The past week has been quite busy.   We arrived last Tuesday, and then the boat work began!    There’s been quite a list, but everything’s coming together nicely, the sails should be out of the loft soon, and transom had paint on it this afternoon, the water ballast leaks are less leaky, and the boat is clean and smells like girl.  (actually it smells like Simple Green, but it’s pretty girly…)

The big hurdle of the week came from a rather unexpected source, as it became increasingly clear to both Jorge and I that we don’t work very well together.   Being part of a two-person team requires compatibility on a vast number of points, and we were missing a few.   So Jorge will be joining another boat for the Atlantic Cup, and I was left (briefly) with a bit of uncertainty about who I would be sailing with.  This was all cleared up when Rob Windsor realized that the boat he was supposed to race on was not going to be ready for the start, due to damages sustained recently.

Though sad that there will be one less boat competing in the event, I am really excited to sail with Rob.  He has a lot more experience in Class40s than I do, speaks fluent American, and has been working his butt off for the past year to make this Atlantic Cup as successful as possible.    I’m very lucky to have picked him up to join Team Initiatives!

We will be on the water practicing from Sunday on through next week until the Friday start.   Weather briefings with my personal hero Skip McCormack begin at around the same day, and then it’s time to send it to NYC!

If you haven’t yet, please go to the Atlantic Cup website and vote for us, Team Initiatives.

If you’re anywhere near Charleston, there will be a party during the start on Friday evening, with live commentary.  More info can be found here. If you’ll be in NYC, there will be another start party there on Sat the 19th of May, with info here.   Even if you can’t make the parties, be sure to check out the Atlantic Cup website, and stop by the boats to say hi!

Well, Jorge’s visa is all sorted, food and fuel are on the boat, and we’re ready to go.   We leave tomorrow AM along with two other Class 40s- Picoty and Geodis.   Mare will follow on Wednesday.   My friend Ben left St Thomas yesterday on Icarus, and two other 40s left Progresso.  All in all, there will be quite a few of us out there for the next week, all headed towards Charleston.

I’m happy to know that we’re finally leaving- Mexico’s been fun, but exhausting.  And there’s lots of work to do to the boat when we arrive in Charleston, so the sooner we arrive, the better.

I also need to get away from land, and have some time to clear my head.   This past weekend has been pretty tough of everyone that has ever been a part of the sailing community in San Francisco.    You can read more here if you’re not already aware of what’s happened.

I remember driving into the parking lot at Paradise with Will.   Alan was sailing with us that evening, and he was there, changing into his Dubarry’s next to his car, absolutely BLASTING “Bulletproof” by La Roux.   I made fun of him for the rest of the evening for rocking out to such a girly song, but his verbal parring skills ensured I never got the upper hand.    Though I wouldn’t say that he and I were ever really friends, and I didn’t know him well at all, he’s flicked through my mind every single time I’ve heard that song since.

I can only imagine what the close friends and family of the 5 sailors lost this weekend are going through.    And can’t even begin to wrap my mind around how the 3 who made it off are feeling, and how they’re going to make it through the next few weeks.    I’m sorry I can’t be there to show my support in person.  Please can any of you who read this give hugs to those involved.

The upshot of it is that life can be short, no matter what you do with your time.     Hug the ones you love, and make sure you enjoy every day.

First of all, apparently there was some confusion about the dead snake that I mentioned in my last post.   We did not kill the snake.   It was dead in the road, so we stopped to check it out.

And remember those police checkpoints I mentioned, where they don’t do anything?  Well, they actually do do stuff sometimes.   They pull over tourists and take American dollars.   Unfortunately we didn’t get anything in return.  Not even a t-shirt.

We did go to Chichen Itza, which was very cool.   A massive Myan pyramid, and then lots of littler ones and temples and things

And a big open cenote, which is a hole in the ground with water in it.  Cenotes are always found near Mayan temples, or rather, Mayan temples are found near cenotes, since there are no rivers or other fresh water sources here in the yucatan.

And another awesome giant iguana.

And then on our way back to Mérida to return the rental car, we stopped to check out another cenote, which was a subterranean one that you could swim in!

For any of you that know me at all, you should appreciate just how amazing it is that I went swimming in fresh water in a dark cave.   It was the most terrifying thing ever.   Jorge even swam all the way to the dark back part of the cave… I hung on to one of the ropes attached to the ceiling, and almost screamed when a 2″ fish swam out of the dark at me.  And I’m not a screamer… just really afraid of the dark, and not thrilled about fresh water either.

Here’s Jorge trying to take a self-portrait while not drowning.

So Tanguy and Jean should arrive tonight some time, and then tomorrow I think we’ve finally lined up some kites to do some kiteboarding, which should be fun!

Jorge and I are in Mexico, awaiting the arrival of Tanguy and Jean.  I’ve been planning this for months, excited about starting the next phase in my sailing career, excited to go to a country I’ve not been to before, excited to have a project again. Jorge was excited too, and had also been planning, and booked a rental car, so what could possibly go wrong?

I’ll tell you.

First:  Tornados always ruin everybody’s day.   Jorge was coming to Cancun from Vancouver, via Dallas Texas.   He arrived just in time for some tornados, which kept him stuck in the air for an extra 2 hours until it was safe to land, and then he was stuck in the airport over night.   American Airlines kindly solved all his problems by booking him onto a flight to Cancun- for Friday.   When Jorge said that just wouldn’t do, they once again proved that customer service is what they do best, and put him on a flight to Cozumel, and kindly declined to give him a hotel voucher for the 12 hours he’d have to wait.

At this point, Jorge and I got our first Mexican geography lesson.   Cozumel ≠ Cancun.  There, glad we got that out of the way.

The next thing that can always go wrong is school holidays.   Thankfully it’s no longer American holidays, so I didn’t have to deal with hordes of screaming spring breakers in Cancun, but it is Mexican school holidays and Semana Santa, so the car rentals were scarce, and really expensive.   And not just cause they’re written in pesos either. (on a plus side, exchanging 300 euros made me feel incredibly rich, so I’ve got that going for me)

When I finally got out of the Hertz office, I headed south towards Playa del Carmen, where Jorge would eventually be arriving by ferry from Cozumel (which is an island. Who knew).   Driving in Mexico is like a combination of driving in Antigua and Jordan, with some Boston thrown in, and I like it.   There are lots of police checks, where they don’t actually check anything, and speed bumps that look like curbs, except twice the height, and metal speed tortoises buried in the streets, and I’m glad it’s a rental.

Playa del Carmen was where the charm started to wear off- it’s all one- way streets the wrong way, with no parking anywhere, and police with big guns had blocked off all the streets around the ferry terminal.   So I did what every clever traveller does- I found a McDonalds.   A/C and free wifi, AND here in Mexico they also have cops with guns in the parking lot.   Then I started reading The Hunger Games.

Just when you think things are finally going smoothly, never forget that the airline will probably lose your bag.  They lost Jorge’s, so he spent 2 hours at the airport in Cozumel sorting that out.   And then the next ferry wasn’t for another two hours.   So I waited a few more hours in the parking lot, and finished reading The Hunger Games.   And now I have to find a bookstore that sells books in English.

Jorge finally arrived at 5PM, and we drove back to Cancun, to where the road out to Mérida splits off to the West, and were on our way!

The drive from Cancun to Mérida takes about 4 hours, and it’s like driving from Miami to Key West, except less interesting.   With only one radio station playing mariachi.  Sometimes you pass guys on bicycles riding along the highway, about an hour from the last exit.  Where did they come from and where are they going?!

Then we found a rest stop with tacos, beers and wifi, and set off again as the sun set behind some amazing-looking clouds, with a very yellow sky.  Sure enough, we were treated for the next hour by the most amazing lightening I have ever seen in my entire life.  It was truly awesome, until it started to rain and hail and our half a windshield wiper was struggling.   By this time, Jorge was driving, and I’ll admit that I mostly fell asleep, woken only by the occasional hydroplane towards the ditch.

We finally arrived in Progreso, and were shown to our room at the regatta site.  I opened the doors on both ends (one to a balcony over the pool, one out to the hallway) and the wind immediately blew the entry door shut, really hard.   So hard, in fact, that it jammed shut and there was no handle on the inside.   So don’t forget, you can always get stuck inside your unlocked hotel room.   This was followed by about 20 minutes of shouting back and forth to the ladies outside who were trying to unlock the door, while I was trying to tell them that it wasn’t locked, just jammed, until I finally heard Jorge outside and was able to tell him to put a shoulder into it.   I walked out, only to be informed that it wasn’t actually our room after all.

Another 2o minutes of the housekeeper ladies telling eachother over and over about what had happened (quite possibly the most interesting thing that has EVER happened here), we managed to get them to hand over the key to our REAL room, and I walked inside, and straight into about 2 inches of water in the bathroom.

And so, even at the end of a very long day, you could find yourself mopping your hotel bathroom dry (when Jorge requested a bucket, he was told- no no, just wring it out with your hands) before you can even take a shower.

But this is life, and so things change quickly.   This morning I woke up to the sound of wind in palm trees, and went for a walk on the beach before breakfast.   After breakfast Jorge and I started exploring, and this is what we’ve found so far:

Some Mayan ruins- complete with guided tour by an 8 year old filled with interesting and educational facts like: “Los Mayas ya se fueran!!!”

A really big dead snake:

And some flamingos, and a giant iguana, and the coldest beers in the world.    And to be sure that things ended on a high-note, this is the view from where I’ve just written this post:

The top 4 boats have arrived, Seb and Bertrand should be joining the party this evening, and then tomorrow we think we’ll go see Chichen Itza, because it’s one of the 7 wonders of the world, and because it’s fun to say.

Last week, I flew back to Brittany to help a friend with some final touches on his Class 40 before the start of the Solidaire du Chocolat. This is the second edition of the race- it leaves from Saint-Nazaire on March 11th, and finishes in Progresso, Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula about three weeks later.

It’s lovely to be back here.   And nice to have a bit of perspective in to just how far I’ve come in the last year.  It was February 2011 when I arrived in Lorient with my mini- and though this place was always appealing for a number of reasons, it’s much nicer now that I can hardly walk down the dock without stopping to say hello to a friendly face!

It doesn’t hurt that the friend that I am helping is Tanguy De Lamotte.   Not only is he one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, he designed and built his Class 40, and has had a very successful run over the last 4 years.  So I feel as though I’ve made a bit of a u-turn from solo work on the Mini, to hanging out with and learning from Tanguy.    It’s great!

So, what have we been up to?   Well- I arrived last Sunday, and on Monday, the boat went back into the water in Port La Foret.   During the Transat Jacques Vabre (a Transatlantic race in October of 2011), the keel fell off.    Tanguy and his coskipper were able to bring the boat back to Brittany, and it’s just had a new keel put on.

The new keel and bottom looking very flash

On Tuesday, I took a digger on some ice coming down the ramp to the dock, and smashed my elbow.   First time I’ve had a scabby elbow in years.     Then I climbed the mast- twice.  So my shoulder is officially healed, and that’s the end of that.   On Wednesday, we sailed from Port La Foret to Lorient with Tanguy’s coskipper for the Solidaire- Jean Galfione who has a gold medal in pole vaulting.  Thursday- Tanguy and Jean went out sailing with a TV crew, and then we had to prepare the boat for the measurement on Friday.

Since the boat has a new keel, it had to do a new measurement for the Class- which means that EVERYTHING had to come out of it.

The boat looking VERY light with nothing in it!

Friday morning, I fell off my bike for the first time in ages.   About 20 minutes later, I borrowed Tanguy’s bike, and fell off that too.   Then they hung the boat to see how much it weighs, and then flipped it over for the 90-degree test- one that measures the righting moment.

A slightly different way of looking at things...

Coming back up

The boat passed with flying colors, and then we had to put everything back on to the boat as quickly as possible, as both Tanguy and I had to catch flights to go away for the weekend.

About a month ago, I’d made plans with Dan and our friend Bruce who also did the Transat, to go skiing in Switzerland this past weekend.   Once I found out I’d be in Lorient, it no longer made any sense for me to go, so I went anyway.   I now know that it takes 10 hours to get from Lorient to Falera, by car, train, bus, plane, bus, train and car.  It was well worth it.

Here’s the thing about the Alps.   It’s not just that they’re tall (which they are). It’s that they’re tall very suddenly.  You’re driving along with green grass everywhere, thinking, gee, there’s only 30 more minutes till I’m supposed to get there, there’s no snow, this is going to be the worst ski trip EVER.  And then you start going up, straight up, and 10 minutes later there’s 4 feet of snow on the ground, and then 10, and then you’re in a glacier, and then it’s time to start looking for parking.

So now I’m back in Lorient, and we leave tomorrow to sail down to Pornichet for the night, and then on to Nantes.   And then I get to help with all of the security checks and last minute boatwork, but not actually sail away at the start.    Which is a weird feeling- but for now, I’m ok with it!

The March edition of “Soundings” contains an article by Dieter Loibner about, well.. me.   Pick up a copy if you’re in the states!

For those of you that aren’t- Soundings Publications has been kind enough to allow me to put it up here.  Enjoy!

Reprinted with permission from Soundings Publications LLC.

‘Tis the season for presents!   I hope you’ve all already managed to get your shopping done, but for those of you that haven’t, I thought I’d give you a leg up on what to get the girlie offshore sailor in your life.  So here’s a little taste of what made life better on the Mini.

SmartWool. I would say, hands down, that if I had to pick one brand and one brand only to wear for the rest of my life, it’d be SmartWool.   On the Transat, I had two longsleeve shirts, a neckwarmer (which I usually wear as a headband) and tights.   Imagine being on a boat for 3 weeks, alternating between two different shirts, without showering or doing laundry.   Stinky, right?   For some magical reason, the worst I ever smelt was faintly of damp lamb.   The microweight shirts are just heavy enough to add warmth, but also worked great as sunblockers.   I also own tights (dressy ones for under skirts), socks (warm even if they’re soaked) and just bought myself a really expensive, but totally worth it zip-front sweater with a hood.   Granted- all their stuff is definitely pricey.   But after only having to buy two shirts for an entire season, $65 a pop starts to feel OK.

Crocs. I know, I know, I swore over and over that I would never own a pair of these.   But then I got curious, and in the end, they’re the only shoes I took with me on the second leg.   I’m sold.

Glowfast. I was given a roll of this on the dock before the start of the Transat.   The strips on the top draft stripes on the main always made me happy in the middle of the night.   And putting little bits on the telltales was a great arts and crafts project.   (Not gonna lie, I also cut out some glow in the dark stars for down below…)

Music.   I killed an iPod on the way to Madeira, so ended up having to buy a new one and hastily cram as much music as possible onto it: which ended up being a pretty limited variety.   Here’s a list of 20 or so most-played songs from the second leg (don’t judge me):

“Sail”- Awolination.  ”Little Secrets”- Passion Pit.  ”Dynamite”- Taio Cruz. “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”- Daft Punk. “Like a G6″- Far East Movement. “Chelsea Dagger”- The Fratellis.  ”Paper Planes”- M.I.A. “Original Prankster”- Offspring. “Smooth Criminal”- Alien Ant Farm. “The Seed”- The Roots.  ”Keep It Moving”- Missy Elliott feat. Elephant Man.  ”Heart of Glass”- Blondie. “Scooby Snacks”- Fun Lovin’ Criminals.  ”The Nosebleed Section”- Hilltop Hoods. “Waterfalls”- TLC.  ”Opposite of Adults”- Chiddy Bang. “Superstition”- Stevie Wonder. “How Low”- Ludacris. “Rabiosa”- Shakira. “Rude Boy”- Rhianna. “The Time (Dirty Bit)”- The Black Eyed Peas.   And of course, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”- Cyndi Lauper.

Backpacker’s Pantry. Eating freeze-dried food for three weeks straight could be boring and awful.  It would have been a lot worse if I hadn’t had the best freeze-dried ever.   Backpacker’s Pantry does a massive variety of meals, and they are all full of spices, and actually have texture.   The Pad Thai is my favorite, it even comes with little packs of peanuts and peanut butter to mix in when you make it.  And I brought limes along, which made it even better.  The Spinach Puttanesca was another favorite- it comes with a little packet of olive oil.   Yum.

Gu drink powder and energy gels.  I put the powder into almost all of the water that I was drinking to ensure I was getting enough electrolytes, and snacked on the energy gels and chews whenever I needed a bit more get up and go.   They actually taste great- the chocolate ones are like pudding, and the lemon/lime ones taste like key lime pie filling.

While we’re on the topic of food, never buy another piece of cardboard/glue disguised as a granola bar.   Even though they cost a fortune, ProBars are amazing.  I ate one for breakfast every morning that I could (I didn’t have enough for the whole race).  They’re full of hippy-dippy stuff like flax seeds, and have whole nuts and chunks of ginger, and lemon zest in them.   They’re delicious.  Along those same lines, Kind Bars were a total treat.  I’d have to say the almond and apricot ones are my favorite, but they’re all really, really good.

Fatboy bean bags. I had one of the “Junior” ones on the boat, and I lived on it.   Night and day.  For 30 days.

Otherwise, there are the obvious ones- Neutrogena baby sunscreen, which actually doesn’t make my face break out.   Ray-Ban sunglasses, that stay on my face and somehow make even me look slightly stylish.  My Billabong truckers hat (with pin-up girls on it.   No, there’s not really a story behind it, it’s just awesome.)  Burt’s Bees baby powder.  Resinol.  I don’t know why, but Brian, you’re right.  It cures everything.

And lots, and lots, of dried mango slices, Green & Black chocolate bars and mini oreos.

So there you have it.   When you’re alone on a boat for three weeks, it takes a lot of little things to keep you from going crazy.  Like the sqeezy penguin with pop-out eyeballs (thanks mum, Sam, Anna and Patrick!), or the instant growing washcloth with a crab on it (thanks Gretchen!), Totoro and Piggy.  I could go on and on.

Thank you to everyone who contributed in one way or another to my campaign.   When I started this crazy venture, I never could have imagined just how many of you would become involved.   You all helped me get from one side to the other, and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

The start of Leg two from Madeira was by far my worst start of the entire season!  I was about 3 rows back and slow off the line…   I’d gotten caught up with a few boats that were having issues, and managed to be totally screwed by them…   frustrating!    But we managed to pick our way back, and get off to the right of the first beat where there was LOTS of good current, and ended up rounding the first buoy in a sort of mid-fleetish position.    Innitially, given the weather info I’d received before the start, I’d planned on heading due south to get free of the wind shadow of the island ASAP, but the breeze was much more west than anticipated, so I just set the zero and headed towards the Canaries.

For the first night I was within eye-sight of the top guys, in the west-most group.   It’s amazing how quickly Minis disappear over the horizion as the fleet spread laterally, and everyone was gone over the horizion to the east.   The next day was big kite, sailing as deep as possible, and of course I started losing boats on every side.   The other protos sail a higher angle, faster than me, and the Pogo2s go deeper, and faster, and I’m left trying to decide if I want to sail less distance, slower, or more distance, slower…   Always a nice choice to have to make.   By that afternoon I’d lost sight of Dan, and basically everyone else that I’d been able to see in the morning.  Great.    The breeze built and the waves became very steep and fast, and it turned into an awesome night of surfing.   Dan and I were talking quite a bit, both shouting updates of top speeds and what kite we’d just had to pull down (‘Can’t believe it’s still in one piece! Haha!’).   Eventually though, when I’d gone from the big kite, to the medium, to the reefed medium, to the 5 and then still managed to come off a wave sideways at 18.7 knots (which I am pretty sure is terminal velocity of a mini falling from the top of a 4 meter wave), it was almost time to take a breath and think about keeping the boat in one piece.   There was NO moon, so some of the waves were really coming up by surprise, and my boat is bombproof, which is nice becuase I managed to keep the rig up.    There was a lot of carnage for other people that first night, and by about 3AM I put up the jib and chilled out for a few hours (still hitting 12s and 14s on the surfs).  It was only the second night afterall.

I’d planned on going west of the Canaries from the very beginning, all the weather seemed to say that there weren’t enough gains to be had from going between any of them, and I didn’t want to bother with any more islands than I had to if it wasn’t an obvious choice.   I was still in radio contact with Dan (which was nice, since he had to go up his rig and was able to tell me about it before he went, and after he got back down) and at one point I crossed and gybed just behind Romain on 454, with Scotty on 797 just to windward, and a few other boats on the horizion.   It’s nice when you’re just sailing along on rhumb line, with lots of boats around.   It’s comforting to think that maybe you’re doing the right thing, or at least if you’re not, you won’t be the only one to get screwed by it!

Things were fairly mellow until the Cape Verdes-  I was so much more chilled out at the start of the second leg, and in those first few days.   It was really nice to feel as though I’d grown into this whole sailing alone thing, and was at a point where I felt comfortable on my boat, and happy enough with being alone… though never really psyched about it.

One of the hardest things about sailing alone, is that little problems morph into major ones before you even know it’s happening.   And then once you’ve clued into what’s going on, it’s very hard to do anything about fixing it.   The morning of the day that I got to the Cape Verdes, I was sailing along with the big kite, picking gybe angles, and trying to decide which islands to go between, when some whales showed up.  I have no idea what kind they were- about 2/3 the length of the boat, two of them, just big dark shapes in the water along side, sometimes crossing under the boat, sometimes coming back to the stern and looking at me, and making me VERY nervous.   The worst part was that I really needed to gybe, but they kept going under the bow, and it was defintely freaking me out.   I thought about pulling down the kite for the gybe, but it was only blowing about 15ish, so I convinced myself I was making a big deal out of nothing, stacked in the middle,and went for the gybe.   The kite blew around, and suddenly the boat was absolutely on its side- leward lifelines underwater and everything.  Almost like the keel had slipped to leeward or something, or gybing with everything stacked on the wrong side (not that I know what that’s like….)    I don’t remember ever even feeling like I’d hit anything, but I’m sure we made some contact with one of the stupid whales.    It was a massive wipe-out, and I had to blow the kite entirely to get the boat back up.   Once everything was sorted, I put the pilot on and went down to restack.  Things were weird, and I kept having to sprint up and catch everything from going wrong, and it took me a few minutes to realize that the wind numbers were all wrong.  GREAT.    It only took a quick glance at the top of the rig to see that the little whirley-gig that measures wind speed, direction, everything for the instruments and auto pilot, wasn’t spinning.  One of its arms was broken off, so it was just stuck head to wind.

At first I just put the pilot onto compass mode and tried to convince myself it wasn’t a big deal.   The seas were big, and I was making good progress, so there was no way I was going to pull sails down and go up the rig just then.   I figured maybe I’d come up with a plan for fixing the thing at some point, and then I’d go up and deal with it.

In hindsight, this was pretty much the end of my race.   The weather was so strange and abnormal this year, from the Verdes on it was deep VMG running with the big kite in shifty breeze.   Not being able to put my pilot on wind mode meant I didn’t sleep more than 10 minutes at a time for about 5 days.   When you put the pilot on compass mode, it just steers to a compass heading, reguardless of the wind direction.  SO the breeze shifts a little bit, and the kite luffs, or the boat wipes out, or the kite wraps itself around the headstay.   None of these things are fast.   So I slept on my beanbag in the cockpit, trimming the kite, and pressing up and down on the pilot practically in my sleep, but never really sleeping.    Not getting sleep means that, at best, even the easiest decisions take twice as long to make, and at worst, you just make lots of stupid decisions.  Either way, it’s not fast.

I had a really good laugh when I realized I had a tan line from the crease in my stomach when I was sitting down to drive

About this time I came across Pierre on 552, Henry on 551 and Paul on 265.   We were sailing a similar course from the Verdes as we had similar plans for where to enter the doldrums.   I was within sight of Pierre for about 2 days- he was always just ahead of me.   Pogo2s sailed by good people are faster than me in almost every condition, and it didn’t do good things to the general morale on the boat.   But it did help to have them to talk to.   This was Pierre’s 3rd Transat, and it was really nice to have confirmation from someone who knew the race that the weather was NOT doing what it was supposed to be doing, and that things were very strange.    With the limited info that I was getting from the weather broadcast on the SSB, it seemed like maybe going into the doldrums even further east than normal might be a good idea, but I didn’t want to take a total flier and end up all alone.     All the weather guys before the start had recommended entering the doldrums between 27-28W, and here we were at 26W and MUCH further north than normal, with weird squalls, current, periods of no wind… was this already the doldrums????

The general consensus is that when you hit the doldrums, the breeze goes light, and to the East, and you get squalls, and you should go due south until you pop out the bottom and hit the SE trade winds.   I still had light NE wind between the squalls and light patches, but decided it was time to just go south and see what happened.  The next day it blew 25 from the SW all day.   Then it went back to light NE, with loads of squalls.  By this point I’d lost the others- they’d played the squalls better than me one night, and anyway I just slower in general with my pilot as stupid as it was.   I was alone, and frustrated, and really confused by the weather and sailing as S as possible, but putting in more East than I’d wanted.

Then, I came out of a squall, and there was another boat there.   I called them on the radio, and it was Scotty.  He’d been hit by a ship early that morning, lost his rig, had a massive crack in the hull, and was waiting for an accompaniment boat to come to him.   I didn’t even consider that there was another option, I dropped sails and told him I’d hang out for the night until the accompaniment boat arrived.   Since he had no masthead antenna anymore, his VHF reception was very limited, so communicating with the boat when they arrived would be difficult.   Also, the forecast had called for more squalls, we’d had some really big ones already that day, and with all the water in his boat, and a crack like that in the hull… I thought it made sense to stick around.

We had a really chilled out night- no squalls at all, lots of chat on the VHF and I was able to make a massive meal and eat it all in one go- without having to trim the kite or pilot, or drop everything and run onto the bow to deal with a wrap.  I didn’t get any sleep- we had to stay really close together to stay in contact with his handheld VHF, and there was a lot of current but almost no wind.    Then just as it was getting light, Pen Ar Clos popped up on the horizon, and I got ready to go.    We had a short conversation over the radio, and off I went- leaving them to send someone over in an inflatable to check out the situation with Scotty.

After Scotty was on board, they followed me for a bit, and then they throttled back and put up a kite, and off I went with the 5 up, and that was that.   It was really weird going back to being alone afterwards, espically since I now knew I was absolutely the furthest East of the entire fleet, and that my delay had left me really far behind any of the boats that had been close before.   With the weather as strange and unpredictable as it was, the only way to keep my mood up before had been to remind myself that at least everyone else was more or less in the same situation, and could only make so many miles on me in a day.   But now there were a lot of boats already out of the Doldrums, and in entirely different systems, and I was being left behind.   But at the same time, I was still on my own boat, and it was floating, and the rig was still up.   Once I fixated on that instead, I began to focus on seeing just how many boats I could catch out of all the ones that had passed me overnight, and things got better.

I had another few days of Doldrums and then finally after a long line of clouds, and weird shifts, the breeze filled from the SE and I was out.    The next 24 hours were one of the best periods of the entire race.   I stacked EVERYTHING to port, and went to sleep.   FINALLY!!!   Sailing upwind I could put the pilot on compass mode and it would steer almost as well as I could, and so I finally got some rest.

Knowing I was further East than everyone else, I cracked off to the code zero really quickly, and so gained a fair bit of speed.   I was listening to the rankings every morning, and had already picked off a number of the series boats that had been closer to the finish than I was ever since my night with Scotty.  Unfortunately I was just never going to gain on any of the protos.   They were cracked off as well, and given their newer, more powerful hull shapes, were doing at least 10-30 more miles than me every day, even though I felt like I was going as quickly as I could.    I was close enough to 606 to talk again- he kept telling me how much he missed sweets and fruit as he’d run out of both a few days before.  During one of these conversations I was literally in the middle of breaking into a brand new bar of Green & Black Mayan Gold dark chocolate, and was really glad there’s no video chat on VHF.

Somewhere in here I managed to avoid running into the little rocks of Peter and Paul- islands just north of the equator, in the middle of nowhere.   And then in the middle of the night I crossed the equator.   I tried really hard to be excited about it- but it was still in the early phase of catching up on all my lost sleep.   I have a video somewhere of me, really really sleepy, popping a bottle of champagne and enjoying some dried mango and chocolate, and then I went straight back to sleep.

Last photo in the Northern Hemisphere

Originally I had hoped to be in Brazil somewhere around the 1st of November, but the night of Halloween was the night when I saw the lights of Recife- the first lights I’d seen in 2 weeks.   Unless you’ve ever been in the middle of the ocean, you really can’t imagine just how many stars there are out there.   And then when you get close to land again, they all start to disappear, and are swallowed up by an awful orange glow from the cities.   This was one of the hardest nights for me.   It was a really weird combination of disappointment that I wasn’t there yet, but at the same time a really deep sadness that it was almost over.   I had dolphins by the boat for the first time since a night or two after the Cape Verdes, and, combined with the lights from shore, it really felt like I was finished.  I’d crossed the ocean all alone on a 21 foot boat.   So I was sad it was done, but even sadder that it wasn’t done at all- I still had another 850 something miles to go down the coast.

Luckily, the next day I was in touch with 566, and Eric and I had some good conversations.  It was nice to know I was close to him, as he was doing quite well in the series ranking.   Even if I couldn’t catch any prototypes, I’d fixated on catching and passing as many series boats as possible before the finish.

The sailing over the next few days wasn’t terribly interesting- except one night where somehow the pilot decided to work on wind mode again (I think we were sailing a high enough angle, with a small enough kite, that enough breeze was hitting the windex to keep it spinning… but I’m not really sure) and I put up the 5, and went to sleep.   I kept waking up with the boat doing 12-14 knots on the edge of these big dark clouds…  I’d take a look around and just go back to sleep.   And there was a morning with really big steep waves, but only about 14-18 knots of breeze.   I wanted to have the big kite up, but it kept collapsing on every surf, and I’d have to sit there and trim the entire time, and still not be going very quickly.  So I put up the reefed medium kite, and somehow it worked perfectly… I was able to hang out and work on tying more string onto various bits of the boat that wanted to come apart, while we sailed fairly quickly.

10-21 0220 13 31N 25 46W

Just had to majorly alter course to keep from getting run over by some jerk.  Probably some sort of fishing boat.   Dolphins showed up when I heated it up though, so that’s nice.  I can see 552 ahead.  I’m hunting him down.

0800

Taking a hitch back towards rhumb line.. have to get S in, even though this gybe is a little bit lifted.   Cant see 552 anymore.  I think he gybed just before sunrise.   I cant hear anyone on the radio… Knowing me, Ill push harder if Im closer to other boats, so getting back to rhumb line is probably a good thing in the long run.   I know 265 and 551 are just behind me- I hear them from time to time, but from the sound of it, were always on opposite gybes- I’m just ahead enough to be in different wind.  Lets hope it stays that way!

1330  12 39N 26 01W

Just spoke with Pierre (552) for awhile, hes wonderful.  He also gave me some help deciphering the weather info from the SSB this AM.  I’m thinking more and more than even 26 30W might be OK for entering the Doldrums…  so far East, but things are so disorganized from the sounds of it, it might work out…

21-10 1900  12 06N 26 10W

So frustrated.   Was finally gaining on Pierre after following all day, then realized my goose-neck fitting was coming apart.   Bashed it all back together (all the while with the main totally flogging) and then thought Id be clever and put up the 5 since the breeze had gone way forward.   Somehow he pulled away from me after, with his big kite still up! All laid over.   ARGH.  So I went to the 3, and am holding on the course I did all day and hes almost gone over the horizon a bit low, still with the big kite.  I feel like the harder I try, the worse I do.  And 265 has almost passed me to leeward- just inching up on me all day long with the big kite.   So now I’m going to be alone again.  551 is WAY west of me and Im just sailing slow and like an idiot.   Ill be getting to Bahia days after everyone else.

10-22 0800  11 30N 26 31W

Really slow night.  Long time of no wind at all.   Thank goodness for Pierre- He talked me down in the middle of the night.   Hes so calm on the radio, maybe hes throwing tantrums on his own.   Shitty waves and current are making this not fun.   Are we already in the doldrums???????  If we are, I majorly screwed it up.   552 and 265 are just south of me. Another boat just gybed onto starboard ahead of me.  Switched from the 3 to the 2 thinking there was enough breeze, but now its dying.   Of course.

10-22 1900 10 59N 27 01W

Just had my first big squall- caught with the big kite up…  After about 10 minutes of fun (terror) had to do a really ugly take down to keep it in one piece.  Then lots of rain and now Im picking up all the pieces and will leave the 3 up for now.  Still lots of big clouds around.  Im tired.   At least now I can hear others on the radio.  But not Dan.

10-23 0545 10 15N 27 02W

Have been going slowly- had another massive squall- kite issues- ran for hours, gooseneck trying to break, fuel cell not working.  Slept for 2 hours, just tried to fix gooseneck- will put main back up and monitor.  So frustrating.  Oh, and broke a reaching strut.

0730

Asked Benoit and Ysbrand for help with fuel cell- Ysbrand said check wires but I have.  I did again, still nothing.

0800

Got the zero up, bashed the broken reaching strut into the hole after chopping the broken bit, and just whispered sweet nothings to the fuel cell and I think its working again- for now. Going to go eat and have some tea and see if that helps.

1920 9 21N 26 48W

On starboard upwind in probably 25+ most of the day.   Weird.  SW wind????? Not in the brochure.   Spoke to 606 but we couldn’t really hear each other.  My gooseneck is still borderline fucked.   Really need some no wind to fix it properly.  As is have taken main down 4 times in 36 hours. Great. That’s fast. Not.

10-24 0800 8 20N 26 17W

Lots of tacks last night- breeze was sort of 180-215 and I’m trying to not go too far east before 8N.. Don’t know if it will help.  Very mellow, lots of stars, no squalls (yay!!!)   Where are the doldrums???  Light wind and lots of current made port tack really bad- so lost a lot to the east…   Just tried the VHF.  No one.    Fuel cell works- changed all the fuses.  Gooseneck repair (string + screwdriver) holding.  I got some sleep but need more!  I wish the breeze would go back S instead of SW so I could get some W in without sailing to Florida!

7 44N 25 56W 1730

Ive just come across Scotty who was hit by a ship.  An accompaniment back is on their way but wont arrive until tomorrow.   I am staying with him tonight as the forward bulkhead is cracked and may let go.  I pressed the green button (on my tracker) and I imagine they will see whats going on as his tracker still works.  His masthead VHF does not work (broken rig) and this way I can help communicate with the accompaniment boat when they get closer.

2000 7 42N 25 54W

Standing by.  Not much wind.  Hard to even stay close enough for Scotty’s handheld VHF.

2230

Just spoke with Tanker Glen May and asked them to try to call the accompaniment boat.  Hes tried but hasn’t gotten them yet.  Scotty wanted to try to see when they’d arrive.  I think hes ready for this to be over.

10-25 0300

Spoke with 606 who relayed to Pen Ar Clos (accompaniment boat).  Now they know Im here and that I’m OK so that’s good.  They should arrive around 0600.

0420

Just spoke to Pen Ar Clos.

0700 7 29N 25 57W

Moving again. Pen Ar Clos arrived, and I resumed racing.

0800

Onward.  In contact with 606 which is nice- good to have company!  And Pen Ar Clos will be just behind me now. They’ll probably pass at some point, but for now things feel good.

10-25

606 is at 6 59N 26 13W

566 is 6 27N 26 12W

Were it for the east…. hmmmm….

The H20 situation:

5 x 1.5L

3x 10L

1 x 3ish L

so 40ish L… should be fine, at 4L a day.. Ive been drinking more than that… wish that I hadn’t broken those two jugs….

10-26 0820 5 44N 25 50W

Just ran into a big convergence zone- breeze going from all the way forward to aft… probably should have gone back to the 5 (had the 2 up for a bit this AM) but went to zero instead… well see.  Very few clouds ahead. Lots behind.  At least with the zero I can just point in the right direction and let it move us when it wants to instead of collapsing…

2030 4 42N 26 19W

Had a good day- big kite then 3 then massive mess in a squall, 5, zero, now upwind between lots of very big thunder squalls.  Lightening everywhere.  Its sort of beautiful.  70 miles in 12 hours- Yay!!!

10-27 4 26N 26 25W 0100

Just almost run over by a fucking tanker. Ive been calling them for over an hour with no response. Even now they don’t answer though they changed course and speed drastically at the last second. Bastards.   (Side note- sorry for the swearing.  I usually try to edit out as much as possible, but sometimes it seems effective for truly conveying what was going on….)

27-10 0800 3 51N 26 30W

Jib and 1 reef.   I don’t know whats going on anymore with the ´Doldrums´ so Im just going to sail to the equator- roughly at 28W.  I will still have angle if there are S-SE trades after and wont be so far east I’m last.  Interested to hear ranking and see how I did- I put in lots of SW- 120 miles by my GPS.  No one did that much yesterday when they were in the same area… but them probably did as much or more in the past 24… oh well.

27-10 2000 2 50N 27 17W  SOG 7 COG 336

Tradewinds!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Holding high over night, will crack off and put the pedal down soon though.  But I need to get a bit of sleep tonight so that I can send it for the next 1000 miles. Id love to catch some boats!!!!   (Since Id broken the wind wand before the Cape Verdes, I could only use the pilot in compass mode, and it actually works quite well sailing hard on the wind, but terribly at every other angle)

28-10 0845 1 42N 28 10W SOG 7 COG 240

Just slept for 3 hours by accident!  Crap!  Talked to 606.  Hes at 1 59N 28 27W Maybe Im ahead of him again…  I am aiming straight at Peter and Paul.  Great.   (Peter and Paul islands are random rocks in the middle of the ocean.. the only thing to watch out for hitting from the Cape Verdes to Ferdinando de Noronha, and of course the breeze kept heading me straight at them for a whole day)

I want a hug!!!!

1600 0 58N 28 43W  COG 225 SOG 7.5-8

Just spoke to 606- hes at 1 13N 28 42W So Ive sailed under him today.  He still has not gone to the zero. So nice to have someone to talk to!!!  I wish I could remember his face, and if we’ve met.. Oh well.   607.8 miles to my Recife waypoint at a bearing of 225.  ETA sometime Halloween night.   The little rocks Peter and Paul are something like 28 miles away to the West now.

10-28 1925 0 39N 28 53W SOG 8 COG 221

585.9 miles to Recife!

10-29 0725 0 43 SOUTH!!!!! 29 32W SOG 8.5 COG 225

495 miles to Recife. Already lost 606 on the VHF….

1900 2 01S 30 16W  406.2 miles to Recife.

Slower today- breeze really SE not ESE like yesterday… and only 11-15ish knots but awful seas so 2 reefs is still better than one… Took zero down and checked halyard at 1600- no chafe at all.  Lots of ship traffic…

10-30 0800 3 28S 31 05W SOG 8 COG 230

Breeze backed and built overnight so I could go quickly again!  Had to get 1 ship to alter course for me at 0530ish.  Took half an hour of me calling them to get a response.   Sweet.  Excited to hear if I gained more in the rankings. Almost due E of F de Noronha.  When will I hear others on the VHF again???   Very cold and wet all night.  Looks cloudy again today.  Will it be sunny and hot again before the finish?  My tan isnt done!!!!   305.6 miles to Recife.

1500 4 14S 31 37W

Back to full jib and 2 reefs in the main… Sucky seas, breeze very SSE and up to almost 20.. Just going .2-.5knots slower like this. (than  would have with the zero)  Ug.   The shift has to come soon.  It just has to.  At least I can get some sleep until it does.  I bet it will be too fun NOT to drive once I get the 5 back up.  Cant wait!!!

1730

Still upwind just jib no zero… Should I crack off or just wait for the shift???

10-30 2021 4 47S 31 56W  SOG 7.5 COG 228

Nothing went right today.  Breeze builds, I put in a reef.   So it does. You know, stuff like that.  The boats leaking EVERYWHERE, my body is giving in to the salt sores and I cant make the boat go fast.  Everyone did 200 mile days yesterday when they were here.  Ill be lucky to average 7 knots.  What gives.  Oh, and my waypoint for Recife was wrong so Ive been sailing higher than I needed.  Great.

10-31 0230 5 27S 32 21W  SOG 8 COG 233

Breeze very unstable… Sometimes awesome and we light it up and go 11, but a lot more wallowy stuff in between… Still zero.   The 5 would be nice sometimes, but would collapse a lot in between.   180 miles to Recife.

10-31 1200

YAY! People to talk to!   746 and Pen Ar Clos!  And I put more miles back on Pip and wont catch any other protos probably but am faster than most so am catching back up.  So push on and GET THERE!  And try to catch some more series boats!

1900 7 18S 33 31W

Really frustrating day. Stuck in 3 hours of clouds and rain…  This morning was so promising too.   And now its back to sailing stupidly deep with no wind and a pilot that’s an idiot.   About to listen to where everyone else is, then up with the big kite until I get to Recife.  50 miles to go.  It was 140 at 0700 so only 90 miles in 12 hours.   Ug.  I bet everyone’s caught me again.

November 1, 2011 0800 8 50S 34 35W SOG 10 COG 245

Rough night- very tired- not much sleep- sent it with the 5… pilot suddenly works on wind sometimes with the 5.  Just went to reefed 3. Its nice.  I’m over masthead kites in more than 15 knots. Too much work and not enough acceleration for the waves. They’re really fast here.  About 360 miles to the finish.  Yay!!   GPS ETA is under 48 hours but well see.   Sometime the 3rd for sure though.   Cant hear anyone on the radio again. Guess thats a good sign.  Wish I could catch some ahead of me though…. :/

11-1 2100 10 26S 35 30W COG 235 SOG 9

SLOW DAY. LAME.  So ready to just get there but the weather isn’t cooperating.  Light wind- big kite.  I hate the big kite.

Now have reefed 3 and it is better I think.  Weird.   I found 774 and Benoit as well.  Eric (566) made some SE on all of us.  774 and I are next to each other.  Both he and Benoit were ahead of me and Eric this AM and Eric was 8 miles ahead of me. I would really like to pass all of them.  They are 12-13-14 in series…   ETA was so good, now its between 26 and 30-something hours from now…   Oh, and they’re predicting SE wind tomorrow evening.  Force 6.  Lovely.

11-2 0800 11 31S 34 22W  SOG 6.5 COG 235

Woke up.  Must have fallen asleep.   For hours.   Crap.   774 passed me.  I’m confused and upset and just want to finish.

1900  12 22S 36 54W SOG 5  COG 300

Hmm.  Variable.  Waiting for breeze to go SE.  For now SW is better than the NW we had 2 hours ago.  We may get there some day.  Or not.

November 3rd 0900 12 55S 38 09W  COG 267 SOG 7

I can see land between the squalls. Its windy and rough.

And that’s it.   The last few hours were far too tense to write much- coming in to land after 21 days is stressful, especially when you’re coming in during 30+ knot squalls, onto a lee shore…

I still in Brazil. The boat is almost packed up and I’m headed to Rio via bus (24-30 hours… UG) tomorrow.   Ive got my full write up in progress, will post it and photos soon!  As soon as I get access to a real computer that works reliably, instead of a random one at an Internet cafe.

So Iºm finallky getting around to writing some bits from the race!    I have limited access to a computer right now, I’m still in Brazil, so for now I’m going to post entries from my log book whenever I get the chance, but will  work on a more thorough write-up  as I can.   These are just taken straight from the log, as I scribbled them.  I hope they give you a bit of a sense of just how bipolar mini sailing makes you…

October 13 1900  32º 06′ N 17º 00′ W  Very tired, guess it’s the let down after the start.  Very mellow, code zero, right up with the lead protos which is cool. Hope I can hang here for a few days… we’ll see…

October 14 0800 31º 00N 17º 30W  Don’t feel very well at all, shakey and tired and upset stomach… But the pilot is driving really well with the big kite, so at least I’ve got that going for me.

October 14 1900 29º 41′N 18º 03′W   Big kite. Sporty!

October 15 0700 28º 12′N 18º 53′W  Last night was very full on… amazed all my kites survived.  Had to take a break with only jib for some hours.  Must have lost tons.   Now too close to the islands (Canaries) breeze died and now filled from the SW. Code 5 just going with it trying to get away and back out to rhumb line where the breeze should still be NE… fingers crossed.

October 16 1900 23º 44′N 20º 58′W   5 and reefed jib and main… all day.   Sort of boring and I feel as though I’ve been very slow.  Lots of funny jumping fish- not fliers but ones shaped like parrotfish or something like it and lots of birds still, which is nice.

October 17 1900 21º 43N 21º 43′W   Spent the afternoon with NO wind.  It sucked.  Questioned all my motives for being here.  Then I got my shit together, fixed some things, ate lunch, got moving, fixed more, showered and felt much better.  Now am sailing as deep as possible on starboard- hoping to get S… and hoping I can gybe soon.   And that I didn’t lose everyone while I sat still…  Dan’s only 11 miles away though, so that’s awesome!  Maybe we will be able to talk the whole way.  Also spoke to Ulf and Christa- which was really nice.

October 18 1530 19º 23′N 23º 28′W   This AM realized my batteries were down to 12 so have spent much of the day with everything off.  Shame- talked to Dan for 2 secs and said I was going into radio silence and it was the clearest he’s been in days.  Now he doesn’t hear me at all.  White kite just behind / windward of me.  No clue who it is… maybe 629?  He was close this AM (in the positions report) but ahead…  hope it’s not someone catching me.  Have finally decided on Verde gap- between one of the little ones and Sao Nicalaou to port.  Supposed to be massive squalls and t-storms tonight and tomorrow. Decided against the islands with acceleration between.. dont need it if it’s already blowing 45. Plus this is a good angle, and then I’ll gybe onto starboard to avoid the shadown of Fogoo and head towards the Doldrums.  We’ll see if it’s half as simple as that makes it sound.  Slept some this AM and batteries are getting recharged.  Curious if Dan’s just also got his VHF off or if he’s too far away. That might mean the end of our chats till Brazil.   Sad!

October 19 0500 18º 05′N 23º 51′W  Crap.  Woke up and had slept for almost 5 hours while sailing the wrong way. Slowly.  ARGH!

October 19 1900 16º 21′N 24º 51′W   Literally can’t contact any other minis =( Broken wind wand =(  Going really fast between the islands =) But now I’d like to chill out please.

October 20 0800 15º 29′N 25º 29′W  Wind wand working right now, which is nice.  Repaired some seams in the big kite.  Can’t believe the stitching is just pulling out.  A little worried about going so far west, but more worried about the wind shadow under Fogoo- so here we are.  Fuel cell keeps saying ‘check battery voltage’  What kind of error message is that!? Yeah, I’m checking it and it’s getting lower cause you won’t turn on… umm… hello??  Pilot on compass mode with the big kite sucks.

October 20 1315 14º44′N 25º 39′W  Gybing around, just came back onto port so solar panel can get more sun and so I can eat and chill a bit. For some reason starboard is weird and pilot doesn’t like it.

1830 Just woke up and am crossing just beind 552.  Called Pierre on the handheld but he couldn’t hear me.  I’ll try again later on the big VHF.  Still have it turned off to help with charging everything.  399 miles to my random Doldrums entry waypoint.   This AM Pierre was 10th with 1898 miles to go.  I had 1910 or something like that. So either he had a shit day, or I made up some miles which is nice.