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EH01 GLOBL YACHT RACING
Sunday 1300hrs and EH01 is battling her way up the straights of Messina with around 25NM to go to the top. Progress is, as expected, rather slow with winds at around 190T – 200T and soft at 6- 8 knots.
Lots of racers around us, all making slow progress and seemingly choosing various tactics to find wind across this stretch of the course.
GRY’s Russian charter crew enjoyed the start yesterday, we managed to ‘get the pin’ and made it across first only to sail into a small hole, but overall a great start and the guys did well with the first kite hoist and subsequent douse at the Rolex marks.
For most on board last night was there first night sailing experience and for many this is the first time racing offshore so a steep learning curve and plent to do for Skipper Andy, and Mates Matt and Gareth to keep the boat running and crew enthusiasm up.
Thoughts inevitably turning to the rest of the course and the light winds still forecast, prognosis is not good for an early finish!
TTFN
Andy (skipper – EH01)
Posted in Day Two
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RAN
Slow motion
We did pass Siracusa some time ago but have not moved much. We are still hours from leaving the straights. We are still sailing at 2 knots boat speed, which is very slow indeed! Stig sailed away from the shore and is now few miles behind our boat. We get some gusts, very few and very short. But some. The boat is very silent. We hear the squeeking of the boom or a sheet rubbing on the deck. Voices are soft and sometimes whispering so one can hear and concentrate to see where the wind will come from. Middle of the night, the stars have replaced the moon, but the team on deck is on alert, the ones below have a peace short sleep before their next shift. Only the navigator and the tactician are on their own timing; they need the flexibility to react and anticipate the next move. Right now they are both sitting next to each other by the chart to see how best we could plan our next move. How could we make the boat go faster!
Posted in Day Two
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VIDEO OPTIMUM 3 ASPIDA
Niklyk sent a text last night and a video from the boat.
sailing along the Sicilian coast in flat water when we heard something in the water. Dolphins on the bow! The boat and the crew are all well and morale is excellent!
Posted in Day Two
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COMANCHE RAIDER II GASANMAMO
Jonas Diamantino’s Matltese ILC40 has been going well and spirits are high on board:
Good Morning from Comanche! We are having breakfast in front of Catania with XP-ACT close behind us. Last night the crew did a fantastic sail change, they are awesome and we are enjoying it!
Posted in Day Two
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VENTO DI SARDEGNA
Samantha Evans reports from the Italian Open 50
Very tricky conditions overnight, we tried to pick up land breezes and avoid the holes in the wind, so not much sleep but keeping rolling along…just. Spectacular scenery at sunrise this morning. Time for some breakfast 🙂
Posted in Day Two
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OPTIMUM 3 ASPIDA
It has been neck and neck with Clippa Lippa since Rolex Buoy. Great sailing, we just passed Cape Passero. Nik
Posted in Day One
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1ST SUNSET RAN
We are now approaching sunset time in the first day of the Rolex Middle Sea Race. The wind is also going away slowly, we are now only with 7.5 knots wind speed. We are sailing at 9 knots of boat speed. The first team has started its watch, 3 people in bunks for 4 hours, the rest on deck.
Posted in Day One
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Comanche Raider
There have been some technical difficulties with the display of their position on the tracker but all is very well on board. Jonas Diamantino just called the media centre:
After a difficult start in big waves because we are a light boat, we are really pleased with the performance of the boat and the crew so far. We are just approaching Capo Passero and hopefully the wind will hold. Dinner tonight is some freeze dried Mountain House Macroni Cheese..Yum yum!
Posted in Day One
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Oiltanking JUNO
Juno Racing Team – Rolex Middle Sea Race 2012 Campaign
Update – race day
The 20th October – a date that has been in the crew’s diary for months is finally upon us. We had an early start and met on the boat at 07:00. Packed our kit and the last few items and headed out! The start in the grand harbour is always grand, we had an awesome start coming off the start line first and holding that position till shortly after the final mark off Malta.
This is especially good considering we are the lowest rated boat in our class (all the other boats in class 3 are technically faster than us). One italian boat that was just a few meters behind us slammed on a wave and ripped their #2 in half! As you can see from the tracker we’ve decided to stay to the right of the run line still maintaining a good position. We’re now heading towards Sicily in high spirits ready for the night ahead. Good evening everyone and thanks for the support!
Posted in Day One
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