Rolex Fastnet Race. Day 4

August 12, 2009

After we barely got away from the Land’s End passage before the tide would push us back, we continued to have difficulties to keep Winsome going in the right direction.

Once the wind came we changed our Genoa I Light for the Genoa I Heavy-Medium, repaired by Frank and the two surgeons on board. What better can one have. A trio of a sailmaker, though some years ago, and two surgeons who are “repairing” people and their tissue on a daily basis only interrupted  now and then by sailing. Genoa I M-H is holding until this moment having survived winds upto 17 knots for hours and hours.

It got wet last night. No one could remember who ordered the rain. As a matter of fact everyone denied having ordered it.

At this very moment, Wednesday 12th of August at 10:13 local time, we are still 42nM away from the Fastnet Rock whilst we covered in total a distance of 354nM. We therefore expect to arrive in Plymouth Friday am, but periods with very little wind are still ahead of us. All according to Professor Koehne, who is playing the Internet like a piano better than I do.

In the calculations for the ranking we found out why we are scoring that low numbers. The rest of the distance to go is calculated on basis of the average speed sofar and that was a very very low speed for Winsome.

In the overall positions we went like a jojo from 42nd down to lowest 115th, at the moment again to 90th. In the ranking for IRC-2 Class we make the same caramboles from 8th to lowest 29th, at the moment 21st. Still we have hope for a much better score due to the handicap system. It is too complicated to explain this in a few words, but as slow boat we are rated as a slow boat but if the race takes long our handicap helps us a little bit.

Food on board, again Sophia who we wish to praise in this way again, nicely prepared by Chief-Cook van Beuningen, is delicious. We have still enough on board but if this race would drag into Saturday we will have to ration ourselves.

After rounding the Fastnet Rock we expect to be able to spinaker hopefully like in 2005 until at least Bishop Rock. We may be abe to recover some grounds lost to our competitors. Personally I predict, looking at the rating figures and positions which we read every hour, that Foggy Dew will win IRC-2 Class. These Frenchmen do indeed sail very well and have obtained by now already a good advantage over others and over us so if they make no mistakes. I do not intend to say that we will make after all the podium but most other boats do not look in a position in which they cannot be overtaken anymore by us but we have to stop making more tactical mistakes (..) than we did already and hope for good winds under spinaker!!

Will continue some time later today or tomorrow.

ps Hidderidde reading in copy?