going to play my angles best I can right here.
Spoke with Resolute this morning, all is well there, he is about to put
up his chute in a bit. Reveille was on AIS and Scott spoke to him, but I
only heard Scott. I made a middle of the night tired choice to gybe to the west
thinking I was seeing a wind shift, it was a silly way to spend an hour or so
and cost me some miles. Feeling much better this morning and haven’t spilled my
hot chocolate yet.
5 June 0800 - First Light - Good morning! Woof. Last night.
Probably wouldn’t have been so bad if I wasn’t so tired. But exhaustion leads to
bad decisions which leads to mistakes. Nothing horrible. Just thought about a
gybe for awhile, couldn’t get gribs to download so went for the gybed the A2
anyways. Sailed for a little while and realized I was horribly lifted…this was
not the bad part…When I went to gybe back the autopilot lost control because I
didn’t ease the main enough and as I was pulling the socked kite around the
forestay..we tacked. Yup. Just fully headed up from dead downwind on port to
fully upwind on starboard. Anyways it was a mess of lines and things. And some
other small things went wrong during the fixing process but I won’t bore you
with the details of Murphy’s law! But once I got her under control and back up
and running. The wind died and I got lifted majorly meaning I wasn’t pointed at
Bermuda anymore with the A2 up. Then made the decision to put the A5 up only to
then realize from the hair on the back of my neck that it was too windy and too
upwind for that sail and switched to the Code 5. Which I am now running with!
I’m now snuggled up in my sleeping bag on this very rainy calm morning. True
wind is 8knots, TWD is 45, I am pointed at bermuda (yay) and I’m doing about 7.5
knots of boat speed. Haven’t had any traffic. No calls on the radio. Only my
anxious, frantic, over tired inner voice singing “sweet low sweet chariot.” Bed
time… II Tender - Hi Roy - Rob on II Tender - calm morning, 11 knots NNW,
with light drizzle but mostly clear sky. Have big kite up, with small one fixed
yesterday. Small tear in my main, but otherwise shipshape. Issues with
non-essential electronics, likely a fuse or connection gone in a broach. Hoping
the wind holds for the final push south - have lost ability to download weather
gribs! Alchemy - I'm having a fine ride under jib alone into Bermuda. ETA
Tuesday during the day sometime I think but we'll see. I'm going to finish the
race under sail unless we get a wicked southerly.
Ellementary - Crew arriving today and getting trailer etc sorted. This
is from yesterday via Kristen. Just got this update from Diane's husband.
Just got a text from the boat from 1330. Diane is close enough to motor into New
York. I'm in Toronto Canada. My truck is at Fort Adam's and Diane has the keys.
No idea what the plan is. I've received only one text so far. This was 1620.
Just off the phone with Diane. She's trying to find a harbour to motor to.
Signal is still poor. She is ok. Both rudders were delaminating equally. Auto
pilot sheared off the tiller. Sailing to New York was safest option do to the
sea state. Straight run. She will have to figure out tomorrow how to get back to
Newport to get truck and trailer. This is from 1930: Diane is 10 minutes from
sails down and motoring in to a marina. She thanks you for offer to help but
will be ok. Her 2nd for the race back will be flying in tomorrow evening and
will help with packing up the boat and trailering it back home. Melantho
- Making steady progress. Finale passed about 200 yards in front of me. Spoke to
him briefly. He has had a few minor problems. Doing okay. Finale -
Now sailing with full main and about 40 hours out from Bermuda sailed up to
MELANTHO To.offer assistance as his electronics are out. he seemed ok and is
making progress to Bermuda under jib. Breakaway - Things are very slow
right now, breeze has eased and I’m nosing along towards Bermuda. Got the chute
up this morning around 3 and it has kept me moving. I’m afraid those west of the
rhumb line might have more breeze from the west, we shall see. I’m going to play
my angles best I can right here. Spoke with Resolute this morning, all is well
there, he is about to put up his chute in a bit. Reveille was on AIS and Scott
spoke to him, but I only heard Scott. I made a middle of the night tired choice
to gybe to the west thinking I was seeing a wind shift, it was a silly way to
spend an hour or so and cost me some miles. Feeling much better this morning and
haven’t spilled my hot chocolate yet. Fearless - you know your
getting closer when the winds declines,. All is well, even managed to get
several naps in last night. No major issues, of course a small list to take care
of. Cheers Phil Luna - Morning update: Luna could not reach any other
sailboats this morning so I am here all alone bobbing around the RL. Wind wend
down to 4kts and with the remaining swell it was hard to make any progress. At
some point I had 0.5 VMG to Berdmuda…wind now up to 7kts from NNW and hope it
grows to the promised 10-12kts. But I think I am finding every possible adverse
current I could…other than the slow going it’s a beautiful day out here. Birds
are having their breakfast all around me so I will do too! Blur - Good
news or bad news first? First god news is that the big A2 genaker is up and
we're doing good speeds on port gybe. Looks like one gybe and similar conditions
all the way to Bermuda. Lets try and catch some more boats. 170 nm to go and ETA
is tomorrow morning. Second good news is that I've managed to both eat and sleep
well, so just keep it up. Simple Minds are played really loud and life in
general is good. I managed to get through the nasty stuff without breaking
anything on the boat except the main halyard extra cover. Should naturally
replaced it sooner. The bad news then? I think I might have cracked a rib or two
when a big wave slammed me into the mast taking the main down yesterday. Hurts
like hell, but I'm able to sail the boat at 100%. The ships doctor has ordinated
lots of painkillers and also a "Swedish Fish" (the candy) whenever the skipper
feels sorry for himself.
On the nature side of things; besides
all the whales Friday night, I had a bunch of dolphins play around the bow just
now. Found a flying fish in the cockpit this morning and had an exhausted bird
take refuge on the boat for several hours. Small thinks becomes notable out
here. Fearless - All is wellout here. I know we are getting close. The
wind is dieing. So many elements to this race.
Cordelia - I am not sure my radio is working. And my handheld will not
work for reporting the finish time. If I need to use my in reach, will that be
OK? I'll try radio check when I get near some other boats but that hasn't been
possible yet.
5 June 0600 - Breakaway - Now able to read Breakaway emails: Things are
still rocking and rolling out here, I have a bit of a current helping me along
so that is nice, I’ve been doing about 20 miles for the past few hours, the
waves and surfing helps too. I could see resolute and alchemy on AIS, though
alchemy disappeared to the east. No one replied on the radio. Things are pretty
calm here still reefed with the 4. Debating going with the 3 as the winds ease.
However when the wind puffs to above 25 I am not too keen on more sail area. I
have found myself rounding up from time to time and auto can’t get the boat down
again, it’s annoying but manageable, That’s all for now.
Saraband - Jon talked with her return crew, Richard Sides, He will meet
her where ever she lands ashore and help her put the boat together and deliver
it back to Marblehead. I asked Elke about the conditions and here is her reply
just a few minutes ago: “the Sea state is rough, choppy. Xhuge swells.keep
dropping”
Gryphon - Walter's wife passed this along: I just spoke with him. He had
a hard day, but he is ok.
Saraband - Hi an update. Tookreef3 out overnight but have to get all the
way head to wind to thread through lazy jacks. Need speed and better direction!
Elke Backman sent this message from: Lat 38.321707 Lon -71.488423 Still very big
seas and wind cont closer to shore. Elke Backman sent this message from: Lat
38.320087 Lon -71.491578
Strummer - All ok. iPhone was wet. Made messaging difficult
4 June 2000 - Alchemy - Wind direction vane broke in 45 knot squall. Boat broached and main literally ripped in half. Got it tied down, hooked up spare windvane, proceeding under jib. Luckily downwind! I'm at 35.51.289N 66.27.714 W. Sorry Scott, I've done it to you again. Blur - Sunday 18:00 EDT A long day with lots going on. After being miserable about the current for a while, I put the hammer down. For 6+ hours I averaged 9.75 knots (11.6 SOG) and finally found current going the right way. Full main & jib was plenty and hand-steared most of the day to keep speed up. Wind was between 20 and 26 knots. At the end I averaged 11.5 and topped out at 18. Wind gusted 30. Seas was huge and I avoided surfing several of the biggest waves for safety reasons. Borderline condition, and I ended taking the main down. Need to fix the halyard cover + get some rest. And eat. Still doing 11 knots SOG. As I said, I'm not here to win, but to finish in one piece. And pushing to hard can be costly. Had a rendezvous with Diantus. We talked on the VHF, waved and took photos. Otherwise not many boats around. The models says that wind will go below 20 knots tomorrow morning, so then I hope for some champagne sailing. 260 nm to go. Saraband - At 6:00 pm communication with Elke Elke: Just sailing now, have orange jib (too small) but couldn’t do a big ger jib on the bow. Drogue in. Windex has been blown off and there are halyards tied up in the spreaders .need to find a good direction, thanks. Jon: Did you try the engine yet? Elke: No I saw the voltage went down, will wait a bit. I have battery tri color etc. holding the wheel with shock cord. Melantho - Just checking in. All is alright, making steady progress. Trying to find the right drive/rest rhythm. I am officially withdrawing from the SH leg. If there is light as forecast near Bermuda I need the ability to motor in. Cordelia - Sorry. I'm fine. Just tired. These wind conditions require constant tweaking on Cordelia. Not getting enuf sleep. Light out here now. Hope to finish before awards ceremony. I think I'm close to Dianthus and Bluebird now based on tracker info but haven't heard them.
4 June 1813 - Trying to catch up with all the comms. Blur -
Sunday 04:00 EDT Finally! For those of you that follow the tracker my
performance in the last 24 hours has been really bad. I payed to go east to
enter the Gulf Stream at a place where the chance of adverse current should be
low, and then I could go south after the bad sea-state was over. Instead I got
80 nm with 3.0-4.2 knots currnt going 330-360, WTF! And this against 2-30 knots
of wind. And I can't see this in any models or the maps I got before the race. I
tried to go even further east to get relief, but no sign of any. Then finally I
just had to eat it and pound south, straight against it,
Anyhow. Newbie misstake? Or bad intel. Gave up a lot of distance. But now I got
26C in the water and 5 knots of current going 110. Looking better. But still
bumpy as we're doing 9-11 knots with just the jib. Main might go up tomorrow as
I've been able to catch up on sleep. Wind should stay at 24-26 knots into the
afternoon. Time to catch some boats. Fearless - Phil just called to let
me know some time in the last 6 hours his life raft was washed off the boat. All
is well on board but if you could alert the coast guard and anyone else
necessary in case it is sighted. Please let me know you've received this
message. I have also left you a voicemail and
texted. Lauren Corvus - from Gerry Leger: I’ve been in contact with Chris
on Corvis, here’s his information via InReach. At that point i thought the best
decision was to retire. As it was soon after , last night i took a knockdown.
The real thing . I was on course to inreachlink.com/JBI4NQJ (39.6701, -71.4157)
- Chris Terajewicz Hey Gerry, you probably saw i retired from the race.
Conditions were very challenging and by the time i was 40 miles away i was
already exhausted inreachlink.com/MG4S5CJ (39.6690, -71.4113) - Chris Terajewicz
Newport and sleeping in the leeward berth . I heard a loud bang and i looked up
and saw the starboard berth in the air. I was covered by all the inreachlink.com/KO6IXLB
(39.6707, -71.4188) - Chris Terajewicz stuff that was there it was all soft
inreachlink.com/TTZ4IQZ (39.6708, -71.4193) - Chris Terajewicz all my galley
stuff ended on the nav station . Boat came up all by itself seconds later and
resumed sailing itself. Happy i happened to inreachlink.com/PJKGHZB (39.6714,
-71.4223) - Chris Terajewicz cabin looks like a disaster movie . everything
everywhere inreachlink.com/5X6GWQZ (39.6717, -71.4243) - Chris Terajewicz be in
that berth and thanking my lucky stars that i still have a rig inreachlink.com/BNN4ZZB
(39.6716, -71.4233) - Chris Terajewicz
Saraband - From Elke at 10:00 am this morning. It’s been slow going. I found
the bow pulpit bent around the forest ay, had to haul the Genoa out of the
water. What I thought was a st ay last night swinging around was a dyneema
movqbable forestay that broke off a piece of deck hardware , that was swinging
around. Im putting up a small jib and trying to get in the third reef but hard
to get to with waves. That was what started this cascade I tried t o get in the
third reef x couldn’t so dropped the main, then the Ge noa partially curled was
flogging and I thought it would break the forestay. I found I had no engine and
with this hardware swinging w ildly and what appeared to be a damaged stay,
thought the mast woul d come down in a matter of time. When I gas both sails up
I could p ower through and ok going downwind. With no sails and no engine it was
alarming. Looks like too much salt water got in the ignition th e key all
corrodes this morning Holy cow sorry. I have to put up the jib and fix the reef
will go soon.
Strummer - Having trouble charging iPhone may be incommunicado soon. Down
to first reel II Tender - At 1357 11 Tender called in. All is well. Seas
are still big but better organized. Wind is 25-30 out of Northerly direction.
Had a period log light winds last night. Visibility was very poor overnight but
improving. Some sun trying to poke through. Has not heard from other boats.
Saraband - At 18:55 Elke is just now starting to sail. She texted me and
all good. She has small orange storm jib up and so slow going. Jon bixby
Luna - GS update: in my current position I was expecting favorable
current and being pretty close to the cold ring…both Gryphon and I are
experiencing 2kts of adverse current. Plus wind 22-25kts against the current is
giving the worse sea state yet. Still manageable but but tougher than expected
that the GS. Update: Luna spoke with Gryphon this evening. We are all
doing well. Gryphon could see Dianthus on AIS another 10nm east of
him but could not reach him with VHF. Wind is down to 20kts from NNW. Still
pretty big swells 8-9ft but the cockpit is mostly dry now and it is to enjoy the
sunset! Finale - Just to let u know I am OK but not sure AIS is still
working sailing on reefed jib.still have foul current no group chat on 72
working for me Tom
4 June 0900 Breakaway - ll is still wet here. About every half
hour or so I get a good wave over the boat. I’m playing with course trying to
minimize wave encounters and maximize my speed and where I want to go. I went
from the storm jib to the 4 and that has helped with speed. Probably should have
done that earlier but I kept waiting for the 30-33 knots to come back.
I spoke with REVEILLE this morning and he and Resolute are about 5 miles ahead
of me. I saw Luna on AIS briefly. He was on my stern quarter. I haven’t seen
anyone else.
I’m heading a little east of the rhumb line for some current and then a possible
tack as the winds shift to the west and we head to Bermuda. Distance wise I
think I’m almost half way.
I hope I can keep some food down today, the waves have gotten to me.
4 June 0800 report - posting this from the airport on my way to BDA.
Melantho - The problem seems to be that the backbone of my instruments has
lost power. I have not been able to fix it. It means I have no knotmeter,
autopilot, wind instruments, AIS, and depth sounder. My chart plotter and radio
works. I don't have very many options other to hand sail. I've decided to
continue to Bermuda, only because going to Norfolk will be mostly upwind and
Bermuda will be mostly downwind. My progress will be slow, as I'll only be able
to do shifts. First Light - Good morning Roy! Last night was a rough one,
I had seen this low that was sitting right in my path and knew I was going to
run into it just didn’t know it was going to happen so soon. I gybed and took
some nice heavy breeze pointing at an awkward 265 COG. Then gybed back when I
thought I was in a good spot with lots of breeze (30 knots) and eventually ran
through that spot too. So I gybed back to 265 COG. And tried again. I did this
about two more times until I was completely exhausted and decided if the next
time happened again I was just going to sit and wait for the breeze to come to
me versus I going to the breeze. And well the breeze stayed with me! Right now I
am COG 135 TWA 138 TWD 355-17 and I’m moving about 13 SOG. I’m fighting about
1-2knots of current but sea state is normal, a little bumpy but manageable. I
haven’t seen anyone since yesterday…it’s a little worrisome of whether the
westerly is the correct choice but I’m trying to stay positive! Right now I have
one reef in the main and our furling spinnaker (A5) up. My next move is the wind
comes down a little is to unreef to a full hoist and send it to Bermuda!
Strummer - Had a problem with InReach but hopefully now fixed. Just got this
message Had a communication problem but hopefully now fixed. All ok on strummer.
Looks like InReach ok now. I'm in Gulf Stream. Big following sea but no
breakers. Still 3rd reef but comfortable at 6 knots though water. No rush to
break out. Autopilot did well throughout. More sail. Cabin is a mess. Wet stuff
all over. No major breakage . And I'm intact. Just shook out 3rd reeef
Saraband - Saraband retired getting organize to head home slow going sat
connection problem willtry later. Breakaway - I am unable to open his
emails so his wife will be forwarding them to me. Here is the latest. Tell Roy
I’m sorry he hasn’t been getting all my pithy comments about how wonderful
things are out here. Not sure what that setting is that you can read and he can
not. Predict Wind has some stuff that works great, and other stuff not so much.
The blog isn’t working well either, oh well. The short of it is that all is wet
here. Checked in with Reveille and can see Resolute and Luna (sometimes) on AIS.
I continue to plug along, heading a bit east in search of some current and an
angle for the next wind shift which I think will be W NW. meanwhile I have the
#4 and 2 reefs in the main and that keeps the boat pretty flat. About every hour
or so I get a good wave over the boat. Otherwise it is just spray on deck. I’m
hoping I’ll get some food to stay with me today, though I’m in fine fettle about
it all. I had a beauty of sail change yesterday with dolphins doing full leaps
from the waves right in front of me. I felt like I was in a flipper episode. I
think I am around half way or so, and things are pointed in the right direction.
This is Breakaway's post to a blog: The breeze goes up, the breeze goes down,
it goes up again… Sat Jun 03 2023
It’s just a game of having a bit of hope and then having it dashed, currently
the wind is up and the boat is moving, other boats seem to be making better
speed at a better angle, but I’m not with able to do that. I do have the A3 up
now which was a real joy in light air before. With about 7 knots I can at least
keep it full. Currently I am working on figuring out the best angle to get the
deepest and still have good speed. Looks like I am about to get a small rain
storm, this could prove interesting.
No rain, just more wind, it’s up to 12-15 or so and I’m reaching. Glad I have
the A3. I might need to go to the zero soon if this keeps up. I put the 142
below and did the best below deck flake and roll I could, I don’t think I’ll
need that sail for another couple of days. Meanwhile I’m curious to see how much
it goes to the east…
Too much I think, I took the A3 down and am now running with the number 3. I
think I lost a half a knot, and I could probably put the staysail up to help,
but it was getting a little exciting with the chute, I played it conservative as
there is a lot of racing to go and the wind is only supposed to build. I could
have gone to the zero, but I think that would get a little too exciting as the
wind builds and changing these sails takes a bit out of me, so I’m holding off
for now. If it goes below 10 I’ll put it up, but right now the lowest I’ve seen
is 15.
Alchemy - Morning Roy- no dice on the VHF this morning. I'm in south
gulfstream with a nice favorable current but no wind. I'm heading in the right
direction! Abilyn - Josh here on Abilyn. Just went to let you know that I
made it safely to shelter island. My current plan is to get the boat sorted and
head back out there later in the week and hopefully get boat to Bermuda before
start of DH leg. (interesting, Roy).
Cordelis - I'm pretty sure I won't hear anyone on the radio so here's
my update. All good after 13 1/2 hours in a countercurrent of three kts or
moreover a distance of 67 miles that no briefings or Jennifer Clark knew was
there I am of it. Lucky I didn't throw myself over the side in the middle of it.
High speeds were typically 9 to 11 through the water and 4 to 7 over the ground.
Very painful. That should have been my speeds, not high speeds
Roy - My some of these people have a lot to say. Cole seems to be
replacing Michael pretty good. Kiwi Spirit is arriving
today, plans to fix some problems, head down to BDA crewed and do the DH leg.
Sound familiar.
4 June 0000 - Saraband - Elke has a problem with her boat. The mast is still up and she is fine. She has deployed a drogue and staying with the boat. The Coast Guard is involved. Will reassess in daylight.
3 June 2300 - Melantho - I've experienced a black out of my Raymarine autopilot and instruments. I accidently powered the autopilot off and it took down the rest. I am currently lying ahull, everything is fine, but I'm exhausted at the moment and will retire for the night. I will start fresh tomorrow morning and will weigh my options. I've tried powering it back up by pressing the power buttons of all my i70/p70 but no luck.
3 June 2000 - Fearless - Hi
Roy all is well out here. Entered the Gs at6pm, little bouncy bUt bot as bad as
i expected.. been a tiring 24h so i need a nap but very happy. No issues to
report. Breakaway again I have no idea what. Luna - at 1900 I connected
via VHF with Revellie and Breakaway. We are all doing well: wet and looking for
the entrance to the Gulf Stream, which is rumored to be around here! Also heard
Bluebird in the background. Winds are down to mid-20s from high 20-low 30 i
experience since this morning. Seas have built up to about 8-10 feet. Autopilot
and Hydrovane have been handling the boat well and with no real sail changes to
make I get quite a bit of sleep! Strummer - Still blowing hard.
Waves like houses. Boat handling it well. So far so good. Melantho -
Weather is wind NNE 20 kts, seas 6 - 10 ft. Cloudy, not great visibility. My
track is starting to bend due to the Gulf Stream. No craziness yet, but I'm not
in the strongest part. No one on AIS. No one responded to my hails for the
evening checkin. Alchemy - No one on VHF tonight. Was with Blur
this morning. No problems. Winds 30 kts, fould current. 10kts thru
the water, 5 adverse current but doesn't think he is in the Stream. Cordelia
- No radio contact again this eve. All well on COrdelia other than the fact that
I'm in a horrible countercurrent. Doing 9-10 thru water and 3-8 SOG. UGH! II
Tender - Rob on II Tender switching to text as easier. Great morning.
Surfing with the kite up. quite frustrating since then. Heavy rain, grey skys,
wind 25-30 kts (max 32). Big seas that are no fun to take on the beam. Spent
part of the afternoon in cabin fixing kite / drying off. Breakaway - All
is wet here. It’s been a rather unfortunate 12 hours. The seas are rough, the
wind is up and it’s the same old, same old. Not much fun I’m afraid, but at
least it isn’t raining, though I’m sure that’s in the future. I have been seeing
Reveille and Luna on AIS, and occasionally Resolute.
I had a lovely sail change earlier with dolphins jumping from the waves and
doing full breach dives. Pretty cool. I heard a radio transmission that
Elementary was withdrawing, but it was broken up, so not certain on that.
Another 24 plus hours of this to go I think…..
3 Juen 1300 - Luna texted me."Ellementary is retiring from the race due to rudder problems. She has turned back with a bearing of 255T Position N39 41 - W 070 00. Finale called that he is over powered with 2 reefs in the main and heading mostly 180-190. Probably will take down the main.
3 June 1030 - Young American - had a little issue with the spin all good
now lots of hand steering now (his boat had slowed down on the tracker).
Windswept - Just leaving the continental shelf. Winds gusting to 44
knots. Bumpy ride. The stream could be a horror show. Running with about 10
square feet of jib, main furled. Strummer - Can reef from cockpit but
need to go on deck for an occasional snag. Only autopilot. Just put 3rd reef in.
Blowing 30.
3 June 0800 - Been receiving email and text. Lots of talk. Winds have
picked up. Abilyn - My autopilot ram has become disconnected from
the rudder. The bold seems to have sheared off. I'm turning back towards home.
Copy (with respect to my warning about Wind Farm construction area).
Relayed to sailors via VHF. I see that Orion is 17 nm to the northeast of me.
The fleet won't be coming anywhere near this location. Blur - Saturday
06:00 EDT The wind is here. 20 knots from NE, so pretty much what the models
said. Fast. But uncomfortable.Yesterday was fantastic sailing, and pretty much a
drag race on starboard. I opted for a more northern route both for pressure
during the night, but also to be well positioned when the low came. The wind was
variable and I went back and forth between jib, code and A3. Parked up two
times, but mostly had better speed than the boats to the south. Add mist. And
lot's of whales blowing around the boat.
My routing, although I doubted it a few times, seems to have worked, as I'm
ahead of the group going east. The only boat that I know dived south was the
Class 40. If everything goes according to plan I'll enter the Gulf Stream at
16:00. Exciting! PS. Something happened with Abilyn? Saw him turn around and
then lost his AIS. (told him Abilyn heading home) Strummer - Wind
from the east at 25+. Big seas with breaking crests Awesome Boat doing well and
me too so far. Fed and rested. Several windless hours last night but wind came
up at midnight. Now making 6.5 knots with double reefed main and staysail. Heard
Corvus on radio this am but everybody else probably too far ahead.
Cordelia - Well the only boat I heard today was Alchemy, who strangely,
since he is only four miles away, did not hear me. He pops in and out on my AIS
so I’m wondering if it’s his antenna or my problem. Since I haven’t had that
issue with other boats, I’m thinking it could be his problem. On the bright
side, it’s pretty exciting to be up with a class 1 boat. There be some wind out
here! I’m seeing pretty steady 20-25 and it doesn’t really go below 20. So with
those winds and Cordelia’s heft, we are hauling the mail! Last night was
miserable. Time with literally no wind and I even went backwards some. So I was
tryiing to decide if I prefer that or living on my ear. I’ll take the ear
anytime. But rather than heat up some oatmeal for breakfast, I opted for the PB&J
option. The less done in the galley, the better, on days like this, although a
good mug o’ tea hits the spot on these cold nights. Did I mention it’s cold out
here, with the wind and fog we’re in? Well it’s not cold, it’s freakin’ cold.
Wish the sun would burn through. Anyway, enough rambling. This email is cutting
in on my nap time. ’Fair Winds to All, Roy2 on Cordelia. Alchemy -
Morning Roy- I didn't reach anyone this morning- may have to do with me heading
a bit more east to avoid the worst of the stream. We'll see if it works!
Melantho - On the radio this morning I heard from Resolute and Breakaway. I
have both plus Envolee on AIS. Weather has started to kick in with NNE 25 kts
and fog. So far all is well. Fearless - We found the wind. 20-22kts from
44M. Just spoke to breakaway who spilled his hot chocolate. Reefs in both
breakaway and fearless. Soon will leave the continental shelf. Cheers Phil
Breakaway - Unable to read his messages. They come as an enclosure with the
extension of .msg but unable to open. Passed it along to someone who is
connected to him. First Light - Aloha Roy! Cole here on the wonderful
First Light. Her and I watched the first light together this morning waiting for
the front to truly hit us. What an eventual evening of sail changes and trying
to just drive towards the moon in anyway possible. We are now sailing along
doing between 10 and 17 knots (I slowed her down a bit because she was starting
to complain). Anyways it’s blowing between 15 and 26knots out here, sea
conditions have picked up compared to last nights whisper. It’s been foggy and
damp for the last 12 hours, I’m trying to get dry! I hailed Young American who
are the only people I can see on my AIS currently but no response. That’s all
for now! Cheers! II Tender - Couldnt reach Alchemy on VHF so just
checking in. Wind kicked in 20-25 knots steady, making for some decent 12-14
knot surfing but mixed sea state. Almost turned home when i realised i’d
forgotten my coffee pot, so hoping for a quick trip! Breakaway - Well
it’s gotten pretty frisky out here as of late. I’ve reefed the main and the jib.
I’m with Melantho, he’s caught me finally. Resolute is reefs and going to a
heavy weather jib. Melantho is putting his autopilot for a workout. I’ll tender
is ahead of me. Envolee is to windward about 2 miles. A few folks behind on AIS.
The big tragedy of today was when my hot chocolate spilled over the stove and
floor.
Hanging in with anything I can…. Gregg
2 June 2000 - Alchemy called in. Very light conditions. Has heard
from: First Light, Elementary, Resolute, Breakaway, Abilyn and Envole.
This is the light winds predicted by the weather forecasters. NE should start
coming in Saturday morning early.
Also we have the following emails/InReach/text: Strummer - Won the start
which was fun but they've all passed me now Light winds. Calm seas. So far so
good. Dianthus - Just saw a whale breach a couple of times. Pretty much
in front of CORVUS I believe! Corvis - Also CORVUS observed a whale 100
yards off port side at 1542. Reveille - I see Orion and hope to not
go anywhere near her. Will pass the word at 19h chat. Abilyn wrote me a
book as to why he was late to the start. Strummer - Strummer at 41 10 and
70 58 Foggy windless. Spoke with bluebird and Corvus. Bluebird lost
communications to you (me). Corvus - 1900 hours Flat seas , 2 kts wind
from 212. Bluebird reports his Iridium Go failed so he will not be able to
communicate with his family. Strummer reports flat seas no wind and not making
any headway. could not raise Cordelia, Dianthus, Windswept or Gryphon. Gryphon
reported in , only thing he reports is that his bread is moldy. Melantho -
Check in on the radio - the following yachts called in:: Finale - slow
conditions. Envolee Reveille All reporting very light wind and calm seas. I have
Young America, Luna, Breakaway, Reveille, Finale, Elementary, Envolee on AIS.
Jack Young American - got focused on no wind sailing and did not attend
chat hour i can see most of the fleet on AIS - most are going very very slowly -
Cole appears to be in a good spot in the front of the pack.:) Cordelia -
We just had a call but I am so far north of everyone that they could not hear
me. I did hear Corvus and Bluebird. All three of us have flat seas and almost no
wind. Speeds are 1 to 2 knots. Of import is that
Gust on Bluebird is having problems
with his Iridium and so is unable to call his family. He would like that posted
so they know that and do not worry. Could be a long boring night if the winds
don’t show up soon. Lots of tweaking just to keep moving. My 28,000 pound boat
does not enjoy these conditions which makes us both cranky. Breakaway -
Hello Roy, It was a beautiful afternoon for a sail, until the last hour or so
when the air just went poof. Very light out here, but the fog went away. Wish
the wind would make up its mind about a direction. During radio check I heard
Corvus talk to someone, did not here the someone. That happened a lot. Bluebird
says irridium go has failed. Fearless has intermittent wind instrument problems.
Abilene has done well after a late start catching up with the fleet. Had a cable
rip out of the instruments displays and that tanked his system? Heard
envolee too I could see Resolute, Abilene, I’ll tender, And in the distance
Young american, melantho, and envolee, and finale and maybe a couple others.
Gregg
2 June 1800 - Alan Paris said that he is not sure what Stanley's plans for Kiwi Paris 2 are but will arrive into Newport around 1800 Saturday and will berth at the Newport Yacht Club. He was supposed to have started today with Class 1 however ran into problems getting here from St. Augustine.
2 June 1600 - Coast Guard called me about the boats heading toward the Cape Wind boats working on the windmill area south of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. I emailed and text most of the boats and the word spread to all the boats to keep away from there. At lest one boat saw the big boat Orion (and some said they didn't see a thing) that was here a couple of days ago now working there on the wind mill project.
2 June 1100 - And they are off. 24 boats started. Rocinaate
withdrew before the start (DNC) and Kiwi Spirit is having all kinds of problems
just getting here.
3 classes. Abilyn had electronics problems before even leaving the dock;
ended up starting after his class start in the start sequence of Class 2.
Spotting his class mates a bit of time.
Elementary called that she was having auto pilot problem (one of the most common
problems) so would sail out of the bay and sort it out once out of the bay.
Luna notified us that he had a port/starboard incident and did his circles to
exonerate him and was continuing to race.
I can't remember the last time I was able to do Race Committee for the Bermuda
One-Two and not be wearing a winter coat or at least a sweater. Gorgeous
weather for the start. Wind about 10-12 knots out of the south and an out going
tide to help. We had to move the line more towards Goat Island due to a big
Cruise ship that was parked there.
Skippers that have told me that they are planning on participating in the 2023 Bermuda One-Two: Elke Backman on her Frers 36, Peter Becker (with 2 J/105s), Greg Carville on his J35, Jack Clayton, Brian Gray on his new POGO 44, Roy and Gail Greenwald, Peter Gustafsson on his J/111 Blur, Phil Haydon in a SunFast 3300, James Hammitt, Greg Leonard on his Class 40 Kite USAa144), John Manderson on his Archambault 31 Kismet, Rick McCally, Michael Millard, Thomas O'Connell on his J/99 Finale, Alessandro Pagani, Stanley Paris, Josh Reisberg, Rick Rohrer, Walter Rush, David Southwell, Gust Stringos, Leah Sweet on a Figaro 3 Celeritas, Chris Terajewicz, John Youngblood on his Little Harbor 52.
Qualifiers acceted: Elke Backman, Cole Brauer, Greg Carville, Nathalie Criou, Peter Gustafsson, Phil Haydon, Greg Leonard, John Manderson, Scott Miller, Diane Reid, John Yanusas, .1 June - Phil Haydon is having the start put up live on his Sail For Epilepsy Facebook page for those that would like to see it.
30 May - Frank Bohlen's latest Gulf Stream brief.
9 May - Frank Bohlen's latest Gulf Stream brief as well as an update to the Gulf Stream Primer.
7 April - Notice of Race Amendment #2 is posted.
31 March - Doug (Mary) Mann's boat is for sale.
18 March - 27 people participated in the March Skippers' Forum/Shore Party. Frank Bohlen started it off with the "Get Started on the Gulf Stream" talk followed by my bringing up various items about the up coming race. Then followed by Gam and food! Lots of talk. New entrant Elke Backman was there with her crew Richard. A bunch of past skippers and crew were present and wonderful to see. I will post Frank's pitch under the Gulf Stream menu page. The pitch is posted now.
15 March - PHRF-NB will not be ready until 1 April for certificates.
9 February - The March newsletter is available now.
4 January - Note the change of date for the Spring Skipper's Forum/Shore Party. Changed to 25 February 2023. Scratch that, it is now 18 March 2023.
1 January - Online Registration opened today and 3 boats have already signed up (check Scratch Sheet menu on the left) and two of the are the Morris Justine 36s.
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