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NOTES
8/8 2021 - Sandy Van Zandt has posted his Tartan 30-C for sale.
6/26 2021 The 2021 Bermuda One-Two wrapped up Saturday 26 June with the
Awards at the Newport Yacht Club. About 70 people participated in celebrating
another successful Bermuda One-Two.
The last boat to finish was Windswept sailed by Rick McCally. He delayed out
there to avoid the predicted Tropical Storm and finished Friday 25 June at
14:48, after 195 hours and 903 nautical miles of sailing. Due to his
determination to finish Rick was rewarded with 3rd place in Class 4 in both
Corrected Time in the doublehanded leg and in Combined Corrected Time (combined
corrected time for both the singlehanded and doublehanded legs). Rick also won
the RI Governor’s Trophy for the best combined corrected time finish in the
fleet by a Rhode Island resident. In contrast Rick also won the Charles
Carpenter ‘Biermiester’ Trophy for last place corrected combined time finish.
Rick was also awarded the Longest Participant Award amongst all the skippers
that raced in this year’s race. This was Rick’s 9th Bermuda One-Two.
Michael Hennessey and Cole Brauer on Dragon were awarded the Newport Yacht Club
Commodore’s Tray for best doublehanded leg elapsed time finish in fleet (as was
done in the singlehanded leg to Bermuda). Young American sailed by Peter Becker
and Leah Sweet were awarded the Chester & Lillian Monroe Cup for best
doublehanded leg corrected time finish in fleet and also for a first-time
entrant. Stanley Paris was awarded the Peter Hegeman Ancient Mariner Trophy for
being the oldest skipper in the fleet at 83 (this use to be awarded to people in
their 70s). The Jeff Spranger Team Trophy was won by the team of Gryphon 1st in
class (Walter Rush & Dallas Johnson) and Young American 1st in class (Peter
Becker & Leah Sweet) for a combined score of 2 points.
Voted by the skippers for the Juan A Perez Bermuda One-Two Sportsmanship Award
to the person who best exemplifies the true spirit of the Bermuda One-Two was
Loren Brindze on Topaz.
We were lucky to have 8 new skippers this time. We need that to keep the race
viable. Also it was pointed out to me that we also had three women crew this
year which of course is great to see. Potential women skippers in the future?
Would be nice to see. Unfortunately we did not have any family boats this time;
husband/wife, father/son, father/daughter, etc. In the past I have been proud to
brag about the families participating. Maybe due to Covid-19 this year. I do
know that one family had to back out due to Covid-19 restrictions with Canada.
Hope families return in 2023.
Speaking about 2023, I heard Stanley Paris, Kiwi Spirit 2, challenge Michael
Hennessey to another round in 2023!
Caryn and her crew provided the food which there was plenty of. Actually most of
the people that helped here are Floating Point crew!
The first set of pictures are now posted. Go to the Photo Gallery menu on the
left. Tom Clarke’s pictures from the start are great as well as Bob Fitzgerald
from the Towne Cut. I hope to have pictures from Bill Shea of the pea soup fog
start as well as the Awards in Newport.
I’d like to thank those two, Tim Troy and Jonathan Bixby, that arranged with
Bill Shea to get a picture of my boat, Floating Point, and the crew and frame
it. Nice picture! Thanks to all involved.
A vote was held for the Skipper’s Representative for the next two years leading
up to the 2023 race. Overwhelmingly Jonathan Bixby was voted in as the Skipper’s
Representative. I would like to thank Tristan Mouligne for his four terms as
Skipper’s Rep. He did amazing work with prospective new skippers. He was always
available for questions from new skippers. Thank you Tristan.
6/25 1443 Windswept finished! Wouldn't you know, as he approaches the finish the wind completely dies. Talk about adding salt to a wound!
6/25 0700 Windswept emailed: Well,this will be Charlie's Last Report from the MTA. His wife finally wised up and handed him a nickel rather than a sandwich as the train roared through Scully Square station. Confused? Listen to the song. True to form, I came roaring into RI Sound at nearly 8 knots (that's roaring for Windswept) on a nice beam reach with about 18 knots apparent. I had time for a twenty minute power snooze, so I took it. Literally, twenty minutes later I awoke to slatting sails. The wind and shifted to the due South and had dropped to about 5 knots. So here I am, 18 miles from the finish, only able to muster about 3 knots from the most elaborate collection of preventers and bungee cord the world has ever seen. I should be in by about noon.
6/24 1600 Windswept emailed: Yes, making good time now. The barometer is getting pretty high. There could be another chapter in this saga.
6/24 0900 Windswept emailed: Wind from ENE 150-21 knots. I am tracking dead on the finish mark. Still have a 1-2 knot head current as boat speed is consitently well over 7 knots and SOG rarely breaks 6.5. It is about 50 miles to the continental shelf, and I expect I will loose the current there. The NE wind against a head current would explain the truly nasty sea state, not large, just bumpy. I went on deck last night and noticed that I was towing a white buoy. I hauled it in and found that it was my radar reflector. The flag haylard had broken. Now the question is, if I make a pot of coffee, will I wear more of it than I drink?
6/23 1000 Windswept emailed: That song was sung by the Kingston Trio in support of George O'Brien's political campaign promise not to raise fares on the MTA. No one remembers what happened to Mr. O'Brien, but it became a sensational hit for the Kingston Trio. "He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston, he's the man that never returned". Not bad considering I have no internet out here :)! Now, if I could just remember to duck the boom! It got me good last night in the middle of a disaster on deck, which was itself in the middle of an amazing thunder storm, all of which woke me from a sound sleep. The inner forestay broke right where it joins the mast. Lowering the staysail got the lot into the sea which took much effort and harsh language to get back on deck and down the forward hatch, right on top of the last of my dry clothes. The main sail was not set at the time. It was only the rolling of the boat that sent the boom my way. As of this writing, I believe that I am still in the stream as the water temperature is 85F. There are scattered showers. The wind is down to 12-15 knots and is oscillating between NW (boo) and West (yeah). I have full main and genoa set and am heading for the barn, which is still well over 250 miles away. Another two or three days and this saga will be history.
6/23 Finishes
0332 Adventure-us
0507 Topaz
0509 Dauntless
0510 Rocinante
0516 Corvus - this leaves Windswept left to finish.
6/22 1930 Adventure-us called: 13 kts wind. He heard Rocinante lost his
AIS but Topaz said he will pass along traffic info to Rocinante.
2100 Windswept emailed: As you can probably see from the tracker, I
cut back to the staysail again. The SW winds have built back to into the high
thirties and the sea state is pretty grim. Every hour or so I get completely
washed over, which leaves the cockpit full to the brim. The side lockers are not
adequately sealed, so a lot of water gets inside the boat. For the first time in
the 25 years I have owned her, I had water above the floor boards. Not
dangerous, I have great pump capacity,just really freakin annoying. I am about
30 miles from the suggested GS entry point. I think that I may have already
entered it as the water temperature has steadily risen to 83.5 degrees. I am
also starting to see a strong left to right current set. This could also explain
the sea state. I will be watching for thunder storms on the northern edge. Well,
that's my story. Undoubtedly my reward will be a period of persistent light air
directly from Newport :)!
6/22 finishes
0741 Luna
0750 Relentless
0942 Glory
1027 Cepheus
2123 Melantho, slow going out there since the front went through.
2200 Gryphon
6/22 0700 Adventure-us called: Talked with Rocinante and
Topaz. Heard Highlander and Corvus talking
but they couldn't hear us. 19 kts now. Last night was light and on the nose but
very variable.
Melantho emailed: Another frustrating night with frequent calms and foul
current. Finally crawled out of warm water thanks to a light NE wind. Looking
forward to a nice clam chowder. Conditions: Wind SW 12 kn, Seas 2 - 4 ft,
mostly clear Highlander is just 1 nm ahead of us.
Highlander emailed: All is well on Highlander. We were well
positioned for Claudette and only saw a brief gust to 27. No squalls and AB
amazing sunset. We are currently sailing side by side with Melantho
only a few hundred yards from us. Wind is SW around 16 knots surfing down some
big swells left over from Claudette. Fantastic sailing. We chatted with
Corvus this morning and they are well but saw a very different
experience than us with Claudette. Our ETA is late tonight into Newport. Looking
forward to getting home to get the eye checked out. My eye doctor is not overly
concerned due to the slow improvements seen since the injury occurred. From
Highlander. Jon and John.
Corvus text: All is well on Corvus, great sailing this
morning. Corvus established a new speed record yesterday when the
effects of TS Claudette were felt. We hit SOG of 13 kts. As we surfed down a
wave in a 40+ kt gust. Not something we want to repeat lookng forward to getting
in tonight.
Windswept emailed: I lost the solar panel array. It was so violent on
deck that it would have been too dangerous to try and intervene. I did save one
panel which is lying flat on the afterdeck and still seems to be generating
power. The other lies on the sea floor nearly five miles down! The decks were
continuously awash from breaking waves. A good deal found it's way below, partly
through numerous small leaks and partly by my going on deck. It a good
thing I got the second bilge pump running. Everything is wet down below.
Conditions seem to be improving. The waves are getting smaller and more regular.
The top wind gusts are now generally under 30 knots with the steady winds in the
low 20s. I am going to raise the double reefed main soon. I am starting to have
trouble maintaining my target 5 knot average speed over the ground. I have 99
miles to go to the GS entry point. If conditions prevail, I should get there in
the early morning hours tomorrow. And we do this for FUN!
1900 Adventure-us called: talked to Topaz but could only
hear Corvus and Highlander talking but they couldn't
hear Adventure-us. Had a period of 30 kts but now 15 kts,
nice and comfortable. 148 nm to go!
Cepheus emailed: Cepheus is in bound. We fixed the
autopilot (though not calibrated ) lots of hand steering since yesterday at 4am.
Phil the electrician fixed the mast head tricolor and something else but I need
to sleep and can’t totally remember . Life is GOOD! Phil and Coop
Windswept emailed: As you may have figured out, I am once again headed
for the finish line. The storm finally arrived in my neck of the ocean. What had
been SSW winds at 19kts. gusting to 25 became due S at 25 gusting to 35. I am on
port tack with only my #4 jib set on the inner forestay. The sea state is very
confused, with long 9 plus knot sleigh rides cut short by dramatic sudden stops.
I am thinking that the winds will tend to slacken as the storm races on ahead of
me. The plan would then be adding the double reefed main to maintain speed. I
have a school of porpoises playing with the boat. They are much smaller and much
darker than the bottle nose variety that usually pick me up at the continental
shelf. Hopefully, the south westerlies last until I am through the stream,
sometime during the day on Wednesday. Usually a big storm flattens the wind
field for days, but these mid ocean south westerlies had been so well
established that they may survive.
6/21 Finishes: 0859 Kiwi Spirit 2 2nd again!
1201 Gryphon Solo 3rd again!
1452 Alchemy finished first in his class, Class 1.
1541 Kent Racing finished.
1701 Young American finished 1st in his class, Class 2. Following in a
tight race Reveille and Choucas 3 possibly overtaking Reveille.
2101 Choucas 3
2106 Reveille
6/21 0700 Melantho emailed: The Gulf Stream was not kind to us.
Yesterday we stayed on deck all day to deal with the thunderstorms. One squall
hit us with 45 kn, with the usual attendant damage. Lost another mainsail
batten, so now with all my spares used I'm still missing half my battens. The
head also pulled out of the track slug, but that has been repaired. Jib has some
leech damage. Last night we had light conditions, which allowed us to rest. The
sun has risen. Today is another day.
Dragon emailed his last: This edition started in Fog, and perhaps was
destined to end in fog. From about 5 miles out, visibility went from a clear
night sky filled with stars to a struggle to see the top of our mast. Dragon
wrapped up in fine style, spending most of the 12 hours preceding her finish
creaming along in champagne conditions, on a broad reach in smooth seas. The
bonus was piling on miles against our competition who were set up to the west
and had a deeper and slower approach. We finished with some pretty wide gaps on
the chasing boats. Time will tell if they are large enough to offset the
handicap adjustments, but we have our fingers crossed. In the meantime, we are
maybe 2 hours out from Stonington in our delivery home. The boat is stripped and
tidied up, almost fully decommissioned before we even get to the dock. No
breakage or issues in this leg - I wish they were all like that. Until the next
edition - and a huge thanks to Roy and all the other volunteers who make this
special event possible!
Adventure-us called: Bad reception via sat phone. Still in contact with
Topaz. Wind is 17 kts SW, moving right along. Decided to head directly for
Newport vice a waypoint they were headed for. Squalls during the night and now
out of the Gulf Stream.
Windswept emailed: I am thinking that it is about time to turn around,
power up, and head for the finish.
Corvus text: Good morning. Corvus reporting all's well after leaving the
GS. Encountered two squalls in early morning hours one of which had winds of up
to 40 kts. This morning Rocinante reported on radio chat that all's well on
board.
Glory emailed: Glory has been out of radio range for the past 24 hours,
we had been close to topaz and relentless but we got split up in the second
round of thunderstorms. We broke or second reef line again and lost some time
repairing it and now we are slightly east of rhumb in about 1.5 knots of adverse
current. We are both well and spirits are good, inside of 150nm to Newport!
Topaz emailed: Just wanted to update for the blog. Topaz has just exited
the gulf stream, not without a bang! We had some nice squalls right at the end
and got pushed along hitting boatspeeds of 15 knots. A little bit of excitement,
especially in the dark of night. Taking a beat to reorganize the small cabin and
then powering up the sails a bit to keep ahead of claudette
6/21 0504 Dragon finished. 1st to finish on return leg as well as the 1st leg. It's only appropriate; they started in fog and finishing in fog! Although not quite as dense. Kiwi Spirit coming up next followed by Gryphon Solo. By the way Gryphon Solo's reporting again and it's complete track is available. Don't know why it wasn't reporting yet.
6/20 Adventure-us called: Talked with Topaz. Topaz talked to Rocinante. Corvus in the area. All is well. In the Gulf Stream and expect to be out early morning Monday. Triple reefed main moving along. Several squals.
6/20 1500 Highlander emailed: we are abandoning the race and motoring to
find wind and try to be in a better Osiris to deal with Claudette. I also need
to get to a eye doctor ASAP. Still having vision issues. We are currently 283
miles from Newport. Motoring position 372417n 680280w Jon
Kiwi Spirti 2 emailed: Alls well. Once again can a kiwi slay a dragon?
It's possible
Corvus emailed: All aboard Corvus is well, we are in the Gulf Stream
double reefed main and no jib making decent progress. winds are at 251 degrees M
and high twenties to low thirties. Just had a radio chat with Rocinante, all is
fine there. He was attempting to fly rig has solent when a squall hit and his
solent halyad got away
Luna emailed: We checked in with Relentless on VHF this evening and they
are doing well. We had seen Cepheus on AIS a few hours ago but could not reach
them this evening. Luna had an eventful morning. We broached after the main
autopilot failed. Later in the morning we lost the rudder on the hydrovane. But
thankfully Luna actually has three steering methods and we limping along on a
groaning backup autopilot. We're hoping this one makes it to the finish line.
Responding to a 30 knot breeze early this morning We popped a batcar off the
mainsail track at the 3rd reef tack point. The car is now lashed to the mast and
we're stuck at the 3rd reef till the finish. We're hoping it doesn't get too
light as we get closer to newport.
Relentless text: All good to report on Relentless. Luna nearby under 3
reefs due to a broken batton car. Getty chilly this side of the GS.
Windswept emailed: He who fights and runs away gets to fight another day
:)!
Dragon emailed: Home stretch, and Dragon is speeding her way towards
Awesome Town. Today turned out to a bit more tricky than we had planned for.
Around 11 AM, the steady 10 knots of breeze first moved forward, heading us,
then died out and left us struggling for a solid 4 hours. All we could really do
was keep the boat moving and hope was that Kiwi Spirit and Gryphon Solo were
going through the same ridge. But after the whammy we laid down last night, it
was a mood killer. Persistence paid off and the SW breeze filled back in around
3 and got us back up to speed. We crossed over the continental shelf shortly
after, the last major milestone before the finish. We continue to point at the
finish, with 80 miles to cross to get there. The boat and crew are in great
shape, the sun just set on a beautiful day, and we are lucky to be here.
Dragon, rumbling along in the North Atlantic.
Kiwi Spirit 2 emailed: Oooh! Ooh! You sure no how to hurt a guy. We start
racing at midnight
6/20 0700 Highlander emailed: Slow going. Adverse current slowing us up.
Entering GS around 4 this evening. Currently 25-30 TWS with very lumpy seas.
Spoke with a NOAA RESEARCH ship informing us to get west ASAP to avoid the worst
of the storm. We are making every effort to do this. Currently at 3645n 6754w
heading 340 cog doing 6 SOG 7 knots Through the water
Melantho emailed: Rough approaching Gulf Stream. Conditions: Wind SW 28
kn Seas confused 6 - 10 ft.
Windswept emailed: 1 am currently 166 miles from my GS entry point. That
would have me entering the stream about this time tomorrow (Monday AM) and
leaving it about 12 hours later (Monday around 6 PM). This is based on current
speed and conditions. I have plenty of fuel and supplies to loiter out here for
a while. As I recall, this should be a fast mover. I just downloaded fresh
GRIB files. I will look them over. Tough decision!
Adventure-us emailed: Communicating with Corvus, Topaz and
Rocinante.
All OK. Low 20s now, was near 30 earlier. All reefed. Topaz hand steering.
Cross North boundry of Gulf Stream 8am Monday morning.
Young American emaild: VHF update - assume until further notice that our
25w VHF is not receiving or transmitting. the good news that the bolt of
lighting that basted right next to us did not take out the rest of the
electronics.
Luna emailed: Luna had a fine night under two reefs in the mainsail and
jib with 20-25kts. The early morning was more exciting. Wind built to 28-30kts,
we furled the staysail and put in a third reef. After a while the lower mainsail
car parted from the mast track. We have to sail conservatively for the rest of
the race to make sure the extra load on the other cars doesn't cause cascading
failure of the mainsail. A little later the autopilot ram failed causing us to
accidentally heave-to. We recovered and switched to the back-up autopilot (glad
to have it now!). Wind is still in the low 30s and we are doing 7kts toward the
GS entry about 35nm away. At 0650 we connected with Relentless and
Cepheus. All
is fine on board of Relentless, sailing with two reefs in the mainsail and a
small jib. They are just wet! Cepheus reported an autopilot failure that are
trying to sort out. Don't know if it is the ram or the computer. They are
steering by hand. Could not hear from any other boat and none of us could see
each other on AIS.
Gryphon Solo email from his wife: "he contacted me via txt this am that
all is good after some squalls and is about 213 miles to Newport.
I asked him to txt you." Gryphon Solo's tracker stopped working Saturday
at 1420. When he passes position to me I will update his position on the tracker
map.
Dragon emailed: Well, Dragon spent her night snacking on
Kiwis. Good for
vitamin C, or so we have been told. Forecast was spot on, with winds remaining
from south west but building to 25+ after dinner through to about 0200 hours,
then low 20's until dawn. Now they have settled to mid teens. We used the
pressure to haul the mail, blast reaching up the rhumb line at speeds that
occasionally made it as high as 18 knots. It was wet and violent sailing. The
Stream itself was virtually a non event. We reached it around 2245 hours (10:45
pm) and were through it by just after midnight. It was maybe 20 miles deep at
most, and only noticeable because of the 81 degree water temp and the fact that
the sea state calmed down while we were in it. Just before dawn we crossed a
long line of squalls, marked out in front of us by the lightening that would
blossom in first one cell, then another, then the first cell then a third. We
ended up avoiding all but one, which dumped torrential rain on Cole who was
standing watch at the time, and served her up 35 knots for a good 10 minutes.
Now we have mostly clear skies, with mares tails at high altitudes perhaps
warning of Claudette's approach in the next 36 hours. Seas are fairly light. We
expect the breeze to fade down to as low as 5 knots as we go through the day,
remaining SW. Kiwi is west of us, and for her to get east it will mean sailing
deeper angles in a light breeze which won't be fun for them. They have 13 feet
of boat length on is, but we like our chances given our better angle as we sail
right down the rhumb line. The only wild card is Gryphon Solo who's tracker has
not transmitting since yesterday morning. Dragon - on the prowl in the north
Atlantic.
Alchemy emailed: I am through gulfstream. 30-40 knot winds all night. I
have been communicating with Fred on Choucas. lots of lightning in the stream. I
hope his boat didn’t get zapped. If so his electronics could be out.
Highlander emailed: We entered the GS at 10 am seas better. Warm temps
making good time now. Wind SW high 20’s pushing the boat to get way away from
this area where Claudette is expected to pass through area on Monday. Boat and
crew are doing fine. The NOAA ship we saw earlier seems to be shadowing us. They
told us they were heading back to Newport, so we are comforted by that.
6/19 1900 Adventure-us called: Either called or contacted via AIS:
Relentless, Rocinante, Dauntless,
Corvus. 21 kts SW sailing with 2 reefs in the
main and a jib. Current in their favor. Expect to hit the Gulf Stream
Sunday night about 11pm.
Dragon emailed: Doing the rhumb line rumba out here. It's blowing from
the southwest and a sporty 20 to 25 knots so we are blast reaching parallel to
the rhumb line. We are set up a few miles to the west right now, prepared for
the Gulf Stream to sweep us east as we cross it. It's been a sunny day, and very
wet. The sea state has built to 2+ meters and the combination of waves and our
speed that occasionally spikes to mid teens means there is water coming over the
deck regularly. Going on watch means suiting and booting for protection. Dragon
is doing well with two reefs in the main and Solent reaching. The auto pilot is
earning her keep, given a sea state that is throwing the boat around a bunch.
Good spirits as we are finally making good speed towards the finishbin what has
been a slow race up until now. Otherwise, we are keeping an eye on Claudette. We
should hopefully be in the barn by the time she reaches the race course, but
that will still leave a bunch of boats that have to contend with her. Fingers
crossed.
Cepheus emailed: all well. Spoke to Luna and they are good. Winds picked
up to 18-20 this afternoon but declined to 15. Pushing for the GS
6/19 1332 Choucas 3 emailed; Had a radio contact with David from Alchemy
last night. He was in good spirit and doing well. On Choucas, we had some
halyard issues. First right after leaving St George harbour the main halyard
broke at the cleat. I had a spare one so we were able to remove the old one and
install the new one. Second, the Code 0 was stuck at the top of the mast and we
could not lower the sail. So Ernie had to hoist me up the mast so I could cut
the halyard and retrieve the sail. Thankfully, it was relatively calm
mid-morning.
Cepheus emailed: nice sailing out here. Making some good head speed
6/19 Check out the pictures of the start in Bermuda yesterday, video by Cepheus and other pictures from our stay in Bermuda on the St George's Dinghy & Sports Club Facebook page.
6/19 0700 Highlander emailed: All is good on the SV Highlander. Currently
heading directly to our GS waypoint entrance 200 miles away. Wind still NW at 8
knots expecting the SW shift later today. Beautiful moon light sailing last
night. The sun is out with few clouds. Still working out the autopilot issue.
Hope to have this resolved to day by doing a recalibration, all hardware has
been checked and working. The best news is my vision in the right eye is
improving. The human body is doing its healing work. We spoke with Glory, Luna,
dauntless and rocinante in last nights Radio check. All is good with them. Dr.
Richard Rohrer was able to provide me with piece of mind as he explained what he
went through with his own eye problems years ago. Highlander signing off till
next time. Cheers Jon
Adventure-us called: Moving along slowly in 6kts NW. Heard from
Rocinante, Topaz and Corvus. All ok.
Relay heard about Luna and Highlander (eye sight
better, autopilot sort of working). Waiting for the SW to kick in later today.
Expecting 15kts.
Alchemy emailed: We had to stop for a bit as I noticed the rudder bearing
was loose. Fixed it and we’re back at it. David I think we got it for now.
Luckily I caught it early and had spare bolts
Melantho emailed: All okay. Trying to get west to line up for Gulf
Stream. Spoke to Cepheus yesterday and verified my AIS is not working. Have to
wait to figure that one out. Conditions: Winds WNW 12 kn Seas 2-3 ft
Dragon emailed: After fighting our way to the back side of the front on
Thursday night, our nex navigational challenge was dealing with the light and
variable air that was in the high pressure ridge that followed. We never got to
flat calm and saw at least 3 knots and as much as 10. It meant we were able to
keep the boat moving. The original expectation was that we were going to see NW
breeze that we could use to ooch our way towards the west side if the rhumb
line, but it stayed more WNW which meant we ended up on a long VMG tack on the
east side of the line where we were crossing tacks with Kent Racing for a while
in the early hours of Friday morning. Through the day on Friday, there were
multiple instances of large wind shifts, leading us to make tacks to stay on the
favored board and all of which brought us back to, and then a little bit west of
the Rhumb line where we met up with Gryphon Solo. That turned into a drag race
down the rhumb line. Straight line for most of Friday afternoon, then some
tacking with the wind shifts on Friday night. We ended up with some separation
last night, and now they are doing a bit deeper than us and sliding a bit
further west than us. The wind has made an expected shift to the SW as we have
sailed out of the ridge in the past 5 hours and into the new system. We are
expecting this direction for the rest of the race, with a build from the current
15 knots to as much as 25 knots tonight before settling back down on Sunday.
Meanwhile, it's partly cloudy skies and 76 degree air Temps. We are slightly
cracked off and near reaching in a light chop. Nothing wrong with a day of that
kind of sailing!
Gryphon emailed: I can RECEIVE email now as well as SEND, just so u know.
All is fine here. (wordyWalter)
Kiwi Spirit 2 emailed: Alls well. Kiwis also have long beaks it would
appear. But traditionally a beaks length is measured not from its appearance but
from its nostrils. Kiwis nostrils are uniquely at the end. Better for sniffing
out worms and its favorite hu hu grubs.
Windswept emaied: That westerly jaunt was intentional. Hoping that it
sets me up for the SW winds and GS entry point. We will see if it was worth it!
All systems on Windswept are back to full operational status. Have a safe return
return flight.
6/18 2100 Windswept emailed: Quiet windless day until about 16:00. A nice
breeze filled in, from the wrong direction, but better than rolling around. I
got to the bottom of the engine starting issue. Simple fix once found. How
is Jonathan's eye?
Adventure-us called: becalmed most of the day but wind filled in and moving
nicely now. Heard from Corvus, Topaz, Luna,
Relentless, Glory, Rocinate, and
Highlander who is addressing autopilot and eye issues.
Cepheus called: All is well. Forgot to call in again. Was taking a nap.
Clothes are dry and ready for the night.cheers Phil
6/18 1122 Windswept emailed: After an exciting departure that saw class 4
maintain a pretty tight formation, a series of thunder squalls beat me up pretty
badly. My roller furler control line broke during a 30+ knot squall, instantly
deploying my entire genoa. I really didn't think that the mast would take the
load. I lowered the sail, but with that much wind, it kept going into the drink
or trying to take me parasailing. It took about twenty minutes of strenuous
effort to get the sail down and stuffed down the forward hatch. I then rigged
the inner forestay and storm jib, just in time for the the wind to drop to zero!
It is still zero some eight hours later. I have replaced the furler line and
reinstalled the genoa and repaired all of the minor issues. However, I just
discovered that the engine will not start. I have plenty of battery power, so it
is probably a wiring issue in the starter switch. It shouldn't be a big deal to
do a work around. More later.
Kiwi Spirit emailed: Kiwis can't fly or swim. Lay only one egg a year.
Not much fun. But they are tenacious.
Glory emailed: just a quick blurb from Glory All is
well on the ship. You've probably already heard stories from the other boats
about the 47 knot squall that came through yesterday. We put in two reefs and
kept the jib up unfortunately the outboard end of our second reef line chafed
through and so we went through the second squall with a single refin, which felt
a little dicey. Last night was very calm after the storms went through, and we
woke up to very little breeze as well. This let us fix the outhaul issue so
we're ready for the next line of squalls. When the wind filled in we were able
to fly the Spinnaker for a couple of hours, but then the wind shifted to the
northwest and then to the northeast before dying out completely. While we had
the Spinnaker up, there were about 50 squid that were literally flying over the
waves. Three of them unfortunately landed against Glory's deck house, but I
think I was able to rescue all of them. One of them even inked the deck! Right
now the winds seem to have gone back to the west, and we're closehauled trying
to stay close to our stream entry point doing about five knots. I can see a
cluster of boats on AIS to my South and slightly west. Cheers
6/18 0700 Highlander emailed: Roy, Highlander is fine after
going through many squalls since start. Wind is NW we changed to stb tack
heading west. Hope to catch SW later today. I had a incident on the boat
injuring my right eye by a flogging line during a squall. Vision is blurry. No
pain. I need to talk with a eye doctor today to help diagnose what’s going on
and what to do. John looked in the eye and saw blood in the color portion of my
eye. Not the white part. Hoping it’s not serious. We are dealing with it ok Jon
Wind direction is NE not NW. at 3 knots boat is moving 2.3 over ground
Corvus text: Boats calling in at 0700 all nearby and all becalmed.
Corvus, Gryphon, Highlander, Luna,
Adventure-us, Reveille, Topaz,
Rocinante, Melantho, Dauntless. Jonathan
Bixby's eye injury was caused by a flailing sheet during sail change. He is in
touch with his doctor and takin Dramamine to dilate.
Topaz text: Life aboard the Topaz has come to a stanstill.
We survied the weather leaving Bermuda and now we wait in a alm windless sea to
get moving again. No equipment failure, morale is good!
Cepheus emailed: Been a busy and damp night. But right now there is no
better place to be
Adventure-us called: spoke with Reveille; Rocinate;
Melantho; Topaz; Corvus, will fix vang
issues today; Highlander; Dauntless has battery
charging issues but will work on it today; Windswept. all becalmed
now.
Cepheus emailed again: All is well but damp. Wind just returned
Kiwi Spirit 2 emailed: Alls well on KS2 at 8:15am. Number squalls and
calms. Did a 360 on my watch - horizontally of course
Young American emailed: all is well on YA - would like more wind then we
have at the moment but sure that will change.
6/17 1900 Dragon emailed: Heard no one during chat hour, and can't see
anyone on AIS. Blazing start out of St. Georges then down shifted as we passed
Kitchen Shoals. We have been rhumbline for now, but know that will change after
the front comes through. Speaking of which, we reached the forward edge around
1430 hours and I think we are just now seeing the backside with a pretty big
wind shift towards the NW. Up to and while in the front it was blowing 20+ with
gusts to 28, now it is settling a bit to high teens. It's a sloppy 2.0 meter sea
state with waves from both beam and Stern quarter. Lots of weed catching on keel
and rudders. The auto pilot is working overtime. Have a good night!
Cepheus emailed: - all well on Cepheus. Got a bit Damp in a squal but
conditions have just calmed . Cheers Phil and coop
Corvus text: evening report from Radio Chat. Windswept lost
his furler during one of the squalls. Rig is secure. he is setting up innner
forestay for a staysail. Highlander Jon Bixby repporting right eye
injury and is has called his eye doctor of advice. Gryphon has eye
first aid kit and is standing by to see if it is needed.
Alchemey emailed: Beautiful sunset with a full rainbow. Much slower now,
but we’re not complaining after the squalls.
Adventure-us called: they are jib only taking it nice and easy during
squalls, "rocking out". highest single puff they saw was 40kts. about 3 squalls
all very short in duration. they spoke with Reveille; Glory;
Relentless; Corvus has a broken vang, 2 reefs,
partial jib; Luna has 2 reefs in main and staysail, broken jib
top; Rocinate has 3 reefs in and small jib.
6/17 1300 The rain/thunder stroms went north and south of us so we had a sunny
day with winds out of the southwest 16 to 20 kts. All boats, 22, started except for
Rubicon which is in Dock Yard repairing his weak cockpit floor to be able to
sail back maybe next Tuesday. He has a tracker and it will be displayed. Not
long after we finished we heard Bermuda Radio hail Dragon, Gryphon Solo and Kiwi
Spirit 2 that they were heading toward the reaf and to turn east, now.
Dragon actually went over the reef. Sounds like a change to the SIs is
called for in 2023.
Just looked at the radar picture here and they will be running into thunder
squalls in a little while.
Larry Roberts provided his boat Estrella Del Marfor Race Committe, Tom Clarke,
Sheila and Michael Gringley all participated in handling the start.
6/16 Frank Bohlen has sent us his
Note 4 on the Gulf
Stream today.
Ken Campbell zoomed in to give us a weather brief for the trip back at the
beginning of the Skipper's Meeting. Boats got their Gerry Cans filled with
diesel fuel and propane tanks filled thanks to Verna Oatley at Godet & Young and
ice blocks were delivered. Tomorrow is the start at 1100 EDT (Noon here).