Day 11 in Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race 2010 has started today Thursday 2 September at 1300 UTC

September 2, 2010

Dear friends,
Lieve Theun, Wiecher, Maazie en Hidde.

The word landlubbers has led to at least one reaction so let me now be more carefull in addressing you.

Day 11 was a very difficult one. Not much wind, a restless sea; waves without direction. It all made it difficult to keep speed in our heavy boat. We have worked like madmen to keep some kind of speed and direction.

When we came closer to the next Waypoint, Tearaght Island, we came closer to land in this case Brandon Head. So we had to make a Sophie’s choice i.e. either go closer to land hoping for less waves or stay out having more wind. SELENE took the last option and went far out to sea. Sofar this did not pay off at all.

We followed more or less the same track as BELUGA. All boats are obliged to have a working AIS on board but it appears that BELUGA has switched hers off most of the time. If done on purpose it becomes an unfair game and is moreover an infringement of the rules. WINSOME can be seen at all times so our track and tacks can be observed by all other boats. Anyhow until now we do not assume that they switch their AIS off on purpose, like the alarm they sent unknowingly by VHF which triggered a lot of activity around them, on the sea and ashore.

The wind came back this morning but now BIG WINDS creating waves of 5 metres high. When we changed from Genoa II to Genoa III at 28 knots of true wind, our Genoa II was damaged so we are looking up again to the blue eyes of Reime. We promised him special treatment on board, coffee whenever he wants, food at any time, massage in Cowes, sleep at any time etc etc as long as he will repair the Genoa II. Right now we do not need it since the wind remains at no less than 20 knots and with the enormous waves we are encoutering now, Genoa III is a perfect sail.

Please note that I am unable to download Wisnome’s webpage here on board unless at very high expenses taking a lot of time. I can only read any messages once at home again. If you want to send a short message here on board please use winsome@heijt.net but please keep your
message limited to 30KB and certainly do not send any photo’s or so.

We are now heading for Fastnet Rock on the South West corner of Ireland which we hope to reach in about 15 hours from now. Thereafter we expect still having to sail 3 days, a distance of 378 Nm.

Though we are somewhat scared about the damaged Genoa II, our spirits are high.

Best regards