Monday November 11, 2013
Tim again. I don’t want to distract you from reading Diane’s post The Road to Sada. It’s a great read with Diane’s first person account of the conditions and a couple pictures of waves pounding into Gijón harbour wall. When you’ve read it, come back for the video links below. Cue the theme music from Jeopardy.
Pip Hare joins Diane to discuss the sail from Douarmenez to Gijón, the delivery from Gijón to Sada and look forward to Tuesday’s start in this eight minute video.
A two minute video of the much delayed, original start of the race in Douarmenez, you can see the Minis cutting though the starting conditions.
A six minute video round up of the leg from Douarmenez to Gijón in English. It includes most of the two minute video on the demasting of Jeffery MacFarlane.
A two minute Welcome to Gijón video with just a bit of french at the end, notable for the great shots of the town’s waterfront.
Back for the restart after retiring due to damage in the original Douarmenez start, we have Craig Horsfield getting launched in Sada via travel lift in this two minute video.
And two more commentaries about the Dourmenez to Gijón and Gijón to Sada runs. Nine minute video of Aron Meder and eight minute video of Richard Hewson.
And for completeness, here’s the 15 seconds of raw footage Pip shot of Diane during the 30 seconds of sunshine during the second leg of the Sada delivery.
Regret these video links were not into Diane’s blog earlier. There seem to be some issues with video links on the MiniTrans web site. Fingers crossed they’re getting sorted out. However, these direct links have been tested and are working fine.
Today Diane is busy getting gear sorted and stowed for tomorrow’s start, non stop to Guadeloupe.
Sunday November 10, 2013
Diane writes: Well, if you’ve been following the Mini Transat race you will have learned that this race is going to go down in history as an epic tale. It has been filled with incredible weather anomalies, rerouting, and resurrections! The delivery of the fleet from Gijon Spain to Sada Spain has lived up to these new expectations of the 2013 Mini Transat! After numerous days of discussion and round table collaberations within the fleet and the race organizers, the Mini Transat fleet finally had a decision as to the state of affairs and how we would get the fleet from Gijon to Sada.
It’s a difficult coast filled with easterly winds that rip along the coast often at 20-30 knots. Finding a weather window was tricky at best as the fleet was significantly spread out this year…. more so than in years past. So the race organizers were finally able to pick a day. We leave Tuesday! As it was a delivery, you had the options of leaving when you wanted and when the tide and swell would allow a tow out of Gijon.
But if you wanted to start the Mini Transat race, the start was scheduled for November 12, 2013 in Sada, Spain. The accompanying boats would also be spread out as best could be to help with safety and support. We weren’t the only culprits in Mother Nature’s plot. The Transat Jaque Vabres had also been rerouted…
It was my mission in life to get to Sada. The forecast was for 25 knots on the nose with a 2-4 metre swell and wicked cross chop throughout the delivery. I wanted to go. I was very happy to plunge along in 30 plus knots. It’s not a massively fun ride in a mini, but I have no fears of doing it. The series boats are little tanks and OGOC is no exception to the rule!
Diane, Katrina, Pip & Richard decide the conditions have improved and it's time to get on the Road to Sada - click to view larger image.
So, with that in mind, Pip Hare, Richard Hewson, Katrina Ham and a whole lot of us set off from Gijon. The swell was deep, as if the entire ocean was landing in Gijon. Two and a half to three metre swell, behind the massive breakwall protecting the harbour entrance. My batteries were sitting at 12.8 / 12.6. This meant they were anywhere from 80%-100% full. But, when the sun tucked away she was going to hide for quite some time. I could foresee loads of hand steering in my future! The wind was a steady 20 knots. The sky quickly turned grey. Did I mention that I made my first pot of slop before even leaving the dock… just to make sure that I would eat and hopefully ward off potential sea sickness. The storm jib was up to protect my jib. It’s a beautiful jib, but it’s seen many many miles now with many many reefs in it. Reefs just eat the hell out of jibs and mine needed some mending on it’s lamination.
Hmmm... another reef? Click image to view a larger size.
After an hour out, the chatter was starting on the radio. Initially it was good background noise for me, but it quickly became apparent that the fleet was feeling a desperate social need to connect and confirm feelings of the weather and the sea state. After the delivery, Pip and I talked about the culture of the chatter. We were both of the opinion of wanting to make our own decisions about routing, rather than adopting the “follow the heard” mentality. BUT, we are both also very happy to bounce along in our boats in any conditions.
The first section of the shoreline was windy in a deep sea with TONS of cross chop. You would climb up a wave and have another wave on top of it come at you from 45 degrees. Next wave the cross wave was from a completely different angle. Hand steering was critical as the gyros wouldn’t feel or see the secondary cross wave or be able to anticipate a free fall off of the square back of the wave if it wasn’t a roller. Jack, my moose had been told he could up chuck if he needed, but he was fine for the ride!
As we made our way along the shoreline and out of the bay, the sea state started to stretch out. Time to make coffee, do a plot and get ready to hand steer all night. The rest of the fleet was in good sorts as well. The boats that use NKE pilots were particularly chatty about how to calibrate their pilots. It must have been a nightmare ride if they didn’t get the pilots tuned just right. My friend Katrina was chatting a lot on the radio with the boats around her. There was some concern in her voice.
I fell asleep hand steering several times, as I often do! But, no earbuds in tonight. I needed to hear the waves crashing. This first night was pleasant and fairly uneventful, but the batteries were down to 12.4 going into the night. During the night Katrina could often be heard calling Navman who was sailing close by. She was having trouble with her boat and needed to tack. The boats are often in close quarters and so we are very careful when tacking amongst others to avoid collisions. Navman never heard her calls.
Wednesday morning the sun never really came up. It was going to be a grey day and I really needed some solar power! Breakfast was going to be some cookies and a coffee. Snacks were loaded into the navigation bag. The radio chatter heard the fleet getting tired. It was tough work during the night. We had made progress though and were still on schedule to arrive in Sada Thursday night and throughout the morning.
The first weather report was out. The winds would increase to a steady 30 knots for a large part of the day and solidly into the night with gusts upwards of 35. By mid afternoon a large group of the fleet was choosing to head into shore and camp out on a mooring or in a harbour for the night. I wanted to keep going. A quick conversation with Pip, Rich and Robert found our group also wanting to press on. We were fine and good to go in the big winds.
At this point we were following the shoreline that starts to jut to the north. This was also going to provide some protection for us from the south west wind and the bigger waves. Katrina and I had a chat on the radio. Her gooseneck had broken. She had done some temporary repair, but she really needed to head in to deal with it. Our chart for the shoreline was a bit limited so the wise choice was to notify the accompanying boat and ask for an escort in to a harbour. It would be an easy 18 miles to go in and better to have support along the way if something went wrong. Katrina doesn’t speak French. I did some relay translating work and Wanitoo was dispatched to Katrina to go in with her. The last transmission I heard was in their final approaches to the harbour: “Katrina, drop your sails”. Ironically enough, shortly after that my cockpit speaker for my vhf gave up the ghost and I couldn’t hear many transmissions unless I was inside the boat.
By 0400 Thursday morning I was tired. After a quick chat with Pip, I learned that she and Rich and a couple of other boats pulled in for a quick nap in Cap Ortegal. This is the cap just before turning around the corner to head to La Coruna and Sada Marina our final destination. I didn’t have a chart of the area, but Pip was able to give me waypoints and would coach me in as she had Navionics on her phone. Woohoo! A little rest. My batteries were down to 12.2. I would be in just as the sun came up and maybe catch a few hours rest. That way, even if we didn’t get any sunshine, I would be refreshed enough to hand steer around the corner to Sada.
Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time! The wind was now at a steady 30 knots gusting 33. As I approached the harbour, Pip assessed the mooring balls and found that in fact there didn’t seem to be any that I could pick up without it being disastrous. It’s not easy to park a mini in 30 knots of gusting wind. Plan B was for me to drop anchor. Equally as difficult, but I could try to do it outside of the mooring field. I tacked my way in under reefed main, found the mooring field with her help, picked my spot to anchor and turned the boat up into the wind. The boat slowed, a puff came and we started to slide sideways. So the plan of “stop, drop and set” became the reality of “stop, drop, slide sideways over your anchor, try again three times and slide randomly into the mooring field!” This was getting scary! If I didn’t get my anchor set I was at risk of bashing into a boat, or worse, drifting into the teeny weeny fishing boats that I am guessing were on moorings in about 5 feet of water at low tide ( I need 6 feet).
Fortunately I was lucky enough to come crashing in with great finesse (that’s what we’re going to call it) into Mini #5 AND Ludovic was onboard to catch me! Then with a massive effort of organizing lines and crossing anchors, we got me drifted back onto a fishing boat where I could hook up a line to hang off of the fishing boat for a couple of hours. In the process we swapped anchors as he had had a similarly dramatic anchoring attempt.
For the next two hours I closed my eyes and stopped hand steering. I didn’t sleep. I was worried about the batteries and the lack of sunshine. A little after 1000 a pleasant holler came across the mooring field from Pip waking me up. I had shut down all of the instruments onboard so no VHF for her to raise me with. She had the next weather report. Steady 30 knots gusting to 35 often while we passed around the cape. Then in early evening there would be a solid swing from a south west wind to the west and we would fetch Sada. Woohoo! Lets get this show on the road we thought. Rich had already left.
Then Pip said… ”now I have to tell you about Katrina”. My heart went in my throat. All I said was “tell me she’s alright”. She then proceeded to explain that while the support boat was towing her in there was a massive wave that picked her up from the stern and the boat rolled. Through one way shape or form she ended up in the water and had been taken to hospital for observation. The boat was gone. For a brief moment, my world stood still. Once I heard “under observation”, I started to breath again. Ok, losing a boat is one thing. A friend, is another!
Alright then let’s get these anchors unfowled and get on with the road to Sada. With two hours of intermittent sunshine at the mooring, my batteries were up to 12.4. That was fine, we had all day to make 40 miles! So, with 2 reefs in the main and a storm jib we set off. As we turned out of the harbour and into the bay downwind, a puff came in from the cliffs hitting 43 knots. Hmmmm. Ok, three reefs in the main then!
This section of shoreline is a major headland and turning point in a south westerly wind. The swell was coming from the north west and the wind from the south west. Everything was hitting the shoreline and was now beyond confusion! I radioed Pip and suggested “want to go offshore a little?” And with that we headed out to the west waiting for the shift to come in. [Pip’s video of Diane: Road to Sada in 30 Knots. Unlike Jack, the camera tossing has me thinking of tossing -tim]
Eventually the shift came in and we were able to tack and fetch Sada. It took foreaver! The final approach to Sada was in the dark. It’s a well protected bay. The weather forecast was also for the wind to switch further to the north. While all of this happened, I sat in the bay sometimes with 15 knots of wind and at others with a half a knot of wind and batteries now at 11.9.
In my last two miles to the breakwall for Sada Marina most of my equipment ran out of power. No pilot, navigation lights, AIS and a weak vhf radio. I grabbed a position, got a quick sight on the green light on the breakwall and radioed in to Pip to share the info. She relayed it into the marina who had been towing minis in as they entered. I got a little closer to the breakwall and with all the lights of the marina I lost the green light! Ah bother, now I was going to have to crack into my emergency equipment. Portable nav lights got taped on, the handheld gps got fired up and the waypoint entered and the hand held vhf dropped into a sheet bag for easy use.
At 1.75 miles a little rib pulled up alongside and took my bow line. There was a hearty French welcome with a reminder that the faster we got to the dock, the quicker I could get to the beers waiting onshore.
Welcome to Sada!
Friday November 8, 2013
Diane reports: After a very eventful delivery, I am in Sada. I should be getting my laptop and phone charger sometime today. I will try to send a more complete blog tonight.
In short…. HUGE seas with massive cross chop, howling winds, stop-over in Cariño. Problem with my batteries charging as there has been no sunshine for the whole delivery so I have been hand steering. Last night, coming in to Sada, the batteries went down and the lights & pilot stopped working. Good thing I have back-up systems. Will sort out the boat and charging system this afternoon.
Want to find Katrina to see how she is. Her boat is in a million pieces…. literally.
Rumour is that the van with my gear & supplies for crossing the Atlantic, arrived, but I have yet to find it.
Diane 😉
Tim again: my crack about always an adventure sort of under stated things. Here’s another Google “chart” of the delivery from Gijon (green), Katrina’s troubles in Ribadeo (red cross), Diane’s stop-over in Cariño (yellow) and Diane’s arrival in Puerto de Sada (blue). You can interact with this chart directly, or use the link below to open it in a new window.
View OGOC Cariño Stop on Delivery in a larger map
Diane’s friend Katrina is fine, but under observation.
Thursday November 7, 2013
Tim again: During the delivery to Sada, Katrina Ham, Diane’s friend and fellow mini-competitor, had goose neck problem (joins the boom to the mast). Katrina requested an escort from a support boat. For the entrance to the harbour of Ribadeo, Katrina was under tow. A wave capsized Katrina’s boat. Katrina was promptly recovered from the water and taken to hospital. Understand she is under observation, but otherwise fine. Less sure about her boat. Reports vary or omit details, but one report has it abandoned.
Godspeed for a quick and full recovery Katrina.
Wednesday November 6, 2013
After reviewing their options and consulting with the competitors, the Mini Transat committee has decided to run the race as a single leg. It will start off Puerto de Sada (cape Finisterre) to Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe. The race will start Tuesday November 12.
There will be a gate off Lanzarote, Canary Islands. Competitors who wish to make a quick stop, may put into Puerto Calero to effect any repairs before continuing across the Atlantic. With the gate, the leg becomes 3,600 miles, the longest in Mini history.
This route change raises some logistics challenges. Minis are a very weight sensitive boat. Anything Diane didn’t need for the Douarnenez to Lanzarote leg didn’t get onto the boat. Like many competitors, Diane sent gear onto Lanzarote – food, clothes, batteries, computer, cell phone & everything else needed to cross the Atlantic – or like the cell & computer, get forwarded, in turn, from Lanzarote onto Guadeloupe.
Diane and several competitor friends, pooled their resources into a van for delivery to Lanzarote. Expect Sada is in every regard a hospitable place. I’m just not sure their retailers will have in stock three weeks of long life (freeze dried) foods for a whole fleet of mini sailors. Diane and friends are trying to get their equipment and supplies re-directed to Puerto de Sada.
Actually, Diane and friends are delivering their boats from Gijón to Sada. The background buzzing you hear are logistics parts of the shore teams burning up the telephone lines & eMails, getting things sorted. I’d thank S by name, but she’s probably busy. Cross your fingers they get through to the van before it boards a ferry to the Canary Island.
Speaking of the Gijón to Sada boat delivery, some left last night and the rest of the fleet departed this morning. It’s Tim blogging again today. My post yesterday, understated the conditions. The official weather forecast and routing briefing called for closer to 30 knots, on the nose with 4+ m seas. Heading out into that at 6pm last night, or spending another night in Gijón and heading out in today’s calmer conditions is what split the fleet. Expect most will arrive in Sada sometime Thursday.
Communications in and out out of Gijón have been challenging. Thus my (Tim’s) blogging although Diane is ashore. I’d be remiss if I didn’t share this very telling detail from Diane’s pre-departure email:
The longest single leg in the Transat in history! I am seriously stoked for this. It´s going to be an epic run of endurance.
Go Diane!
Tuesday November 4, 2013
Tim again, with a quick update: The worst of the storm has blown through, with the wind forecast to drop later in the day to 15 knots with a few left over gusts. The fleet will depart Gijón for the 115 nm delivery to Puerto de Sada, at 1800h (noon Toronto) today (Tuesday). The wind is out of the west – on the nose again. Hopefully the seas will have a chance to calm down a bit.
The Race Committee is targeting Monday November 11th to restart the race. But wait… what are the wrinkles the RC is mooting? Stay Tuned!
Monday November 4, 2013
Diane is still in port in Gijón, Spain. With limited communications, it’s Tim blogging again from Diane’s eMails, competitors posts and the news from the Mini Transat web site.
Diane, remarkably dry in Gijón, Spain (click it for a larger image)
After hitting Diane with an eMailed crack about slipping out of her wet gear and into a dry martini, she replied: Love your comment about beer vs dry martini. The wonderful thing about wearing a dry suit is that you are always very dry, but it´s not the nicest cocktail smell when you take it off. I had a beer in my hand about 20 minutes after hitting the dock and then a plate of Octopus and potatoes and another beer within the hour at a local restaurant. This place is awesome!
This picture cues a couple of shout outs: J. Coletes for posting it to the OGOC facebook page, as well to and their Canadian distributor , Diane’s supplier. They came through with a truck load of equipment including some . All of Diane’s equipment worked and nothing broke while crossing Bay of Biscay. There is a lot of broken gear in Gijón, but none of it is Diane’s. I can only think “nothing beats reliability” while reading Richard Hewson’s description of crossing the Bay of Biscay:
The Raz was basically boiling with confuesd waves and sea, and it was pretty crazy…
By the evening of day two I had not seen another boat for about 24 hours, and had lost all radio contact with the support boats and rest of the fleet. I guessed I was either doing really well…
It was a very bumpy ride, and every time the [boat] fell off a wave, I was sure that there would be some damage, the impact was so extreme. Imagine crashing your car into a wall every two minutes for two days, that is what the it was like!
Five protos made it into Puerto de Sada (blue), one boat into Santander (yellow) and 69 into Gijón (anchor). You can interact with this “chart” or open it in a new window with the link at the bottom.
View OGOC: Gijon Pitstop in a larger map
With the race being abandoned, the transit across the Bay of Biscay does not count for anything. Regrettable for the leading boats – skippers who were doing well on the leg. The plan is to have the fleet regroup in Puerto de Sada. The fleet is awaiting a weather window for a 115 nm delivery sail from Gijón to Sada. Looks like Tuesday or Wednesday. Expect details will be announced later today.
The race committee mooted a Tuesday delivery arriving Wednesday and restarting the race on Thursday. Under that scenario, being one of the lead protos into Sada, enjoying Tuesday and Wednesday to prepare (even if just snoozing), does have its advantages. Then again, as the Mini Transat race will be restarting, the boats that had to bail after the Douarnenez start, are eligible to race. Stan Maslard, who retired shortly after the start, to fix a technical problem with his boat, is currently trailering it to Sada. Trailering seems a whole lot easier on the boat, equipment and carcass than the crossing the fleet endured.
So… what do 69 single handed sailors, mostly french, who wash up en masse, on a spanish shore, with a change of warm layers for beneath their foul weather gear, but no street clothes, let alone hotel reservations do? They are very glad of the close links and good will between Douarnenez and Club Naval de Gijón, the responsiveness of the harbour master and the active support from the city of Gijón. Mini-Transat news (with some editing) reports:
It’s hard to imagine all the little annoyances caused by the impromptu stop. When the Mini-ists left for this first stage they had just a few essential changes of clothes for life at sea. What they had with them was simple and functional, but not ideally adapted to life ashore.
The stopover in Gijón raises some logistics, especially for those who were relying on their shore crew (often families) to have things organised for them in Lanzarote at the end of this first leg.
Working on the principal that we are never stronger than when we work together, the Mini-ists have taken over (with the generous agreement of the club) the premises of the Club Maritimo de Gijón and have unearthed some local gems. A sort of boarding house with dormitories has been requisitioned for the fleet. Competitors have come together in groups working together to purchases underwear, socks and other items of clothing where needed, toda en español.
This curious new gang attracts some inquisitive glances in the streets of the Asturian port, but at least they are dry. And the local tapas bars are experiencing an unexpected windfall in early November.
Sailing is always an adventure. Personally, I’d rather forage for socks and underwear than endure the days of boat breaking pounding through each and every wave. C S Forester’s hero Diane Hornblower is alive & well and enjoying some tapas with her friend Horatio.
I’ll update things when I next hear from Diane or the Race Committee announces its delivery frobnostications.
November 1, 2013
Diane advises: I´m safe and sound with no issues here in Gijón, Spain. I´ve had a beer, coffee and eaten a local octopus dish that was very good.
There is one computer here that EVERYONE is using! I´ve managed to get two minutes on it. You´ve probably seen all the updates on the race website. We´ve got a meeting tonight at 5pm to find out what is happening with the race. Five protos made it to La Coruna, which was our original destination.
Part way through the race we were all told to head south to Spain to get protection from the land for the south west winds expected from the storm. I went south and my plan was to then head west to La Coruna (Sada Marina). Shortly after that it was announced that if we didn´t think we would make it to Sada by 9am this morning, that we were to head to Gijón. I figured I would get as close as 40 miles from Sada, but not all the way, so I turned and headed east to Gijón along with the rest of the fleet.
Now the fleet has a complicated situation. If we leave here we have 115 miles to get to Sada to rejoin the 5 protos for the next start. Or if the protos leave Sada and sail downwind here then we have to wait for them as well. Either way it is a complicated decision for the race committee to make. We will find out in half an hour what we are doing and I expect it will be posted on the race website.
For that matter, the rest of the fleet on route here hasn´t arrived yet. Katrina is in the back and still has 50 miles to go to get here and there is very little wind and a HUGE swell. I estimated the swell to be 4 metres and often less than 10 knots of wind.
There has also been a lot of damage to some boats which is a real shame. People have worked very hard to get to this start line and waited a long time at the dock for the start, just to suffer damage and have to turn back. OGOC is fine though, with the exception of needing a little sticky back that peeled off while reefing.
Fingers crossed for a better weather window!!!
Diane 😉
Update: 16ooh (11am Toronto): Diane is in port at Gijon, Spain after the race committee abandoned the first leg. The rest of the mini fleet is still arriving. No word from Diane directly. Expect a bevy, hot food, hot shower, a decent sleep and about three days of drying out will work wonders.
Friday November 1, 2013
The weather continues to be big part of the story. The forecast continues to deteriorate. So much so, the Race Committee has abandoned the first leg of the race.
The fleet has been instructed to make it to harbour. A few proto boats have made it to Sada. Many boats are proceeding to Gijon, Spain about 120 nm east of Sada. Gijón is closer for much of the fleet. More importantly by proceeding to Gijón, the Iberian Peninsula will provide some shelter from the worst of the coming weather.
Right now (0400 France, midnight Halloween Toronto) it does not look like Diane is in tough weather conditions. Winds south at 10 knots, likely with larger seas. Diane is 50nm north of Gijón. South winds. Once again, on the nose.
You can activate the wind overlay on the fleet tracker by clicking the icon of three arrows, at the right end of the upper control bar. There is a distance measurement tool – the ruler – also on the upper control bar.
The race committee will re-group after the fleet is safe. They’ll hatch a plan to get the race re-started. When details become available….
Safe deliverance Diane and the whole of the fleet.
Wednesday October 30, 2013
The weather story continues. Conditions are deteriorating at Cape Finisterre and thus the Race Committee had decided to have the fleet put in at Porto de Sada. See the Google “chart” below. They’ll wait out the weather for a couple days. Diane’s French is quite good – wonder about her Spanish. Read the full Mini-Transat news release.
The weather overlay on fleet tracking has the wind at 14 to 20 knots. It also shows boats on both port heading west and starboard heading south. It’s on the nose – beating to weather in seas that haven’t calmed down much.
The fleet has had a few mishaps thus far. Bert in Netwerk, who hosted Diane during the two week, pre-race weather delay, has bailed on the race with a shredded jib. Shortly after the start, a tree reared up from between a couple of waves and punctured his headsail. The Mini-Transat web site has a nice, pre-puncture picture of Bert on its front page.
Speaking of seaborne obstacles, a container ship has lost 15 containers. They’re the steel version of growlers from racing in extreme latitudes.
Craig on Naked Retreat, the former owner of Diane’s boat was involved in a collision at the start. The other boat was able to return to port in Douarmenez effect repairs. Alas Craig’s damage could not be fixed before the starting weather window closed.
Katrina on Seanergy, Diane’s Mini friend from Oz, had difficulty getting in the the rhythm of the seas at the start, but seems to up to speed and moving up through the fleet.
The English translations of news segments on the Mini Transat web site can be a bit awkward in their grammar, but quite understandable. Read the details about Bert, Craig & Katrina and other competitor, including the update with Tuesday’s late day de-masting.
The blue marker is Porto de Sada, the newly added pit stop for the fleet to wait out the Cape Finisterre (yellow) weather. You can interact with this Google “chart” directly, or use the link below to open it full size in a new window.
View OGOC Mini Transat: 1,257 Miles to Lanzarote in a larger “chart”
