Passed the Channel and upto Strait of Dover.

Yesterday sailing was pleasant in the Channel. With the NE winds it was hard ware however as many tacks had to be made and some sail changes.
Coming at a stage closer to the French coast as in the West the winds were stronger south, there were some tricky islands. Luckily I sailed it in daytime on a bright sunny day, so there was no problem in seeing those tiny island and avoiding them.

In this game of tacking with the other boats in the fleet I did reasonably well, as I gained some 23 places. Now ranked 66 in a fleet of 943 boats.

Today will be a very interesting sailing day. First there is the Strait of Dover to pass. I have clicked the AIS on, so to warn other boats and ships of my presence. It can be pretty busy in the shipping lane and these hudge ships have little consideration with us small sailing boats. 
Have also a look at an AIS map and see to avoid the other ships!
An AIS map can be found on this link  Marine Traffic . And you will see that it is really buzy for today's sailing route.

While passing the Strait of Dover the Gate#2 Kingsgate are appearing on the NW horizon and indicate a turn to the Thames estuary. Deep inside the Thames estuary is Gate#3 Sheerness gate. 

The winds are keeping steady from the NE and the strength is even a little increasing to the hihg teens (kts). 

Do have a look at the rankings and the progress on route using the TAB's above this post.

St Bunya Gate#1 Passed Already

Last night, again a WayPoint scheduler action, I passed the 1st Gate , St Bunya correctly. 
Yesterday a first full day of sailing in the Irish Sea. The wind has a period of really calm, 2-3kts, and movement was slowly. Luckily in the course of the day the Southerly wind picked up and gave us a pleasant sailing again. 

Now sailing in the Channel Eastwards in a NE wind that is holding its strengths; if the forecast is right it could even become a little stronger towards Brighton. 

My rank this morning : 89 in a growing fleet of 939 boats.

Five Capital Sailing Race Started

Last night (well my night that was) the LiveSkipper Five Capital Sailing Race has started in Dublin, Ireland. 


I had a Start on the auto-pilot according previously set WP scheduler. It all went smooth with a SE course around the Irish coast to head to Landsend and the 1st Gate. 
Some change of sails performed in the middle of the night for better boat-speed.


My Rank this morning was 132 in a fleet of 914 boats. 


All ranking tables and trend charts have been activated and can be viewed by clicking on the TAB's above this post. The route map is also updated to Show the location of "Suratna" , that's my boat, each morning. 


For today the target is to pass the 1st Gate St. Buryan, to round the cliffs of Landsend and enter Eastwards into the Channel. 


Fair winds.