Message in a bottle II
December 27, 2008
Today was an incredible day really.
We did cover 190 Nm over the first 24 hours, calculated over the ground.
The wind has been staying in the region of 20-25 knots, coming always from the North. We felt having been in a battle with Pinta-M and others but since Pinta-M has stayed more to the coast we gained on her. Actually we only crossed one boat in the last 12 hours.
Coming close to Green Cape we observed a very strange cloud. Fortunately I recognized such cloud from our delivery trip Brisbane-Sydney and I warned the crew we could expect a very sudden and big change in the wind. The moment we took the spinaker down, the wind changed indeed 180 degrees and gusted all of a sudden to 25 knots plus heavy rain so we took the Genoa simply down in order to avoid damage. A lucky experience on my trip from Brisbane though that time the wind did not gust at all, only changed.
The wind died thereafter and now at 2100 local time Saturday 27 December we are stuck with 4-5 knots of wind but the reports say that we are some 17 Nm ahead of Pinta-M and still leading though we are sometimes put in 2nd of 3rd place. Two boats in our Class IRC-4 have retired so 13 are left.
Please be reminded that these calculated finishing positions are purely theoretical and at this stage of the race any boat could still win since we still have to cover 386 Nm. Nevertheless we feel confident doing the right things and the only damages we got sofar are a somewhat distorted spinakerboom, but still working, and a small torn in the leech of our mainsail. However with sailmaker Reima on board we could imagine worst damages. He made a provisional repair for which we had to take the mainsail down for 5 minutes only whilst continuing to sail on Genoa I.
Francois just cooked us a nice meal, quiches hot from the oven.
This will be our second night at sea. All is looking well except the weather development since we may expect a period of possibly upto 20 hours with hardly any wind.
Will be continued.
Post by Harry Heijst | December 27, 2008 |
Heren en dame,
Helaas de start gemist omdat het internet hier in St Maarten eruit lag, maar Harrys rapporten maken dat meer dan goed, leuk om regelmatig wat te kunnen lezen!
Ga zo door en veel succes
Gr
Nicolaas
Harry and Crew,
Keep up the good work! Killing it ahead of the other S&Ss!
Best wishes and a safe remainder of the race!
Arnold.
Harry good luck gewenst van je moeder en haar buren Tineke en Eugene.
Wij zitten hier aan het glas op jullie
voorspoed en gezondheid!
Gr
Eugene.
Heb je post voor moeder dan tot 7 januari naar dit adres want daarna
zijn we 9 weken in Zuid Afrika.
Cheers
Eugene
Beste Harry en Crew,
Het volgen van de race werkt verslavend.
De flessen zijn hier goed aangespoeld. Leuk te lezen! Veel succes en behouden vaart.
Bob en Helen Mirck
Hoop dat jullie een goede 2e nacht op zee hadden en nog altijd op kop liggen! De wedstrijdsite lijkt het niet te doen op het moment… Balen! Maar des te fijner deze updates!
Heel veel succes!!
Groeten en liefs voor Joost,
Christien
Wow,gaaf,jullie gaan goed,houden zo!!
Groeten en liefs,Mieke
Following your progress with great interest. Keep up the good work! We also have a S&S 41 (Hervey Bay Queensland)
Gefeliciteerd dat je Pinta achter je hebt gelaten. Heb jullie via de yachttracker gevolgd. Begrijp heel wisselende omstandigheden. Niet op een haai gelopen? Speciale groet aan Broeder Frank,
Gijs Lamsvelt
voor zover ik het begrijp heb je doel bereikt op de beste manier. het was spannend om van dag tot dag te volgen. nu nog even wachten op het laatste dagrapport vanuit hobart. gr carien