Final approach to Douarnenez

I made it!

I'm back from the 1000Nm qualifier, or as it should be called the 1000Nm drift.

Here a small break down of the trip,

Day 1- Strangely I started with a 25 knot beat out of Lorient North, but the wind soon shut down and I was becalmed just heading into the English channel.

Day 2- The best days sailing. In the morning the breeze picked up and I had a spinnaker run across the channel to Lands End and sailed between the Scilly's and the main land through the night.

Day 3- A very light day but made progress with the code zero through the Irish Sea.

Day 4- In light wind and drizzle at first light I rounded the first mark Coningberg of the Irish coast. Then a hard day with loads of sail changes back South.

Day 5- The breeze built all night and I had a hard sail back across the channel in typical English Channel choppy seas and 28 knots of breeze, close hauled but one tack all the way.

Day 6- A glamours day South down the French coast with constant breeze, sun and the code zero up, ate up a lot of miles.

Day 7-Arrived to Rochebonne the furthest Westerly mark at first light, once agin,very light. Then a beat in toward La rochelle to round Ile de Re. Only made 50 Nm in the whole day.

Day 8- I drifted all the way round and under the bridge in the early hours. The breeze built and I started back north with a kite. Soon the breeze started to clock around until I ended up tight with the zero. And once again it dropped off at night.

Day 9- Light start on the jib but the wind veered and allowed me to go back past Lorient with the zero. Technically I had completed my loop and so the 1000Nm, but as I have a race next week further north, so I decided to keep heading up the coat and deliver to Douarnenez. What a fool another 150 miles in no wind, gluten for punishment!

To get to Douarnenez there are 2 routes, around an island or between the gap in huge tides, I checked all the tidal info and it was with me to nip through but it would be tight. I had a few painful hours in no breeze and loads of current thinking I wasn't going to make it in time. But I just snuck through. I had a lovely down wind sail in bright sunshine to finally arrive and step off the boat a 8.15 PM.

So just over 9 days to do 1150Nm pretty good going. 1 big race, the Mini Fastnet and I'm qualified for the Azores and more importantly the 2011 Transat!

1000Nm Qualifier

The day has finally come to head off on my 1000Nm qualifier. Its strange a long time before I even owned Night Fever I knew all about the 1000Nm qualification process and that one day I would be heading off to tick the box. Well now its here!

Its a strange concept because it's the only time your not racing/delivering/training in the boat so there is lots of extra kit you can take, but at the same time you want to be in race mode as much as possible to knock off the mile.

Most of the guys seem to dread the whole process but I'm really looking forward to 7-14 days away getting offshore miles in. I do have a slight time constraint as I have to be at the pre-race arrival in 2 weeks for the next race, but there's plenty of time.

The course is from Lorient up to a mark off Cork Ireland, then back down around a buoy off La Rochelle and round the Island, finally back up to Lorient. I won't stop and will keep heading North to the start of the race near Breast.

Finger crossed!

Dark Shadow Portofino

Back to the Wally 100 for the first of this years Med racing.

We did the event in Performance Cruising category which was a first for us because the boat has come straight for Genoa boat show and is now off cruising. So we raced with the cruising kit and short handed with 10 crew (we normally race with 25-27 people). It was really good fun but not the fastest setup.

It was a strange event with, hardly any breeze the first 2 days and then very breezy on day 3. It was exciting for me as I was doing bow for starts and maneuvers and then running back (which is quiet a long run all day) to help with tactics and decision making.

Looking forward to the next event, the Maxi world in Porto Cervo.