Dust yourself up and try again
Let’s face it: this year didn’t quite work as planned for me.
In the first race of the year – the Pornichet Select – my autopilot failed and I had to hand-steer most of the time, during the Mini en Mai my backstay broke and I gave up.
That wasn’t too huge of a problem yet though since I had the Mini Fastnet race as my backup-plan to still be able to meet all the qualification criteria for the acores race.
But then I had to abandon my 1000nm solo qualifier because of autopilot trouble and an injury which had the effect of also stopping me from doing the Mini Fastnet. Finally there wasn’t enough time any more to finish my qualification for the Acores race and it became apparent that that race would start without me this year.
That sucked.
But after a couple of days of grumpiness I guess it’s now time to “dust yourself off and try again” and come up with a new plan for the remainder of 2014: to finish my qualification for the 2015 Mini Transat.
My plan is to redo my 1000nm qualifier either in july/august or august/september. That would leave me with just one category “B” race to finish in order to complete my qualification.
With the category B “Mini Barcelona” race that starts oct 16th from – who’d have guessed – Barcelona around the island of Menorca and back to Barcelona I should hopefully have checked that box as well on oct 20th.
So, that’s the plan. Let’s get going!
Preparations: ISAF & the Doc
The last three days were all about getting ready for the new season.
Saturday and Sunday I spent in Woergl, Austria to renew my required ISAF Safety at Sea certificate. The training was held by ex-Volvo Ocean Race skipper Andreas Hanakamp who managed to convey all the information in a very lively and interesting way.
Compared to the training at the german navy 5 years ago in Neustadt/Holstein this training was a lot more focused on sailing boats but we also talked a lot about chartering boats due to the audience.
After all a great training and a good refresher on some topics.
This afternoon then it was time for the medical checks.
In order to participate in the acores race we are required to undergo some medical checks.
First there was the echocardiogram whose results were that – in my ears – my heart sounds like a train but all is good. It was eery to see your own heart pumping on the screen.
After that I did the stress-ECG where they ramped me up to 200W and also turned out ok.
That means that the last “paper”-hurdles have fallen in order to qualify for the acores race this year. All that’s “left” is to complete one race and to finish my 1000nm qualifier.
But until at least June 30th my registration should be ok.
So with those things out of the way it’s time to make sure the remaining equipment which needs to be bought, repaired is done but things also look promising on that front: Structures finished the new rudders and they’re waiting for me to pick them up, the boat should be leaving the yard and day now and only the sailmaker has some things to finish.
Next week it’s time to put the mast back into the boat and get the boat back into a race-ready condition. Can’t wait!
A short video of the 2013 season
I finally got around to compile a couple of the gigabytes of video footage from last year into a short video. Most of the sequences were shot during the Pornicht Select (e.g. the upwing stuff). There’s much more material I haven’t had the chance to look into yet, maybe some other time.
At least it’s a small teaser for the new season and what might come in 2015…
enjoy!
PS: Thanks to Frank for the footage of me with the big kite up
The plan for 2014
A couple of people have been asking me why it’s been so quiet here lately and whether I’ll be sailing in the mini this year, here’s a small update.
I am currently plan to do the following races this year:
– April: Pornicht Select 6.50 (300sm, solo)
– May: Mini en Mai (500sm, solo)
– June: Mini Fastnet (600sm, doublehanded)
– July/August: Les Sables – Les Acores – Les Sables (2600sm, solo)
In addition to that I will do my 1000nm solo qualifier either beginning of may but more likely towards the end of may/beginning of june. That qualifier is a requirement to be allowed to participate in A-level races so is a prerequisite for the SAS race to the Acores and back.
There’s still plenty of stuff do to on the boat though, e.g.:
– cleaning & polishing the hull + application of new film (done! see photo)
– fitting and wiring the spare tiller pilot (Raymarine) to the gps / nke
– building and installing fasteners to the two tillers to install the pins for the tiller pilot
– installing the new vhf splitter
– installing a new rudder (in december I noticed a huge crack on the starboard rudder)
– machining new bolts for the rudder bearings as the old ones were a little too little
– Incidences producing a new Genaker / Code 0
– checking and updating the medi kit with the prescription antibiotics and painkillers
– getting my medical check done for the year
… and many many more
I also joined the Pole Lorient Grand Large (lorientgrandlarge.org) this year where I will participate in training sessions on navigation, electronics, and many more.
So much for now, more news to arrive mid/end of february!