A testing day…

Wednesday managed to get through video covid testing for 12 crew, then boat registration, and finally immigration for Bermuda. It has to be said that the three Bermuda immigration officials were a credit to Bermuda – friendly, cheerful, and efficient. They’re dealing with almost 2000 sailors who aren’t the best at remembering their passport, following process, or being as polite as they could be. Anyway a very successful morning, so in the afternoon with a little breeze in the channel,…

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Newport – Bermuda Race: getting ready…

The team now assembled in Newport and boat jobs quickly being ticked off. Managed a sail on Sunday to go through the systems, see new sails, and calibrate the instruments. Monday plenty of jobs going through safety equipment, sorting out interior, and generally burning calories going back and forth between container and boat. And to Tuesday and a full day sailing with safety work included. Tomorrow is testing day and dealing with immigration paperwork. We’ve shipped all our shore clothes…

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It’s a wrap

We’re almost done with cleaning the boat, sails and ourselves after the race. The shore team will finish up jobs next week and get the boat back in its cradle ready for the next event – Voiles de St. Barts in April. The crew wives are a bit on edge after hearing that Clementine is now sailing on the boat. Apparently crew have been sleeping with Clementine, speaking of her as bright, tough, and a bit racy. Who is the…

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A yacht crew sails on its stomach

Today’s fun was spending two hours in Antigua’s largest supermarket shopping for calories. The snacks for 14 crew filled two shopping carts. Will they appreciate the thought that went into selecting the treats, or will the logistics team get endless abuse on the rail for the next few days. We will soon find out!

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Almost ready for the start

And we’re ready for the start on Monday. Well almost. Just the small matter of sorting out the freeze dried food (yum), and the fruit & snacks for 14 crew for 3 days(ish). Last time we did this race we ran low on food, so might pack an extra bar of chocolate just to be safe. Training has followed on from the 8 days we had in October, and has gone very well. And driving back to the harbour this…

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Antigua – it’s a wrap

8 days of training, plus days of work to get the boat ready, and put her away, are coming to an end. Most of the crew are now on their way home, and tired muscles are getting a well earned rest. This was a great training session – steady trade winds, warm blue seas, and a crew ready to learn. The data gathering all week, and number crunching every evening, is fine tuning the driving and sail selection so we…

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Trade wind training update

Well after 4 days of training we’re still on the learning curve, very focussed on driving the boat to its theoretical speed (targets), and it’s not easy. The data collection team is analysing our performance for the evening debrief – not intimidating at all. Life jackets all tested last night, and the boat tuning each day is delivering results. We have such great knowledge and experience on the boat, we’re lucky as a team to learn from such great sailors.…

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It’s a wrap…

And what a race that was! A lighter than normal race – winds averaging 10 rather than 20 knots, made this a challenge of endurance as well as sailing – at the prize-giving event there were still 15 boats on the race course. For us losing electronics was a challenge to overcome – so we sailed with our heads focussed on wind and waves, not distracted by computer predictions nor readouts of all the data from the various sensors on…

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The longest beat

We are approaching Redondo with its “king” in mid afternoon. Light breeze for all and for us is working in our favour so we are closing in on boats ahead. With no electronics we don’t know where we stand. Low on food, water, and snacks, high on morale. Still loving sailing “old school” – this is a race we’ll remember for a long time. Looking forward to being greeted on the dock with a pile of pizzas and Rafa’s pasta.…

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