Skyweb Express Passing Through the Doldrums
Skyweb Express is passing through the doldrums, currently in 9th place. The rankings are not especially meaningful because they show absolute distance to the finish and not necessarily who is in the best position to win. Nevertheless, Craig seems to have worked himself into a good position.
Quoting Jan: “My experience racing the Zero against various prototype boats in the Bermuda race was that the Zero could just motor away higher and faster than any other mini in drifting or very bouncy conditions. And that's what Craig has now...
Barring any new weather info which is hard for him to get onboard, our strategy was for him to cross the equator around 29.5-30˚W. This is historically the best waypoint to deal with the doldrums and places him just east of rhumb line.
The game now is to get south at all costs. The first to touch the SE trades will just motor away.”
One Week Into Leg 2...
And Skyweb Express has reached the Cape Verde Islands. According to the race rules, they must pass between Santo Antao (to the West) and Maio (to the East), but finding the best route through the islands will still be a navigational challenge. After passing through the Cape Verdes, Skyweb Express will head toward the doldrums, then sail on to Salvador de Bahia, leaving the next mark - the Island of Fernando de Noronha -to starboard.
I don’t have any news from Craig. According to race rules, he is not allowed any form of “outside assistance” and so can't carry a satellite phone and had to relinquish his cel phone before leaving. He relays his position and reports any problems twice daily to one of the accompanying boats by VHF radio. You can check the official Mini Transat race site’s English page for updates and follow him either by clicking on the map below “Suivi Cartographique” or by going directly to: http://tracking.transat650.org/carte.
So far, Craig seems to be sailing a conservative race, so I’m guessing that he is probably eating tolerably well and sleeping a little bit. For those who are curious, here is what he has to in his daily food packets: 1 bag of freeze-dried food; 2 bags each of coffee, tea, and hot chocolate; one pouch of milk powder and 2 little packets of sugar; nuts; chewy candy; 2 cliff bars; 2 granola bars; freeze-dried fruit; olive oil; Gatorade; and of course chocolate. Most of the food is American because Americans do processed and freeze-dried foods well. (Did you know, for instance, that you can’t get Quaker instant oatmeal packets in either France, Spain, or Italy?) But the chocolate is French. I bought it all in the Monoprix in La Rochelle – 35 big bars of dark chocolate – and carried it back to our apartment in a garbage bag because it was the only shopping bag that I had at the time.
-posted by Carolyn
An Update from Madeira
It has been 2 weeks now since I broke the boat in a collision with a whale, which resulted in a long and frustrating first leg. Today, I just put the finishing touches on the repairs to Skyweb Express. I’m lucky that Laurent was here from France to fix some damage to Mini 552 and was also able do the glass work on my boat. The rudders are back on and I’m planning to go on a test sail in the next few days. Thanks to everyone who helped with the repairs. It is good to be back in racing condition.
Funchal is an interesting place and I wish that I had more time to explore Madiera.
I hope to get some rest now and to spend some time preparing the navigation for the second leg, which starts on Saturday. This leg is a whole new race and I plan to go out and sail fast and try to move on up the standings.
I’ve been looking at the weather for Leg 2. The trade winds are not currently here and it looks as if we will be affected by a big low off of Madiera to the west providing SW winds which means that we will be going upwind until south of the Canaries. There is talk around the docks about this current weather pattern and I am sure many boats are going to rapidly load some more food and maybe not dump as much water after the start. The leg could and probably will be maybe 3 – 5 days longer.
Skyweb Express Arrives in Funchal
I am happy to report that Craig has arrived safely in Funchal, Madeira, well within the required time period. He finished 46th of 47 series boats, passing one boat in his class and almost halving the distance that was between him and the rest of the fleet when he left Porto.
Francisco Lobato Arrives in Funchal...
Which means that Craig has until Thursday at 14 hr 48 (French time) to cross the finish line. I don't know about you, but I'm cheering him on...
Skyweb Express Sails Again
After 20 hours in Porto, Portugal repairing the damage to Skyweb Express, Craig is back on the water. His challenge now is to make it to Funchal, Madeira within 5 days of the arrival of the lead boat.
If all is as forecasted, a bit of a dead zone should be heading his way so his progress will probably be slow for the next few days. A NNWesterly should fill in again on Monday and Tuesday, which should carry him to Funchal.
Francisco Lobato, the current leader in the series boat class, is now about 90 miles from the Funchal and, although in a bit of a dead zone himself, expected to arrive later today. That gives Craig 5 days to sail the 500+ miles to the finish.
An Update
It wasn't play in the rudder fittings. It was a whale. And the collision pulled the rudder from the hull, so that there was a fist-sized hole in the boat.
Craig sailed at an angle that would minimize the amount of water leaking in and is now in Porto, Portugal. He is currently attempting to make the necessary repairs. Time is critical, because he will need to make it to Madeira before the time limit of 5 days after the arrival of the lead boat.
Rudder Problems
If you've been following Craig's progress, you have probably noticed that he slowed down and dropped from mid-fleet to close to the bottom of the series boats' rankings. You have also probably noticed that, while all the other boats are sailing east, he is sailing west and appears to be heading towards Porto, Portugal.
I don't know exactly is going on, but Craig reported play in his rudder fittings, resulting in a minor leak. He told the support boat that he planned to repair them while under sail, then to continue on his previous course.
Jan and Kurt have some guesses of what might be happening:
His backing plates in the hull through which the rudders are bolted are small and the bolts for the gudgeons may have wittled out their holes. This is hardly surprising given the beating they must have taken on the leg so far. He has materials for a repair on board and it sounds as if he is planning to fix the problem, but it might take a while and it will definitely cost him time on this leg.
If he is attempting to fix the problem, he is likely on his current course (beam reaching) so that the pressure is off of the bad rudder, and so that the boat is stable during repairs and he can work back under the cockpit without danger of accidental jibe.
Hopefully he is rested, because he will need more energy and creativity for this challenge than "just" sailing the boat.
The 2009 Mini Transat start
I'm back from La Rochelle where I saw the start of the 2009 Mini Transat.
The sun was shining and the wind was about 15 knots from the north-east. It was a perfect day to be out on the water. And it was an interesting start: about a quarter of the fleet, including some of the favourites to win the race, rounded a safety buoy instead of the mark. Most returned, but some did not and will likely incur a time penalty for it. I'm guessing that Craig rounded the mark correctly because when we saw him, he was in front of a few boats that should be much faster than him.
The first leg to Madeira is predicted to be an exclusively down-wind race in up to 30 knots of breeze, conditions that are optimal for the Pogo2 series boats. Skyweb Express is a Zero, which means that Craig will have to work harder to stay with the fleet. Craig's plan was to sleep as much as possible in the Bay of Biscay so that he would be alert for rounding Finisterre (where they were expecting gusts of 40 knots) and for tackling the shipping lanes. He was hoping to lose as little time as possible in the first leg so that he could be more competitive in the second leg, where conditions might be more favourable for a Zero.
You can track Craig on the official Mini Transat website by clicking on the map under "Suivi Cartographique".
-posted by Carolyn
4 days to the start of the Transat...
All 84 boats are in the basin at La Rochelle, France, and the docks are alive with activity. The excitement is palpable. Today the "race village" (a street fair of sorts) opened to the public and the first bus-loads of tourists stopped by to look at the boats. There are an impressive number of journalists wandering the docks and several groups of schoolchildren have stopped by to see the Minis and ask the skippers questions.
The holders for the trackers were also put on the boats today, and the trackers should be turned on sometime in the next few days. Look for them on the official Mini Transat website
The tension is equally palpable. Some skippers and "preparateurs" are making a few frantic, last-minute repairs and the race officials have spent the past few days wandering the docks, performing safety checks. As of yesterday afternoon, Craig has completed all of the required checks and paperwork and can now start concentrating on putting Skyweb Express in order, making a few minor adjustments, and working on navigation. Thanks especially to Andy who flew out from Florida to help with the preparations, and to Jeff for breaking into our house to retrieve some required documents.
-posted by Carolyn
21 days to the start of the Transat...
It’s 21 days until the start of the Transat and I have been in Lorient for a week, getting Skyweb Express ready. I had a few long days at the AOS boatyard, cleaning the boat, wet sanding the rudders and keel, fairing the keel joint, repairing leaking rudder fittings and so on. It took a little while to get Skyweb in the water because the crane at AOS was broken. On Friday, they brought in a temporary replacement crane and Skyweb Express finally touched ocean again.
The new sails have arrived and are on board and tomorrow I plan to test the autopilots and sail across the bay to pick up my new charts of the Atlantic from a store on the other side.
It’s been great to be in the AOS boatyards in Lorient again. Groupama, Bank Populaire, and Foncia all have bases here so I’ve been able to see the boats getting worked on. Still, I hope to sail down to La Rochelle in the next few days and join all of the other Minis that are beginning to gather there.
Craig Horsfield and Skyweb Express qualify for the 2009 Charente-Maritime/Bahia Transat 6,50
Craig crossed the finish line of the Mini Pavois in 9th place overall. Despite the altered course, the Pavois is still counted as an 800-mile race giving Craig more than enough miles to qualify for the 2009 Charente-Maritime/Bahia Mini Transat.