Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race - Day 5

Breaking News: Artemis reaches the Shetland Isles with a 95 mile lead

Conditions are starting to ease for the crews in the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race as they fetch northwards on a long port tack to the Shetland Isles with many hunkered down beneath reefed mainsails and code 3 jibs longing to turn the corner and get their spinnakers up. At the front of the fleet, Jonny Malbon’s Artemis Ocean Racing again extended its lead to just over 95 miles from J-P Chomette’s Nacira 60 Solune who have been battling the conditions as navigator Chris Tibbs attests: “We sat under a huge rain-band for hours with no wind which has cost us dearly, however as the water-maker is not working very well we collected enough rainwater to fill the tanks. We also tried the emergency hand water-maker; it may be good enough to survive but not to make up freeze dried food. It made the pigeon that was taking a ride look appetizing. As if a mind reader it flew away, just as well because it was a skinny old thing and the only cooking pot is a kettle. So all is well, we are tucking into the freeze dried and I even found some croutons for the cup-a-soup! Must be a French boat but where is the wine?”

On the theme of cooking there is a wide disparity between those boats opting for freeze-dried and the rather more civilised who are enjoying gourmet cuisine. Overnight Nigel Tuttle’s Bavaria Match 42, Sydney, laid claim to the galley honours as they are still enjoying fresh homemade food, prepared by crew-member Paul Jackson, as they passed Black Rock however they are in strict competition with the Jeu d’Esprit crew of Clem Jones who have enjoyed a first class menu and even have their own herb ‘garden’ on board!

Just one minor incident to report overnight in the form of Five Girls in a Boat/Ilex of Upnor who the Malin Coastguard reported at 0722 saying they had stopped in Galway for repairs. News from the boat’s skipper Lawrie Taylor was that the extent of the repairs would have required outside assistance and therefore they have taken the difficult decision to retire from the race. On a more positive note, the news from the West Cornwall hospital regarding Jaguar Logic’s Sara Stanton is that she has been discharged after recovering from suspected salmonella poisoning – in hindsight, the decision to take her off the boat looks to have been a wise one and everyone at the RORC wishes her well.

Meanwhile, Andrew Pearce’s IMX 40 Magnum 2 sent a long email to race control highlighting just how tough this Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race is, with the skipper saying: “Another day on our ear! We are living at 45', any movement is enormous effort so it’s either on watch pushing Magnum as hard as can safely go, or in your bunk trying to rest. Any 'house keeping' has gone on permanent hold until our little world returns to some form of normality! Very pleased that we remain first in class and now we are moving up to third overall. We're pushing at the big boys up ahead. They may be a long way ahead but they give us a heap of time on the handicap so it’s all to play for. The crew are, despite the uncomfortable conditions - we are all wet, our gear is wet and down below is now getting wet - still incredibly focused on the job in hand. We've had our main reefed all night and the code 3 jib on. Hard on the wind on port tack and have laid the rhumb line to Black Rock. It just shows how bad things are, I've just had to ask which day it is today - we are totally out of touch with reality stuck in our own little world bouncing around the ocean. And I have just been told we are on 'the wrong tack for comfortable use of the heads. So if you see us tacking frequently you'll know why!”

As the race progresses the RORC will continue to bring daily updates and position reports from the boats highlighting the highs and lows of this premier coastal yacht race. All yachts competing in the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race have been fitted with a tracking device developed by the RORC in conjunction with OC Technology. Yacht positions will be updated hourly and can be followed on the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s dedicated micro site accessed via www.rorc.org

Update from Minnie the Moocher:

No, I was wrong. Yesterday was just as grim as the previous days. Hopefully today will not be another false dawn.

We have had our first gear failure on the boat. Last night the heads were discovered to be cracked so it is now bucket and chuck it. More seriously, early this morning our (new) jib halliard parted, most likely from chafe at one of the spreader bars in the mast. We are now using one of the spinnaker halliards Rob Taylor, our bowman, will go up the mast to mouse a new jib halliard when the seas are a little calmer. Fortunately we brought some spare halliards we had made up for this eventuality.

Subsequent to the halliard event we noticed that the mainsail luff rope was parting near the head of the sail, so took the main down for an hour or so to fix it. Now we are back to full main and number three, in sight of Scotland so that is some progress I suppose.

I have to say that the race web site is throwing up some amazing rubbish in terms of estimating corrected positions. The other day Alice was (and still is) behind us on the water after stopping in the Scillies. A Farr 45, she gives us time. You would have expected to see her behind us on corrected time. Wrong! It looks as though the positions are based on miles to go at the latest speed added to the elapsed time and then the total is corrected.

It all appears very exciting with the leader board changing, but add a big pinch of salt to what you see. Until they start calculating on corrected times at actual points, there will be no semblance of reality.

Update from Team Global:

We spent a quiet frustrating evening in Crosshaven harbour waiting for the morning and our D3 rigging spare part.

The girls passed the time this morning during the long wait by getting our lovely EH01 ready for sea and having an essential crew maintenance hairdressing session! Nicky braided the foredeck crew's hair whilst Rachel's mum's fruit cake has been devoured in record time! Laura won't be too paniced about the weight as it is all now in out tummies! Yum. It was certainly strange to be in Crosshaven, Ireland and not go ashore for showers and a cold Guinness as we were hoping to be able to continue racing once our repairs were done.

When the part finally arrived it was the wrong one. Laura's extremely kind friends Cian and his father spent most of the morning helping us modify it to make it secure and seaworthy.

We then had a devastating phonecall from RORC telling us that by receiving a part to fix our rigging we were breaking an ISAF rule and would no longer be able to participate in the race. As you can imagine we were extremely disappointed.

However, after a few sad faces and tears and a little sing of our song "One way or another, we're gonna get there, we're gonna get to Muckle Flugga!", Skipper Emily made the call that we would official retire from the race but that we will continue on our journey in order to complete our own personal circumnavigation of Britain and Ireland. We all feel that we are in this to complete the course and get round safely whilst having fun and raising a huge amount of money to help people with cancer. We shall continue to strive to meet this goal - Fastnet Rock eta 2300!

We were also extremely sad to hear that Nightowl has retired. Without them probably even knowing it, we think of them as our sailing buddies and have watched them all the way. Hope all is well with the guys and gals on board and that they are enjoying their Guinness in the pub!

We would really love to continue to be tracked on the RORC website as we have a lot of followers who want to trace our progress round and we definitely want to show up as news - it is extremely important to us to continue to have coverage of our trip especially for all our friends, family and people who have supported us tireless throughout this campaign.

Update from Unlimited Sailing / John Merricks: The long slog north

Following a sail repair on deck yesterday, the young sailors on board Farr 45 Unlimited Sailing / John Merricks are still heading north in the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race.

“We’ve been on port tack for the last 300-400 miles.” Connor Myant, 22, explained. “It’s still quite windy out here with strong gusts and big shifts, but it’s been good sailing for a fetching course.”

Roughly 50 miles from the Outer Hebridean Islands, the crew are now hoping the wind will hold in the same direction long enough to get them round the next mark just off the Flannan Isles. As the leaders begin to extend, Unlimited Sailing / John Merricks are still at the top of the large pack and will hope to keep ahead of their nearest competitors.

“I came up on deck this morning and as the sun came up this boat appeared on our starboard stern. It was a bit gutting to see someone overtaking us, but they are bigger so they will be faster.” Norddeutsche Vermogen Hamburg, a 56-footer has been closing the gap on the Farr 45 for the last few days.

After ripping a sail yesterday the crew have had the sail repair kit out yet again. “Our main repair seems to be holding well, but we got a small tear in the jib luff yesterday afternoon. We’ve patched that up now and are hoping it will hold.”

Nigel King, skipper on the boat and Volvo Ocean Race sailor, has been providing the crew with an experienced hand and putting their trip into perspective when the sailing gets tough. “If we were as far south as we are north we would be seeing ice bergs.” King explained to the crew. “That’s the scale of what we’re embarking on.”

The crew have now completed 744 miles of the 1760 miles journey and will hit the half-way mark on day five.

Unlimited Sailing / John Merricks is being crewed by members of the Volvo RYA Keelboat Programme with an average age of just 23 on board. The boat and the Round Britain and Ireland Campaign are supported by Unlimited Sailing, the Peter Harrison Foundation and the John Merricks Trust.

Update from Sodeb’O:

The skipper describes the rather unsavoury conditions Sodeb’O was sailing in this morning. 3 miles from the rocky outcrop of Saint Kilda, to the North-West of Scotland, the trimaran had slowed, trapped since midnight in a windless zone that was invisible on the charts. In three days and three nights, the skippers has covered 950 miles since the Isle of Wight, that is over half the course (reference total distance: 1787 miles), at an average speed of 13.2 knots. Sodeb’O currently has a lead of 84 miles over the reference time of the French monohull Adrien.

Last night the trimaran’s speed dropped by between 3 and 6 knots. Twelve hours on, it still hadn’t passed the little island of Saint Kilda. The supposed 20 knot N’ly wind had vanished for no apparent reason. Frustrating when you’re up against the clock; especially near the coast where the land is often shrouded in mist and the pervading grey doesn’t exactly inspire you to linger. It’s hard on the nerves too when you’ve been going into the wind for the past 70 hours with big waves sweeping over the deck. Despite all that, Thomas speaks animatedly of this hostile region that has seldom, if ever seen the single-handed sailor pass by in a multihull.

Being alone in this zone: “I dreamt of coming here. The Rockall plateau is a childhood memory of listening to the shipping forecasts announcing crazy winds. The Hebrides is another place like that; battered by storms for centuries. Sailing near these places and reading their names on the chart is something else.”

Skimming along the coast: “Saint Kilda is a big piece of rock that looks like it’s appeared from nowhere. To describe it to you, there are some very big black squalls passing over me with showers. The islands disappear and reappear with each shower, and with the drift, the current and the swell, I close in or distance myself from them. It’s like yo-yoing between ghosts that are constantly moving around. Not a place to run aground…”

Gaining confidence in your boat: “I’ve regained my trust in Sodeb’O after the reconstruction, but after what happened to myself and Jacques (Vincent, see the Transat Jacques Vabre) I’ll never have the same certainty as I did before. It is nonetheless very enjoyable to sail in these difficult conditions and know that I have a boat that is safe and responds well.”

Gaining confidence in yourself: “By dint of going through the basics and racking up the miles, I sense a kind of personal satisfaction in that I never feel out of control in a situation, which could be critical. On a 60 footer, on a multihull, single-handed, the reaction time necessary in relation to the speed, movement and brutality of events, implies that you practically have the instincts to respond immediately. It’s good to be at this level, even it requires a lot of work. I’ve always believed in talent but I believe above all in hard work.”

Straight ahead, the archipelago of Shetland, the most N’ly passage point for Sodeb’O. Situated 640 kilometres South of the Arctic Circle, these islands are at the same latitude as Saint Petersburg or Anchorage in Alaska. They are also one of the main bird sanctuaries in the North Atlantic with a population in excess of a million. Thomas is set to reach them on Saturday morning and will then begin his descent along the West coast of Scotland. He has 750 miles to go to loop the loop. The finish is shaping up to be between Sunday evening and Monday morning.