FINISHED in DUBLIN

Enjoying a good pint of Guinness!

It is a well deserved reward after this challenging Sailing Race from Sweden. 


The last half day, sailing in the Irish Sea, I sailed a little Eastly, where other boats had a more direct course to the Finish. I thought however that the later wind shift would favour my course as it would fill up the Spinnaker better.


AND .......so it did, I could pass in the last 4 hrs of sailing some 12 boats to finish in 49th place in a fleet of 754 boats. 


I like to thank LiveSkipper for the organisation of this Sailing Race and my fellow Skippers for the fierce competition. 

Rounding the gate at Lands-End

If you round the cliffs of Lands End, than the route to Dublin is opened for you!


The Channel yesterday offered a fine day of Sailing. A strong Westerly breeze, was giving sufficiently power to make a good boats speed. The wind direction, however, made it a game of tacking. 
Quiet challenging to make all your tacks, in between all the other Sailing Boats that do the same. Constant alertness was required to sail save and prevent collisions. More than a couple of shouts "Starboard", could be heard :)


The target for sure was the gate at LandsEnd. Once that was passed, for me on autopilot in the night, the route to Dublin opened up. Passing other boats will be difficult however as it looks the Westerly wind will allow to sail the Spinnaker all the way, be it that the wind is later on backing into the South. 


Rank:54 in a fleet of 754, 

Passed London and through the Straits of Dover

   

Through the STRAIT of DOVER!

That was the main achievement of Yesterday! It was late in the day, but luckily still daily hours, so I was able to see all the busy marine traffic in the narrow; do have a look at the MarineTraffic on the TAB above. 

Earlier in the day, a challenging approach of Sheerness was required to validate a gate, that was located quiet deep into the Thames estuary. It went not too bad, though the winds were a little challenging to get there. 

On the way back, however, the wind turned SW and strengthened so I could sail away quickly from the London area.

Now sailing the English Channel in a most Westerly wind,................

You guessed it right, a lot of tacks and hard work for the crew. The wind is maintaining a nice strength 15-20 kts, so it is beautiful for sailing. And all the other competing boats have to fight the same winds :)

My Rank this morning:74

Sailing a Stormy North Sea

A hefty NW storm was joining us yesterday on the North Sea. 


Luckily it was forecast-ed so we could put the reefs timely in the main sail. But still the storm with the waves it accompanied did allowed us a good progress. 
So much that from the tip of Jutland, one day later, we are sailing at the coast of Felixstowe.


However, the winds have calmed now considerably and turning west, such that it will take some time to validate the gate at Sheerness. You can't have it all!


After rounding this gate the route goes Eastewards and then South towards the Channel. 


Rank: 75 this morning. 

Passing Oslo and Jutland

The view on the blooming fields and windmills of Jutland gives a nice picture in this time of year.


The sailing in the Kattegat, Denmark, enjoyed a nice strong wind filling the Spinnaker all the way. This gave us good progress, but not only me but also to other competing boats. However , I managed to pass some and gained some nice places before and while validating the gate close to Oslo. 


The night  gave some variable winds and though I put several WP's on the autopilot, I did loose again some valuable places. The wind update 1800gmt, apparently brought a change that was not foreseen in the weather forecast and favored the boats North of me more. 


Now , we have entered the North Sea and the water is wide open to choose a favorable strategy to sail quickest to London. 
The wind seems to be willing to help, as soon a strong NW wind systems fills in and will give us full spinnakers and plenty of boatspeed. 


rank this morning: 68 in a fleet of 759.  

Quick passage of Kobenhavn

No time to stop in Kobenhavn for sightseeing nor shopping as the Sailing Race goes on!


A good day of sailing in the Baltic yesterday; it could have been better though.


In the morning I thought I was a little to much to the west to be able to enjoy the beam winds lateron. So I made a tack to somewhat more Easterly locations. Later I saw that I could have made the tack SW earlier as the wind was also shifting. So a little lost to others and on the chase. 


In the night I put up the autopilot on WayPoints (WP) and correctly passed 3 race gates. Also the passage of Kobenhavn occurred in the night, so the picture is from the archive to show what I have missed rather.


After clearing the SW point of Sweden, the sail is changed to Spinnaker and full of wind is pushing me through the OreSund and into the Kattegat. With some trimming and slight optimization of heading, my target for today is to validate the Oslo gate and head to the North Sea.


Rank: 77 in a fleet of 760 boats.


Guess what some Flagships are also participating in this race, contrary to what I first thought. See the standings via the TAB above. 

Hard work on Return

The start at 1200 gmt went smooth with most boats leaving in time, some however had some delay in lifting the anchor or hoisting the sails


Holiday is over for sure as with the strong Southerly winds there will be a lot of work in making sure all the tacks are done properly. 
Later on Sunday the wind is backing to the East and most likely the Genoa can be changed for the Code 0.


My ranking this first morning is 64 in a fleet of 728 boats.