Taken from News Report on Monday, July 18, 2005 - 08:03 PM
Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth was the scene of a spectacular party last night – the crew party for the 200+ men and women who were celebrating the completion of their around the world adventure, The Global Challenge 2004/5.
There were mixed emotions for the crew with many feeling slightly lost now the whole adventure is over whilst others were over the moon and delighted to be back on dry land raring to get on with the next challenge, the race having inspired them on.
Prior to the Tiger Tiger soiree, the official prize-giving ceremony took place outside on a stunning, blazing hot summer’s day. Under the colossal and impressive Spinnaker Tower in Gunwharf Quays hundreds of crew, friends, families and well-wishers packed around the stage. The atmosphere was electric as Tracey Clarke and Alistair Hackett took to the stage to welcome the crews, sponsors, press and onlookers to the last prize giving of the Global Challenge 2004/05.
First off were the prizes for Leg 7 – La Rochelle to Portsmouth.
The BP Safety Award was awarded to Matt Riddell, skipper of Samsung who collected the first prize of the evening. The BG 24-hour Record Award was VAIO, who did 203.4 miles in 24 hours; skipper Amedeo Sorrentino collecting the trophy.
Next was the Pindar ‘First to Cross the Leg 7 Start Line’ prize which went to VAIO who win a day’s sail on the Pindar Open 60 for 3 crew.
The Unisys/EMC Media Prize for Best Daily Log was awarded to John Bass, BP Explorer for a very emotive log describing how the crew felt when they missed a mark and had to turn back, effectively ending any real chance they had to take anything higher than 3rd place in the race overall.
The Unisys/EMC Rubber Chicken Award for the most comical/unusual incident was awarded to John Quigley and Challenge Yacht 36 – the prototype 72ft Challenge yacht that made the trip from La Rochelle to Portsmouth with guests of Challenge Business on board. They were jokingly accused of crossing the start line early, missing all the marks of the course, disobeying the sailing instructions and deliberately receiving outside assistance!
Next was the Best Photograph Award sponsored by VAIO which was awarded to a photograph made possible by the change to the course by the Race Committee to include a rounding of the Eddystone Lighthouse, an image of BG SPIRIT taken by SAIC La Jolla.
Next was the First Past Ushant Award sponsored by Carte Blanche, which was awarded to SAIC La Jolla.
Alistair Hackett then presented framed onEdition photographs to the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, Robin Sparshatt, Druscilla Moody of Portsmouth City Council and Mike Davidson of Gunwharf Quays.
Next up were the awards for the first three teams to arrive in Portsmouth after yet another incredibly competitive leg, which ended in a tense run to the line in light winds.
The Third place for Leg Seven prize was presented to VAIO and second place went to Barclays Adventurer.
The Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, Robin Sparshatt then announced the leg winner, BG SPIRIT. Skipper Andy Forbes took the stage to receive the leg trophy for their dream homecoming into Portsmouth and said a few words thanking his team.
When the Leg 7 prizes had been awarded, the ceremony moved into the second stage – the overall prizes for the Global Challenge 2004/05.
The BP Overall Safety Award was awarded to the most consistent performer in the safety arena. Dee Caffari came to collect the prize on behalf of Imagine It. Done. who had received three of the seven leg BP Safety Awards.
The BG Overall 24-hour Record Award was awarded to Team Stelmar, who had the furthest 24 hour run of the entire race - 275.89 nmiles.
Best Overall Photograph Award sponsored by VAIO was presented to Giles Mackay of BP Explorer for a photo taken off Boston of a yacht becalmed, watching a competitor get away: a poignant reminder that light airs can, in some ways, be even more difficult to handle than the heaviest seas.
Next was the Sark Award for the Continual Development of a Global Challenge 2004/5 Crew Member. The prize (Donated by the Sark Tourism Committee) is a one-week holiday for two adults or a family of four on the Isle of Sark in 2006, including flights from the UK and ferry from Guernsey, staying at the luxury hotel Aval du Creux.
The prize for Best Onboard Sail Repairs was announced for the first time in Global Challenge history. Clive Cosby and his sail repair team went up to the stage to receive the custom prize of a section of sails and a custom trophy made from rope and shackles.
Nick MacAndrew, Chairman of Save the Children, presented the Third Place Overall prize for the Global Challenge. The overall third prize was given to BP Explorer who went up to the stage to the sound of their team song.
The Prize for Second Place Overall for Global Challenge was awarded to Barclays Adventurer. Skipper, Stuart Jackson and crew went up the stage to receive their trophy.
Next on the agenda was the presentation of a cheque for £300,000 to official race charity, Save the Children, presented by Sir Chay Blyth CBE BEM, Executive Chairman, Challenge Business to Nick MacAndrew, Chairman of Save the Children.
Sir Chay Blyth then presented Andy Forbes, winning skipper, with two return Upper Class tickets to the USA, sponsored by Virgin Atlantic. The crew were then invited to the stage, again in time to the crowds clapping along to the team song. Andy Forbes was presented with the Princess Royal Trophy, a confetti cannon fired and the loudest cheer of the evening went up as Andy lifted the trophy.
Andy Forbes thanked everyone involved in the race, especially the other crews. He said the race wasn't just about one team, it’s about all twelve, although he thanked his team especially for their journey over the last 10 months. “It’s your life, live it” were his final words.
Three cheers for the winning team marked the end of the ceremony and the teams gathered for a compilation video of the whole race on the big screen!
Overall results of the Global Challenge 2004/05
1 BG SPIRIT, 90 points
2 Barclays Adventurer, 76 points
3 BP Explorer, 74 points
4 Spirit of Sark, 73 points
5 Team SAIC La Jolla, 71 points
6 Team Stelmar, 66 points
7= Me To You, 63 points
7= VAIO, 63 points
9 Samsung, 58 points
10 Imagine It. Done., 56 points
11 Pindar, 54 points
12 Team Save the Children, 41 points
Monday, July 18, 2005
Saturday, July 16, 2005
50o05N 3o57W - Nearly home
It's pretty safe to say things aren't really going to plan on BP Explorer at the moment. We have been through a lot together but this last leg has tested us as a team more than any other. It would be easy to be angry, our mistake could be placed on the shoulders of a few, instead we
carry the burden between us and sharing it does make it easier to handle. It also makes us realise just how lucky we have been throughout this race.
Over the past few days we have had a sample of what Team Stelmar went through in leg two, a hint of what Team Save the Children and Pindar may have felt being at the back of the fleet, lonely, while everyone else races ahead and we will may end up feeling Imagine It. Done.'s sense of loss coming into Cape Town as we too watch our position fall back from one that looked much more certain.
It is difficult not to think about what could have been. We were all looking forward to close quarter racing with the whole fleet within shouting distance. Some of the most memorable moments of the race for us have been the close finishes that we seem to have made our trademark. While it would have been a dream to blast in to Portsmouth and win this leg, we had at least hoped to be there for the bulk of the celebrations. Nothing quite describes the feeling of comradeship, as we are welcomed and welcome in our
friends on the other yachts. And of course seeing our family and friends on ribs and supporters boats coming to greet us for the final time amongst all the pomp and ceremony of the finish day has been in our minds from the start.
But it's not over yet. Some careful analysis of the numbers reveals we still have a chance. If Barclays Adventurer, currently in third position on this leg, come in fourth and Spirit of Sark, currently in ninth place, come in tenth and we cross the finishing line less than 17 hours after them we will maintain our second place overall. It gets a bit more complicated after that but third could still be ours thereafter. Add to that the fact that Barclays Adventurer have a protest hanging over them and as we have witnessed so many times in this race - anything can happen.
Whichever way it goes one thing is for certain. We set out from the beginning to be the best team we could. We know we are capable but hope that we have never been arrogant. We know that we have applied everything we have learnt and done it in a safe and happy environment. I believe we have all
done our best and while absolutely nothing should be taken away from every point earned and the teams that will eventually climb the podium and take their trophies, this adventure has been so much more than a race and that lifts our spirits.
It is rare to be involved in something that is truly greater than the sum of its parts and I feel privileged that I have been involved in a truly excellent example. The Global Challenge with its amazing family of crew volunteers, skippers, leggers and Challenge staff make every stopover some of the best times I've had in my life. The wonderful feeling you get when you know that your friends and family are watching and supporting you every mile and living the adventure with you. And, of course this fantastic BP Explorer team, and its supporters, that have sailed around the world. When we met for the first time back at the start of 2004 none of us could have ever hoped to have shared so much.
We can see the English coastline - we are nearly home. I am desperate to get in but at the same time, deep down, have a feeling of not wanting it to end. Bear with us on the quayside everyone, when we do get there we are going to be very happy to see you and the tears won't be ones of sadness but ones of joy.
carry the burden between us and sharing it does make it easier to handle. It also makes us realise just how lucky we have been throughout this race.
Over the past few days we have had a sample of what Team Stelmar went through in leg two, a hint of what Team Save the Children and Pindar may have felt being at the back of the fleet, lonely, while everyone else races ahead and we will may end up feeling Imagine It. Done.'s sense of loss coming into Cape Town as we too watch our position fall back from one that looked much more certain.
It is difficult not to think about what could have been. We were all looking forward to close quarter racing with the whole fleet within shouting distance. Some of the most memorable moments of the race for us have been the close finishes that we seem to have made our trademark. While it would have been a dream to blast in to Portsmouth and win this leg, we had at least hoped to be there for the bulk of the celebrations. Nothing quite describes the feeling of comradeship, as we are welcomed and welcome in our
friends on the other yachts. And of course seeing our family and friends on ribs and supporters boats coming to greet us for the final time amongst all the pomp and ceremony of the finish day has been in our minds from the start.
But it's not over yet. Some careful analysis of the numbers reveals we still have a chance. If Barclays Adventurer, currently in third position on this leg, come in fourth and Spirit of Sark, currently in ninth place, come in tenth and we cross the finishing line less than 17 hours after them we will maintain our second place overall. It gets a bit more complicated after that but third could still be ours thereafter. Add to that the fact that Barclays Adventurer have a protest hanging over them and as we have witnessed so many times in this race - anything can happen.
Whichever way it goes one thing is for certain. We set out from the beginning to be the best team we could. We know we are capable but hope that we have never been arrogant. We know that we have applied everything we have learnt and done it in a safe and happy environment. I believe we have all
done our best and while absolutely nothing should be taken away from every point earned and the teams that will eventually climb the podium and take their trophies, this adventure has been so much more than a race and that lifts our spirits.
It is rare to be involved in something that is truly greater than the sum of its parts and I feel privileged that I have been involved in a truly excellent example. The Global Challenge with its amazing family of crew volunteers, skippers, leggers and Challenge staff make every stopover some of the best times I've had in my life. The wonderful feeling you get when you know that your friends and family are watching and supporting you every mile and living the adventure with you. And, of course this fantastic BP Explorer team, and its supporters, that have sailed around the world. When we met for the first time back at the start of 2004 none of us could have ever hoped to have shared so much.
We can see the English coastline - we are nearly home. I am desperate to get in but at the same time, deep down, have a feeling of not wanting it to end. Bear with us on the quayside everyone, when we do get there we are going to be very happy to see you and the tears won't be ones of sadness but ones of joy.
Friday, July 15, 2005
48' 03N 006' 08W
Chilled, Balearic-style sunsets and the sparkles of shooting stars provide the overhead lightshow for this slow-paced chapter in the story of the final leg of our journey.
Like a snail on the hard shoulder of a busy motorway, making its way out into the traffic, BP Explorer is at this moment edging along at three knots with a multitude of crossing ships knitting a pattern of bright navigation lights in the blanket of darkness ahead of our bows. The throbbing sounds of their engines carry clearly across the still waters, through a slight, shivering mist.
Yesterday we were accompanied by a small, lazily-mooching shark and a very tired and lonely racing pigeon who circumnavigated the boat a few times before coming in to land. Some of us had hopes that we could help by delivering him home but we clearly weren't going fast enough for his liking; after a swift drink and a few porridge oats he was off, rejuvenated and back on his way home again. We can hardly blame him; it has definitely been a slow 24 hours.
Day three and we are now 41 miles behind the leading yacht, SAIC La Jolla, and 29 miles behind Me To You, in eleventh. If the yachts finish in their current order we would lie fourth or fifth overall so we will hope for something of a reshuffle at the front to improve things. Conditions have not given us any opportunity to make up lost ground but we are taking comfort from a number of angles; on the material side we have a delicious and bountiful diet of fresh food and beautiful weather; and we occupy our minds with a review of the highs which have punctuated our race so far - too many to mention in one sitting! Finally we have each other. In ten months we have never had more than the briefest of cross words on BP Explorer, we operate in a supportive environment and if someone is feeling down they always have
another to talk to. When asked how he was feeling today, Stephen commented: 'Actually, I feel fine - I have been very touched and moved by how everyone has helped each other in this difficult situation. That is something very special.'
As BP Explorer inches towards dawn, we have drawn level with the Ile de Sein, which is around 25 miles south of Ile D'Ouessant, due east of the next waypoint. The route for the leg is constantly under review by the Race Office back in Southampton, as they attempt to ensure that the leading boats finish around lunchtime on Saturday. The latest change to the course has seen us redirected to Devon's Eddystone Light which will no doubt be a sight for sore eyes and a pretty stirring landmark after so long from home. In
response to a rather Eeyore-ish email which I sent back to Somerset yesterday, my best mate Jo reminded me of just how significant spotting land off the West Country will be, writing: 'P.S. And remember; you have just sailed around the world! Everyone is very proud of BP Explorer.' She is right, we should all feel pretty pleased about this one, it is an adventure that we will never forget.
Like a snail on the hard shoulder of a busy motorway, making its way out into the traffic, BP Explorer is at this moment edging along at three knots with a multitude of crossing ships knitting a pattern of bright navigation lights in the blanket of darkness ahead of our bows. The throbbing sounds of their engines carry clearly across the still waters, through a slight, shivering mist.
Yesterday we were accompanied by a small, lazily-mooching shark and a very tired and lonely racing pigeon who circumnavigated the boat a few times before coming in to land. Some of us had hopes that we could help by delivering him home but we clearly weren't going fast enough for his liking; after a swift drink and a few porridge oats he was off, rejuvenated and back on his way home again. We can hardly blame him; it has definitely been a slow 24 hours.
Day three and we are now 41 miles behind the leading yacht, SAIC La Jolla, and 29 miles behind Me To You, in eleventh. If the yachts finish in their current order we would lie fourth or fifth overall so we will hope for something of a reshuffle at the front to improve things. Conditions have not given us any opportunity to make up lost ground but we are taking comfort from a number of angles; on the material side we have a delicious and bountiful diet of fresh food and beautiful weather; and we occupy our minds with a review of the highs which have punctuated our race so far - too many to mention in one sitting! Finally we have each other. In ten months we have never had more than the briefest of cross words on BP Explorer, we operate in a supportive environment and if someone is feeling down they always have
another to talk to. When asked how he was feeling today, Stephen commented: 'Actually, I feel fine - I have been very touched and moved by how everyone has helped each other in this difficult situation. That is something very special.'
As BP Explorer inches towards dawn, we have drawn level with the Ile de Sein, which is around 25 miles south of Ile D'Ouessant, due east of the next waypoint. The route for the leg is constantly under review by the Race Office back in Southampton, as they attempt to ensure that the leading boats finish around lunchtime on Saturday. The latest change to the course has seen us redirected to Devon's Eddystone Light which will no doubt be a sight for sore eyes and a pretty stirring landmark after so long from home. In
response to a rather Eeyore-ish email which I sent back to Somerset yesterday, my best mate Jo reminded me of just how significant spotting land off the West Country will be, writing: 'P.S. And remember; you have just sailed around the world! Everyone is very proud of BP Explorer.' She is right, we should all feel pretty pleased about this one, it is an adventure that we will never forget.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
46 39n 03 16w
Well something really rather cruel has happened to our yacht. Yesterday while leaving La Rochelle we made a silly mistake. We passed the wrong side of a mark of the course (a buoy) and did not realise this error until we had sailed some 15 miles west. Rather than be disqualified (the penalty for missing a mark) we had to return to the buoy and pass the correct side of it.
Imagine the scene as this news was revealed to the on watch. Only hours into the final leg, powering west, the thrill of the chase to Portsmouth and the finish in our imaginations. We had to turn away from our competitors, hoist a kite, and sail backwards, until eventually they disappeared over the horizon. The disappointment was intense, there were tears for some, and many felt their dreams slipping away too.
By the time we had rounded the mark and returned to our original position we were 30 miles behind the leaders. I can only imagine the atmosphere onboard the boats in 3rd and 4th overall position - Spirit of Sark and Barclays Adventurer and indeed BG SPIRIT in 1st they just won't be able to believe it.
As for us we are racing to catch up. This team has been tested in so many ways in the latter stages of this race. I wrote once in the Atlantic 'tread softly for you tread on my dreams' but yacht racing cares nothing for this. It truly can be a bloody business. The mark of a person, or a team, is how they react in the bad times not the triumphs. Each person onboard carries around a sort of leaden feeling of slight sadness somewhere in their stomachs, but we are determined not to be defeated by this, not to let this one silly mistake define our campaign.
There are light winds until Portsmouth and even some calms. There may be the opportunity that the fleet ahead will park up and we will catch them. Such things have occurred before during the race and may occur during this leg. There is nothing we can do but hope for this and race the boat as hard as we can in anticipation.
The team has been fantastic; people have put aside their disappointment and seek to support each other. Before all this took place we had a team-build on a beach in La Rochelle. One of our leg objectives was to analyse our motives and mindset during each hour on watch. Were we in the right mindset to bring about a positive result, were we 'in the moment' focused on the task at hand? We take the business of mental preparation seriously on BP Explorer. Well it was never more needed than now. Everybody is digging deep to be the best they can be. To be the kind of people that family, friends and supporters will feel proud of. People that can overcome setback and be resolute, acting with determination and integrity.
Imagine the scene as this news was revealed to the on watch. Only hours into the final leg, powering west, the thrill of the chase to Portsmouth and the finish in our imaginations. We had to turn away from our competitors, hoist a kite, and sail backwards, until eventually they disappeared over the horizon. The disappointment was intense, there were tears for some, and many felt their dreams slipping away too.
By the time we had rounded the mark and returned to our original position we were 30 miles behind the leaders. I can only imagine the atmosphere onboard the boats in 3rd and 4th overall position - Spirit of Sark and Barclays Adventurer and indeed BG SPIRIT in 1st they just won't be able to believe it.
As for us we are racing to catch up. This team has been tested in so many ways in the latter stages of this race. I wrote once in the Atlantic 'tread softly for you tread on my dreams' but yacht racing cares nothing for this. It truly can be a bloody business. The mark of a person, or a team, is how they react in the bad times not the triumphs. Each person onboard carries around a sort of leaden feeling of slight sadness somewhere in their stomachs, but we are determined not to be defeated by this, not to let this one silly mistake define our campaign.
There are light winds until Portsmouth and even some calms. There may be the opportunity that the fleet ahead will park up and we will catch them. Such things have occurred before during the race and may occur during this leg. There is nothing we can do but hope for this and race the boat as hard as we can in anticipation.
The team has been fantastic; people have put aside their disappointment and seek to support each other. Before all this took place we had a team-build on a beach in La Rochelle. One of our leg objectives was to analyse our motives and mindset during each hour on watch. Were we in the right mindset to bring about a positive result, were we 'in the moment' focused on the task at hand? We take the business of mental preparation seriously on BP Explorer. Well it was never more needed than now. Everybody is digging deep to be the best they can be. To be the kind of people that family, friends and supporters will feel proud of. People that can overcome setback and be resolute, acting with determination and integrity.
Monday, July 4, 2005
46o09N 01o14W; La Rochelle
The final night of Leg Six and BP Explorer trembles as she skims off the backs of the waves and hurls herself forwards. She is spinning down the white horses, lifting her skirts under the boiling crests as we stretch our necks out to catch Me To You, less than a mile ahead. Two plumes of churning bow wave to port and starboard are lit up over the inky-black sea like molten, white wings. Lightning illuminates our faces in the gloaming, flashing over and over in brilliant streaks touching the coast of France. Our hull speed tops 19 knots with the next big surf and the trimmer fights to keep control of the kite.
'LET'S GET IT DOWN - NOOOW!' David's voice is urgent and edgy. We have held on long enough.
Troops gather in the cockpit, hanging on to the guy and ready for the call. 'SPIKE IT!'
'IT'S GONE!' cry the foredeck and down the halyard comes, metre upon metre of white nylon being heaved over the boom and bundled down below.
'Call trim on the yankee!'
In it comes, the boat powers up and we surge away. Then the yankee comes over - we are now poling out the No.1 and the speeds climb even higher.
'22.6 knots!!! Wooohoooo! We're gaining on them!' The helmsmen's arms have almost given up. A week ago support bandages came out as one by one they strained muscles with the effort of keeping BP Explorer heading straight as an arrow for La Rochelle through the storming kite runs. Not long now! We are eating up the miles, averaging 12 knots and we should be there by morning. We just have to keep hold of the reins and catch the yacht in front.
In the small hours the winds increase, touching gale force. Our wings of white water rise up through a huge surf, lifting above the toerails and hitting us full in the face. It is like riding an amusement park log plume - only there is nothing that is going to slow us down here!
Dawn breaks and Me To You are right next to us, just a couple of metres behind. Whilst we have the flanker up again, they are carrying their 1.5oz race kite. It looks like we also should have a lighter kite as the wind drops, but there is no time to change now. We are just minutes from the mark and we hold off Me To You, covering their every move. At the mark, we are neck and neck, but as we harden up on the breeze and drop the kite, we pull away, powering on towards the finish line, cheered by our supporters in a RIB. Second overall and with everything to play for - Leg Seven, bring it on!
'LET'S GET IT DOWN - NOOOW!' David's voice is urgent and edgy. We have held on long enough.
Troops gather in the cockpit, hanging on to the guy and ready for the call. 'SPIKE IT!'
'IT'S GONE!' cry the foredeck and down the halyard comes, metre upon metre of white nylon being heaved over the boom and bundled down below.
'Call trim on the yankee!'
In it comes, the boat powers up and we surge away. Then the yankee comes over - we are now poling out the No.1 and the speeds climb even higher.
'22.6 knots!!! Wooohoooo! We're gaining on them!' The helmsmen's arms have almost given up. A week ago support bandages came out as one by one they strained muscles with the effort of keeping BP Explorer heading straight as an arrow for La Rochelle through the storming kite runs. Not long now! We are eating up the miles, averaging 12 knots and we should be there by morning. We just have to keep hold of the reins and catch the yacht in front.
In the small hours the winds increase, touching gale force. Our wings of white water rise up through a huge surf, lifting above the toerails and hitting us full in the face. It is like riding an amusement park log plume - only there is nothing that is going to slow us down here!
Dawn breaks and Me To You are right next to us, just a couple of metres behind. Whilst we have the flanker up again, they are carrying their 1.5oz race kite. It looks like we also should have a lighter kite as the wind drops, but there is no time to change now. We are just minutes from the mark and we hold off Me To You, covering their every move. At the mark, we are neck and neck, but as we harden up on the breeze and drop the kite, we pull away, powering on towards the finish line, cheered by our supporters in a RIB. Second overall and with everything to play for - Leg Seven, bring it on!
Sunday, July 3, 2005
46' 00N 50' 51W
Well, the situation was already pretty exciting, but it is now a building crescendo leading up to possibly the most exciting leg finish to date. Hence the fact that David is beavering away on deck and unable to fill you in on events today.
Up until now we were steadily trying to work our way up from fifth towards the podium, with a clear order of yachts to be overtaken, beginning with a consolidation of our sporadic and marginal lead over BG SPIRIT, followed by Me to You, Imagine It. Done and - if something happened to reduce their 30-mile lead - Team Stelmar. Now, all of these yachts, bar Team Stelmar, are pretty much level. It is hard to tell who is actually in front - and Team Stelmar themselves are less than ten miles away. I have a feeling that the last 24 hours are going to exhausting stuff.
We do have a list of priorities, though. Obviously the most important thing is to come ahead of BG SPIRIT, who are currently three points in front of us in the overall race. If we manage to overtake them, the more places between us the better. And it is the same with Spirit of Sark. Not only do we gain one more point for every place, but that puts one more point between ourselves and one of our two main adversaries; an important detail when it comes to the final leg.
Beyond a small patch of Biscay bubbling with literally hundreds of leaping dolphins, we could see Imagine It. Done. and Me To You when I headed for bed six hours ago - now, no doubt, there are probably even more yellow sails in view. There are 194 miles to go and the wind has not, as predicted, died, but has kept powering us straight to the mark, which means that we should arrive around lunchtime tomorrow. If there are any hold-ups, this could prove very frustrating. The port is tidal and involves a huge lock gate - tomorrow this opens between 1300 and 1530 GMT - miss it and we could have to spend an agonising ten hours outside it waiting for our beer!
Up until now we were steadily trying to work our way up from fifth towards the podium, with a clear order of yachts to be overtaken, beginning with a consolidation of our sporadic and marginal lead over BG SPIRIT, followed by Me to You, Imagine It. Done and - if something happened to reduce their 30-mile lead - Team Stelmar. Now, all of these yachts, bar Team Stelmar, are pretty much level. It is hard to tell who is actually in front - and Team Stelmar themselves are less than ten miles away. I have a feeling that the last 24 hours are going to exhausting stuff.
We do have a list of priorities, though. Obviously the most important thing is to come ahead of BG SPIRIT, who are currently three points in front of us in the overall race. If we manage to overtake them, the more places between us the better. And it is the same with Spirit of Sark. Not only do we gain one more point for every place, but that puts one more point between ourselves and one of our two main adversaries; an important detail when it comes to the final leg.
Beyond a small patch of Biscay bubbling with literally hundreds of leaping dolphins, we could see Imagine It. Done. and Me To You when I headed for bed six hours ago - now, no doubt, there are probably even more yellow sails in view. There are 194 miles to go and the wind has not, as predicted, died, but has kept powering us straight to the mark, which means that we should arrive around lunchtime tomorrow. If there are any hold-ups, this could prove very frustrating. The port is tidal and involves a huge lock gate - tomorrow this opens between 1300 and 1530 GMT - miss it and we could have to spend an agonising ten hours outside it waiting for our beer!
Saturday, July 2, 2005
47' 27N 14' 28W
For most of the race we have written our logs from the aft computer but then we moved to the navigators table so as to avoid waking those trying to sleep in the aft accommadation - the light from the screen and the annoying clickty-click of the keyboard can be a pain. Now we need total focus from Stephen and he sits glued to the navigation computers making sure we are on course every five minutes or so. So once again I'm at the back trying to type as softly as I can, freezing every time I hear someone turn in their bunks. I can hear Holger and Olly talking through the open hatch above me, they probably don't know I'm here. Holger's concerned that some of the other boats are gaining on us. The position report as we came on watch showed some slight gains across the fleet - damn! We are still holding fourth place though.
Me To You are under four miles ahead and as I write this I can hear Naomi calling back to the helm that she can see their lights on the horizon.
We have been sailing well and putting miles, and bits of miles, between us and those behind and we've been creeping up on Me To You in third place. But, with a bad position report comes that nagging doubt that maybe some of those around us have a little more wind or a kinder sea state and that maybe they could steal a position back. Barclays Adventurer and BG SPIRIT are less than three miles behind us, which is nothing. We can track Barclays Adventurer on the radar and they are a good measure of how we are doing but BG SPIRIT are about 35 miles to the north and potentially are getting different conditions. It's a testing time.
This has been a strange leg in so many ways. Just when you think you have it all figured out this ocean racing lark twists you round and you have to face new situations. One could say that in terms of sailing these boats we are hardly amateurs anymore but it seems that on this leg we have seen more things to test our confidence than any other. Spinnakers twisting in strange ways as they go up and then again getting caught on new parts of the rigging as they come down. Not errors necessarily but just bad luck.
We have also made some mistakes that seem really amateurish, kites attached wrongly, halyards twisted but perhaps now we are just being hypercritical. We have managed to sort them all out of course well before they have caused a serious problems but it does make you think all the time. Have we checked everything? have we done this so many times that we are becoming complacent? The end result is that we may be performing some procedures slower than we have done in the past. David seems to think so and is encouraging us to speed up a bit. The good news is that we haven't trashed anything, we are still a very safe crew and we have been regularly sailing faster than the rest of the fleet but as the competition heats up and days left to prove ourselves get less, everything needs to be spot on. When it comes to boat lengths at the finish there is nothing that can go slower and nothing that can go wrong. Maybe we are being hypercritical but with everything else being equal it could be the one thing that gets us the result.
Me To You are under four miles ahead and as I write this I can hear Naomi calling back to the helm that she can see their lights on the horizon.
We have been sailing well and putting miles, and bits of miles, between us and those behind and we've been creeping up on Me To You in third place. But, with a bad position report comes that nagging doubt that maybe some of those around us have a little more wind or a kinder sea state and that maybe they could steal a position back. Barclays Adventurer and BG SPIRIT are less than three miles behind us, which is nothing. We can track Barclays Adventurer on the radar and they are a good measure of how we are doing but BG SPIRIT are about 35 miles to the north and potentially are getting different conditions. It's a testing time.
This has been a strange leg in so many ways. Just when you think you have it all figured out this ocean racing lark twists you round and you have to face new situations. One could say that in terms of sailing these boats we are hardly amateurs anymore but it seems that on this leg we have seen more things to test our confidence than any other. Spinnakers twisting in strange ways as they go up and then again getting caught on new parts of the rigging as they come down. Not errors necessarily but just bad luck.
We have also made some mistakes that seem really amateurish, kites attached wrongly, halyards twisted but perhaps now we are just being hypercritical. We have managed to sort them all out of course well before they have caused a serious problems but it does make you think all the time. Have we checked everything? have we done this so many times that we are becoming complacent? The end result is that we may be performing some procedures slower than we have done in the past. David seems to think so and is encouraging us to speed up a bit. The good news is that we haven't trashed anything, we are still a very safe crew and we have been regularly sailing faster than the rest of the fleet but as the competition heats up and days left to prove ourselves get less, everything needs to be spot on. When it comes to boat lengths at the finish there is nothing that can go slower and nothing that can go wrong. Maybe we are being hypercritical but with everything else being equal it could be the one thing that gets us the result.
Friday, July 1, 2005
47o14N 19o05W
BP Explorer accelerates down the back of another breaking Atlantic roller, up to her gunwhales in a white, roaring din of water. Shuddering from stem to stern like the Memphis Bell taking off, she tops 20 knots and from the snakepit we turn to the helm, pumping our arms in an 'L' against the early-morning sky, mimicking a train driver sounding his whistle. Grins stretch from ear to ear; the speed is exhilarating and addictive.
It is also a beautiful sight. Under cover of darkness and a shower of sharp stars, the phosphorescence weaved and span in flashing skeins through our wake like fairylights. A liquid-bright sickle moon yo-yo'd in and out of sight between the silhouetted luffs of the headsails, and a trio of dolphins - two adults and a tiny calf - urged us on towards the pink dawn which broke above a bed of silver-blue stratus cloud capping the horizon.
Everywhere was movement and a drift of cobweb-like clouds scudding high in the sky seemed to mirror the motion of the spray smoking up the backs of the grey waves. The boat is alive with noise - as we gallop onwards towards France, we screw up into the surf, and the kicker being released gives out a prehistoric groan as the boom is freed from beneath the weight of tonnes of rushing water.
Yesterday lunchtime saw us being accompanied to starboard by a lone whale (either Fin or Sei), but it seemed that we were even too fast for him. One moment putting in a dramatic breach on the beam, the next the fishy aroma from his blowhole told us that he was astern - and then, after spouting several times, he was gone.
As evening approached and the wind dropped slightly, it seemed like the perfect time to return to more mundane tasks and get down to some extreme ironing. "The things they ask me to do on mother watch," grumbled John Bass, appearing from the companionway, crumpled clothes in hand. Having made it safely to the foredeck, he set up a board and iron which we had stumbled upon in Major's cabin, and set to work. He had clearly forgotten to plug the iron in though, as it soon disappeared over the side with the next big wave - luckily not before we had committed the memory to camera.
After David's familiar bellow of 'SPIKE IT! Get it down now!' in the small hours, we are back from our edgy kite ride through the night and safe in the realm of poled-out No.1 again - the flanker preserved to fight another day.
This is a relief for the sail-repair team as sail-makers Hoods will not be servicing the fleet in La Rochelle and both a visit to another sail loft and the hire of sewing machines are against the race regulations. So it is heads up, engine whistles blasting and keep hunting down those leaders - BG SPIRIT, SAIC La Jolla and Barclays Adventurer for now behind us, our next targets are Me To You and with that a return to contending for a finish on the podium.
It is also a beautiful sight. Under cover of darkness and a shower of sharp stars, the phosphorescence weaved and span in flashing skeins through our wake like fairylights. A liquid-bright sickle moon yo-yo'd in and out of sight between the silhouetted luffs of the headsails, and a trio of dolphins - two adults and a tiny calf - urged us on towards the pink dawn which broke above a bed of silver-blue stratus cloud capping the horizon.
Everywhere was movement and a drift of cobweb-like clouds scudding high in the sky seemed to mirror the motion of the spray smoking up the backs of the grey waves. The boat is alive with noise - as we gallop onwards towards France, we screw up into the surf, and the kicker being released gives out a prehistoric groan as the boom is freed from beneath the weight of tonnes of rushing water.
Yesterday lunchtime saw us being accompanied to starboard by a lone whale (either Fin or Sei), but it seemed that we were even too fast for him. One moment putting in a dramatic breach on the beam, the next the fishy aroma from his blowhole told us that he was astern - and then, after spouting several times, he was gone.
As evening approached and the wind dropped slightly, it seemed like the perfect time to return to more mundane tasks and get down to some extreme ironing. "The things they ask me to do on mother watch," grumbled John Bass, appearing from the companionway, crumpled clothes in hand. Having made it safely to the foredeck, he set up a board and iron which we had stumbled upon in Major's cabin, and set to work. He had clearly forgotten to plug the iron in though, as it soon disappeared over the side with the next big wave - luckily not before we had committed the memory to camera.
After David's familiar bellow of 'SPIKE IT! Get it down now!' in the small hours, we are back from our edgy kite ride through the night and safe in the realm of poled-out No.1 again - the flanker preserved to fight another day.
This is a relief for the sail-repair team as sail-makers Hoods will not be servicing the fleet in La Rochelle and both a visit to another sail loft and the hire of sewing machines are against the race regulations. So it is heads up, engine whistles blasting and keep hunting down those leaders - BG SPIRIT, SAIC La Jolla and Barclays Adventurer for now behind us, our next targets are Me To You and with that a return to contending for a finish on the podium.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
46' 52N 26' 52W
Tactically we have become one of the southerly boats - not what we planned. Tuesday night in varied conditions we all slid north, but most of the boats did some more spectacular sliding than us! There is 48 hours of strong downwind sailing and it remains to be seen which boat gets the better wind/sea combination. For the time being all seems well.
We are rolling along downwind with the No1 yankee poled out and full main. The wind is almost dead astern and every hour sees around 11miles knocked of the total distance to La Rochelle - easy miles.
This point of sail is a pleasure for a skipper, because its lowrisk and relatively high reward in terms of distance sailed. The poled out no1 means you roll a bit, but it is what is known as 'bullet proof'' i.e. you can have quite high deviations from the helmsman but not break anything. The onlydisadvantage is that the rolls dip the boom into the water. When this occurs it is forced upwards and this creates a lot of strain on the rig. Two people have to sit in the snake pit area holding onto ropes and release them each time the boom takes a hit. This is easy stuff though. The net result is that I am relaxed, so are the crew. Our only fear is that some 'uber crew' are able to fly the kite in conditions that we are not and are powering away from us.
All this is a far cry from the conditions this afternoon when we dropped the kite (flanker). The trouble with downwind sailing in 30kts of breeze is thatit is very fast - right up until the point when you loose control of theboat and either break one of the crew or the spinnaker. As the boat edges up to the outside of the 'control envelope' there is a lot of nervy conversation between helm, skipper and trimmer.
''Are you in control or is the boat in control of you?'' is the question I ask the helms. Often toward the end I will either be on the helm or standing by the helmsman's side as we surf and plough down the back of waves at speeds of up to 19kts. The crew will have been looking at the numbers as well as I have, and they know by the feel of the boat that it's all starting to get edgy. They will be anxious to get the kite down too - they just don't want to break it - no way do we want to have to hand stitch a spinnaker together at this stage of the game. Plus pulling down a flanker in a heavily rolling boat is frightening. Last leg a crewman on Team Stelmar was injured when he became entangled in a rope. We have had crew dragged towards the rail, only coming up short by their safety harnesses.
This afternoon was no exception, the wind rose and with it the seas and in the end we got caught by two big swells that pushed the boat into two massive rolls. Holger, the helm at the time, kept his nerve and held the boat on course and the rest of us shouted and cursed and hauled the flanker down out of the sky and into the cockpit. Once we had poled out the no1 it was all smiles again, the relief causes a nice positive feeling to flood around the boat.
''We did it - the flanker lives!'' The kettle goes on, the helms relax and we look forward to some easy miles.
Sitting on the back of the boat some time later I stared at the wake boiling and churning astern, as if released from some unseen lock gate. Many images of the trip passed through my mind and the noise of the rushing water smoothed away some creases. The volume made conversation difficult - it sounded to me as if an infinite number of crisp autumn leaves had left their branches in unison and were passing through a forest in a sustained russssshhhhh.
We are rolling along downwind with the No1 yankee poled out and full main. The wind is almost dead astern and every hour sees around 11miles knocked of the total distance to La Rochelle - easy miles.
This point of sail is a pleasure for a skipper, because its lowrisk and relatively high reward in terms of distance sailed. The poled out no1 means you roll a bit, but it is what is known as 'bullet proof'' i.e. you can have quite high deviations from the helmsman but not break anything. The onlydisadvantage is that the rolls dip the boom into the water. When this occurs it is forced upwards and this creates a lot of strain on the rig. Two people have to sit in the snake pit area holding onto ropes and release them each time the boom takes a hit. This is easy stuff though. The net result is that I am relaxed, so are the crew. Our only fear is that some 'uber crew' are able to fly the kite in conditions that we are not and are powering away from us.
All this is a far cry from the conditions this afternoon when we dropped the kite (flanker). The trouble with downwind sailing in 30kts of breeze is thatit is very fast - right up until the point when you loose control of theboat and either break one of the crew or the spinnaker. As the boat edges up to the outside of the 'control envelope' there is a lot of nervy conversation between helm, skipper and trimmer.
''Are you in control or is the boat in control of you?'' is the question I ask the helms. Often toward the end I will either be on the helm or standing by the helmsman's side as we surf and plough down the back of waves at speeds of up to 19kts. The crew will have been looking at the numbers as well as I have, and they know by the feel of the boat that it's all starting to get edgy. They will be anxious to get the kite down too - they just don't want to break it - no way do we want to have to hand stitch a spinnaker together at this stage of the game. Plus pulling down a flanker in a heavily rolling boat is frightening. Last leg a crewman on Team Stelmar was injured when he became entangled in a rope. We have had crew dragged towards the rail, only coming up short by their safety harnesses.
This afternoon was no exception, the wind rose and with it the seas and in the end we got caught by two big swells that pushed the boat into two massive rolls. Holger, the helm at the time, kept his nerve and held the boat on course and the rest of us shouted and cursed and hauled the flanker down out of the sky and into the cockpit. Once we had poled out the no1 it was all smiles again, the relief causes a nice positive feeling to flood around the boat.
''We did it - the flanker lives!'' The kettle goes on, the helms relax and we look forward to some easy miles.
Sitting on the back of the boat some time later I stared at the wake boiling and churning astern, as if released from some unseen lock gate. Many images of the trip passed through my mind and the noise of the rushing water smoothed away some creases. The volume made conversation difficult - it sounded to me as if an infinite number of crisp autumn leaves had left their branches in unison and were passing through a forest in a sustained russssshhhhh.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
46o33N 31o59W
The last 24 hours have been reminiscent of the southern ocean. The yellow headsails have been up and BP Explorer has assumed the heeled at 28 degrees position. The skies have been grey and we have been pestered by a continuous drizzle. It is nothing like as cold as legs two and five but we have been in full foulies with heads ducked not to shield us from driving spray but a face tickling rain. This is David's favourite type of sailing, no kites to worry about but zooming at 11-12 knots towards our destination. For the crew it's not as comfortable both on deck and below but we are happy to be moving quickly towards La Rochelle.
We have been increasing our lead on BG SPIRIT and Spirit of Sark which is a good thing but we still have a number of yachts to get past before we can claim to be in the lead pack. Ahead of us are Barclays Adventurer - we can see them on the horizon, Me To You, Imagine it. Done, Team Stelmar then in the lead and four points behind us over all are SAIC La Jolla. We've still got a lot of work to do and have to focus on every manoeuvre as mistakes at this stage could prove very costly.
It is now less than three weeks until the end of the race and inevitably talk on the rail is not of what we'll be doing in La Rochelle , as would be the norm, but what we are going to do when it's all over. Those that have rented their houses out may not be able to move in right away and so will be staying with friends and family. Some will be returning to their old jobs but others need to start looking for work and the aft computer is occupied most of the time as crew type their CV's in their off watch and try to arrange interviews. For some of us this race has lead us to seek a totally new direction. Another adventure, starting a business that we perhaps lacked the confidence to start before or just a different career path. There is a genuine buzz of excitement as to what the future holds but we can't let it distract us from the immediate future, trimming, the next sail change the next spinnaker hoist.
Reports from the letters page indicate we seem to have some new readers including professional letter writer Ken Erskine. It's always good to know we are exciting so much interest.
We have been increasing our lead on BG SPIRIT and Spirit of Sark which is a good thing but we still have a number of yachts to get past before we can claim to be in the lead pack. Ahead of us are Barclays Adventurer - we can see them on the horizon, Me To You, Imagine it. Done, Team Stelmar then in the lead and four points behind us over all are SAIC La Jolla. We've still got a lot of work to do and have to focus on every manoeuvre as mistakes at this stage could prove very costly.
It is now less than three weeks until the end of the race and inevitably talk on the rail is not of what we'll be doing in La Rochelle , as would be the norm, but what we are going to do when it's all over. Those that have rented their houses out may not be able to move in right away and so will be staying with friends and family. Some will be returning to their old jobs but others need to start looking for work and the aft computer is occupied most of the time as crew type their CV's in their off watch and try to arrange interviews. For some of us this race has lead us to seek a totally new direction. Another adventure, starting a business that we perhaps lacked the confidence to start before or just a different career path. There is a genuine buzz of excitement as to what the future holds but we can't let it distract us from the immediate future, trimming, the next sail change the next spinnaker hoist.
Reports from the letters page indicate we seem to have some new readers including professional letter writer Ken Erskine. It's always good to know we are exciting so much interest.
Monday, June 27, 2005
45o36N 37o14W
So much for being happy with our northerly position! Confident predictions about the wind favouring our route and the reality of the North-Atlantic weather are making uneasy bedfellows right now. After our storming battle with VAIO, Pindar and Spirit of Sark on Sunday evening which saw us coming off well and speeding towards the half-way point, day dawned - or rather reluctantly eased into a grey murk - with a steady, penetrating rain and a sail-plan of yankee 1, staysail and full main. The soaking spinnakers packed away for the time being, we spent a damp Monday struggling in rapidly-changing conditions to make the best of unhelpful winds, whilst those yachts further to the south did not slow down, as we had precipitously predicted, but sped up and left us behind. This is thanks to a repeat performance of last week's trick - a low, which was expected to develop north of us, has instead done so right above our heads, bringing us fickle conditions rather than a steady northerly wind.
Even within our own misty horizon conditions varied wildly during the day. In the space of the afternoon watch we were variously becalmed, ghosting along with a kite up, re-hoisting headsails and then banging in two reefs. Just three miles or so away on the starboard beam, we could make out another yacht, possibly Team Save the Children, reaching along under a spinnaker! Though sailing the same course as us, they might as well have been in an entirely different patch of ocean as we were meanwhile hard over and hiked out on the rail. No surprise then that within the six-hour period distances covered varied greatly across the fleet. Barclays Adventurer, again sailing the same course as BP Explorer, put nine more miles than us under their belts, Imagine it. Done. 14.
As I type this the scheds have just arrived to give us the damage report. The formerly southerly boats (who have now come north), have indeed prospered, Me To You, for example, being almost 18 miles ahead. Although we do not yet have positions for Barclays Adventurer and SAIC La Jolla, it seems likely that they too will be ahead, which would put us in seventh.
This might not be news to warm the cockles of our hearts as we race through the dark, wet night, but every cloud does have a silver lining - in this case it comes in the shape of our main targets Spirit of Sark and BG SPIRIT. We have increased our lead over the former to almost ten miles and BG SPIRIT is finally in our wake rather than in front - by a distance of 2.6 miles. For now it seems a sensible plan to focus on maintaining this status quo and refrain from any other pronouncements about the wind and weather!
Even within our own misty horizon conditions varied wildly during the day. In the space of the afternoon watch we were variously becalmed, ghosting along with a kite up, re-hoisting headsails and then banging in two reefs. Just three miles or so away on the starboard beam, we could make out another yacht, possibly Team Save the Children, reaching along under a spinnaker! Though sailing the same course as us, they might as well have been in an entirely different patch of ocean as we were meanwhile hard over and hiked out on the rail. No surprise then that within the six-hour period distances covered varied greatly across the fleet. Barclays Adventurer, again sailing the same course as BP Explorer, put nine more miles than us under their belts, Imagine it. Done. 14.
As I type this the scheds have just arrived to give us the damage report. The formerly southerly boats (who have now come north), have indeed prospered, Me To You, for example, being almost 18 miles ahead. Although we do not yet have positions for Barclays Adventurer and SAIC La Jolla, it seems likely that they too will be ahead, which would put us in seventh.
This might not be news to warm the cockles of our hearts as we race through the dark, wet night, but every cloud does have a silver lining - in this case it comes in the shape of our main targets Spirit of Sark and BG SPIRIT. We have increased our lead over the former to almost ten miles and BG SPIRIT is finally in our wake rather than in front - by a distance of 2.6 miles. For now it seems a sensible plan to focus on maintaining this status quo and refrain from any other pronouncements about the wind and weather!
Sunday, June 26, 2005
43o14N 47o12W
What can we do better? How can we make BP Explorer go a little bit faster than the rest of the fleet? These are the questions we ask each other all the time. How the hell did they get there when we are busting a gut doing everything we can? What more can we possibly do? We think to ourselves for fear of bringing negative vibes by saying our thoughts out loud. The fleet are getting faster, they are making less mistakes and any advantage we had at the start of the race for all the practising, all the team building and all of David's knowledge is now making less of a difference. Add to that our recent knack of finding our own private wind hole while all around us sail away and it's all a bit, dare I say it, frustrating.
At eight this morning we rounded Waypoint Charlie though things didn't quite go to plan. The wind changed direction allowing 'those that shall not be named' - you know the ones that wanted us to feel as bad in Boston as they did coming into Cape Town - to creep ahead. They are now 1.5 miles in front. We are confident and so hope to pass them soon.
Ahead of them are Spirit of Sark and BG SPIRIT and these are our real targets. We have been making small gains on them all day and at the last position reports they are just under two miles and just under four miles in front respectively.
This afternoon our good friends on Pindar were close enough for us to see them working on deck and we took the opportunity to take some pictures of Laura with Graham's boat in the background. However, some very acrobatic dolphins stole the show when they darted up between us jumping and flipping until they disappeared after a short play in our bow wave.
We had something of a surprise today when we found a card from Matt Cannon, one of the BP Explorer crew on the last leg. The message inside thanked the rest of the crew for making his experience enjoyable and gave us words of encouragement for the rest of the race. A PS at the end said that he had hidden some 'excess weight' under his bunk. On further investigation we found a stash of chocolate, cookies and sweets. Matt you are a star, the beers are on us when we next meet. Dennis Boyd, one of the BP Explorer crew members on this leg, added to making this a red letter day by bringing out a bottle of 16 year old Kentucky Bourbon as we came off watch at 6pm - we went to our bunks happy!
As the sun went down we can see all but three of the fleet, their navigation lights twinkling all around us This experience is much bigger than just a race and there will be so many great memories when we finish in July but for now wouldn't the memories be that much better if we were on the podium even with all the anxiety and stress that brings? We think so and so we are going to battle to the end.
At eight this morning we rounded Waypoint Charlie though things didn't quite go to plan. The wind changed direction allowing 'those that shall not be named' - you know the ones that wanted us to feel as bad in Boston as they did coming into Cape Town - to creep ahead. They are now 1.5 miles in front. We are confident and so hope to pass them soon.
Ahead of them are Spirit of Sark and BG SPIRIT and these are our real targets. We have been making small gains on them all day and at the last position reports they are just under two miles and just under four miles in front respectively.
This afternoon our good friends on Pindar were close enough for us to see them working on deck and we took the opportunity to take some pictures of Laura with Graham's boat in the background. However, some very acrobatic dolphins stole the show when they darted up between us jumping and flipping until they disappeared after a short play in our bow wave.
We had something of a surprise today when we found a card from Matt Cannon, one of the BP Explorer crew on the last leg. The message inside thanked the rest of the crew for making his experience enjoyable and gave us words of encouragement for the rest of the race. A PS at the end said that he had hidden some 'excess weight' under his bunk. On further investigation we found a stash of chocolate, cookies and sweets. Matt you are a star, the beers are on us when we next meet. Dennis Boyd, one of the BP Explorer crew members on this leg, added to making this a red letter day by bringing out a bottle of 16 year old Kentucky Bourbon as we came off watch at 6pm - we went to our bunks happy!
As the sun went down we can see all but three of the fleet, their navigation lights twinkling all around us This experience is much bigger than just a race and there will be so many great memories when we finish in July but for now wouldn't the memories be that much better if we were on the podium even with all the anxiety and stress that brings? We think so and so we are going to battle to the end.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Approaching Waypoint Charlie
Well we are not exactly where we want to be, but it's close. Side by side with Spirit of Sark for much of the night we can see the lead boats 3 to 4 miles ahead.
Spirit of Sark and BP Explorer - sometimes it feels like we would be better off welding the boats together and making a catamaran. Both crews would get more sleep and the finishes tend to be that close anyway.
The potential fly in the ointment is SAIC La Jolla, they have taken a jump forward by sailing the southern line of the course. When they went south the wind looked to be best in the north and I thought - good luck to them. A low was set to pass over Nova Scotia and it did not look like the winds would reach as far south as SAIC La Jolla. But the low passed further south than predicted and the dead winds in the middle sat over the fleet for over 24 hours. We all went nowhere while 80m to the south SAIC La Jolla powered away and for now we follow their progress with interest. They are a few points behind us and are dangerous in that they could knock us out of the podium three.
As I send this log off, there is bright morning sunshine on deck and a cold wind blowing from the west. We can count eight yachts on the horizon, all with spinnakers up, all making for Waypoint Charlie at the tip of the Grand Banks - the racing is close, close, close. Onboard the atmosphere is different on this leg, we have all travelled so far and seen so much at sea. All of the manoeuvres on deck are routine and we have to be on guard for complacency - we don't want any injuries and we don't want to break anything. We know each other very well and know how to live without conflict.
Nobody has even come close to getting off for interpersonal reasons and that is a very positive statement about the crew. We always discuss with interest things like the sudden departure of Spirit of Sark's navigator in Boston and speculate about what that might mean for crew dynamics.
After a slow start the weather is shaping up and we look like we will have some good daily runs for the next week as we enter the main body of the Atlantic. Onboard BP Explorer all is well. The main difference this trip is that the calorie count is much lower. We were not allowed to import any foodstuffs into the USA (so much for free trade) and so our daily freeze dried packs that have been shipped out to all the other ports were not an option.
The food team were sent out to the local supermarkets with the remit of keeping the boat light. This they have, there is enough food but no more. For those that put on a few pounds on our leg up the Atlantic this is a last minute chance to get fighting fit for those pictures on arrival in Portsmouth
Spirit of Sark and BP Explorer - sometimes it feels like we would be better off welding the boats together and making a catamaran. Both crews would get more sleep and the finishes tend to be that close anyway.
The potential fly in the ointment is SAIC La Jolla, they have taken a jump forward by sailing the southern line of the course. When they went south the wind looked to be best in the north and I thought - good luck to them. A low was set to pass over Nova Scotia and it did not look like the winds would reach as far south as SAIC La Jolla. But the low passed further south than predicted and the dead winds in the middle sat over the fleet for over 24 hours. We all went nowhere while 80m to the south SAIC La Jolla powered away and for now we follow their progress with interest. They are a few points behind us and are dangerous in that they could knock us out of the podium three.
As I send this log off, there is bright morning sunshine on deck and a cold wind blowing from the west. We can count eight yachts on the horizon, all with spinnakers up, all making for Waypoint Charlie at the tip of the Grand Banks - the racing is close, close, close. Onboard the atmosphere is different on this leg, we have all travelled so far and seen so much at sea. All of the manoeuvres on deck are routine and we have to be on guard for complacency - we don't want any injuries and we don't want to break anything. We know each other very well and know how to live without conflict.
Nobody has even come close to getting off for interpersonal reasons and that is a very positive statement about the crew. We always discuss with interest things like the sudden departure of Spirit of Sark's navigator in Boston and speculate about what that might mean for crew dynamics.
After a slow start the weather is shaping up and we look like we will have some good daily runs for the next week as we enter the main body of the Atlantic. Onboard BP Explorer all is well. The main difference this trip is that the calorie count is much lower. We were not allowed to import any foodstuffs into the USA (so much for free trade) and so our daily freeze dried packs that have been shipped out to all the other ports were not an option.
The food team were sent out to the local supermarkets with the remit of keeping the boat light. This they have, there is enough food but no more. For those that put on a few pounds on our leg up the Atlantic this is a last minute chance to get fighting fit for those pictures on arrival in Portsmouth
Friday, June 24, 2005
42o33N 56o12W
Throughout the race, crew members have taken part in schools visits, clowning around in foulies, showing classes a typical meal from the boat and trying to convey what it is we have been up to. "How many miles do you think it is to sail around the world?" we have asked countless primary-school children. Dozens of small, eager hands shoot upwards, fingers wiggling, their owners desperate to get picked. "A MILLION!" is one enthusiastic, wide-eyed suggestion. "Sixty-five," a girl suggests doubtingly. "Nine thousand and fifty six and a half?" queries another, looking smug. (Then there is always the web-wise child who has done his research. "Probably about thirty-two thousand.")
Forget the right answer; some days the child with a passion for huge numbers seems to have hit the nail on the head. The oceans have a knack for searching out your weaknesses and needling away at them like a chronic toothache. And just when you thought it was all over, there is more. This was how it was in the Southern Ocean. Weeks of freezing temperatures - the wet, the aching muscles, the violent motion - seem to take months, those last thirty minutes before being able to head for bed stretching into a MILLION! Even with over a month and almost ten thousand miles behind us since then, the memory is fresh.
But now we are experiencing an entirely different kettle of flying fish. After Leg Five we thought that the calms were over and done with, and we were optimistically expecting a sleigh ride directly towards the nearest patisserie and, in many cases, dearly-missed friends and families who we have not seen since October. But for the last few days we have been floundering around in light, fickle winds, thanks to a low-pressure system developing directly over our heads. This should have built further to the north and provided us with a jet-pack of good wind to speed us to Waypoint Charlie (still 296 miles away), but the weather has not behaved as it should, as is so often the case.
There are times when luck does appear to play a big part in the reshufflings of the pack - especially in light condition such as this - and this can lead to an unsatisfying feeling as a result, the sense of not being in control of your own destiny. On the other hand, you always have the option to deal with your lot as best you can and never give up. This is invariably the attitude we adopt; on BP Explorer I believe that we react well to change and that in this way we try to remain in the driving seat whilst recognising that if there is one thing we cannot control it's the weather. As Paul Theroux writes in Dark Star Safari: 'The traveller's conceit is that he is heading into the unknown. The best travel is a leap in the dark. If the destination were familiar and friendly what would be the point in going there?'
We have certainly taken that leap in the dark and it has stretched us in more ways than we envisioned. Our destination has been neither familiar, nor, at many times, friendly. But I feel sure that the excitingly blank canvas of our daily watery horizon, the constant opportunities to make the best of everything that is throw at us, and the chance to write our own story will be over all too soon. As Matt, our BP Crew from Leg Five, emailed us yesterday - 'Don't wish away your time out there. You will be back, stuck on the M25 before you know it.'
Forget the right answer; some days the child with a passion for huge numbers seems to have hit the nail on the head. The oceans have a knack for searching out your weaknesses and needling away at them like a chronic toothache. And just when you thought it was all over, there is more. This was how it was in the Southern Ocean. Weeks of freezing temperatures - the wet, the aching muscles, the violent motion - seem to take months, those last thirty minutes before being able to head for bed stretching into a MILLION! Even with over a month and almost ten thousand miles behind us since then, the memory is fresh.
But now we are experiencing an entirely different kettle of flying fish. After Leg Five we thought that the calms were over and done with, and we were optimistically expecting a sleigh ride directly towards the nearest patisserie and, in many cases, dearly-missed friends and families who we have not seen since October. But for the last few days we have been floundering around in light, fickle winds, thanks to a low-pressure system developing directly over our heads. This should have built further to the north and provided us with a jet-pack of good wind to speed us to Waypoint Charlie (still 296 miles away), but the weather has not behaved as it should, as is so often the case.
There are times when luck does appear to play a big part in the reshufflings of the pack - especially in light condition such as this - and this can lead to an unsatisfying feeling as a result, the sense of not being in control of your own destiny. On the other hand, you always have the option to deal with your lot as best you can and never give up. This is invariably the attitude we adopt; on BP Explorer I believe that we react well to change and that in this way we try to remain in the driving seat whilst recognising that if there is one thing we cannot control it's the weather. As Paul Theroux writes in Dark Star Safari: 'The traveller's conceit is that he is heading into the unknown. The best travel is a leap in the dark. If the destination were familiar and friendly what would be the point in going there?'
We have certainly taken that leap in the dark and it has stretched us in more ways than we envisioned. Our destination has been neither familiar, nor, at many times, friendly. But I feel sure that the excitingly blank canvas of our daily watery horizon, the constant opportunities to make the best of everything that is throw at us, and the chance to write our own story will be over all too soon. As Matt, our BP Crew from Leg Five, emailed us yesterday - 'Don't wish away your time out there. You will be back, stuck on the M25 before you know it.'
Thursday, June 23, 2005
43o05N 58o04W
Well if company was what we wanted on this penultimate leg then company is what we've got. Most of the fleet are within a couple of miles of each other and only SAIC La Jolla have separated from the pack to head south. For the most part we don't need the six-hourly position reports - we can see most of the other yachts on the radar. It does make a change from weeks at sea without seeing anyone, often anything, but with the race so close we'd prefer some pick-up in the wind to allow us to split from the pack and get ahead.
Today has been very foggy with little or no wind and the oh-so-familiar glassy sea. We plough on making sure that every base is covered, focused helm, alert trimmers and best weight distribution i.e. everyone on the low side and it is paying off. We have been creeping away from the other yachts, if only very slightly. It is light until about 9:30pm and as we sailed through the mist we caught sight of the top of Spirit of Sark's mast looking like a lost ghost ship. We caught and passed them but they disappeared almost as quickly as they appeared. But we could still hear them talking on deck - it was very eerie. Later, as we tacked, they appeared again, now dark they flashed their torches at us and we returned fire. Their mast lights more visible in the fog they remained in sight until the end of the watch but have once again vanished from sight if not the radar screen.
While not much fun for us these conditions are suiting those who have chosen to cross the Atlantic under their own power. On Tuesday we received this e-mail from Race HQ:
Dear Fleet
Olly Hicks in his rowing boat Virgin Atlantic (last posn 1430 = 20/06/2005) is listening out on channel 16 VHF hoping to speak to any yachts in our Fleet as it is very lonely out there on your own. He would dearly love to talk to someone. See what you can do. I will be updating you with the rowing boat fleets posn later today.
Many thanks all you VHF Hams
Lisa Marie
Duty Race Officer
In the early hours of yesterday we could hear Stuart, the skipper on Barclays Adventurer, talking to Olly and he sounded grateful for the chat. Rowing across the Atlantic is one way I thought I could top the Global Challenge and it is something I have been planning even before this race. It was great to hear someone actually doing it and it has heightened my interest to pursue it when I get back in July.
Good luck Olly, we've only got enough food for 14 days so if we don't get some wind soon we may need to borrow your oars and I might have to start my training early.
Today has been very foggy with little or no wind and the oh-so-familiar glassy sea. We plough on making sure that every base is covered, focused helm, alert trimmers and best weight distribution i.e. everyone on the low side and it is paying off. We have been creeping away from the other yachts, if only very slightly. It is light until about 9:30pm and as we sailed through the mist we caught sight of the top of Spirit of Sark's mast looking like a lost ghost ship. We caught and passed them but they disappeared almost as quickly as they appeared. But we could still hear them talking on deck - it was very eerie. Later, as we tacked, they appeared again, now dark they flashed their torches at us and we returned fire. Their mast lights more visible in the fog they remained in sight until the end of the watch but have once again vanished from sight if not the radar screen.
While not much fun for us these conditions are suiting those who have chosen to cross the Atlantic under their own power. On Tuesday we received this e-mail from Race HQ:
Dear Fleet
Olly Hicks in his rowing boat Virgin Atlantic (last posn 1430 = 20/06/2005) is listening out on channel 16 VHF hoping to speak to any yachts in our Fleet as it is very lonely out there on your own. He would dearly love to talk to someone. See what you can do. I will be updating you with the rowing boat fleets posn later today.
Many thanks all you VHF Hams
Lisa Marie
Duty Race Officer
In the early hours of yesterday we could hear Stuart, the skipper on Barclays Adventurer, talking to Olly and he sounded grateful for the chat. Rowing across the Atlantic is one way I thought I could top the Global Challenge and it is something I have been planning even before this race. It was great to hear someone actually doing it and it has heightened my interest to pursue it when I get back in July.
Good luck Olly, we've only got enough food for 14 days so if we don't get some wind soon we may need to borrow your oars and I might have to start my training early.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Old rivals at logger heads again!
Taken from News Report on 22 June 2005
They promised competition and a no holds bar fight to the end and that is exactly what the crews in the Global Challenge are doing with old rivals Spirit of Sark just three miles ahead of BP Explorer and VAIO in the 6th and penultimate leg.
BG SPIRIT – current overall race leaders – Barclays Adventurer, Imagine It. Done and Samsung, all just have 4 miles to the leader; yachts within sight of one another and competition, as always, painfully high. Team Stelmar is in 8th just three miles behind again; Pindar another 2 miles behind Team Stelmar with Team Save the Children and SAIC La Jolla – the most southerly yacht - 23 miles behind the leader.
Eero Lehtinen, skipper of SAIC La Jolla offered a reason for his team’s slow start: “Our plan to get into good breeze from the low coming up from the south has gone wrong as this system has weakened significantly and now the best breeze should be building from the north although looking at the other boats this does not appear the case! We have to limit the damage for now and find a way to use our southerly position to our best advantage.”
The yachts are currently experiencing strong downwind breezes which should continue for at least the next 24 hours, so the crews should be set for more high boat speeds and an exhilarating ride across to Waypoint Charlie.
With the overall points currently as they are with BG SPIRIT just three points ahead of BP Explorer and Spirit of Sark the Global Challenge 2004/05 could actually be won on technicality rather than speed. “The jury, which penalized BP Explorer - following a protest lodged by Imagine It. Done. - did say it was a technical breach of the rules. Certainly a first for the Global Challenge if they do lose the race overall because of this and certainly a major talking point,” cited Cal Tomlinson, Challenge Business’ sailing manager.
In Boston there was much said about Leg 6 being a 3 way battle between BG SPIRIT, BP Explorer and Spirit of Sark but there are other strong contenders ‘up there’ who are not going to make it easy for the three – with podium place winners running the length and breadth of the fleet.
Duggie Gillespie was in reflective mood when he wrote the following to Race HQ this morning: “Most importantly this leg is only 15-17 days long and with everything, I mean everything, to play for. When we arrived in Boston we had dropped to third place overall but as a result of a protest hearing one of our main rivals, BP Explorer, who had beaten us over the line by 1 minute 28 seconds, were docked three points.
“(But) what is this bigger driving force? This crew is not being paid to get up out of their bunks every four hours and race. Each have given up a lot for this project, jobs, cars, homes remortgaged, that's the motivation and the realisation that this is a unique chance for those who haven't chosen yachting as a career - not just sailing but racing round the world the wrong way! The value is high to each individual crew member. As a team though we too have put in place a set of values. These values are our constant gold standard that we have come back to time and time again when the focus slips or conflict threatens to disrupt the cohesion we have worked so hard to build over the last 18 months and 30,000 miles. And I believe it works. Even as skills and abilities have improved we have needed constant re-evaluation and reminders to keep ourselves in check.
“It's about keeping fresh and invigorated, particularly at this late stage, when monotony can be a great enemy against the urgency required by racing. With less than twenty days left at sea in the whole of this Global Challenge there is a real sense of straining to savour each moment of just being out here, racing across the North Atlantic and enjoying it! This leg is, so far, no different to the last one in that we have not yet been alone, out of sight of our opponents. This is boat on boat racing again for thousands of miles. If that isn't focus enough then what is?”
The fleet is currently on a straight-line chase to Waypoint Charlie - designed to keep the yachts off the banks of Newfoundland –, which should be reached, in the next few days.
- Ends -
Further boat quotes:
“Our general strategy is to sail north of the fleet, avoiding the high-pressure system further South and to catch some of the low-pressure system (and therefore stronger winds) north. Ideally, we can then 'dip' further north to increase wind speed, and 'dip' south if lighter winds are required. We are therefore currently the northern most boat, in the company of BG, Me to You & Pindar who are all within visual range. Winds increased this morning and we peeled to our heavier kite, the Flanker. We are expecting the wind to shift forward later which will mean sailing close hauled on foresails.” Clive Cosby, Team Stelmar
“We are now trying to make maximum use of our northerly position where we have more wind than the southerly boats. We have already had 2 good skeds and hopefully these will continue. We are now having to decide how best to deal with the wind hole, which is due tomorrow. Hopefully at our current speed we will pass ahead of it as it moves north.” James Allen, Me to You
“Staying slightly north of the rumb line has put us in a tactically good positions since the wind is going to fill from the north and build slowly. We’ll then head slightly down towards the waypoint with a good angle and breeze...over the last few hours we have gained on the fleet to the south of us and the wind is steadily building.” Loz Marriott, Pindar
“The crew of BP Explorer are enjoying fast downwind sailing - with more wind than originally forecast and we’ve been making 11 knots in flat water and clear blue skies. We are taking a line slightly left of the great circle route to the waypoint - as this avoids the worst of the light winds in the high pressure to the right.” David Melville, BP Explorer
They promised competition and a no holds bar fight to the end and that is exactly what the crews in the Global Challenge are doing with old rivals Spirit of Sark just three miles ahead of BP Explorer and VAIO in the 6th and penultimate leg.
BG SPIRIT – current overall race leaders – Barclays Adventurer, Imagine It. Done and Samsung, all just have 4 miles to the leader; yachts within sight of one another and competition, as always, painfully high. Team Stelmar is in 8th just three miles behind again; Pindar another 2 miles behind Team Stelmar with Team Save the Children and SAIC La Jolla – the most southerly yacht - 23 miles behind the leader.
Eero Lehtinen, skipper of SAIC La Jolla offered a reason for his team’s slow start: “Our plan to get into good breeze from the low coming up from the south has gone wrong as this system has weakened significantly and now the best breeze should be building from the north although looking at the other boats this does not appear the case! We have to limit the damage for now and find a way to use our southerly position to our best advantage.”
The yachts are currently experiencing strong downwind breezes which should continue for at least the next 24 hours, so the crews should be set for more high boat speeds and an exhilarating ride across to Waypoint Charlie.
With the overall points currently as they are with BG SPIRIT just three points ahead of BP Explorer and Spirit of Sark the Global Challenge 2004/05 could actually be won on technicality rather than speed. “The jury, which penalized BP Explorer - following a protest lodged by Imagine It. Done. - did say it was a technical breach of the rules. Certainly a first for the Global Challenge if they do lose the race overall because of this and certainly a major talking point,” cited Cal Tomlinson, Challenge Business’ sailing manager.
In Boston there was much said about Leg 6 being a 3 way battle between BG SPIRIT, BP Explorer and Spirit of Sark but there are other strong contenders ‘up there’ who are not going to make it easy for the three – with podium place winners running the length and breadth of the fleet.
Duggie Gillespie was in reflective mood when he wrote the following to Race HQ this morning: “Most importantly this leg is only 15-17 days long and with everything, I mean everything, to play for. When we arrived in Boston we had dropped to third place overall but as a result of a protest hearing one of our main rivals, BP Explorer, who had beaten us over the line by 1 minute 28 seconds, were docked three points.
“(But) what is this bigger driving force? This crew is not being paid to get up out of their bunks every four hours and race. Each have given up a lot for this project, jobs, cars, homes remortgaged, that's the motivation and the realisation that this is a unique chance for those who haven't chosen yachting as a career - not just sailing but racing round the world the wrong way! The value is high to each individual crew member. As a team though we too have put in place a set of values. These values are our constant gold standard that we have come back to time and time again when the focus slips or conflict threatens to disrupt the cohesion we have worked so hard to build over the last 18 months and 30,000 miles. And I believe it works. Even as skills and abilities have improved we have needed constant re-evaluation and reminders to keep ourselves in check.
“It's about keeping fresh and invigorated, particularly at this late stage, when monotony can be a great enemy against the urgency required by racing. With less than twenty days left at sea in the whole of this Global Challenge there is a real sense of straining to savour each moment of just being out here, racing across the North Atlantic and enjoying it! This leg is, so far, no different to the last one in that we have not yet been alone, out of sight of our opponents. This is boat on boat racing again for thousands of miles. If that isn't focus enough then what is?”
The fleet is currently on a straight-line chase to Waypoint Charlie - designed to keep the yachts off the banks of Newfoundland –, which should be reached, in the next few days.
- Ends -
Further boat quotes:
“Our general strategy is to sail north of the fleet, avoiding the high-pressure system further South and to catch some of the low-pressure system (and therefore stronger winds) north. Ideally, we can then 'dip' further north to increase wind speed, and 'dip' south if lighter winds are required. We are therefore currently the northern most boat, in the company of BG, Me to You & Pindar who are all within visual range. Winds increased this morning and we peeled to our heavier kite, the Flanker. We are expecting the wind to shift forward later which will mean sailing close hauled on foresails.” Clive Cosby, Team Stelmar
“We are now trying to make maximum use of our northerly position where we have more wind than the southerly boats. We have already had 2 good skeds and hopefully these will continue. We are now having to decide how best to deal with the wind hole, which is due tomorrow. Hopefully at our current speed we will pass ahead of it as it moves north.” James Allen, Me to You
“Staying slightly north of the rumb line has put us in a tactically good positions since the wind is going to fill from the north and build slowly. We’ll then head slightly down towards the waypoint with a good angle and breeze...over the last few hours we have gained on the fleet to the south of us and the wind is steadily building.” Loz Marriott, Pindar
“The crew of BP Explorer are enjoying fast downwind sailing - with more wind than originally forecast and we’ve been making 11 knots in flat water and clear blue skies. We are taking a line slightly left of the great circle route to the waypoint - as this avoids the worst of the light winds in the high pressure to the right.” David Melville, BP Explorer
42 58n 61 00w
It has been a gentle start to leg 6 and at present we are reaching with the spinnaker up making around 10kts straight for the waypoint. We are just on the edge of the Grand Banks continental shelf and keep encountering little pockets of current - sometimes 0.5kt with us and annoyingly for a while Tuesday afternoon, over 1kt against us. The fleet is spread out north to south with just a few miles separating first and tenth. This will be another very tight leg with minutes between the yachts at the finish.
We have maps of the Gulf Stream which lies to the south and the warm water eddies which spin off it. Then there is the cold water Labrador current that lies to the north and opposes us. There are a number of good websites which detail all of this, and maps downloaded before we left are spread all over the chart table. (try putting in rads/tudelft in google) Its even possible to buy up to £1,000 worth of Gulf Stream information from experts in the field (we have not). Needless to say that while we encountered 1 kt of current against us, the maps clearly showed that we should be enjoying half a knot from astern - doh! I guess nobody told the Gulf Stream.
We are all glad to be on our way back across the Atlantic and me in particular. I had a lousy time in Boston. I spent the first week worrying about the protest and the second week dealing with the fallout. I very much hope that the results of the competition are not decided by the few points that we were deducted. What was good was seeing my son Jasper do his 'Frankenstein walk' as he mastered the art of life on two feet.
Laura said to me that ''when we leave Boston you will be able to hear the wheels skidding on the gravel as we pull out of the car park'' I knew exactly what she meant. We went out to the start meaning business. While others took a more relaxed approach we put the sails up early and with the Boston skyline behind us, timed a number runs to the start. Normally I take a modest approach to leg starts, but this time I felt it would be nice to show the fleet that our heads were up and we were back in business. We hit the line with seconds to spare and lead the fleet out of Boston. It was a great lift for us all, meaningless in the long run, but still a magic little moment.
Tactically it is slow stuff at the moment. We are reaching along in relatively constant winds and there may be a slight advantage for the boats to the north. We hope to get little lifts from the current being slightly south. If it would only co-operate. A lot of the small changes that you see may well be due to boats running into little eddies. What we like on this boat is change. Putting sails up and down and reacting to changing circumstances is like going through the gears of a car. Both watches are fast and proficient now and we look forward to the weather livening up a bit.
We have maps of the Gulf Stream which lies to the south and the warm water eddies which spin off it. Then there is the cold water Labrador current that lies to the north and opposes us. There are a number of good websites which detail all of this, and maps downloaded before we left are spread all over the chart table. (try putting in rads/tudelft in google) Its even possible to buy up to £1,000 worth of Gulf Stream information from experts in the field (we have not). Needless to say that while we encountered 1 kt of current against us, the maps clearly showed that we should be enjoying half a knot from astern - doh! I guess nobody told the Gulf Stream.
We are all glad to be on our way back across the Atlantic and me in particular. I had a lousy time in Boston. I spent the first week worrying about the protest and the second week dealing with the fallout. I very much hope that the results of the competition are not decided by the few points that we were deducted. What was good was seeing my son Jasper do his 'Frankenstein walk' as he mastered the art of life on two feet.
Laura said to me that ''when we leave Boston you will be able to hear the wheels skidding on the gravel as we pull out of the car park'' I knew exactly what she meant. We went out to the start meaning business. While others took a more relaxed approach we put the sails up early and with the Boston skyline behind us, timed a number runs to the start. Normally I take a modest approach to leg starts, but this time I felt it would be nice to show the fleet that our heads were up and we were back in business. We hit the line with seconds to spare and lead the fleet out of Boston. It was a great lift for us all, meaningless in the long run, but still a magic little moment.
Tactically it is slow stuff at the moment. We are reaching along in relatively constant winds and there may be a slight advantage for the boats to the north. We hope to get little lifts from the current being slightly south. If it would only co-operate. A lot of the small changes that you see may well be due to boats running into little eddies. What we like on this boat is change. Putting sails up and down and reacting to changing circumstances is like going through the gears of a car. Both watches are fast and proficient now and we look forward to the weather livening up a bit.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
42' 41N 66' 24W
The introduction to the Global Challenge for our new BP Explorer Crew, Americans Drew Morrell and Dennis Boyd, has been a peaceful one. Since an exciting and close start, we have been gliding through calm seas, accompanied by dolphins and pilot whales. "This is just like the brochure," Dennis enthuses, "and not dissimilar from sailing on Lake Michigan!" Drew, from Long Beach, California, is well used to a relaxed attitude but has been struck by the atmosphere on board: "Obviously the racing is fierce, but it is very laid back - it's great!" Not all of our BP Explorer Crew have had such gentle conditions to settle into and, indeed, it really would be helpful to have some more wind. If we continued at this speed, we would not get to France until 16 July, and according to our diaries we have an entirely different party to go to that day!
Currently heading through the Fundian Channel, we are just about to cross from Maine to Nova Scotia, 60 miles to the north. Not far away is the Bay of Fundy, famous for having the greatest tidal flow in the world, followed a close second by my home waters of the Bristol Channel. Out here the seas
are a somewhat different colour than I see there, in Watchet Marina, but the air has certainly had a more familiar feel to it since we left Boston. There is a fresh warmth to the bright, beautiful days, with no hint of the mugginess we have grown used to, and by night it is startlingly clear and nippy - a climate just like the best of an early, English summer! The
sunsets are pretty good too; last night, as the sun sank over our left shoulder, the full moon was already risen as we were surrounded by a perfect horizon of seamlessly melted pinks to blue and the bright light of Venus to the north-west.
The prognosis for the next few days is more of the same - no doubt we will be able to see other Challenge yachts for much of the journey, with everyone desperate to cover their positions and fight for more points. About four days away is Waypoint Charlie, at 42o North, which has been added to the
course to keep the fleet south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and the ice brought down from the Arctic shelf by the Labrador Current.
Another reminder that we are heading home is that we are now charting our progress from left to right on the computers - a very disconcerting sight after all that sailing the 'wrong way' at the bottom of the world. VAIO are
out in front of us, slightly to the south, whilst we have Spirit of Sark to port and Barclays Adventurer and Samsung neck and neck to starboard. It is not clear whether we lie in third or fourth at this precise moment, but the scheds, due in an hour, will hopefully bring us some good news.
Currently heading through the Fundian Channel, we are just about to cross from Maine to Nova Scotia, 60 miles to the north. Not far away is the Bay of Fundy, famous for having the greatest tidal flow in the world, followed a close second by my home waters of the Bristol Channel. Out here the seas
are a somewhat different colour than I see there, in Watchet Marina, but the air has certainly had a more familiar feel to it since we left Boston. There is a fresh warmth to the bright, beautiful days, with no hint of the mugginess we have grown used to, and by night it is startlingly clear and nippy - a climate just like the best of an early, English summer! The
sunsets are pretty good too; last night, as the sun sank over our left shoulder, the full moon was already risen as we were surrounded by a perfect horizon of seamlessly melted pinks to blue and the bright light of Venus to the north-west.
The prognosis for the next few days is more of the same - no doubt we will be able to see other Challenge yachts for much of the journey, with everyone desperate to cover their positions and fight for more points. About four days away is Waypoint Charlie, at 42o North, which has been added to the
course to keep the fleet south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and the ice brought down from the Arctic shelf by the Labrador Current.
Another reminder that we are heading home is that we are now charting our progress from left to right on the computers - a very disconcerting sight after all that sailing the 'wrong way' at the bottom of the world. VAIO are
out in front of us, slightly to the south, whilst we have Spirit of Sark to port and Barclays Adventurer and Samsung neck and neck to starboard. It is not clear whether we lie in third or fourth at this precise moment, but the scheds, due in an hour, will hopefully bring us some good news.
42' 41N 66' 24W
The introduction to the Global Challenge for our new BP Explorer Crew, Americans Drew Morrell and Dennis Boyd, has been a peaceful one. Since an exciting and close start, we have been gliding through calm seas, accompanied by dolphins and pilot whales. "This is just like the brochure," Dennis enthuses, "and not dissimilar from sailing on Lake Michigan!" Drew, from Long Beach, California, is well used to a relaxed attitude but has been struck by the atmosphere on board: "Obviously the racing is fierce, but it is very laid back - it's great!" Not all of our BP Explorer Crew have had such gentle conditions to settle into and, indeed, it really would be helpful to have some more wind. If we continued at this speed, we would not get to France until 16 July, and according to our diaries we have an entirely different party to go to that day!
Currently heading through the Fundian Channel, we are just about to cross from Maine to Nova Scotia, 60 miles to the north. Not far away is the Bay of Fundy, famous for having the greatest tidal flow in the world, followed a close second by my home waters of the Bristol Channel. Out here the seas
are a somewhat different colour than I see there, in Watchet Marina, but the air has certainly had a more familiar feel to it since we left Boston. There is a fresh warmth to the bright, beautiful days, with no hint of the mugginess we have grown used to, and by night it is startlingly clear and nippy - a climate just like the best of an early, English summer! The
sunsets are pretty good too; last night, as the sun sank over our left shoulder, the full moon was already risen as we were surrounded by a perfect horizon of seamlessly melted pinks to blue and the bright light of Venus to the north-west.
The prognosis for the next few days is more of the same - no doubt we will be able to see other Challenge yachts for much of the journey, with everyone desperate to cover their positions and fight for more points. About four days away is Waypoint Charlie, at 42o North, which has been added to the
course to keep the fleet south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and the ice brought down from the Arctic shelf by the Labrador Current.
Another reminder that we are heading home is that we are now charting our progress from left to right on the computers - a very disconcerting sight after all that sailing the 'wrong way' at the bottom of the world. VAIO are
out in front of us, slightly to the south, whilst we have Spirit of Sark to port and Barclays Adventurer and Samsung neck and neck to starboard. It is not clear whether we lie in third or fourth at this precise moment, but the scheds, due in an hour, will hopefully bring us some good news.
Currently heading through the Fundian Channel, we are just about to cross from Maine to Nova Scotia, 60 miles to the north. Not far away is the Bay of Fundy, famous for having the greatest tidal flow in the world, followed a close second by my home waters of the Bristol Channel. Out here the seas
are a somewhat different colour than I see there, in Watchet Marina, but the air has certainly had a more familiar feel to it since we left Boston. There is a fresh warmth to the bright, beautiful days, with no hint of the mugginess we have grown used to, and by night it is startlingly clear and nippy - a climate just like the best of an early, English summer! The
sunsets are pretty good too; last night, as the sun sank over our left shoulder, the full moon was already risen as we were surrounded by a perfect horizon of seamlessly melted pinks to blue and the bright light of Venus to the north-west.
The prognosis for the next few days is more of the same - no doubt we will be able to see other Challenge yachts for much of the journey, with everyone desperate to cover their positions and fight for more points. About four days away is Waypoint Charlie, at 42o North, which has been added to the
course to keep the fleet south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and the ice brought down from the Arctic shelf by the Labrador Current.
Another reminder that we are heading home is that we are now charting our progress from left to right on the computers - a very disconcerting sight after all that sailing the 'wrong way' at the bottom of the world. VAIO are
out in front of us, slightly to the south, whilst we have Spirit of Sark to port and Barclays Adventurer and Samsung neck and neck to starboard. It is not clear whether we lie in third or fourth at this precise moment, but the scheds, due in an hour, will hopefully bring us some good news.
Monday, June 20, 2005
42 28 S, 70 18 W
The first log after our somewhat unpleasant protest hearing in Boston and the temptation would be to bleat on about the injustice of it all - but I won't. It's not the end of the world; we are joint second overall and only three points behind the leaders after all. There is nothing we can do about it so we are just going to forget it and get on with this leg. We would however just like to thank everyone including, crew from other yachts, who have given us their support.
The morning of the start began with breakfast at the very impressive Boston Harbour Hotel. A feast of bacon, eggs, potatoes, fresh fruit and fresh orange juice would be the last we will be seeing for two weeks so we filled our plates. At about nine o'clock we headed out of the hotel and into the general hustle and bustle of start day. We said our goodbyes to friends and relatives and wished the other skippers and crews good luck and safe sailing and got onboard BP Explorer for the blessing of the fleet.
At about 11:30 we were off - well nearly. When it came to our turn to leave we were minus one very important crewmember, our skipper David. It could have been the perfect opportunity for one of us to seize the top spot and go for glory but in the end we decided we needed him and so were pleased to see him fight through the amassed supporters to join us.
The start was a good one. In a close battle at the start line we were flanked by Samsung on our left and Team Stelmar on our right. Team Stelmar got it wrong and crossed the line early forcing them to do a 720 degree turn when we were out of the harbour. Samsung were just meters away and almost level but we had the right of way. We squeezed past them to cross the within seconds of the start gun and so become first, officially, over the line.
As we tacked back and forth out of the harbour the Boston skyline started to disappear into the distance. A huge cruise liner called Spirit of America had stopped just outside Boston and was being well guarded by a US coastguard ship, two RIBs with machine guns mounted on the front and a high-speed patrol boat. We didn't pose much of a threat, Major wasn't steering, but they made it quite clear they were going to enforce the 100-meter exclusion zone around the ship. A friendly wave and we both parted company to complete our independent missions.
No sooner had we started to get going when the wind dropped and we all parked up. VAIO, Samsung and SAIC La Jolla got some better wind out to our left and moved ahead closely followed by BG SPIRIT. It was not clear what was the better sail combination, genoa or yankee and staysail. SAIC La Jolla surged ahead with the genoa but then slowed again. We swapped several times and made ground on the others. At the last position reports things are so close as to not really be significant but SAIC La Jolla are in front with us in second. As the sun went down the silhouettes of 11 other Challenge yachts spread across the horizon was a magnificent sight. I made a point of looking at them for a long time; I knew I couldn't take a picture, there wasn't enough light, so I made sure I burnt it into my mind - just one of many great memories from Boston, indeed the race.
The morning of the start began with breakfast at the very impressive Boston Harbour Hotel. A feast of bacon, eggs, potatoes, fresh fruit and fresh orange juice would be the last we will be seeing for two weeks so we filled our plates. At about nine o'clock we headed out of the hotel and into the general hustle and bustle of start day. We said our goodbyes to friends and relatives and wished the other skippers and crews good luck and safe sailing and got onboard BP Explorer for the blessing of the fleet.
At about 11:30 we were off - well nearly. When it came to our turn to leave we were minus one very important crewmember, our skipper David. It could have been the perfect opportunity for one of us to seize the top spot and go for glory but in the end we decided we needed him and so were pleased to see him fight through the amassed supporters to join us.
The start was a good one. In a close battle at the start line we were flanked by Samsung on our left and Team Stelmar on our right. Team Stelmar got it wrong and crossed the line early forcing them to do a 720 degree turn when we were out of the harbour. Samsung were just meters away and almost level but we had the right of way. We squeezed past them to cross the within seconds of the start gun and so become first, officially, over the line.
As we tacked back and forth out of the harbour the Boston skyline started to disappear into the distance. A huge cruise liner called Spirit of America had stopped just outside Boston and was being well guarded by a US coastguard ship, two RIBs with machine guns mounted on the front and a high-speed patrol boat. We didn't pose much of a threat, Major wasn't steering, but they made it quite clear they were going to enforce the 100-meter exclusion zone around the ship. A friendly wave and we both parted company to complete our independent missions.
No sooner had we started to get going when the wind dropped and we all parked up. VAIO, Samsung and SAIC La Jolla got some better wind out to our left and moved ahead closely followed by BG SPIRIT. It was not clear what was the better sail combination, genoa or yankee and staysail. SAIC La Jolla surged ahead with the genoa but then slowed again. We swapped several times and made ground on the others. At the last position reports things are so close as to not really be significant but SAIC La Jolla are in front with us in second. As the sun went down the silhouettes of 11 other Challenge yachts spread across the horizon was a magnificent sight. I made a point of looking at them for a long time; I knew I couldn't take a picture, there wasn't enough light, so I made sure I burnt it into my mind - just one of many great memories from Boston, indeed the race.
Monday, June 6, 2005
42o07N 69o46W
At 2200 last night, we emerged on deck to find Imagine it. Done. close by on our port beam, with Spirit of Sark visible out to the east to starboard; three yachts, reaching hard under spinnakers for the waypoint which lies 50-odd miles from Boston. Sticking out our noses for fifth place, we were so close that Eolus, the god of wind, could have strung his washing line between our three masts.
As a gauze of mauve and gold dissolved into the flat chill of the water, the sea turned from a mermaid silver-green to inky black. Polaris peeped out beside the shivering fabric of the kite and night fell. A drift of stars showered the skies above Cape Cod and mingled with the flashing undercarriages of a dozen trans-Atlantic flights.
Across the water, the lights from other vessels criss-cross from every direction, whilst we keep a razor-sharp eye on the relative bearings of our competitors to see who is making or losing ground with each passing minute. The points between us are absolutely crucial for the overall leader-board. Come fifth and BP Explorer will be level-pegging with BG SPIRIT; six or seventh means that we will lose our lead. Spirit of Sark currently lie two points behind us, so if they achieved fifth and Imagine It. Done. sixth, being in seventh would mean that we would be level-pegging with them in equal second.
It was clearly going to be a tough watch; figures on a screen do not have the immediacy of lights flanking us neck and neck. Our fate is unfolding before us and we are doing everything humanly possible to make sure it goes the right way. There is no time to check the scheds, but no matter; it is laid out within our own glimmering horizon for all the protagonists to see.
The communication on deck is about fine-tuning BP Explorer to get her flying along at her absolute best - and this in the face of difficult, shifty winds. Commands and confirmations are ping-ponging back and forth between helm and trimmer, trimmer and winchman, cockpit ad snakepit - batting back and forth as sheets and guys, foreguys and preventers are altered every couple of minutes.
Then there is that fabulous call: 'Laaand-Ho!' Chris, trimming the kite at the shrouds, has spotted a lighthouse about 20 degrees off the port bow. Slowly the low orange glow of Boston dims our ceiling of starlight and we count down to the waypoint. As I head for bed, I can hear the new watch continuing the game. We are about half a mile in front of Imagine It. Done. and Spirit of Sark. David is at this moment overseeing progress right above my head in the cockpit. 'Well done everybody, we are now round the first waypoint! Let's just keep it going, stay focussed and trim the ass off this boat!'
Stick with us. We are sailing our hearts out. We are nearly there.
As a gauze of mauve and gold dissolved into the flat chill of the water, the sea turned from a mermaid silver-green to inky black. Polaris peeped out beside the shivering fabric of the kite and night fell. A drift of stars showered the skies above Cape Cod and mingled with the flashing undercarriages of a dozen trans-Atlantic flights.
Across the water, the lights from other vessels criss-cross from every direction, whilst we keep a razor-sharp eye on the relative bearings of our competitors to see who is making or losing ground with each passing minute. The points between us are absolutely crucial for the overall leader-board. Come fifth and BP Explorer will be level-pegging with BG SPIRIT; six or seventh means that we will lose our lead. Spirit of Sark currently lie two points behind us, so if they achieved fifth and Imagine It. Done. sixth, being in seventh would mean that we would be level-pegging with them in equal second.
It was clearly going to be a tough watch; figures on a screen do not have the immediacy of lights flanking us neck and neck. Our fate is unfolding before us and we are doing everything humanly possible to make sure it goes the right way. There is no time to check the scheds, but no matter; it is laid out within our own glimmering horizon for all the protagonists to see.
The communication on deck is about fine-tuning BP Explorer to get her flying along at her absolute best - and this in the face of difficult, shifty winds. Commands and confirmations are ping-ponging back and forth between helm and trimmer, trimmer and winchman, cockpit ad snakepit - batting back and forth as sheets and guys, foreguys and preventers are altered every couple of minutes.
Then there is that fabulous call: 'Laaand-Ho!' Chris, trimming the kite at the shrouds, has spotted a lighthouse about 20 degrees off the port bow. Slowly the low orange glow of Boston dims our ceiling of starlight and we count down to the waypoint. As I head for bed, I can hear the new watch continuing the game. We are about half a mile in front of Imagine It. Done. and Spirit of Sark. David is at this moment overseeing progress right above my head in the cockpit. 'Well done everybody, we are now round the first waypoint! Let's just keep it going, stay focussed and trim the ass off this boat!'
Stick with us. We are sailing our hearts out. We are nearly there.
Sunday, June 5, 2005
40' 0N 68' 01W
BP Explorer is 87 miles south east of Cape Cod, sailing slowly in a light north westerly breeze (yes a headwind..) The air is cold and damp with fog covering the first 10m of the sea. We can see the sky above, but cannot see more than 100m in front. Its very cold and the crew are raiding their curver boxes for extra t-shirts and socks.
If we cross our fingers and view the winds optimistically, we shall get in end of Monday. Finishing this race reminds me of the frog hopping across a table, the first time he jumps he gets half way across the table, the second jump takes him half the remaining distance..and so on forever.
While the distance to the finish seems to shrink but never reaches an end the same cannot be said for our competitors Imagine It. Done and Spirit of Sark - who are 2 and 6 miles behind respectively. Spirit of Sark in particular has done better overnight and I am sure they will be visible once this fog lifts.
So with 6880 miles under the keel since Cape Town we shall cross a finish line in sight of two other yachts. Although we are no longer competing for a podium place, these positions are important. If we finish in our present ranking, we shall still be joint first overall, While Spirit of Sark will be four points behind. They will be desperate to get into our position and with the very light winds ahead, this is a possibility.
We must endure one more 24 hour period of light winds lottery, with no chance to rectify any damage. Keep your fingers crossed, and for those waiting in Boston rest assured that we are going as fast as we can.
If we cross our fingers and view the winds optimistically, we shall get in end of Monday. Finishing this race reminds me of the frog hopping across a table, the first time he jumps he gets half way across the table, the second jump takes him half the remaining distance..and so on forever.
While the distance to the finish seems to shrink but never reaches an end the same cannot be said for our competitors Imagine It. Done and Spirit of Sark - who are 2 and 6 miles behind respectively. Spirit of Sark in particular has done better overnight and I am sure they will be visible once this fog lifts.
So with 6880 miles under the keel since Cape Town we shall cross a finish line in sight of two other yachts. Although we are no longer competing for a podium place, these positions are important. If we finish in our present ranking, we shall still be joint first overall, While Spirit of Sark will be four points behind. They will be desperate to get into our position and with the very light winds ahead, this is a possibility.
We must endure one more 24 hour period of light winds lottery, with no chance to rectify any damage. Keep your fingers crossed, and for those waiting in Boston rest assured that we are going as fast as we can.
Saturday, June 4, 2005
38o55N 63o44W
The stage is set for the final few days of this leg; it looks like it's going to be a bit of a nail-biter. For all our friends and family watching the website at home I'm sure it'll be the start of an anxious few days. For us too trying to defend our current position and maybe, just maybe steal another place before the finish line, it's going to be a finger tapping, position report watching, 48 hours. For BG SPIRIT the leg is almost over but they will be watching with interest to see where Spirit of Sark and we come in because that will affect the overall positions going into the next leg to La Rochelle. We need fourth or better to maintain our lead; it is going to be
tough. Barclays Adventurer are 90 miles ahead of us, VAIO are 50. These are miles that could disappear in one day but it would require a lot of luck to be on our side. Next in fourth place, at the moment, is SAIC La Jolla, that's who we have our sights on. It has happened before, we've thought the positions were pretty much set and then on the last day everything has changed.
The weather still has a couple of hands to play and it is set to go light again in the next 24 hours which could create an opening for us - conversely it could also create an opening for those behind. It has been so close this leg and it will go down to the last few hours I'm sure. Spirit of Sark, our constant companions on this leg, are only eight miles behind and Imagine It Done less than a mile. Seeing them on the radar and occasionally over our shoulders has the affect of keeping us very, very focused. On the white board one of the crew has put the message 'it ain't over until the fat lady sings' and we know from previous legs it certainly isn't.
We all start planning our stopover activities about now. Unfortunately we may only have one day off in Boston so we are not going to be able to do much. Shopping is top of the list for most of us. The excellent exchange rate means that most things are going to be about half the price they are in
the UK. Casual enquiries as to what are the best laptops have been made to Richard and myself and it looks like the electronics shops of Boston may do very well out of this crew at least.
It's strange to think that the 2004-5 Global Challenge is almost over. This is the last of the long legs and the next two are a couple of weeks and less than a week. That would have been a long sail back when I started the training, now they are short hops. I'm sure all too soon I'll miss it all and I'll wonder why I wished away the days, at this precise moment, I can't
wait to get into Boston.
tough. Barclays Adventurer are 90 miles ahead of us, VAIO are 50. These are miles that could disappear in one day but it would require a lot of luck to be on our side. Next in fourth place, at the moment, is SAIC La Jolla, that's who we have our sights on. It has happened before, we've thought the positions were pretty much set and then on the last day everything has changed.
The weather still has a couple of hands to play and it is set to go light again in the next 24 hours which could create an opening for us - conversely it could also create an opening for those behind. It has been so close this leg and it will go down to the last few hours I'm sure. Spirit of Sark, our constant companions on this leg, are only eight miles behind and Imagine It Done less than a mile. Seeing them on the radar and occasionally over our shoulders has the affect of keeping us very, very focused. On the white board one of the crew has put the message 'it ain't over until the fat lady sings' and we know from previous legs it certainly isn't.
We all start planning our stopover activities about now. Unfortunately we may only have one day off in Boston so we are not going to be able to do much. Shopping is top of the list for most of us. The excellent exchange rate means that most things are going to be about half the price they are in
the UK. Casual enquiries as to what are the best laptops have been made to Richard and myself and it looks like the electronics shops of Boston may do very well out of this crew at least.
It's strange to think that the 2004-5 Global Challenge is almost over. This is the last of the long legs and the next two are a couple of weeks and less than a week. That would have been a long sail back when I started the training, now they are short hops. I'm sure all too soon I'll miss it all and I'll wonder why I wished away the days, at this precise moment, I can't
wait to get into Boston.
Friday, June 3, 2005
38o11N 62o05W
On Tuesday we were bemoaning our prolonged light-winds fate; all around us the drifts of ochre-coloured Sargasso weed seemed to be travelling faster thanBP Explorer and we wondered if the three turtles we had seen were actually the same one as we spun around going nowhere.
We demanded that the navigators order us some better wind - and they certainly took us at our word. By the early hours of Wednesday morning, somebody had 'packed up the stars' and we were exchanging our 1.5oz kite for the heavier-weight flanker. Under rain clouds by dawn, the crew began to change down through the gears, donning their foulies and dropping the sails until we were left with No.3 headsail,
storm staysail and three reefs - the standard gale sail-plan.
With gusts of 52 knots across the deck as we approached the middle of the low-pressure system, even the mainsail had to come down, albeit briefly. But whereas we have on occasion groaned at the prospect of a Force 8-9, the general consensus was 'bring it on'. Lumps of old flapjack in hidden
recesses of the deck, weeks of unidentified fluff lodged here and there, most of all our energy levels - all called for a good blast of wind and water; a gale was just what was needed to refresh and energise BP Explorer, blowing away the ennui and frustration. We took the weather in our stride
and by afternoon were reversing the sail changes again, the new watch undoing what the morning watch had done and now belting back up through the gears.
Last night, having watched a huge cadmium sunset melting into the still-choppy sea, I allowed myself a peek at the scheds for the first time in days; it looked promising, Barclays Adventurer and Team Stelmar having both conceded around ten miles to us, from in front and behind respectively. Further north than BP Explorer, it might be that they are suffering adverse effects of the
Gulf Stream. Meanwhile, to the south, SAIC La Jolla and VAIO had grown closer, having already arrived at the lighter winds which we are now also beginning to encounter. The important thing is certainly to hold on tight to fifth, but it does seem possible that we might improve upon this, Barclays Adventurer (currently third) being now 38 miles distant, and SAIC La Jolla (fourth) 28.
As a visible reminder that we have to keep going - and going fast - we can see the masthead light of Imagine It. Done. about three miles dead astern, pointing straight up towards a grapefruit-yellow crescent moon. Now on a
level with Washington DC, we have just 424 miles to go to the Cape Cod waypoint. So with any luck the next log from me will be written just a few hours away from a bottle - or seven, or eight - of Bud, followed shortly by bath and a big bed!
As I went to send this I noticed that the new scheds had come in. If you take a look at the race viewer this morning you will see that these distances have been eaten up even more! A new light-winds lottery unfolding just a few miles ahead of us, you could even soon be watching the start to
the race - at least for second place - beginning all over again.
We demanded that the navigators order us some better wind - and they certainly took us at our word. By the early hours of Wednesday morning, somebody had 'packed up the stars' and we were exchanging our 1.5oz kite for the heavier-weight flanker. Under rain clouds by dawn, the crew began to change down through the gears, donning their foulies and dropping the sails until we were left with No.3 headsail,
storm staysail and three reefs - the standard gale sail-plan.
With gusts of 52 knots across the deck as we approached the middle of the low-pressure system, even the mainsail had to come down, albeit briefly. But whereas we have on occasion groaned at the prospect of a Force 8-9, the general consensus was 'bring it on'. Lumps of old flapjack in hidden
recesses of the deck, weeks of unidentified fluff lodged here and there, most of all our energy levels - all called for a good blast of wind and water; a gale was just what was needed to refresh and energise BP Explorer, blowing away the ennui and frustration. We took the weather in our stride
and by afternoon were reversing the sail changes again, the new watch undoing what the morning watch had done and now belting back up through the gears.
Last night, having watched a huge cadmium sunset melting into the still-choppy sea, I allowed myself a peek at the scheds for the first time in days; it looked promising, Barclays Adventurer and Team Stelmar having both conceded around ten miles to us, from in front and behind respectively. Further north than BP Explorer, it might be that they are suffering adverse effects of the
Gulf Stream. Meanwhile, to the south, SAIC La Jolla and VAIO had grown closer, having already arrived at the lighter winds which we are now also beginning to encounter. The important thing is certainly to hold on tight to fifth, but it does seem possible that we might improve upon this, Barclays Adventurer (currently third) being now 38 miles distant, and SAIC La Jolla (fourth) 28.
As a visible reminder that we have to keep going - and going fast - we can see the masthead light of Imagine It. Done. about three miles dead astern, pointing straight up towards a grapefruit-yellow crescent moon. Now on a
level with Washington DC, we have just 424 miles to go to the Cape Cod waypoint. So with any luck the next log from me will be written just a few hours away from a bottle - or seven, or eight - of Bud, followed shortly by bath and a big bed!
As I went to send this I noticed that the new scheds had come in. If you take a look at the race viewer this morning you will see that these distances have been eaten up even more! A new light-winds lottery unfolding just a few miles ahead of us, you could even soon be watching the start to
the race - at least for second place - beginning all over again.
Thursday, June 2, 2005
37' 32N 58' 20W
Well even the most optimistic of BP Explorer's supporters must be able to see that we are in a difficult position. Four days to go and four yachts are locked into a scrappy fight for 5th place - 5th! And the yachts that are in
this battle were 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the last leg to Cape Town. Not what we hoped for, not at all. 3rd and 4th place are achievable, but overnight, it is the yachts behind which occupy my thoughts. As for second, there is hope, but we will need a lot of wind holes to slow them up and the
next time I see the crew of BG SPIRIT will be in a bar in Boston!
When I started this campaign, the first person I got in contact with was a sports psychologist - Simon Timson. We talked about mental toughness for both the skipper and the crew. When we talk about ocean yacht racing being tough, it's not just physical, at least half (and I think more) is mental
robustness. This leg had not been difficult physically, in fact with the warm weather and plentiful food onboard a number of crew are getting rounder. It has been hard mentally. Despite all our best efforts - and an excellent 4 week run up the Atlantic which saw us in the top two for all our objective points of Tropic of Cancer, Equator, Tropic of Capricorn - here we are.
The crew handle it with the slogan ''control the controllables and forget the rest''. If they work hard all watch and sail the boat well that is a definition of success. The crew also now have an innate confidence in the boat's abilities. Perhaps the person whose mental robustness takes the biggest hammering is my own.
Skippers have a tendency to personalise yacht racing. Skippers that are ahead can be seen as ''better''. Not better crews or, more to the point, lucky crews - but better skippers. This way lies madness! and was discussed with Simon Timson at length in the cold winter months that preceded this race. Once you start talking about better or worse skippers, then your ego is tied into the performance of the yacht. Now as we all know, the ego is a very vulnerable entity. If you tie your own ego into the performance of the yacht then your own mental health is going to take a real battering. The end result can be ''my yacht is in a bad place therefore I am a bad person'' kind of a mindset.
You can see it in some of the stopovers, a bad result can start to crush a skipper and they become slightly 'down' for their time in port. It's tough on them, and tough on the crew. One thing I try to think about is that my wife Kate and our little baby boy Jasper will be waiting for me on the
pontoon in Boston. What sort of person do they want to be greeted by? Someone defeated by events out of their control, or a positive person still confident in their abilities? Well the answer's obvious.
This has been a difficult leg and it's not over yet. Places are still up for grabs in front, and dangerous yachts lurk just a few miles astern. But whatever the result, this team is going to walk off the yacht (and straight into the first bar) with heads high.
this battle were 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the last leg to Cape Town. Not what we hoped for, not at all. 3rd and 4th place are achievable, but overnight, it is the yachts behind which occupy my thoughts. As for second, there is hope, but we will need a lot of wind holes to slow them up and the
next time I see the crew of BG SPIRIT will be in a bar in Boston!
When I started this campaign, the first person I got in contact with was a sports psychologist - Simon Timson. We talked about mental toughness for both the skipper and the crew. When we talk about ocean yacht racing being tough, it's not just physical, at least half (and I think more) is mental
robustness. This leg had not been difficult physically, in fact with the warm weather and plentiful food onboard a number of crew are getting rounder. It has been hard mentally. Despite all our best efforts - and an excellent 4 week run up the Atlantic which saw us in the top two for all our objective points of Tropic of Cancer, Equator, Tropic of Capricorn - here we are.
The crew handle it with the slogan ''control the controllables and forget the rest''. If they work hard all watch and sail the boat well that is a definition of success. The crew also now have an innate confidence in the boat's abilities. Perhaps the person whose mental robustness takes the biggest hammering is my own.
Skippers have a tendency to personalise yacht racing. Skippers that are ahead can be seen as ''better''. Not better crews or, more to the point, lucky crews - but better skippers. This way lies madness! and was discussed with Simon Timson at length in the cold winter months that preceded this race. Once you start talking about better or worse skippers, then your ego is tied into the performance of the yacht. Now as we all know, the ego is a very vulnerable entity. If you tie your own ego into the performance of the yacht then your own mental health is going to take a real battering. The end result can be ''my yacht is in a bad place therefore I am a bad person'' kind of a mindset.
You can see it in some of the stopovers, a bad result can start to crush a skipper and they become slightly 'down' for their time in port. It's tough on them, and tough on the crew. One thing I try to think about is that my wife Kate and our little baby boy Jasper will be waiting for me on the
pontoon in Boston. What sort of person do they want to be greeted by? Someone defeated by events out of their control, or a positive person still confident in their abilities? Well the answer's obvious.
This has been a difficult leg and it's not over yet. Places are still up for grabs in front, and dangerous yachts lurk just a few miles astern. But whatever the result, this team is going to walk off the yacht (and straight into the first bar) with heads high.
Wednesday, June 1, 2005
35' 45N 53' 39W
OK, I must admit, this is getting a bit boring now. We are back in light airs, long sunny days and cloudless nights wistfully floating along with little or no boat speed.
Goldie Raley said today "You know, we shouldn't complain, if this was a day sail these would be near perfect conditions" The trouble is we are in our fifth week now and we would really like to get to Boston and finish this confounded leg. The position reports are changing so frequently, and in such a way, that we could understand if people have contacted the Challenge Business asking if the website is reporting the correct information. We have to double-check the figures ourselves as we type them in too. In a 24-hour period our position will go from third to eighth to fifth with no indication where we will end up as we get the next reports -it's all so random. It has reached a stage where I for one pretty much ignore them.
Once the wind picks up and there is once again an equal playing field, then can we analyse how we are doing in the race. For now we can pretty much assume that BG SPIRIT has it in the bag for first place, Team Save The Children and Pindar are going to need some help to get out of the last two places but every other position is there to play for - though VAIO are building a nice distance with about 60 miles between them in second place and SAIC La Jolla in third.
The weather predictions are suggesting a change in the conditions in the next 24 hours with winds of 30 knots and a possibility of 50 knots, however these are not set to last more than about eight hours or so.
The talk on deck and at the midday briefings has been can we do anything? David confirmed that we are sailing the boat as well as we can for the conditions but there is not much more we can do. Yachts either side of us gain one moment and we and the yachts behind gain the next. For the first time in the race so far I think luck is playing a huge part. Amongst the crew it's a new emotion to deal with - are we destined to be lucky? We've had some luck in the past but our ability to sail the boat better in most conditions has been the key factor in putting us two points ahead overall.
With such variable conditions controlling our destiny, at least in the short term, we have to dig deep to a new place, let the uncontrollables deal their hand and play it the best we can.
Goldie Raley said today "You know, we shouldn't complain, if this was a day sail these would be near perfect conditions" The trouble is we are in our fifth week now and we would really like to get to Boston and finish this confounded leg. The position reports are changing so frequently, and in such a way, that we could understand if people have contacted the Challenge Business asking if the website is reporting the correct information. We have to double-check the figures ourselves as we type them in too. In a 24-hour period our position will go from third to eighth to fifth with no indication where we will end up as we get the next reports -it's all so random. It has reached a stage where I for one pretty much ignore them.
Once the wind picks up and there is once again an equal playing field, then can we analyse how we are doing in the race. For now we can pretty much assume that BG SPIRIT has it in the bag for first place, Team Save The Children and Pindar are going to need some help to get out of the last two places but every other position is there to play for - though VAIO are building a nice distance with about 60 miles between them in second place and SAIC La Jolla in third.
The weather predictions are suggesting a change in the conditions in the next 24 hours with winds of 30 knots and a possibility of 50 knots, however these are not set to last more than about eight hours or so.
The talk on deck and at the midday briefings has been can we do anything? David confirmed that we are sailing the boat as well as we can for the conditions but there is not much more we can do. Yachts either side of us gain one moment and we and the yachts behind gain the next. For the first time in the race so far I think luck is playing a huge part. Amongst the crew it's a new emotion to deal with - are we destined to be lucky? We've had some luck in the past but our ability to sail the boat better in most conditions has been the key factor in putting us two points ahead overall.
With such variable conditions controlling our destiny, at least in the short term, we have to dig deep to a new place, let the uncontrollables deal their hand and play it the best we can.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
34o11N 52o24W
One of BP Explorer's mottos is 'control the controllables'. It has served us well, but for much of the time over recent days it has been more a case of reacting to the hand we are dealt. We had day after day of glassy, carribbean-blue waters, negligible - or even negative - speeds towards Boston and ripples of restless boredom amongst those torturing their weary bottoms on the rail. Then, the night before last, we went from swimming-pool-flat waters to reaching along under the flanker. Somebody had switched the wind on. Then they changed their minds and turned it off again. The spinnaker was out of its bag, flying, down the companionway and back in its bag in less time than it takes to nip out for as pint of milk.
And, as the scheds have shown all too clearly, if the wind can change so radically over a couple of hundred yards, it is not surprising that the yachts fighting it out behind BG SPIRIT and VAIO are playing musical chairs.
If I had a bit more self-discipline I would avoid looking at the figures until the situation regains some semblance of normality, especially when they read as they did half an hour ago, putting us back from fourth to eighth. But for now it is in some ways meaningless; less than seven miles separate us from third and we have at least made gains on Imagine it. Done. in third. The wind that we are currently enjoying will help us knock a few more miles off before daylight. Then, after tomorrow's return to light winds, a gale is predicted to serve as the introduction to the final few days of the voyage.
Sunday saw the last of the alcohol come and go with Christian's birthday, so it was with some relief that we passed on to the right side of '1,000 miles to the waypoint' yesterday afternoon - Boston is now 946 miles distant.
Right on cue to rouse Chris from his worries about ageing, we were also treated to yet more wildlife; every time that he talked about wanting to go for a birthday swim another shark would appear. Several sperm whales also kept us company, spouting in the sunshine, and yesterday we saw our first turtle - swimming in an ungainly, flapping kind of way past the hull, one leathery 'arm' in the air, waving us on. 'Hurry up,' he seemed to be saying. 'They're waiting for you!'
And, as the scheds have shown all too clearly, if the wind can change so radically over a couple of hundred yards, it is not surprising that the yachts fighting it out behind BG SPIRIT and VAIO are playing musical chairs.
If I had a bit more self-discipline I would avoid looking at the figures until the situation regains some semblance of normality, especially when they read as they did half an hour ago, putting us back from fourth to eighth. But for now it is in some ways meaningless; less than seven miles separate us from third and we have at least made gains on Imagine it. Done. in third. The wind that we are currently enjoying will help us knock a few more miles off before daylight. Then, after tomorrow's return to light winds, a gale is predicted to serve as the introduction to the final few days of the voyage.
Sunday saw the last of the alcohol come and go with Christian's birthday, so it was with some relief that we passed on to the right side of '1,000 miles to the waypoint' yesterday afternoon - Boston is now 946 miles distant.
Right on cue to rouse Chris from his worries about ageing, we were also treated to yet more wildlife; every time that he talked about wanting to go for a birthday swim another shark would appear. Several sperm whales also kept us company, spouting in the sunshine, and yesterday we saw our first turtle - swimming in an ungainly, flapping kind of way past the hull, one leathery 'arm' in the air, waving us on. 'Hurry up,' he seemed to be saying. 'They're waiting for you!'
Monday, May 30, 2005
32' 45N 50' 27W
I need to choose my words carefully if I am to describe the last 48 hours or so. Light Winds Lottery is a phrase racing sailors sometimes use to describe such conditions and perhaps I will leave it at that.
Working in the hot sun, with sails slatting overhead, boat speeds close to zero and schedules that show others nearby in differing wind speeds - in many ways these conditions have been the most trying we have encountered in the circumnavigation. We have laboured away stoically, trying to stay cheerful, each crewmember hoping for wind and some equal conditions to fight in.
Last night the random nature of yacht movements continued apace. We gained 10 miles on Team Stelmar, meanwhile SAIC La Jolla overtook us and from even further behind
Imagine It. Done. overtook all of us.
All of us are capable of being a little tetchy and in an effort to make light of this I asked Naomi to create two 30cm diameter medals. Made of Dacron and proudly worn around the recipient's neck, they declare:
With smiling face ''I am a happy bugger''
And
With unhappy face ''I am a miserable git''
Both watches were made aware that these medals were to be issued at the daily 1200 meeting, one of each type, for each watch. A kangaroo court was hastily organised and a 'happy bugger' and 'miserable git' for each watch were duly presented with their medals. To be frank the sins of the miserable were rather mild and in some cases frankly misquoted. They did allow us to once again focus on the issues of morale and team spirit. If you are laughing and stitching each other up over 'miserable git' medals your team
is invariably ok. They also allowed us to humorously make the point that negative behaviour would be highlighted by the awarding of a large medal in a group environment. There's only one way to avoid getting the 'mis' medal and that's to be cheerful.
There is photographic evidence of the first recipients - but as for names I am sworn to silence. There will be more presentations with each medal being proudly inscribed with the name of past winners. Seven more days to Boston and seven more winners!
It feels very much like we have escaped the prolonged calms and for the next 36 hours we should have moderate westerlies. We have a challenging task ahead and some varied conditions over the next seven days - including another
period of calm. We are determined to win the battle of the becalmed boats, but part of it appears to be in the lap of the wind gods.
Working in the hot sun, with sails slatting overhead, boat speeds close to zero and schedules that show others nearby in differing wind speeds - in many ways these conditions have been the most trying we have encountered in the circumnavigation. We have laboured away stoically, trying to stay cheerful, each crewmember hoping for wind and some equal conditions to fight in.
Last night the random nature of yacht movements continued apace. We gained 10 miles on Team Stelmar, meanwhile SAIC La Jolla overtook us and from even further behind
Imagine It. Done. overtook all of us.
All of us are capable of being a little tetchy and in an effort to make light of this I asked Naomi to create two 30cm diameter medals. Made of Dacron and proudly worn around the recipient's neck, they declare:
With smiling face ''I am a happy bugger''
And
With unhappy face ''I am a miserable git''
Both watches were made aware that these medals were to be issued at the daily 1200 meeting, one of each type, for each watch. A kangaroo court was hastily organised and a 'happy bugger' and 'miserable git' for each watch were duly presented with their medals. To be frank the sins of the miserable were rather mild and in some cases frankly misquoted. They did allow us to once again focus on the issues of morale and team spirit. If you are laughing and stitching each other up over 'miserable git' medals your team
is invariably ok. They also allowed us to humorously make the point that negative behaviour would be highlighted by the awarding of a large medal in a group environment. There's only one way to avoid getting the 'mis' medal and that's to be cheerful.
There is photographic evidence of the first recipients - but as for names I am sworn to silence. There will be more presentations with each medal being proudly inscribed with the name of past winners. Seven more days to Boston and seven more winners!
It feels very much like we have escaped the prolonged calms and for the next 36 hours we should have moderate westerlies. We have a challenging task ahead and some varied conditions over the next seven days - including another
period of calm. We are determined to win the battle of the becalmed boats, but part of it appears to be in the lap of the wind gods.
Sunday, May 29, 2005
31o37N 49o03W
We're still here! Just in case you were thinking the Challenge website was on the blink and the display of our position has frozen - believe it or not we are still racing. One could, not surprisingly, think that we'd had enough of all that rushing about and decided to take life at a more leisurely pace.
We've done over 27,000 miles through the world's toughest oceans, we've smashed through huge waves, fought to put up sails in howling winds and stood trimming at the shrouds in freezing temperatures. Even in port it's a mad rush to get the boat ready for the next leg and the stress of packing
your bag three days before you leave and trying to get it to 30 kilos even thought you've just brought ten kilos of stuff in port should not be underestimated. You could be forgiven for thinking - I recon they're taking advantage of the sun and having a bit of a rest. Even now as you sit at our desks with a full day ahead, deadlines to meet, bosses to please you may
wonder - I bet they are sunning themselves on deck and drinking some of that Gin & tonic that we know they've got on board. They don't seem to be moving very fast that's for sure. Well you would be nearly right actually, we are
catching up on our tans and there's not much to do so, but for the helm, nav and trimmers we are sat on the rail chatting amongst ourselves. However it's like being stuck in a traffic jam, stuck on the tube or delayed at the airport - it's a gap in the hectic schedule but you can't rest. Your brain
knows you've got to be somewhere and it won't relax until you're there. You are constantly looking at your watch counting how much time has been wasted, feverishly looking at alternative routes and wondering what the rest of the
world is doing while you are stuck in that same spot for what seems like an age. It's not free time it's time not doing something when you should be doing something and that's worse than no free time. We are eating the same food we would be if we were working hard so we're getting fatter. We're not as tired (physically) so it is actually more difficult to sleep during the off watches. The tendency is to stay awake and read or catch up on the e-mails, the problem then is that you disrupt your sleep patterns and you'll
be tired on watch and awake off watch again. Believe us when we say we are wishing and praying for wind. It's not good for the soul all this floating about.
BG SPIRIT's bold move to the North looks to be paying off. They are over 100 miles in front. It's by no means over yet but you have to tip your hat at the move they made going out on their own as they did. Such a move could have spelt disaster and they deserve their moment of glory. The next four positions are being traded almost by the hour and there is less than a mile between second, third and forth place and thereafter 15 and 18 miles for fifth and sixth place - nothing at all in these conditions. So, we wait, and wait, and wait.
Such is the nature of this game that I doubt if, even with their lead, BG SPIRIT is able to relax and until we cross the finish line neither can we - even if we do, deserve a bit of a rest.
We've done over 27,000 miles through the world's toughest oceans, we've smashed through huge waves, fought to put up sails in howling winds and stood trimming at the shrouds in freezing temperatures. Even in port it's a mad rush to get the boat ready for the next leg and the stress of packing
your bag three days before you leave and trying to get it to 30 kilos even thought you've just brought ten kilos of stuff in port should not be underestimated. You could be forgiven for thinking - I recon they're taking advantage of the sun and having a bit of a rest. Even now as you sit at our desks with a full day ahead, deadlines to meet, bosses to please you may
wonder - I bet they are sunning themselves on deck and drinking some of that Gin & tonic that we know they've got on board. They don't seem to be moving very fast that's for sure. Well you would be nearly right actually, we are
catching up on our tans and there's not much to do so, but for the helm, nav and trimmers we are sat on the rail chatting amongst ourselves. However it's like being stuck in a traffic jam, stuck on the tube or delayed at the airport - it's a gap in the hectic schedule but you can't rest. Your brain
knows you've got to be somewhere and it won't relax until you're there. You are constantly looking at your watch counting how much time has been wasted, feverishly looking at alternative routes and wondering what the rest of the
world is doing while you are stuck in that same spot for what seems like an age. It's not free time it's time not doing something when you should be doing something and that's worse than no free time. We are eating the same food we would be if we were working hard so we're getting fatter. We're not as tired (physically) so it is actually more difficult to sleep during the off watches. The tendency is to stay awake and read or catch up on the e-mails, the problem then is that you disrupt your sleep patterns and you'll
be tired on watch and awake off watch again. Believe us when we say we are wishing and praying for wind. It's not good for the soul all this floating about.
BG SPIRIT's bold move to the North looks to be paying off. They are over 100 miles in front. It's by no means over yet but you have to tip your hat at the move they made going out on their own as they did. Such a move could have spelt disaster and they deserve their moment of glory. The next four positions are being traded almost by the hour and there is less than a mile between second, third and forth place and thereafter 15 and 18 miles for fifth and sixth place - nothing at all in these conditions. So, we wait, and wait, and wait.
Such is the nature of this game that I doubt if, even with their lead, BG SPIRIT is able to relax and until we cross the finish line neither can we - even if we do, deserve a bit of a rest.
Saturday, May 28, 2005
31o08N 48o04W
Tonight BP Explorer is becalmed in a slight swell. She is making that particular noise - a gentle thudding slap of hull against the gloopy-sounding water - 'thwump. pause. thwump. pause. thwump'. This is not exactly music to the ears of the helms who wait patiently for enough wind to make it possible to sail course. Every few moments the navigator pops his head up like a meerkat through the companionway. Squinting into the gloom of the cockpit, he delivers a running commentary on our progress, which he has been watching
below on the MAXSea. In this case it is Stephen.
Up the steps he goes. 'That's course Holger. Keep steering 345 degrees.' Down he goes. Five minutes later, up he goes: 'You are 25 low, we need to start thinking about a gybe.'
And so we yo-yo back and forth, back and forth.
People are trying to contain their sighs and remain patient, but even a saint would struggle right now. Our probable arrival date is slipping back (it looks like Saturday at the moment), and the prognosis for the next 24 hours or so is not brilliant. The navigators order new weather forecasts
almost every day via email, and BG SPIRIT, around 150 miles to the north, can clearly see the same thing as us. They have continued their flyer but have been sacrificing miles to us as they sail due north. 'They are keeping an
eye on this lousy mess and are trying to avoid it,' I am told. This 'lousy mess' (a technical meteorological term) is, crudely speaking, caused by two highs, with north-flowing wind on one side, south-flowing wind on the other and very little - just light, flukey winds - between. This is where we are.
Those of us at 31oN or thereabouts are fighting a battle through similar conditions. Within our own horizon, we are engaged in an ungainly dance, with Spirit of Sark watching us watching them, and Team Stelmar watching us watching Spirit of Sark watching them. If you see what I mean. Meanwhile, some 20 or so miles to
the east, Barclays Adventurer and SAIC La Jolla are also experiencing much the same pattern of events and are now three miles and almost seven miles behind respectively - which at least puts us back in third.
Bob Dylan sings 'The times they are a-changing' on the stereo, Christian is baking bread in the warm fug of the galley, time seems to be slooowing down. The meerkat, sleepy by now, appears again, huffing and puffing, exhaling his
words with a tired groan. 'We are still 25 low. We just need some more wind!'
'Well, YOU ordered this sh*t!' jokes the helm. 'Why don't you go and order something different - like about 20 knots!'
below on the MAXSea. In this case it is Stephen.
Up the steps he goes. 'That's course Holger. Keep steering 345 degrees.' Down he goes. Five minutes later, up he goes: 'You are 25 low, we need to start thinking about a gybe.'
And so we yo-yo back and forth, back and forth.
People are trying to contain their sighs and remain patient, but even a saint would struggle right now. Our probable arrival date is slipping back (it looks like Saturday at the moment), and the prognosis for the next 24 hours or so is not brilliant. The navigators order new weather forecasts
almost every day via email, and BG SPIRIT, around 150 miles to the north, can clearly see the same thing as us. They have continued their flyer but have been sacrificing miles to us as they sail due north. 'They are keeping an
eye on this lousy mess and are trying to avoid it,' I am told. This 'lousy mess' (a technical meteorological term) is, crudely speaking, caused by two highs, with north-flowing wind on one side, south-flowing wind on the other and very little - just light, flukey winds - between. This is where we are.
Those of us at 31oN or thereabouts are fighting a battle through similar conditions. Within our own horizon, we are engaged in an ungainly dance, with Spirit of Sark watching us watching them, and Team Stelmar watching us watching Spirit of Sark watching them. If you see what I mean. Meanwhile, some 20 or so miles to
the east, Barclays Adventurer and SAIC La Jolla are also experiencing much the same pattern of events and are now three miles and almost seven miles behind respectively - which at least puts us back in third.
Bob Dylan sings 'The times they are a-changing' on the stereo, Christian is baking bread in the warm fug of the galley, time seems to be slooowing down. The meerkat, sleepy by now, appears again, huffing and puffing, exhaling his
words with a tired groan. 'We are still 25 low. We just need some more wind!'
'Well, YOU ordered this sh*t!' jokes the helm. 'Why don't you go and order something different - like about 20 knots!'
Friday, May 27, 2005
29' 12N 46' 50W
Well we have been here before this trip, have we not? I am not sure if it's easier to put up with because of its familiarity or more frustrating because of the ''Oh no, not again'' feel to it all.
Yesterday under a baking hot sun, we sat with no wind, watching yellow sails appear on the horizon astern. Ghosting closer on the dying breeze came first Spirit of Sark and then Team Stelmar and all the hard won miles began to run backwards. Out to the east, Barclays Adventurer were doing the same. Further indignity was to follow
as Spirit of Sark glided slowly around us and settled 2 miles in front slightly off the port bow. In the middle of all this I received an email from Kate my wife, telling me that she and baby Jasper would be unable to make the finish in Boston due to a booking error with the tickets...they will arrive later. For much of yesterday I had a kind of mental image of Edvard Munch's ''The Scream'' playing inside my head.
I suppose if I am honest, what I really begrudge the other yachts, is the feeling of relief and happiness such a reversal of fortune brings. Two days ago Spirit of Sark was 25 miles behind sailing with furrowed brow, agonising over sail
trim wondering how they were going to claw back the distance - marvellous! Now they are back in it.
BG SPIRIT has pulled a bold move relentlessly pushing out to the north to find new wind first. They are 124m out to our right. There is a downside to what they have done, they must find a way back to the line. Westerlies are forecast
for the end of the leg and this might prove difficult for them. Well it's something to watch for anyway.
As for us, we are the same as usual. People are frustrated, but not visibly so. We have a confidence in our sailing skills and don't feel the distance between 5th and 2nd is significant in the medium term. As for first, well we will just have to watch the westerlies at the end. But time is running short, 7 to 8 days to go and the pressure is on.
As for Jasper, he is just a few weeks over one year and I have missed him a great deal on this leg (the last of the 5 week odysseys). I receive regular reports of how he proudly pushes his brick trolley along, using the handle as a support, but have never seen it myself. He is still to take his first
steps unaided and I very much hope to see this take place in Boston. So if there is a little more progress on the sailing front - and temporarily, a little less progress on the walking front, I will be a happy man!
Yesterday under a baking hot sun, we sat with no wind, watching yellow sails appear on the horizon astern. Ghosting closer on the dying breeze came first Spirit of Sark and then Team Stelmar and all the hard won miles began to run backwards. Out to the east, Barclays Adventurer were doing the same. Further indignity was to follow
as Spirit of Sark glided slowly around us and settled 2 miles in front slightly off the port bow. In the middle of all this I received an email from Kate my wife, telling me that she and baby Jasper would be unable to make the finish in Boston due to a booking error with the tickets...they will arrive later. For much of yesterday I had a kind of mental image of Edvard Munch's ''The Scream'' playing inside my head.
I suppose if I am honest, what I really begrudge the other yachts, is the feeling of relief and happiness such a reversal of fortune brings. Two days ago Spirit of Sark was 25 miles behind sailing with furrowed brow, agonising over sail
trim wondering how they were going to claw back the distance - marvellous! Now they are back in it.
BG SPIRIT has pulled a bold move relentlessly pushing out to the north to find new wind first. They are 124m out to our right. There is a downside to what they have done, they must find a way back to the line. Westerlies are forecast
for the end of the leg and this might prove difficult for them. Well it's something to watch for anyway.
As for us, we are the same as usual. People are frustrated, but not visibly so. We have a confidence in our sailing skills and don't feel the distance between 5th and 2nd is significant in the medium term. As for first, well we will just have to watch the westerlies at the end. But time is running short, 7 to 8 days to go and the pressure is on.
As for Jasper, he is just a few weeks over one year and I have missed him a great deal on this leg (the last of the 5 week odysseys). I receive regular reports of how he proudly pushes his brick trolley along, using the handle as a support, but have never seen it myself. He is still to take his first
steps unaided and I very much hope to see this take place in Boston. So if there is a little more progress on the sailing front - and temporarily, a little less progress on the walking front, I will be a happy man!
Thursday, May 26, 2005
27o49N 45o36W
We kind of knew it was going to happen, it always does! The once perfect position of us in first place, BG SPIRIT behind and Spirit of Sark way back in seventh place was bound to change - it has. For days we've been predicting light airs and they have been better than we expected. In the first leg from Portsmouth to Buenos Aires it seemed like we were sitting in the middle of a glassy sea, not going anywhere, loads of times. This leg we have been luckier. There have been light winds but they have not lasted long and after a short period of just going slow, we've been off again. It's now gone light in fact it's just gone! We woke this morning to the sullen faces of the on-watch who, during the night, had been zigzagging across the chart in search of some forward motion. A new set of position reports were in that although were not bad - we had actually gained a place (we were first), they were not good either. Our constant foe, Spirit of Sark has crept up into second place just 5 miles behind. It is a sign of how much we want to win this leg, indeed win the race, when even when we are in first place we are disappointed that the others are not further behind. We can now see Spirit of Sark over to our left, two yachts bobbing on a still pond, small puffy clouds littering the sky, the sun blazing a fiery trail across the water. It could be an idyllic scene, it is idyllic but for the fact that on both yachts there is a harnessed energy wanting, waiting for the wind to rise, standing poised to shuttle the crew into action steering, trimming and changing sails. Instead we are creeping about not wanting to affect the little boat speed we have.
We are nervously looking over at our nemesis and hoping that they don't move in front, don't catch some wind and don't sail off leaving us behind to wallow. There's not much we can do actually. All those speedy sail changes, perfect gybes mean nothing when there is no wind. We can send someone up the mast to look for wind; David is up there now. The helms and navigators can watch the numbers for anything that might help us get going and the rest of us can be alert, ready for the next tack to capture the little puff of available breeze. It is actually more stressful than when we've got 40 knots. It's another reason to send David up the mast!
Hopefully this will not last and we'll be on our way again soon. Hopefully the gods have not saved all the light stuff and are going to give it to us all at once. It's cruel really that a on a perfectly beautiful day in a spectacular environment where all worries should melt away like the ice in our imaginary gin & tonics we are instead fretting and fussing about racing. Still that's what we are doing - that's ocean racing I guess.
John Bass
All the crew would just like to wish our BP Explorer Project Manager, Claire Blakeway a very, very happy birthday today. We are so lucky to have you on our team and our thoughts will be with you. Our recommendation, take the day off from looking after us and leave answering any e-mails until tomorrow afternoon!
We are nervously looking over at our nemesis and hoping that they don't move in front, don't catch some wind and don't sail off leaving us behind to wallow. There's not much we can do actually. All those speedy sail changes, perfect gybes mean nothing when there is no wind. We can send someone up the mast to look for wind; David is up there now. The helms and navigators can watch the numbers for anything that might help us get going and the rest of us can be alert, ready for the next tack to capture the little puff of available breeze. It is actually more stressful than when we've got 40 knots. It's another reason to send David up the mast!
Hopefully this will not last and we'll be on our way again soon. Hopefully the gods have not saved all the light stuff and are going to give it to us all at once. It's cruel really that a on a perfectly beautiful day in a spectacular environment where all worries should melt away like the ice in our imaginary gin & tonics we are instead fretting and fussing about racing. Still that's what we are doing - that's ocean racing I guess.
John Bass
All the crew would just like to wish our BP Explorer Project Manager, Claire Blakeway a very, very happy birthday today. We are so lucky to have you on our team and our thoughts will be with you. Our recommendation, take the day off from looking after us and leave answering any e-mails until tomorrow afternoon!
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
25o12N 44o07W
As the wind shifted forwards at 6pm watch changeover yesterday, we dropped the flanker and those left on deck took a well-needed bath as the heavens opened. Below decks it is the same temperature as a steel-works, so fireman Rob tells us, so the wash was a refreshing treat. Not that this was how everyone saw it. Holger, on the helm, was determined to stay dry and had somehow managed to reach for his foulie jacket just in time, whilst those at the shrouds and on the winches got as soaked as they would have done on any Southern Ocean watch, albeit in considerably warmer water this time. But it just didn't seem fair, so before coming off deck Chris and Rich poured two bottles of water down Holger's neck. Herr Doktor was not impressed!
Now, we are slipping through the early hours with the genoa up after a brief spell with the yankee and staysail, and the breeze is fading. Rain gave way to a wash of watercolour sunset before the full moon lit our path towards Boston. A net of bright stars emerging between fleeting white clouds promises a lovely dawn when we hope to discover that this dying wind has not lost us any ground to those following in our wake. Very light winds are expected over the next couple of days and it seems likely that we will lose some miles to those boats out to the east - fingers crossed that any reshuffling in their favour leaves plenty of scope for us to recover the lead in the final week.
The distance seems to have been eaten up so quickly - yesterday we again reached for the cocktail umbrellas and a couple of fresh limes to put the finishing touches to our G&Ts - poured in celebration of crossing the Tropic of Cancer in second place. So that's another of our objectives for the leg marked with a tick and something to feel very proud of. The only one left now unmarked on the wall is 'Win the Leg'. We have 1,600 miles left in which to achieve this and work continues around the clock to seize every opportunity to maximise boat speed. One of the most important objectives in the short term must be to keep our thoughts in the here and now. With emails coming thick and fast requesting decisions and information for the finish at Portsmouth, this can sometimes be harder than you might think. The conversation on deck is now less about the trading currency of a cereal bar versus sour jelly worms (priceless by the way), and more about what we will all do when we get back, what it is going to feel like racing up the Solent and what a party it is going to be!
But we do, after all, have around 5,000 miles of racing before us, valuable points for three of the seven legs left up for grabs and several weeks of sailing during which anything could happen. So it is a case of fixing our eye firmly on the ball. It's all about that feeling once you reach the end of a race; the beer tastes so much sweeter if you feel that you have done everything possible, given every ounce of your concentration and effort to get the best possible result. Do that and I am sure that Boston, La Rochelle and Portsmouth will be days that are hard to beat!
Now, we are slipping through the early hours with the genoa up after a brief spell with the yankee and staysail, and the breeze is fading. Rain gave way to a wash of watercolour sunset before the full moon lit our path towards Boston. A net of bright stars emerging between fleeting white clouds promises a lovely dawn when we hope to discover that this dying wind has not lost us any ground to those following in our wake. Very light winds are expected over the next couple of days and it seems likely that we will lose some miles to those boats out to the east - fingers crossed that any reshuffling in their favour leaves plenty of scope for us to recover the lead in the final week.
The distance seems to have been eaten up so quickly - yesterday we again reached for the cocktail umbrellas and a couple of fresh limes to put the finishing touches to our G&Ts - poured in celebration of crossing the Tropic of Cancer in second place. So that's another of our objectives for the leg marked with a tick and something to feel very proud of. The only one left now unmarked on the wall is 'Win the Leg'. We have 1,600 miles left in which to achieve this and work continues around the clock to seize every opportunity to maximise boat speed. One of the most important objectives in the short term must be to keep our thoughts in the here and now. With emails coming thick and fast requesting decisions and information for the finish at Portsmouth, this can sometimes be harder than you might think. The conversation on deck is now less about the trading currency of a cereal bar versus sour jelly worms (priceless by the way), and more about what we will all do when we get back, what it is going to feel like racing up the Solent and what a party it is going to be!
But we do, after all, have around 5,000 miles of racing before us, valuable points for three of the seven legs left up for grabs and several weeks of sailing during which anything could happen. So it is a case of fixing our eye firmly on the ball. It's all about that feeling once you reach the end of a race; the beer tastes so much sweeter if you feel that you have done everything possible, given every ounce of your concentration and effort to get the best possible result. Do that and I am sure that Boston, La Rochelle and Portsmouth will be days that are hard to beat!
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