Day 12 Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race 2010 will start today Friday 3 September at 1300 UTC

September 3, 2010

Shore Assistance Team

Dear Supporters,

Yesterday some drama. During a tack, Genoa II did tear apart at the spreader patch. That happened exactly when we took her down to be replaced by Genoa III.

The sea state was rough, the boat and sails were soaked wet. Nothing could be done at that moment anymore. At first there was no problem since the wind stayed at 20 knots. Genoa III was at that moment the right sail in these circumstances, but we had to carry the mental burden knowing that we had a boat which possible had to limp to the finish as long as Genoa II could not be repaired.

After Reima had a long long sleep, he got awake ready for the job. He repaired the spreader patch with help of Richard. If the Genoa II will stay in one piece, Reima will also be eligible for Winsome’s Bronze Medal.

During the night we had periods with winds of only 11 knots so we must have lost many miles to both BELUGA and SELENE.

Much to our surprise also other boats like PUMA LOGIC disappeared from the screen, so I do apologize for a thought I have expressed yesterday on the possibility of BELUGA’s switching off her AIS.

A Dutch expression, borrowed from my mother says

De jager zij bedacht
Eer hem de pijl ontschiet,
De spreker ook,
Want pijl en woorden keren niet.

Many many girlandes are still left on the boat from my birthday so we use them as often as possible to get rid of them.

At 09:35 today we hoisted the repaired Genoa II and that moment will be marked as the moment we did not loose any more Miles to BELUGA and to SELENE.

Now we are still hunting for ENCORE. Though she is 106 Nm ahead of us, having rounded Bishop Rock already she needs to arrive 21 hours ahead of us. We do smell blood already. No vegetarians on board.

Sometimes we see very scenic pictures.

Best regards