Finished the Five Capital Sailing Race in Stockholm

HURRAY           

SURATNA HAS FINISHED 

THE FIVE CAPITAL SAILING RACE 

IN STOCKHOLM

Yesterday evening I could pass the Finish line in Stockholm. The Finish line was a little tricky as on the west it was in between a lot  of tiny islands, but in the East it was in Open Sea. The shortest distance however was sailing as close as possible to the Western buoy, in between the many islands !

Luckily my WayPoint scheduler helped me in steering nice free of the island in the shortest possible time to the Finish. 

I finished as 81st, not the best of my races but hee you can't have it all.

My total sailing time was 8days, 1 hour, 7 minutes and 39 seconds ; which is 7 hours, 49 minutes and 7 seconds after the winner. 

I was also teaming to steer the club Flagship LSYC and we reached a 2nd place in the Flagship competition; the Flagship finished overall in the 47th place.
All results in detail you can find back in the TAB's on top of this page, as well as a look at the Race track and the route I have followed. 

The was a very enjoyable race, in general nice winds, a little too much head winds  and sometimes some surprises with sudden wind-shifts. It is all in the game!. 

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog, 

upto the next race ...........where?..........when?

Rounding Sweden South Coast upto Stockholm Finish

Yesterday was a day with a lot of actions in variable wind situations.

It started with very weak winds in the Kobenhavn area which slowed the progress. Added to that my miss judgement of winds in the nights, so I was sailing to much west too close to the Mermaid. 
Luckily the wind picked up later and I could pass Gate#5 Kobenhavn and Gate#6 Falsterbo. By that time the wind had turned to the East and guess what I turned around the SW point of Sweden to follow an Eastern heading. 
During the night with setting some secure WP's, I passed the following Gate#7 Sandhammaren. 
I lost however some 15 places overnight, due to safe sailing, but that is still better then being grounded. 


This photo of Oland is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Now the winds are keeping nicely in the East and the turn around Oland islands make it possible to sail on Code0 and not too long from now I guess the Spinnaker will be hoisted to sail towards the Finish in Stockholm.

Rank 95 in a fleet of 934 

Waiving to the Little Mermaid

The progress yesterday was reasonable given the weak winds. While the night before the autopilot and un-expected wind shifts brought me too much West in the Kattegat, this helped me yesterday to climb a nice number of places. 

During the night I had to sail the Oresund on the autopilot again and though it was good to the effect that I did not ground, the boat sailed also not to the optimum during the whole night. 

Anyway this morning rank 91 and still on the chase. 

Today starts with very calm winds 2kts but after 600 gmt it will be doubled in strength. So today I expect to pass Kopenhavn, where a wave to the Mermaid is a must to please her,

and turn around the SW point of Sweden.

The leaders have rounded the SW point of Sweden already, so I get somewhat behind. 

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Sailing in the Kattegat

The Ytre Hvaler gate#4 close to Oslo was passed yesterday by the leadersboats. Those boats are now sailing the Kattegat heading to the passage between Denmark and Sweden along Copenhavn. 


The wind was weaker yesterday and also today it is weak with wind strength in the single digits. 
The wind is also changing directions constantly now, under the influence of a depression on the North Sea close to Denmark.


I had worked out a nice strategy to sail west of the island of Laeso, which worked out the fastest to come to Copenhavn. During the night sailing on WP's autopilot the wind update of 1800 gmt, must have changed more then forecasted. This morning I found myself sailing with wrong sail at half speed. The fastest route now goes East from Laeso, luckily I still have sufficient time to make that heading change. 


My rank dropped to 126, so the chase is on again. 


So sailing on today in a weak wind that still is expected to bring the leading boats towards the next Gate#5 Kobenhavn after sailing under the beautiful OreSund bridge. 

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Sailing to Denmark to pass the Oslo gate

The sailing on the North Sea was progressing good, notwithstanding the NE winds. The wind, however, becomes variable while coming under the Danish coast and a good strategic plan and some sail changes can help you gain in the fleet. 


The fleet was broadening its course with some boats sailing far North in order to come Eastwards, where other boats followed closer the Dutch Wadden Islands and Danish coast. I have not checked what was the best option. I sailed somewhat in the middle of the fleet but lost some places. 


The next gate#4 Ytre Hvaler, again hidden in a narrow part of water and some diligent sailing will be required for not missing the gate and not loosing too much time.


The weather forecast in Oslo is promising some rain, welcome to wash some salts from the sails and boat. 


Rank: 58 in a still growing fleet of 942 boats. 


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Passed the Thames gate and now sailing the North Sea

Yesterday saw a very interesting day of sailing. First of all there was the Strait of Dover with the busy marine traffic. 
Then we had two gates to pass. First the one on the corner to the Thames, Kingsgate. Actually a logical gate on this corner and easy to pass as it was on the most efficient route anyway. 
The next gate at Sheerness lay deep into the Thames estuary and the passing was an almost 170 degree turning point. If the time between the game updates is a little awkward (you have to sail for 10 min. before you can make a turn), you could loose considerable time and ranking places. 
For me it worked out fine and using my WP scheduler trick, reduced the overshoot and I could win some places on the passage of this Gate. 


Next is the crossing of the North Sea to Oslo in a strong NE breeze. A lot of tacks are involved again, but a good progress is made. 


This morning already at the latitude of Den Helder and the wind is keeping pretty steady for the next half day sailing, after which she is weakening towards Oslo. 


I have updated also the AIS map, and publish it under the TAB "Route& AIS"


Rank this moring 42