| Pentanemos 4th & 5th December |
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ARC 051209 1200 positions 233 15.37N 45.51W 00:00
Sat 5/12 Forecast - All Noon Times
xxxx
.......................................................................... 15.54N 42.00.65W @ 12.00 5/12/2009.
Message to Pentanemos from Starfire
We had our half way party with silver bear. Looks like we didn’t need that fridge as we did a mid ocean transfer with our warm beers and one hour later we received 3 cold beers each. What a party lol.
Hope you guys are still tanking and take care starfire out
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On corrected time D4E is projected to come in 14th position overall according to the ARC website. Due in 0300 ish on the 10th
ARC 041209 1200
positions
233 15.51N 43.21W 00:00
3-4th December Skippers Blog
Evening 3rd, day 4th
We have all settled nicely into the hand steering routine, without the high maintenance spinnaker requiring constant attention, we are all getting lots of rest and although speed has been sacrificed, we are starting to enjoy ourselves again.
Unfortunately, as night fell, the horizon began to display some extremely violent electrical storms. Now the sailors that are reading this will appreciate what went through our minds at that time, for those that are not sailors, I will outline some of the risks lightning posses and the precautions that can be taken. As you can imagine, a large metal rod, in a moist humid environment, during an electrical storm, is not ideal. One stray bolt of lightning would undoubtedly destroy all our electrics and could potentially tear down the mast or remove the keel. GREAT!
As the lightning became more erratic across the horizon, we put essential electronics into the oven, a natural protection for such items in the event of a strike and altered course to avoid what we assumed to be worst affected areas.
Seeing as you are reading this e-mail, you have probably deduced that we did not in fact get struck by lightning and replaced our electronics in their rightful places at day break.
Today has been a scorcher, our tans have improved dramatically, we have sessioned the solar shower once again and even got the hand wash to some of our clothes. The wind has been steady allowing good speed and we are all beginning to smell the rum punch at the finish.
Finally, John wishes everybody to know that he is sick of flying fish landing in the cockpit at night, seeing as neither Neil nor I have experienced this he is convinced he is being targeted.
Dear All
Are you still under white sails? - if you are then today's run was pretty good at 150 miles.
I have now been able to pick up the tracks of all the other yachts. You have taken a more southerly route than most. This has caused you to sail about another 30-50 miles more than the bulk of the fleet who have sailed closer to the rhumb line. The winds for the next few days are better where you are than "up north". Your distance for the course will be in the region of 2830 miles. It is interesting to read below that the winning yacht sailed 3400 miles. I find that hard to believe. The girls on D4E have come across the course, across your bows and are now pushing further south than you. I guess they are looking for an angle on the wind.
All seems well on Starfire. They are in company with Silver Bear who are shadowing them to St. Lucia. Very charitable, but isn't that what sailing is all about?
Anyway, keep plodding on!
Fri 4/12
Forecast - All Noon Times
Wind( kn) Swell (feet)
Fri 04/12/2009 ENE16 NE7
Sat 05/12/2009 ENE17 Shwrs NE7
Sun 06/12/2009 ENE20 Shwrs poss NE7
Mon 07/12/2009 ENE18 Shwrs poss NE7
Tue 08/12/2009 ENE18 Shwrs poss ENE7
Wed 09/12/2009 E17 NE7
Thu 10/12/2009 E18 NE7
Fri 11/12/2009 ENE18 NE7
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PENTANEMOS STATS
Date 03/12/2009 12:00
Avg speed since last Posn kts 6.25
Overall avg speed since Las Palmas kts 6.29
Distance since last position nm 150
Total distance from Las Palmas 1,806
avg 24 hr run since Las Palmas nm 151
To go to St Lucia(Approx) nm 1,025
% Sailed 63.8%
Estimated days for total trip 18.7
Estimated time of arrival 11/12/2009 06:53
STARFIRE STATS
Date 04/12/2009 23:10
Avg speed since last Posn kts 5.64
2 day avg speed 5.45
Distance since last position nm 63
24hr run equiv 135
Total distance from Las Palmas 1,472
avg 24 hr run since Las Palmas nm 135
To go to St Lucia(Approx) nm 1,359
% Sailed 52.0%
Days for balance of miles to St Lucia 10.4
Estimated time of arrival 15/12/2009 08:32
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THE FIRST YACTS HAVE FINISHED
Big One
Open N 14° 3' 0" W 60° 58' 0" Finished 252 11d 18h 32m 26s Bagheera Invitation Racing Finished N 14° 3' 0" W 60° 58' 0" Finished 238 11d 18h 52m 27s Stay Calm Invitation Racing Finished N 14° 3' 0" W 60° 58' 0" Finished 268 11d 21h 17m 8s
THIS IS THE BLOG OF THE ARC WEBSITE
Gybing duel to the finish! 04 December 2009
After a course distance of 2,700 miles and almost twelve days at sea just 16 minutes and 5 seconds separated the first two yachts to cross the finish line in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. Both skippers of the Volvo 60 Big One and the Wally 80 Bagheera enthused about the exciting down wind duel, particularly over the last 24 hours. Every few hours the boats would meet and then gybe apart, Big One staying north whilst Bagheera went south. In the end it was the final gybe that decided the first to finish with Big One on a better angle to take advantage of the wind shift they experienced as they closed Martinique and then St.Lucia.
Piotr Madej, skipper of Big One commented “Five hours before the finish we held on to the final gybe for a couple of miles which placed us in a good position for the right wind angle to take us to the finish line. We are lucky as we can sail well downwind at angles of up to 160 degrees, more than Bagheera”.
Crossing the line today (4 December) at 03 36 22 local St.Lucia time, to take Line Honours in ARC 2009, Big One set a good time, but not a new record. Sailing outside of the competition in the Open Division, Big One is not affected by the three-hour time penalty the yacht would have incurred for crossing the start line slightly early had she been racing.
Determined to minimise the time between the yachts Bagheera made an impressive sight as she rounded Pigeon Island and powered up on the wind for the last mile to the finish line. Her dark hull stealth like against the night horizon. On crossing the line to take Line Honours in the RORC Racing Invitation Racing Division, the yacht bore away and de-powered down wind heading back to deeper waters, as with a draft of 4.7m they needed to be careful in the shallow waters of Rodney Bay. Although the channel to the lagoon and Rodney Bay Marina have recently been dredged to 4.5m (15ft), Bagheera’s draft will prevent her attempting an entry until high water later today.
Close on their heels is the Swan 70 Stay Calm, who set the pace of the race early on, only to be overtaken in the last days by Big One and Bagheera.
Interestingly Bagheera sailed a shade under 3,400 miles to complete the course; also straight out of the box for the race, the yacht has sailed close on 5,000 in just five weeks, and the first breakage was a spinnaker sheet snap shackle just minutes from the finish.
All three yachts have made for an incredibly interesting knife edge race and run to the finish, made more so by the decision of the organisers to fit Yellow brick Iridium trackers to the racing division yachts this year, enabling followers on the web to share the excitement.
Despite being in the early hours of the morning there was a great turn out of officials and local press to welcome the yachts, the St.Lucia Tourist Board being represented by LaVaughn Francis , Director Special Events, and IGY Rodney Bay Marina by the deputy manager, Edwin Charles.
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D4E
Racing Class 1 at sea N 14° 0' 0" W 46° 9' 0" 869 153 04/12/2009 12:00
Starfire
Non ARC at sea 16N 39.45W 1254 113 04/12/2009 12:00
Marinara
Cruising Class H at sea N 16° 42' 0" W 47° 34' 0" 791 159 - 04/12/2009 12:01:00
TinaTi
Cruising Class H at sea N 17° 25' 0" W 44° 31' 0" 970 130 - 04/12/2009 12:00:00
Momo
Cruising Class H at sea N 16° 58' 0" W 44° 9' 0" 987 135 - 04/12/2009 12:00:00
Ocean Lady
Cruising Class H at sea N 16° 38' 0" W 43° 48' 0" 1004 149 - 04/12/2009 12:00:00
Pentanemos
Cantana
Cruising Class H at sea N 18° 39' 0" W 38° 49' 0" 1303 129 - 04/12/2009 12:00:00
Cantare
More information about the ARC can be found on the official web site - link here. |
