April 25, 2013
The Pornichet Select race is a 300 nautical mile race from Pornichet, out to the Bay of Biscay, down to Les Sables d’Olonne’s famous “Nouche Sud” mark of the Vendee Globe, and back up to Pornichet. Throughout the route you have to leave different islands and navigational marks to specific sides and you also have “option” on Belle Ile and the hazards of Quiberon. This year’s race also had the excitement of an exclusion zone from Lorient out to the Plateau Des Birvideaux and up to Quiberon. The military were using it as a firing range and asked us to stay out! No Problem!!!
Ultimately though, this race was a navigator’s race. Throughout all of those islands there are tidal streams running in different directions and at significant rates, rocks that could really ruin your day and various coastal shoreline effects….all critical factors in executing a plan for a race.
We started off with a short upwind mark in the Bay of Pornichet and then headed out for our first run north. It was sunny, 5-10 knots of wind with some light spots and 65 boats all screaming off into the Bay of Biscay hungry for miles! The run north gave us our first tactical “gate”. The tidal gate is the “moment of opportunity” to get through the current in the most positive effect. The gate “closes” when the tide turns and becomes an adverse current.
The “gate” on getting up the inside of Quiberon and out through the narrow passage was tight, but manageable if you were at the front of the pack. If not, going on the outside in the channel between Belle Ile and the hazards of Quiberon was a better tactical advantage if you avoided the shoreline of Belle Ile and the current running from north to south.
I was positioned further back in the pack so rather than risk the gate, I chose to go up the channel on the east side on our way to our first turning mark. When we joined up with the pack coming out of the Quiberon channel, we were in a decent position heading to Birvideaux. The run up the channel saw some afternoon localized thermals and we had good breeze to go upwind….and move the stack every time we tacked. Moving the stack is critical in a mini. OGOC is a production boat and that means we weigh about two thousand pounds….only. With all the sails, safety equipment, food and water, tools plus plus plus down below, there is an easy two hundred pounds of equipment that can all be stacked inside the boat to the weather side to help equate the weight of crew sitting on the rail. The boats are also shaped like a triangle, so it’s easy for them to pitch like a hobby horse. Being able to move the weight around means streamlining the boat as it goes through the water and gives you optimal power in your sail trim. Soooo……we move the stack every time we change tacks.
After coming around Birvideaux my routing showed a short kite run of about 10 miles to get around the outside of Belle Ile, going into the night. MMMMMMMM J The first night run! I love racing at night! But here the wind was going to get light and move forward. An awesome chance to get our big big gennaker up. We passed 7 or 8 boats in the night. Boat speed and focus was key of course, but having a nice fat gennaker didn’t hurt either! Most of the other boats have a gennaker that is small and flat. This allows them to run their gennaker in the 70-90 degree true wind angles and in heavier wind. Mine is too deep and big and worn out to manage, but these conditions on the other hand….were perfect! Up the gennaker went and we started to build boat speed. Slowly but surely the lights on the other boats got bigger. As I passed them I could see that some were having troubles, some had the wrong sails up and some were just slow! Woohoo, here we go! In the morning, there were a whole new set of boats around us and the wind was building to a gentle 10-15 knots. We were now on our way to La Nouche Sud….the famous finish line mark for the Vendee Globe! Our big blue spinnaker was up and the boat felt great. Here we started to slow down a little though compared to the boat speed of our competitors, but we were still holding our own. But wait….where is that darn mark? There was a bunch of traffic with people going in and out of Les Sables making it difficult to see the mark. Fortunately the waypoint was perfect. By the time I got into the last mile to the mark, I could clearly make out the committee boat and the cardinal mark. Now for the hard part!
The next leg was all the way back up to Ile De Groix (Lorient)….but it was upwind all the way. 100 miles of bucking upwind, tacking, stacking and trying to meet the next tactical opportunity. There were two. The first was whether to go left or right coming out of Les Sables. I hadn’t determined a significant plan for this, other than to try to get into a good phase with the wind shifts. There was a thermal again and the wind would shift back and forth through ten or fifteen degrees through the first leg to Ile D’Yeu. The second gate or tactical spot was coming to Belle Ile. You could pass on either side of it. Here the wind was going to get very very light. Current became a critical role. If the choice was to go outside of Belle Ile, you had to go at least three or four miles out to get the good wind. If you stayed close to the Island you had to really hug the shoreline to catch the extra bits of wind stuck to the shoreline. BUT you had to make sure that the current didn’t push you the wrong way! The other option was to go inside Belle Ile again. Depending on the timing for getting to the inside of the island, this might give a tactical advantage of catching a positive current while the current on the outside of the island was still pushing on the beam. As I got closer to the island, my competition from behind was starting to catch up! I couldn’t find the boat speed.
OGOC has been known to have things latch on to her keel, so I started to think that we had a big seaweed monster that had hooked on for a ride, but nevertheless, these boats were catching up. So, I decided to take the risk of running inside Belle Ile. Short course racing is very different from offshore racing. In course racing, when you’re behind, you often execute the “we’ve got nothing to loose if we split from the fleet” option. But, in long offshore racing, it often doesn’t pay and costs you significantly. In offshore racing you are often better to stick with the pack and take advantage of other boats’ errors as opportunities to catch up. Someone puts the wrong sail up, has a nap…whatever the case may be, but those are the moments to capitalize on. Here is where I learned a very valuable lesson. When I headed for the inside of Belle Ile, the current took me east very quickly. But, I wasn’t quite at the tip of the island yet. Because I was going upwind, I only had the option of being on starboard tack which took me outside of the island, or port tack which took me inside the island with the current. The current was too strong. I slid east, but wasn’t making any movement forward. Then when I realized how much this wasn’t going to work, I had to start clawing my way back out to the west of the island, with the current pretty much on the nose! Very slow to say the least and more boats caught up. By the time I got around the deepest part of the island, my position was pretty locked in at the back of the pack and I was going to have to start clawing my way back up again, with very little race course left to gain miles.
At the beginning of the race, my buddy Chris said to me “hey, if we end up beside each other, why don’t we do some speed testing?” Ironically enough, this was going to be the pattern for the rest of the race. Chris and I met up at the fattest part of the island and the speed testing started as we both tried to pass each other and gain an advantage. We were going upwind, and just able to fetch the next island. At Ile De Groix, we would turn around the island in the dark and make our way to the finish line another 50 miles away. The chase was on! Bearing away around the island I put my big fat gennaker up again and started to slide past Chris in the dark. It would only be a few miles before we would bear away to a wind angle worthy of the big spinnaker, but I had to risk it. The gennaker would go up and then I would have to do another sail change. OGOC only has one jib halyard and one masthead halyard for the gennaker and the spinnakers. A sail change means running down wind with only the jib up until everything gets swapped over. Slow for sure, even with as many sheets and things preloaded as possible. Sure enough, we started to slide past Chris with the gennaker. Then he put his big kite up…..and started to pass us as I pulled my gennaker down and did my sail change. Then with our big blue kite up we started to catch up again! Our positions swapped back and forth many times until we made our way to the final leg to the finish. For those of you who do offshore racing on Lake Ontario, you will be very familiar with the consequences of finishing a race very very early in the morning as the sun starts to come up. As the sun comes up and starts to heat the shoreline, it causes an inversion with the night breeze and usually creates a dead zone of no wind right at the finish line. I’ve finished many many a race coming into Port Credit, desperately trying to get across the finish line before the last of the night breeze is crushed by the heat of the morning sun. Well……apparently it’s no different anywhere else in the world! As we slowly made our way in to the finish line at the entrance of the Bay, the sun came up and the breeze died off to a gentle 3 or 4 knots. Then the fog settled in. Visibility became almost non existent and I lost sight of Chris. Every once in a while another boat would pop out of the grey and then they would be gone again. Time to just keep the boat going and gybe through no wind. When the big kite droops in no wind, it literally drags through the water and becomes a sea anchor. I think I gybed back and forth about thirty times that morning….almost all of them requiring me to go up to the bow, grab the wad of spinnaker and heave it to the leeward side of the boat.
Then, within about a mile and a half of the finish line, the fog started to break on the shoreline to my left! Woohoo! That means that there’s a little wind over there to push the fog! Gybe…heave spinnaker and head for the breeze! Wait…is that a black hull???? Through ten miles and all that fog and all that gybing, Chris and I came out of the fog at almost exactly the same spot! The last mile and a half were going to be a true test of who could avoid the rocks, gybe and keep the boat moving to the finish line! In the second last gybe, I thought my moment to capitalize had come. Chris went on a long gybe away from the finish line. I gybed inside but still behind. Gybing inside meant that I was pointing deeper downwind, but it also meant less distance to travel. The kite filled! Chris’ kite dropped! Talk about white knuckle moments! AND, we were only moving at about two knots! Chris was about five boat lengths ahead of me. Would the breeze give me an extra little push? Would his kite fill? Unfortunately it did. We both got a little puff at the same time, sliding him across the finish line just ahead of me. What a great race, right to the finish! As always, lessons were learned and we move up another rung on the offshore racing ladder! Next up…..we sail to ENGLAND TOMORROW! The UK Solent and the UK Fastnet….here we come! Follow Katrina and I all the way to the Solent on my tracker or our AIS. You can get the link for the tracker from my homepage. Or, if you want to follow the AIS, there are many many sites that can get you going….just google ship tracking 🙂 See you in England!
Diane
April 24, 2013
Pornichet Select….what a fantastic Race! Just a quick update for now and I’ll do a proper recap of the whole race tonight, hopefully with some video as well! We couldn’t have asked for better conditions…other than a little more wind. This was truly a navigator’s race with critical decisions made on which way to go pending tidal stream. Boats went from zero to hero with good decisions made. which became very evident to me as I made my way up the fleet from the back end and then ended up stuck in a hole of no wind in an adverse current taking me away from the course at a little over a knot…while I watched my competition on the outside avoid the current and march forward! ARGHHH hahahah 🙂 lessons learned. It was also fantastic to put the winter training to good use and watch the boat run smoothly with no catastrophic failures, enabling me to focus on the race and performance. Congratulations go to Gwenole in the proto division and Justine in the series division. Stand by for more details tonight!
Diane
April 19, 2013
We’re all set for the start of the Pornichet Select!
Aquafolia sunscreen is onboard, UK Halsey sails are packed and ready, Cousin Trestec lines are spliced and loaded on the Wichard runners and our ABYC flag is flying proudly at the dock ready to head out in the morning. The race starts tomorrow April 20, 2013 at 1300 French time (1200 UTC). It’s a 300 nautical mile solo race encircling Ile De Groix and Les Sables D’Olonne’s famous Nouche Sud mark where all the Vendee Globe boats finish. This is one of my two qualifying races left to do to be fully qualified for the Mini Transat Race. Follow this race on the Select’s website here….See you at the finish line!
Diane
April 15, 2013
After a fantastic glorious and sunny 55 mile delivery from Lorient to Pornichet, we (OGOC and I) have arrived safe and sound and are settling in to our new accomodations nicely. There are three of us with vans parked at the end of the dock. Katrina has also moved in to her “dog hole” as she has come to call it. It’s really the bottom of the bunk bed in the van, but it’s quite a dark hole, so it is now the “dog hole”. Tonight’s dinner was bbq, potatoes and salad.
The bbq of course was “manned” by our own Aussie, Katrina.
This week it’s final preparations for the race inspections and routing for the big race on Saturday. When the competitor’s trackers are up and running, you’ll be able to follow all of us! Stay tuned for the tracker link at the end of the week!
April 13, 2013
The grib files look good for a delivery at 0500 and the race organizers have agreed and are going to start the Demi-Cle at 0900. I should get in just a few hours ahead of them as my course will only be about ten miles less than theirs. If you’re awake, you can watch the spot tracker. It should be about an 8 or 9 hour run. You can follow the tracker on the home page http://www.onegirlsoceanchallenge.com/
Diane
April 4, 2013
My great van buddy Katrina is starting her first race in her mini tomorrow. It’s the Demi-Cle. The Demi-Cle is a feeder race to my first race, the Pornichet Select. The Demi-Cle is now under postponement due to high winds. High winds also means that OGOC didn’t get launched today and as the yard is closed tomorrow, won’t get launched until Monday morning. Stay tuned for updates tomorrow for the new start time! Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean, our other great van buddy Nikki is starting her 500 mile race in light to non existent winds and is looking at drifting for the next three to four days! CRAZY!
Diane
April 11, 2013
Saturday is delivery day to Pornichet for our first race of the season! The Pornichet Select doesn’t start until April 20th, but Saturday around 1pm in the afternoon I will be sailing OGOC from Lorient to Pornichet. It’s a 55 nautical mile delivery. The wind is looking to blow about 25knots out of the south south west. It might be a bumpy ride! Woohoo! Follow the boat’s tracker with the link on the home page 🙂
April 8, 2013
After a nice little holiday in Northern Ireland, I’m back to work getting ready for the first race…the Pornichet Select. The last few days have been spent busily installing the new 24:1 Backstay system supplied by .
The original backstays were rigged with a simple 2:1 purchase that simply didn’t allow me to get the mast to bend enough to flatten the main out. Now, with some FRX low friction rings, some line and a few blocks, we’re ready to test the new system out.
March 27, 2013
One Active Indicating System installed and ready to go!
This is the Icom MA-500, located just above my active echo. Thanks Icom Canada for making sure I am ready to go! You can now follow the boat’s geographical location by our name or MMSI number (316017347), when the AIS is on. I’m down to the last few jobs on the list to be ready for our first race in April!
March 23, 2013
What an excellent 160 mile training run. We were 9 mini sailors all solo on our boats, doing what was probably going to be the last distance training run before the first big race of the season. Our route would take us from Lorient out to Ile D’Yeu and back again. The weather window was shaping up to be a fantastic test. From the start we would be off the wind by about 135 degrees and in a balmy 12 – 15 knots. The forecast predicted that the wind would get significantly lighter and move forward, giving us a prime opportunity to do lots of sail changes and really work through the different wind ranges on our sails. My gennaker is totally shot, so it’s always a bit of a guessing game when to put it in play, depending on the wind conditions and angles. Slowly but surely I’m mapping it out, though. Rounding Ile D’Yeu, the weather was set to build. It would hold steady out of 150 degrees but it would start to increase in velocity…hitting 30 knots! Dry suits were the attire for this event, along with lifejackets, whistles, tethers and flashlights.
A quick group meeting under the crane and we were off! It was a sea of beautiful kites all blasting off to the east! Pink, red, blue and green! Almost every colour under the sun! Shortly after, the first radio call came in. “I’m having trouble with my pilot”, came from one boat. Then we were 8. My big beautiful blue kite was up and charging along nicely with the others. Slowly the wind started to shift forward as we made our way past Belle Ile. Next up came my sad blown out gennaker. But, it went up just fine and did it’s job. As predicted, the wind started to ease up to a mere 6 knots….and move forward, while the sun went down. The wind should have built back up before we got to Ile D’Yeu and would have made for a tricky passage through the narrow depth gap between the island and the main land. Technically there was lots of space, just not lots of space with enough depth. As it was we were going through in the dark, while the water was only twenty five to thirty feet deep. In this rocky country, that always makes me nervous! Fortunately the wind didn’t build in until after we got around the island, so really, the only tricky navigating was all of the fishing boats!
Now we were on the leg home. The night navigation was finished and it was going to be a fantastic kite ride for the first part of the leg back….or so I had hoped! My next effort was to get my small spinnaker up. Although we were right down wind, the wind was building to 20 knots. I set the spinnaker up, bent the sheets on, flung the pole out and hoisted. We’re UP! And the boat speed started to climb. Next job was to trim the sails and keep the boat balanced. WOOSH! A gust came in and slammed us on our side before I had a chance to even drop the jib! This of course was then followed up with an accidental gybe as the boat got back on her feet. Unfortunately, the pole had been cranked over to “the original” weather side and now as it dragged through the water on the wrong side, it completely rotated into the side of the boat while I was trying to get back through to the original gybe. Now picture this….all of the spinnaker is hanging at the side of the boat. The boat swings through the wind again and the kite fills….but….it fills by flying BETWEEN the forestay and the mast. NOT ideal to say the least! Of course this is all fixable, but now we have a new added feature . The kite is now pointed directly at this very large cardinal mark.
For anyone not familiar with a cardinal mark, it’s whole purpose in life is to warn you of a dangerous area. It’s yellow and black. The yellow signifies the caution, and the black signifies to which side of the caution the mark is located. This is the mark that I was now heading towards at a very hi rate of speed. Now don’t panic, everything turned out fine, but it’s important to appreciate the urgency to which I needed to rectify the situation! So, first priority was to get that kite down. While all of this had been going on, the autopilot had been knocked off of its little pin. I reset the pilot and with a bit of luck, I managed to get the boat to turn down wind. With the main covering the spinnaker and collapsing it a little, the boat gybed back through and we turned away from the fast approaching mark. Luckily enough, the spinnaker also swung back through the rig! After bashing and crashing around for at least twenty minutes, the ordeal was over. Even with all of the sheets in a total mess, I was able to pull the kite into the boat and recover. By now the sun was well up behind a thick set of clouds and so was the wind speed. Thirty knots! This was definitely not spinnaker flying weather for me. I put two reefs in the main to settle the pilot, got a reef in the jib and proceeded to clean up the mess. There was a ton of water in the boat from the spinnaker, and lines snaking their way through anything possible. By the time I got the whole mess cleaned up, the wind was constantly at thirty knots and I was ready for a nap! The rest of the run back was gentle and tame in all of that wind. This wasn’t a race, and I wasn’t going to try putting the kite up in thirty knots again, without some more training first on hi wind kite flying!
The last “event” of our training run was some concern for my VHF radio buddy. I could hear one boat chatting with her, but I couldn’t hear her. Throughout the whole event, everyone stayed in constant radio communication for safety. People compared sail configurations, boat speeds and pilot settings. But now I could hear one boat consoling my radio buddy? What had happened? Why couldn’t I hear her or raise her on the radio? Well it turned out that something had gone very wrong with her new boat batteries and she was now sailing in total black out with a handheld VHF only giving her a range of about 2 miles. She had zero power and zero navigation instruments or pilot or anything! So, after receiving a call for help, a very good friend of hers turned his boat around and sailed back upwind (in thirty knots) to find her and guide her in. This is why training runs are so awesome! They put you and your boat to the test in real situations, but also take the pressure of a race off of you, so that you can deal with situations as they come up, with a little more caution.
Other than our fantastic little wipeout and a few little details to be knocked off of the jobs list, we’re ready for our first race! OH, this is what I looked like after 160 miles…in a dry suit. I had been wearing my lifejacket for so long that I couldn’t even tell anymore that I had it on. While I was walking down the dock, Katrina asked me if I was going to wear it all the way back to the yard and then promptly took my picture!
Diane
