Reality bites pretty hard. Back in the office and considering what sailing will come next...!
There is a full report on the week including final results here:
http://www.offshoresolo.com/sorc/news/channel-week-2010-22-start-22-finish
Fair winds,
Paddy
2011 Channel week blog - We're back!! Note the pic is last years course, this year is slightly different. More time spent in France...
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Saturday, 7 August 2010
Channel week: DONE
Safely tied up in Lymington, the week is over! I caught up a fair bit in the last race so I might scrape into the top 10...It doesn't affect the overall results though! Still 1st!
Dinner and plenty of drinks tonight.
Tired and happy.
Dinner and plenty of drinks tonight.
Tired and happy.
Spinnaker Troubles
I'm making this very difficult!!!
I haver just settled down on the new gybe. It's pretty windy and I during the gybe I had a HUGE wrap arounf the forestay...A lot of struggling, pulling and heaving later and I got the spinnaker down with no damage luckily. Up went the new kite and I lost the sheet. AAargh! Eventually got it back but I'm way down the fleet now...good thing I can take this as a discard...
15 miles to go, the pilot just surfed at 13kts down a wave!
I haver just settled down on the new gybe. It's pretty windy and I during the gybe I had a HUGE wrap arounf the forestay...A lot of struggling, pulling and heaving later and I got the spinnaker down with no damage luckily. Up went the new kite and I lost the sheet. AAargh! Eventually got it back but I'm way down the fleet now...good thing I can take this as a discard...
15 miles to go, the pilot just surfed at 13kts down a wave!
1 hour into last race
Running downwind in 18kts towards st albans head now, passsing the perbeck hills and low white cliffs on my left.
I had a halyard wrap at the start so had to drop, rebag and hoist the right after the start - lots of sweaty work. Because of that I have been sucked back into the fleet a bit.
Never mind, it is a glorious day and I've just put the kettle on an grabbed my ipod!
I had a halyard wrap at the start so had to drop, rebag and hoist the right after the start - lots of sweaty work. Because of that I have been sucked back into the fleet a bit.
Never mind, it is a glorious day and I've just put the kettle on an grabbed my ipod!
The last morning.
We're just now motoring out to the start for the last race. I'm a bit late today due to the celebrations last night. It turns out the because Solan Goose and Jbellino had bad races yesterday I have already won the overall prize!!!
So in theory today is academic but of course I'll race hard. It looks like a sunny down wind run to st Albans head and then inn the finish at the north head channel which leads back into the solent. The conditions will probably suit the symetrically rigged boats so a win today will be difficult.
It will be nothing like yesterday where it turns out I was the only boat to hold a spinnaker from start to finish!! I'm still feeling the adrenalin leaving my body! Or that could be the beer.
I better go put some sails up and get ready...30mins to the start. I hope everyone is having a good weekend! I am.
So in theory today is academic but of course I'll race hard. It looks like a sunny down wind run to st Albans head and then inn the finish at the north head channel which leads back into the solent. The conditions will probably suit the symetrically rigged boats so a win today will be difficult.
It will be nothing like yesterday where it turns out I was the only boat to hold a spinnaker from start to finish!! I'm still feeling the adrenalin leaving my body! Or that could be the beer.
I better go put some sails up and get ready...30mins to the start. I hope everyone is having a good weekend! I am.
Friday, 6 August 2010
Glamour Reach to Weymouth
One of the best sails of my life!
26kts of wind (i.e. lots), screaming past portland bill at 15kts with the lighthouse just 500m away. I finihsed first on the water beating all the faster boats. It doesn't get much better. There are a lot of smiles and stories on the dock already and there will be more over beers later I'm sure.
More to follow, but that win is a big step towards the overall prize.
26kts of wind (i.e. lots), screaming past portland bill at 15kts with the lighthouse just 500m away. I finihsed first on the water beating all the faster boats. It doesn't get much better. There are a lot of smiles and stories on the dock already and there will be more over beers later I'm sure.
More to follow, but that win is a big step towards the overall prize.
Thursday, 5 August 2010
Late night - Brixham
I'm just back from the pub. the chat is getting pretty bad...we need some more female solo sailors to keep us in check.
The start is postponed until 0930 tomorrow so we all get to portland with favourable tide.
I was 2nd on handicap yesterday and Solan goose won with Jbellino 3rd. So overall I still lead by a point. However if you take out the discard from the results we are all on 5pts and the tie is broken on the longest race - which Solan Goose won yesterday. Far too close.
Sleep time.
The start is postponed until 0930 tomorrow so we all get to portland with favourable tide.
I was 2nd on handicap yesterday and Solan goose won with Jbellino 3rd. So overall I still lead by a point. However if you take out the discard from the results we are all on 5pts and the tie is broken on the longest race - which Solan Goose won yesterday. Far too close.
Sleep time.
The Guns of Brixham
I'm sitting at the Nav table, eating liquorice alsorts with everything clean and organised around me; 24 hrs ago things were very different! With 25 kts blowing on the nose and a leaky deck the boat was more like a the inside of a broken washing machine - one that goes BOOM every minute or so as we fell off a wave. I spent the day yesterday trimming, steering, navigating more than I had to (to get below out of the elements!), and having multiple cups of tea.
The race was a fetch into the wind with just one small tack in at the end. I held a lower course and more speed than most of the fleet but I finished slowly having to tack up. Those last 5 miles were the most stressful part - knowing it was close again and to add to that the wind dying right down to 9kts as we got in close to Berry head. The stress led to a riding turn and some clumsy tacking which might end up costing a place...that is really how close the racing has been this week!
I finished at 0343 this morning and after a deserved beer passed out until lunchtime today.
Given the conditions I'm pretty happy. There was one retirement and the mini transat finished at lunchtime - I helped Crazy Andy tie up: 'How was that?' 'Piece of P*ss'. Heroic stuff - he had no pilot for most of the race and those boats are not made for those conditions...The sailors here are a really brilliant bunch with no exceptions.
Nature Watch last night:
I sailed through a feeding frenzy of white water boiling over with jumping fish. Very disconcerting!
There were HUGE shooting stars last night
I haven't seen any hot bunnies yet...
Tomorrow is downwind 50miles to Weymouth. I should post again before the start at 7am.
The race was a fetch into the wind with just one small tack in at the end. I held a lower course and more speed than most of the fleet but I finished slowly having to tack up. Those last 5 miles were the most stressful part - knowing it was close again and to add to that the wind dying right down to 9kts as we got in close to Berry head. The stress led to a riding turn and some clumsy tacking which might end up costing a place...that is really how close the racing has been this week!
I finished at 0343 this morning and after a deserved beer passed out until lunchtime today.
Given the conditions I'm pretty happy. There was one retirement and the mini transat finished at lunchtime - I helped Crazy Andy tie up: 'How was that?' 'Piece of P*ss'. Heroic stuff - he had no pilot for most of the race and those boats are not made for those conditions...The sailors here are a really brilliant bunch with no exceptions.
Nature Watch last night:
I sailed through a feeding frenzy of white water boiling over with jumping fish. Very disconcerting!
There were HUGE shooting stars last night
I haven't seen any hot bunnies yet...
Tomorrow is downwind 50miles to Weymouth. I should post again before the start at 7am.
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
St Quay
So we have just finished the briefing for the ling race to Brixham. Last nights dinner discussions was about a possible postponement but as the shipping forecast has only mentioned force 5-7, we're going ahead.
It is the solo OFFSHORE race club afterall as Mr Hurley mentioned.
It is going to be a tough sail upwind with the tide kicking up a bumpy sea. I don't envy the small guys, but this will be a race where looking after yourself will be important...
Yesterday was a dya of rest and I got out for a sail on Jeff's 35 ft cat. Nice to just sit back and be a pssenger for the day.
Start is at 11, must go remove the light wind headsail...
It is the solo OFFSHORE race club afterall as Mr Hurley mentioned.
It is going to be a tough sail upwind with the tide kicking up a bumpy sea. I don't envy the small guys, but this will be a race where looking after yourself will be important...
Yesterday was a dya of rest and I got out for a sail on Jeff's 35 ft cat. Nice to just sit back and be a pssenger for the day.
Start is at 11, must go remove the light wind headsail...
Monday, 2 August 2010
Results
Just back from the prizegiving. Jbellino did win toady and I was second by 8 seconds!! Incredible. It shows how tight the racing is. What that means at the halfway stage is that the overall results look like this:
1st - Psipsina - 6
2nd - Jebellino - 7
3rd - Solan Goose - 8
4th - SX Girl
5th - Ding Dong
6th - Diablo-J
7th - Wee Bear
8th - Penrod
9th - Fasttrack VII
10th - Santana
2 pts seperate the top 3!!! Ooooohh.
1st - Psipsina - 6
2nd - Jebellino - 7
3rd - Solan Goose - 8
4th - SX Girl
5th - Ding Dong
6th - Diablo-J
7th - Wee Bear
8th - Penrod
9th - Fasttrack VII
10th - Santana
2 pts seperate the top 3!!! Ooooohh.
St Quay
Beautiful sailing today!
After celebrating last night in Guernsaey yacht club it was a v big effort when the alarm went off at 5.30 this morning. This has been a relentless week so far. On leaving the harbour the race comittee made a wise decision to postpone the start due to no wind, so the fleet gathered together and began motoring towards St Quay. On the way there was some precision formation mmotoring for photo oportunities - the result of which will hopefully appear on the website www.offshoresolo.com soon.
By 9am the breeze filled in and we went into a downwind gate start type thing. After some confusion and a couple of tries we eventually got away and I ended up well to leeward of everyone as we broad reached for the finish. This gave me a hotter angle and more spped for the first part of the race and allowed me to pull away from the competition. One of the biggest challenges today was weaving through the minefield of weed out there. Almost everyone at some stage seems to have a story of a brown blow hanging off thier rudder...
The reach suited the asymetric boats and at the moment my guess is the winner will be between Jbellino, Wee Bear and myself. I should maintain the lead overall but things will be tight with Jbelino and Solan Goose the main competition so far.
The tracker link I gave below won't have worked today. I had a technical problem in that I forgot to turn it on onboard! It should be up and running from now on though...
Tomorrow is a rest day(much needed!) and then it's overnight to Brixham on Wednesday.St Quay looks like a beatiful and friendly town - lets hope it's ready for 22 rowdy sailors on a monday night!
Other points of interest so far:
Music=energy. Today was a lot of in rainbows on repeat via headphones
Team Ireland is considering becoming team Cork
There are no water taxi's after 10pm in Guernsey
I am bad at spelling & proof reading
Paddy
After celebrating last night in Guernsaey yacht club it was a v big effort when the alarm went off at 5.30 this morning. This has been a relentless week so far. On leaving the harbour the race comittee made a wise decision to postpone the start due to no wind, so the fleet gathered together and began motoring towards St Quay. On the way there was some precision formation mmotoring for photo oportunities - the result of which will hopefully appear on the website www.offshoresolo.com soon.
By 9am the breeze filled in and we went into a downwind gate start type thing. After some confusion and a couple of tries we eventually got away and I ended up well to leeward of everyone as we broad reached for the finish. This gave me a hotter angle and more spped for the first part of the race and allowed me to pull away from the competition. One of the biggest challenges today was weaving through the minefield of weed out there. Almost everyone at some stage seems to have a story of a brown blow hanging off thier rudder...
The reach suited the asymetric boats and at the moment my guess is the winner will be between Jbellino, Wee Bear and myself. I should maintain the lead overall but things will be tight with Jbelino and Solan Goose the main competition so far.
The tracker link I gave below won't have worked today. I had a technical problem in that I forgot to turn it on onboard! It should be up and running from now on though...
Tomorrow is a rest day(much needed!) and then it's overnight to Brixham on Wednesday.St Quay looks like a beatiful and friendly town - lets hope it's ready for 22 rowdy sailors on a monday night!
Other points of interest so far:
Music=energy. Today was a lot of in rainbows on repeat via headphones
Team Ireland is considering becoming team Cork
There are no water taxi's after 10pm in Guernsey
I am bad at spelling & proof reading
Paddy
Sunday, 1 August 2010
Position Tracking -
From tomorrow my position will be updated ervery 30mins here:
http://oceanracetrack.com/raceplayer/whereis.aspx?id=116
Alternatively, most of the fleet(except Solan Goose!) have AIS transponders which show our position, heading a speed. These can be viewed here:
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/
http://oceanracetrack.com/raceplayer/whereis.aspx?id=116
Alternatively, most of the fleet(except Solan Goose!) have AIS transponders which show our position, heading a speed. These can be viewed here:
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/
Guernsey
Back online! Sorry about the blaskout - it was caused by random channel island phone networks...
I'm sitting in a pub in guernsey watching the Celtic V Arsenal - A break from sailing mania. After 2 Races I'm FIRST OVERALL! Woo! Yesterday's race to alderney turned out very close with me winning by just 2mins from 'Solan Goose'. The prize was a bottle of wine - which is sitting half drunk in my bag.
Last night in Alderney we sat down for a meal and were joined by the Alien crew of George and Jeff! Unfortunately I couldn't join them after 11pm as they headed off for a all night Quarry party - but so is the tough life of the solo sailor! Ha!
A groggy start at 6am this morning saw us sail down the Swidge channel and beat to alderney. After a tactical race I finished under A5 spinaker in 3rd overall on handicap. The big moment was losing my phone(and some important phone numbers) overboard during the kite hoist!!! Aaargh - Stupidly I had it on deck playing lcd sound system to keep the energy levels up! - Bad idea.
Anyway - first overall is good so far - tomorrow I think will be a 40mile reach to st Quay and then a rest day. Onwards and upwards! Off for dinner and pints with some Guerns
Paddy
I'm sitting in a pub in guernsey watching the Celtic V Arsenal - A break from sailing mania. After 2 Races I'm FIRST OVERALL! Woo! Yesterday's race to alderney turned out very close with me winning by just 2mins from 'Solan Goose'. The prize was a bottle of wine - which is sitting half drunk in my bag.
Last night in Alderney we sat down for a meal and were joined by the Alien crew of George and Jeff! Unfortunately I couldn't join them after 11pm as they headed off for a all night Quarry party - but so is the tough life of the solo sailor! Ha!
A groggy start at 6am this morning saw us sail down the Swidge channel and beat to alderney. After a tactical race I finished under A5 spinaker in 3rd overall on handicap. The big moment was losing my phone(and some important phone numbers) overboard during the kite hoist!!! Aaargh - Stupidly I had it on deck playing lcd sound system to keep the energy levels up! - Bad idea.
Anyway - first overall is good so far - tomorrow I think will be a 40mile reach to st Quay and then a rest day. Onwards and upwards! Off for dinner and pints with some Guerns
Paddy
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Needles
Just past bridge buoy. 3rd onthe water! Happy days...
Team ireland lined up 123 on the pin - get some of tha!
On starboard already and almost nlaying alderney so perhaps notas tactical as I made out. Better go Steer...
P
Team ireland lined up 123 on the pin - get some of tha!
On starboard already and almost nlaying alderney so perhaps notas tactical as I made out. Better go Steer...
P
Onboard and ready to go. Here are some tactical thoughts pour la matin...I've just finished looking at the weather,tides and routing for tomorrow. It's interesting.
The wind is due to start sw'ly (230deg) and veer all day into the west(270) so that means on the wind most of the day. About 15kts+ all day. Bouncy! The tide will be running west to east until 3pm so we should be finishing on the next east-west phase - sometime between 5-8pm tomorrow evening. So what would you do!?
It will be upwind to the needles and then the BIG decision is when to tack onto starbord and head off accross the channel. My routing software says tack straight away, let yourself get pushed well east of the course and let the tide and shift take you back west in the afternoon. There is logic in this but it's risky and I also don't trust the computer for a lot of reasons! Thew reason it's risky is if the breeze doesn't shift we won't get back up to the course and more importantly if it dies and we don't get to Alderney before 7.30pm then the tide will have changed and you DO NOT want to be downtide anywhere near Alderney.
So the safe thing may be to put a bit of westing in on starboard after the needles while the tide is slack and then tack over. We shall see..
Of sourse, all this is theory and we'll have to see what it looks like in the morning. And of course what everyone else does..
I hope that all made sense to some of you! If anyone fancies running some routing overnight please tell me what to do in the morning!
On the housekeeping side - first dinner was prawn biryani. No beer, backstay and boat in general ready to go. The band up in the yacht haven sound like they've just finished the cheesiest set in the world so I can Sleep now...
It's all good clean single handed fun ;)
Paddy
Friday, 30 July 2010
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Post 2 – Location – Bedroom in London
I’ve just finished packing. Almost lost my dongle (that is ok to say!), but then found it again. The Hydraulic Ram is sitting in George’s shed in Southampton ready for collection and re-rigging tomorrow evening – thanks George, his flatmate Claire and the Rig Shop!
One more day of work, then shopping, train, taxi, shed, train, taxi, boat, pub(maybe), boat and then start at 0700 on Saturday.
John Loden the owner of Psipsina has kindly lent me his boat for this week and been my 2 handed partner for the season. We’ve had an amazing year so far winning the Round Ireland Race and the RORC overall double handed series. So the pressure is on to keep the results coming. Thanks John – hope the holiday in France is going well!
33hrs…and no third.
One more day of work, then shopping, train, taxi, shed, train, taxi, boat, pub(maybe), boat and then start at 0700 on Saturday.
John Loden the owner of Psipsina has kindly lent me his boat for this week and been my 2 handed partner for the season. We’ve had an amazing year so far winning the Round Ireland Race and the RORC overall double handed series. So the pressure is on to keep the results coming. Thanks John – hope the holiday in France is going well!
33hrs…and no third.
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Post one - location. At Desk in London
Ok, so I have a long to do list and on it was start a blog. Done.
I should be able to keep this up during the week using the dongle and laptop onboard...
Still to sort out at the moment are the backstay ram in the rigging shop, food!!, a fair bit of Nav prep and how to play music loud enough onboard. All that is not ideal really, particularly as I won't get to the boat until late friday evening!
Looking ahead the week looks like it won't throw anything nasty at us weatherwise - see www.ecmwf.int I'm feeling a little apprehensive, particularly about French tides, but quitely confident. 65hrs to go....I'm convincing myself I like my own company.
I should be able to keep this up during the week using the dongle and laptop onboard...
Still to sort out at the moment are the backstay ram in the rigging shop, food!!, a fair bit of Nav prep and how to play music loud enough onboard. All that is not ideal really, particularly as I won't get to the boat until late friday evening!
Looking ahead the week looks like it won't throw anything nasty at us weatherwise - see www.ecmwf.int I'm feeling a little apprehensive, particularly about French tides, but quitely confident. 65hrs to go....I'm convincing myself I like my own company.
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