April 17, 2012
Race day was shaping up to be a warm sunny day. Everyone was down to the boats nice and early, which was good as we were scheduled to be towed out at 0830 for a 1000 start. No engines here in France!
The forecast was for light winds at the start then building to 20+ knots overnight. As the race was only 150 miles long, that meant finishing on Sunday anywhere from early morning to late in the afternoon. The course was set to start off of Locmiquelic with a very quick up wind leg to get us off and then turned to go around the Ile de Groix once and then North West up the coast to a turning mark then south east around the outside of Ile de Groix and in to Pornichet. There were lots of rocks along the way, steep tides with the potential for big current and lots of options of different islands to choose which sides to go around, along with their outlying rocks. Our prime objective was to finish and go fast along the way. Keep in mind…the boat has been out of its container just a week at this point. It has been a long week of putting her back together again. We were excited to get going!
The start saw us off in light 5-8 knot winds. There were 50 minis on the line and nobody was worried about being aggressive on the start as this was the first race of the season on the Atlantic side. Off we went in light, shifty stuff just like back home….but also some current. We got to the weather mark and then made a left turn toward Ile deGroix. As we got to the island it was clear that local knowledge was a key factor. Some of the boats passed so close to the island that we thought they might put a fender out to make sure they didn’t rub along the rock face! We played it a little safer and left about 100 feet between us and the rock face. We were in 15th place at that point and five boats slipped inside us! Hmmmmm……local knowledge…… always key!
Next we finished our lap around the island and turned North. The wind started to fill in and as is typical in the Bay of Biscay, there were scattered showers on and off all day. Going into the night the wind started to settle in from the North East and the temperature plummeted to 3 degrees. How do you stay warm on a fiberglass shell in 3 degrees with wind and waves pounding on you? Hmmmm. I still don’t know….. We had thermals, base layers, mid layers, fleece layers (at least two) and then top layers….and we were still cold. Throughout the early part of the night we switched back and forth from the Code 0 to the deeper lighter spinnaker, but by night fall the conditions really called for the Code 0 again and we had it up and flying. We were working our way along nicely with that fantastic code 0 driving away, when all of a sudden there was a big bang on deck and a whole bunch of flogging! There was our nice little power house of a sail bashing around beside the leeward side of the hull! Upon inspection we found that the bowsprit had somehow spun around to leeward. We tried to grind it back out but it just wouldn’t go. In the dark, flashlight pinned between my teeth, frozen finger tips and a sail flogging around like a cat on a hot tin roof, I peered into the darkness to suss out the situation! Upon deep inspection with that fantastic flashlight we found that the cover on our old bowsprit’s pole guys had been eaten away by the clutch it ran through. The core was holding its strength, but the core won’t hold in a clutch. So the whole cover gave way and slinky’d up. In the meantime, the code 0 was crashing and bashing around and all the lines got thoroughly tangled. Taking that thing down was difficult. We had to bear off and go deep down wind. Down wind was a pile of cardinal marks defining a mass of rocks to be avoided less than a couple miles away! Once we wrestled the code 0 down we had to put the pole guy back together. Carefully working the cover back to where it split and painstakingly stitching the cover back in place, we were good to go. The stitching wouldn’t hold forever, but at least we had the pole guy available to use again. Meanwhile, the code 0 was in a massive heap shoved in the boat. The code 0 is supposed to be rolled up in a nicely furled tidy little package. Ours was this massive pile of soggy wet and salty sail cloth, completely filling the v-berth of the boat, with furling lines running back and forth in a massive heap of disarray. Nice. Our best hope was to hoist it during the daylight and then furl in place. So for the rest of the night we were sailing along with a full genoa instead of a code 0. This was not fast.
We made it to the most northern turning mark, got around and started to head downwind as fast as we could go with our Genoa up. As the sun started to come up we were approaching Belle Isle to the West and Houat to the East. This was the last tactical navigation opportunity of the event. You could choose the “inside track” around the North side of Houat, or the “outside track” along the South side. The inside track had a very narrow channel that lead into a bay with shallows, hazards and a most specific significant rock that was mentioned in the skipper’s briefing. This rock of course is uncharted! If everyone knows about it then why isn’t it on the chart? The inside track had great potential for wind with more sheltered wave action, funneling current and faster speeds with less up wind work. Let’s talk about that rock again shall we? Where was it? Hmmmm. We chose the outside track with greater wind, bigger waves and deeper water. Deeper water would be the key here. By now the wind was pocking anywhere from 22 knots to 25 knots. As we plodded our way along, the waves were nicely slamming into us slowing us down each time we hit them. We made the turn East to Pornichet and the slamming continued. The last moment of opportunity for local knowledge now fell into place. As we approached a shelf with a clearly marked North cardinal mark, we decided to take “the high road” and go hi and outside. This was an area where we could easily run aground depending on what the tide was doing and if you knew where to plug your way through. The two boats behind us cleanly snuck their way across the North side of the lighthouse and inside the North cardinal mark. We safely tacked our way around the North cardinal mark keeping lots of water between the keel and certain death. Unfortunately that let two more boats in. Bottom line…we finished the race safe and sound. So let’s review. What was the goal of the race? Finish, gaining the qualifying miles and going fast. Well, we finished achieving our primary goal, and we had moments where we were fast. In that first trip around the island we had glorious moments where we were beside some very fast prototypes. What else did we get out of this race? An AMAZING amount of knowledge. We saw some fantastic ways of setting up running rigging systems onboard, got to really see what racing is like in the Bay of Biscay for those who grew up teething on it like these folks did, and we got to see a whole new level of competition. A new bar has been set and new targets are in sight! On to the next race!
What a crazy tough race! We weren’t last also hahahah. We’re spent tired, so I’ll do a proper post and recap of all the exciting stuff!
Diane
April 14, 2012
We’re in the race basin this morning getting towed out with all 50 minis at 0830. The Demi-Cle race is the Atlantic coast’s “season opener”, much like our Susan Hood back on lake Ontario. It’s 150 miles of back and forthing and sailing around an Island and then finishes in Pornichet. It looks like some great competition, and we’re going to have a blast going fast in the north 25 knot winds. There’s no tracker for this race, but we’ll try to get the Spot tracker working. You can click on the spot tracker from the One Girl’s Ocean Challenge.com home page.
Diane
April 10, 2012
TADA! It’s been a very successful day. We stepped the mast, launched and then mnotored down the narrow river with the little 4hp engine against a flooding tide that was almost ready to turn and a strong headwind. At times we were only making just under 2 knots. We made it though, and then tied up and went for Pizza. Tomorrow I pick Nick up at the airport and then Thursday it’s inspection day. The big race starts Saturday! A BIG thank you goes out to the NautyMor yard in Hennebont for being sooooooo amazing. He’s a one man operation that does an outstanding job. Check out the pictures on the One Girl’s Ocean Challenge Facebook. I’ll upload them here tomorrow when I get to a Wifi.
Diane
April 7, 2012
Hey to everyone. Seems my last post didn’t get populated, so I’m going to recap the last few days for everyone. The boat arrived on Friday at 9am. We offloaded her with some fantastic skill from Davy the owner of the Nauty’more yard here in Hennebont. He’s an amazing one man operation! He also came in 5th in the Transat race last year. Needless to say the yard is FULL of minis. It’s a great place to be. Today we were able to get OGOC off of the canted cradle and onto her keel. We’ve sorted through some of the gear and tomorrow more “stuff” will get reinstated. She has to be fully rigged and ready to go for Tuesday when we launch. This isn’t like Lake Ontario. In this river there is a 17 foot tide and basically a ditch that it runs through. Once we launch we turn and head for Port St. Catherine which is the basin for the start of the Demi-Cle. The race rules require us to be in the basin by Wednesday at 9am. Our race inspection is Thursday and the race starts Friday!
Diane
April 5, 2012
The boat arrives tomorrow morning at 9am! We’ve been in France for a few days now and have had an endless amount of road trips back and forth to Lorient getting things sorted out with Class Mini, the boat’s arrival, and trying to get an internet connection. We’re making good progress though. After the boat arrives tomorrow we’ll prep the keel and put the staunchions back on along with a few other things, and then Saturday morning we’ll get back on her keel. Then the really long list starts and we work day in and day out until Tuesday night when we launch and I’ll take her down the river to Port St. Catherine where the Demi-Cle race starts. Check out what’s sitting outside of the window at Class Mini!
Diane
April 1, 2012
Wind Athletes Canada promotes the sport of sailing in Canada as well as supports promising sailors from the grass roots level of the sport through to national and international levels. They are a great organization supporting sailors at a grass roots level, and have recently become part of the OGOC Team. Our Team is really growing these days and we couldn’t be in France right now without the whole team behind the program! Check out the Wind Athletes link below. Soon you will see OGOC added to their team!
March 30th, 2012
Next stop….Antwerp Belgium! Apparently OGOC is taking the “scenic” route to France. I’m going to take the much more direct route and fly there tomorrow. OGOC should arrive to France on the 4th and then the yard where she will be offloaded on the 5th. You can track the boat. One more sleep!
Diane
March 23, 2012
OGOC is on her way to France as we speak. She’s taking the luxury cruise approach aboard the container ship Alyssa and I’m sure ordering room service as we speak! When we get to France we will have to clear customs, remove her from her container, put her on her keel, do a whole new layer of bottom paint and some major sanding, and then fully rig and tune. Plus there’s all of the shore work. The liferaft needs to get certified, files need to be sorted with Class Mini, and loads and loads of other “stuff” to get done. We have new running rigging and gear to install and lots of race homework before the first race April 14th! Phew!!! 🙂
Diane
March 18, 2012
