scaprat

Logbook Sept 21st 2015

Day 3 of Leg 1, Sept 21st 2015:
We are still in the Bay of Biscay, heading towards the northwestern tip of Spain: Cap Finisterre.
I don’t remember much about this day to be honest. A sledgeride with the Code5 in growing winds and waves, skies and water grey. It’s nice to see from the logbook entries how the pressure drops and wind and cloud coverage are rising. At about 5pm the second cold front hits us and it is a more proper one than the weak front we had the day before. The wind picked up ahead of the front, allowing me some quick hours with the Code5 (small and flat storm spinnaker).
Behind the front I am sailing upwind into the night.

This was also the day that excited some people since I was ranked 3rd overall for a brief period of time. As visible from the picture, this was due to the fact that I had not invested as much into going west as most of the fleet, meaning I was closer to the direct route.
In the following 24 hours though, the boats in the west would have a better wind angle and neutralize or even turn their 30nm lag (north/south) into a 10nm lead.

00:00

Comments from the Logbook:
none

03:00

Comments from the Logbook:
Where the heck is the second front? (It was forecast to hit us that night)

06:00

Comments from the Logbook:
It is freezing cold on deck.

12:21

Comments from the Logbook:
-no luck receiving a weather forecast.
-last 5 hours we were blasting along doing 10kn with Code5. Awesome!!
-frech military vessel passes me close on starboard. Called them on the radio but no reply. Is this our support vessel!?
-Xu (chinese entrant) passed 1nm in front of me, sailing very high. I wonder why.

18:00

Comments from the Logbook:
21:00: Shook out the reef i the main.
00:00: 24h distance: 150nm

Logbook Sept 20th, 2015

2nd Day of Leg 1, Sept 20th 2015:
06:00

Comments from the Logbook
Quentin is visible on the horizon to the west, some boats south. Zero wind.
Around 7am: Radek is having keel trouble and will go diving, asks for someone to make sure he arrives back on deck after a while. 20 Minutes later he is back on deck.
09:25: a little bit of wind is there, pulls us very far NW, tacking (others remain on course).
10:30: switching to Code5 to try and make more west
11:43: took the Code 5 down

12:00

Comments from the Logbook:
12:00: attempted to receive weather forecast, didn’t find any usable signal.
13:00: Code0 hoisted, reefed the solent.
Quentin still on the horizon, Radek about 4nm north. Some sails on the horizon.

15:00

Comments from the Logbook:
none

18:00

Bemerkungen aus dem Logbuch:
19:50 Uhr: Wind dreht! Code0 runter, Wende. Ich sehe auf dem AIS die Flotte in der Flaute liegen, versuche mit der Wende der Flaute zu entgehen.

21:00

Comments from the Logbook:
Around 11pm: very (very very very very very) close encounter with MS Emden. While I was avoiding one Cargo using the AIS I did not realize there was another one. AIS also did not show it since I was in “collision mode” with the other ship. At 1nm from the cargo, our passing distance is still 0.015sm, luckily we both manage to alter course sufficiently so we pass each other at .3nm.
Florian 2nm ahead of me, Andy temporarily on the AIS.

Mini Transat 2015 Logbook: Sept 19th, 2015

Exactly one year ago #732 and me took the start of the Mini Transat 2015 and left on the first leg to Lanzarote.

And since I keep looking at the logbook every now and then I thought I would allow you to relive my race by posting the logbook entries of each day here, every day.
Where I have pictures or memories from these days I will write a bit about the days here too.

We start with the entries from Day 1 on Leg 1, Sept 19th 2015:
18:00

Comment from the Logbook:
none

Comment:
At this time we were still in the bay of Douarnenez approaching the Pt. de Raz and the upwind course was slowly turning into a reach. I remember Andy (587) about 0.5nm to leeward of me waving while the sun was setting.
Shortly after the wind started shifting more northerly and we struggled to get the Code0 up but eventually succeeded and followed the fleet past Pt. de Raz.

21:39

Comment from the Logbook:
Outrigger (for the spinnaker-sheets): ca. 0.4kn quicker!

Kommentar:
It was an amazing sight with all the masttop lights of the fleet around and the Île de Sein to our north, heading into this first night. The last Zodiacs with photographers and the stress of 10 days in Douarnenez were forgotten and it felt like we now had the sea to ourselves. Finally in the race!

Mini Fastnet 2015

This June I started in my first Classe Mini-Race this year: The Mini Fastnet.
Because of problems with the join-bar I was not able to start in the Mini en Mai so this race would become even more important: It would be the final missing piece to complete my Transat qualification.

The final days before the start were quite relaxed. The boat was prepared and ready to go so my crew Björn Freels (mini transat participant from 2011) and myself focused on preparing the navigation and getting some “nice to have” things done on board.
Saturday June 13th there was an official prologue race in the bay of Douarnenez where we did two rounds on a triangular course. This was a good opportunity for me and Björn to figure out or roles on board, after all it had been two years since we had sailed together. We finished on a 10th place which was nice.

The start for the real race was Sunday June 14th at 4pm. We were a bit late at the line but still managed to find a spot and started the beat upwind in around 10 knots. However we were a bit reluctant to opt fully for the right-hand side and stayed in the middle which turned out to be a big mistake. The current slowed us down and when we left the bay we were in the 2nd half of the 48 boat fleet.
Next came the Chenal du Four where we made our next really big mistake. Due to a mistake our Roadbook told us that the current wouuld be pushing us already so we did not join the rest of the fleet rock-hopping each ever so tiny bay. Since the current was still against us for a while this again pushed us further back a couple of places in the fleet.
When the sun went down we were clear of the Chenal du Four and left for the long beat over the Channel.
We had almost the entire fleet to windward of us but by pinching a bit with good speed we managed to get back in touch with it. Andy&Craig (587) and Becky&Hester (807) were 0.3nm away so we felt in good company.

Monday was still upwind, then a bit of Code Zero before the wind died down entirely for a couple of hours. Luckily the fleet was still kinda compressed and the cargo vessels passed us in a safe distance.

At dusk on tuesday morning we arrived at Land’s End (still upwind) where we’d have to leave the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) Scilly’s East to port. This was the moment of our second really big mistake. We had planned to pass Longships Lighthouse really close in order to get a good angle towards the NE-corner of the TSS.
Our waypoint however was somehow a lot further west so we sailed much higher and away from the fleet and then the wind died in the morning and came back from the south we were in a really bad position. We had to let a couple of boats pass again and it would take the rest of the day to gybe in front of the wind until we could finally round the NE corner of the TSS and head towards Ireland with the Code Zero up.

Tuesday night we only have one other Pogo2 in sight: the fleet has spread out in all directions. Since a cold front has been forecast the question is whether it will pay off to sail a bit deeper (more easterly) until the front hits where you would tack and possibly be lifted towards our next waypoint: Stags, a rock with a buoy at the south irish coast.
We choose a more conservative approach and stick close to the rhumb line. The closer we get to “Stags” the more the wind picks up to 18-23kn (gusts of 27kn) and during our upwind beating we meet 4 other boats. Our upwind speed is underwhelming and another 3 boats pass us as we round Stags on Wednesday night.

After a couple more hours of beating upwind we finally round Fast Rock glowing in the disappearing sun at around 10:30pm.
Right after rounding the rock we hoist the Code 5 to pass the TSS Fastnet on the western side and enjoy 20 minutes of sleigh riding, doing 9 knots with 13 in the surfs.
Once clear of the TSS we switch to the big kite and bear away towards Ouessant. The wind still in the 16kn range we are looking forward to a quick ride doing 8-9 knots but about 20 minutes later the wind drops to 6-8 knots and we have to sail a bit tighter (TWA 150-155). To make matters worse the wind shifts to the NW, i.e. exactly from behind.

Thursday and Friday are very similar days: blue skies with some clouds, wind between 4 and 12 knots from NW, an impressive swell from the atlantic. After a long leg left of the line we finally decide to stick closer to the line and gybe our way towards Ouessant, no boats in sight or on the AIS.

We finally cross the finish line on Saturday morning at 06:28am, having sailed 714nm to finish the 600nm course.
Once docked we find out that it was a real “the rich get richer”-race: the earlier you rounded Fastnet Rock the longer you had good pressure going downwind and less calm. Andry&Craig (remember, 0.3nm ahead in the channel, 0.8nm at Land’s End) finished Friday at 4pm, 14h ahead of us!!!

Knowing that we left some potential untapped Björn and myself still come up with a relatively positive result: We had some really nice sailing (when was the last time you could keep the big spi up for 2 1/2 days?) and our speed was ok most of the time. We did not have a single ever so tiny problem on board, nothing to fix or repair.

The boat is now in the yard to get some new shiny bottoms and some cosmetic repairs, then we will do a minor electronics refit and get the boat configured for the big race in september: The Mini Transat!