January 8, 2013
Wednesday January 9th I’ll see you all at PCYC! Thursday January 10th I’ll see you all at ABYC. I’m sharing stories of racing in the Fastnet and the Bay of Biscay as part of their winter lecture series. It’ll be loads of fun especially considering I’ll have spent another day at the Toronto Boat Show getting the boat ready for the big opening day!
Diane
January 7, 2013
Not only are we in, but we were the first sailboat in position! The mast is on the ground, rigged and ready for a bath before being stepped. I just hope there’s room in the ceiling….looks awfully low!
January 7, 2013
We’re in the building! Let the mayhem begin for move in to the Toronto International Boat Show! It’s always an interesting endeavour to rig a mini inside a building. But, no fear, we’ll be all ready for the show opening! See you there!
January 5, 2013
Apparently my life is destined for drama and excitement! Yesterday morning at 0400, I drove out of the Sherbrook yard with the loaner Mini, and straight into snow and mountains! The first three hours to Montreal were a white knuckle 40km/hr slip slide through the mountains. After that things opened up a little and after 10 hours of driving I arrived at to give our new friend a good bottom sanding. See you at the !
Phew!
Diane
January 3, 2013
Today’s mission is to drive to Sherbrook Quebec to pick up a Mini for the Toronto International Boat Show. Thanks to for the Mini for the Toronto Boat Show! It’s going to be an 8 hour drive with zero snow. Rumour has it that yesterday it was -26degrees in Sherbrook! I’m going to leave my sandals behind!
Diane
January 1, 2013
Happy New Year everyone! See you at the 2013 in Sailfest. Come and hear exciting stories of racing in the Bay of Biscay and the famous Fastnet race. Monday through Friday at 1:30pm and the final Saturday at 12:30 and Sunday at 3:30pm.
Diane
December 22, 2012
Woohoo! The list is posted and OGOC is not last on the list. There are lots of people with more racing to do than us to get qualified. Maybe we don’t have to go all the way to Italy to get the last race in!
Diane
Dec 21, 2012
There is a post on the Classe Mini FB page saying they are announcing something today!!! Stay tuned 🙂 !
Diane
To gain an entry spot into the 2013 Mini Transat race, a potential competitor must achieve two things. It’s not as simple as just sending in an application form. You have to complete 1000 nautical miles in the class races in France, as well as a 1000 nautical mile solo passage, non stop, on an approved route. All of this needs to be accomplished within five years of your race year and in the boat you will do the race in.
For 2013 there are 80 spots in the Mini Transat race. In some years, by the time registration has closed, there have been more than 140 applicants! Then the race to complete the race requirements is on! First competitors to complete their required 2000 miles will gain a spot. If you’ve been following my race registration, you will know that back in November OGOC applied for one of the coveted DCQ spots. A Derogation Calendrier de Qualification is basically a wildcard for non European boats attempting to complete their 2000 miles within their race year, once they arrive to France with their boat. The wildcard gives the non European competitor an extension of time to get their miles in. This year there are ten of us who have applied for the coveted six spots. Some have very little racing left to complete before gaining a wildcard, others haven’t found a boat yet. So, whether a European or a non European race registrant, the Paris boat show is now closed and we are all waiting for Classe Mini to publish the full race registration list to see where everyone stands in the ranks of gaining a spot in the 2013 Mini Transat race.
But where do we stand in all of this confusion? Well, thanks to all of the fantastic support from our partners, OGOC has completed the solo passage and half of the race miles in France, putting us ahead of at least half of the DCQ applicants. Now we wait with great anticipation, for the list to be published! I’ll share it as soon as it’s posted 🙂
Diane
December 13, 2012
One Girl’s Ocean Challenge has just received her first Christmas present! Thank you !
This is the ICOM MA-500TR AIS transceiver. Recent rule changes with Classe Mini means that our existing AIS no longer meets requirements. This new unit from will make us completely compliant as well as provide us with fantastic and valuable information, including “collision risk management functions”.
For anyone who has listened to my wild and adventurous talks, you will recall that the one thing that scares me out there is hitting garbage or being hit by commercial traffic! Although the use of an AIS doesn’t take away the requirement to maintain a proper lookout, it does give me a great chunk of information to use in my “are we going to have a problem” calculation.
Thank you ICOM Canada for becoming part of our little family at One Girl’s Ocean Challenge!
Diane
