10pm Sunday June 19, 2011
With the wind around 20 knots with gusts and all the cells preceding the front, it’s been a busy Father’s Day of sail handling, checking wear & chafe. Waves in the gulf stream haven’t helped. And it’s forecast to be a tough night:
Winds will drop a bit as a cold front approaches 13-17knots (8pm-10pm). Scattered showers and thunderstorms along front. Around 11pm the front will have crossed predicted position. Winds switch to NW 10-15. By Midnight winds will begin to crank NNE 15 and build from then on. Overnight NE 17-23 knots, then 25-33 knots with higher gusts! Gales.
North east winds blowing up against the gulf stream: lumpy square waves and lots of wind. Diane & Nick are in for a tough night in a dark, windy, cold water washing machine.
As as 10pm, OGOC has 269nm, & James on has 274nm with Philippe & Johanne on Pogo Loco have 322 nautical miles to the finish in Newport.
With a tough night in the gulf stream, anything can happen. Check for the latest position reports.
11am Saturday June 18, 2011
Wind’s up. Out of the south west, 18 to 20 knots. It’s been building overnight. The forecast calls for gusts to 25. Made good progress under Big Blue, the light air spinnaker, through the night. As the wind built, changed to the heavy air reacher and as it continued, changed agian to the current genoa and main. They’re making 6 to 7 knots at 330/340°. Diane wants to keep her height as the wind may clock.
One of this morning’s “the wind’s picking up” indicators was a vang block blowing up. In hindsight, it was a bit undersized. Nick has rigged an 8:1 cascade that is working fine and will release under load if (when?) they need spill the main.
At 10am, as for most of the past day and a half, OGOC is between Pogo Loco to the north east and to the south west. Yesterday the wind favoured boats to the north, but overnight and this morning that advantage has been reduced to a couple miles. Pogo Loco with 467nm, OGOC with 469nm and with 471 nautical miles to go. Two days into the race, spread out, but yet within 4 miles. Wow!
Friday at 1pm Pogo Loco hit something and subsequently reported they’ve lost their starboard rudder. With only the port rudder, they will be prudent against being over canvassed.
Chris Dowling on Frogger was having back pains on Friday. Expect it is his sciatic nerve. They decided to return to Bermuda as a precautionary move. Chris & Christian Reimer arrived in Bermuda Friday night and are doing fine. Not sure of Christian’s plans to get Frogger back to Newport.
Check in with for the latest position reports.
Thursday June 16, 2011
The double handed return race, being the “Two” of the Bermuda One Two sees Diane & Nick leading the mini fleet out the St. George’s Channel.
You never have to recover from a good start. Positions just after noon on Thursday June 16th
Diane & Nick on OGOC (aka Mega Yacht) in blue, leads the Mini fleet out the St. George’s Channel. Close behind is Christian Reimer & Chris Dowling on Frogger in orange. Next & James Price on in red. Followed by Philippe Laville & Johanne Longpre on Pogo Logo in cyan.
Follow along on either: or OGOC’s .
6pm Wednesday June 15, 2011
Well the final packing is complete, the weather routing is in, the garbage has been pulled from the boat and the potato chips have all been eaten! We’re ready to go.
We went for a walk on the beach today to enjoy a nice quiet moment before the mayhem begins! Mayhem? Yes, the start for the race will be here at St. George’s in the harbour. Then all 29 of us will be squeezing our way out through the Town Cut. Could be very interesting!
Then it’s North West to Newport. The weather pattern settling in is looking to be a significant high with a small front coming through in a few days. Basically the weather is going to continuously clock around us all the way to Newport. Nick and I figure it’s a “lake racer’s dream”: light, lumpy and disturbing. We’ve had 30+ years experience with this and we’re all psyched to put our experience in play. Looks like all the are also in play so you can all follow along! 🙂
Have Fun and Stay Safe
Diane
10am Tuesday June 14, 2011
Just a short update. The mighty OGOC is ready to go: fuel is topped up, water jugs are full and Nick arrives this afternoon. The spinnakers are clearing customs and should be to the boat tomorrow.
Tonight we have a rum tasting, dinner and awards. Hopefully we’ll get a little sightseeing in for Nick before we head off on Thursday morning. The last piece is a weather update just before heading out. 😉
June 13, 2011
Possibly one of the greatest scooter tours of Bermuda ever experienced! “Dave’s Scooter Gang” took off from St. George’s and headed for the Dockyard. Along the way we drove through Tucker’s Town to see how “the other half” live in their fancy gorgeous houses, made our way along the south shore to see some amazing beaches, checked out the Gibb’s Hill Lighthouse, drove down part of the Railway Trail, through Somerset with the world’s smallest drawbridge and then in to the Dockyard. Timing was perfect! The museum was just closing, and our ferry ride back was an hour away. The ferry took us back to Hamilton with our scooters packed on the stern and then we zoomed home. Check out the pics!
A classic roadside view The South Shore Beaches
Gibb’s Lighthouse The World’s Smallest Drawbridge
The drawbridge is the little tiny block 10″ wide! The Dockyard – Launching area
A small bit of the Naval Dockyard Fort
Today it’s raining like mad and blowing like stink! Everyone seems to be hauled up in their mighty ships. I’ll be studying the Gulf Stream and the weather patterns AND planning a nice little road trip for Nick and I either tomorrow or Wednesday. Nick’s flight gets in tomorrow and then the race back starts on Thursday the 16th!
Diane
June 12, 2011
The Bermuda 1 -2 gang has been formed and we are slowly making our way across Bermuda spreading our word. Yesterday the scooter gang went trekking through some gorgeous caves. We were at low tide so you could see huge sections of the stalactites, the famous Bermuda moss that is unique to the island, and some incredible colour formations. The last stop on the cave walk was to a swimming hole. The cave was probably about 15 feet deep with sea water and 15 feet of clearance overhead. They tell me the water was cool and refreshing, but as I left my swim suit in Toronto, I opted to stay hi and dry 🙂
Then after a hearty Swizzle Inn lunch, the gang roared back to St. George’s. Now there was another scheduled rum front and fish fry to come in early last night, so with a few hours left for work time, I finished splicing the sheets, went up the mast and checked the nav lights, rechecked all the rigging on my way down, and tidied up the mighty ship once again. Upon my descent I got a round of applause from the peanut gallery on the balcony of the St. George’s Dinghy and Sports Club for a superb pole dance! I think the bar was open 🙂 Today the road warriors are heading for the dockyards. When Christian and I went the other day we didn’t have much time, so hopefully this time we’ll get to do a little exploring! AND, hopefully I’ll be able to resurect my computer long enough to get some pictures posted for you all!
Stay Safe 🙂
Diane
7am Saturday June 11, 2011
Yesterday was a great day for doing a circumnavigation of the island. Heavily armed with food, a jet boil, Cliff bars and water we headed out to engage a mighty Oleander scooter. Hmmm. We were a little skeptical at first by the plume of smoke upon ignition. But the salesman assured us everything was fine as it was a 2 stroke. Even my old Johnson doesn’t smoke that much! After a few training laps around the compound we headed off to the south shore. The mission: to make it all the way to the dockyard, catch a ferry to Hamilton, stop in to customs for Christian (my scooter companion), then hit the Goslings store and zoom our way home for dinner.
Perfect plan… excellent execution. Until the first hill! We thought we were going to have to get off and push! Poor thing! Our little scooter tried her best for sure, but the old gal just doesn’t have much life left in her. We made it up the hill and the next and the next, but not without a lot of patience.
We toured our way around the island zooming past cyclists with great enthusiasm. Stopped for lunch in a nice little pub and hooked up the sat phone. Seems the sat phone had been taking lessons from the scooter… Eventually we got a signal and in turn, confirmation that the spinnakers had shipped for delivery to the mega yacht on Tuesday.
We made our way to the dockyards and caught the ferry over to Hamilton. Walked smartly up to customs for Christian to declare his boat would have a babysitter (me) for the days before his crew arrives. Christian is flying home tomorrow. When they asked for his paperwork, we said they just told us to come here. Fortunately the customs officer took pitty on us as he thought we needed some mental support for sailing single handed all the way here. He organized the paperwork.
One boat sorted and we were off to the supermarket, the Goslings store and home. Loaded with about 50lbs of food and drink we ooched our way up the last hill and coasted into the club. Armed with a bottle of Goslings, a can or two of ginger beer and sausages and burgers we finished off the night with a BBQ.
Oh yeah… still have some splicing to do and a mast to climb! Tomorrow 😉
Keep safe everyone
Diane
June 10, 2011
You guys are amazing! Glad you’re enjoying following along. Tim is doing a wonderful job of getting the posts out as my computer is pretty much a brick these days. Great if you’re breaking into a bank….not so great at communications! So far the winches have been stripped down, salt water rinsed, lines are being spliced and rum is being drunk. Tomorrow I get to play tour guide Barbie. After that a quick trip up the mast and a few little jobs, but nothing catastrophic! The spare spinnakers will ship out tomorrow from Newport so we’re fully armed for the run back. Don’t know what the weather is going to do yet, but we can’t risk not having the proper armaments!
Diane
Thursday June 9, 2011
Wednesday cleared the Mega Yacht (that’s what I’ve taken to calling her – hahahah) and myself through customs, went for a shower then enjoyed breakfast on a real plate at a table. Ah civilization.
First boat job was a full on boat “desalting” party. That stuff gets everywhere. Late in the day, we bought some sausages, veggies and beer as the Mini fleet had a BBQ for dinner. I fell asleep at 8pm.
Today I’ve got a couple of jobs to do on the Girl to start getting her ready for the race back. First up, climbing the mast and scope out the navigation & masthead lights, anemometer and VHF antenna. Once the mast top is squared away, I’ll check the rest of the gear. Time to strip the winches down. They’re practically seized.
Plus there is a very kind man in Newport that is organizing to Fed Ex the spinnakers from Newport where the mini fleet left any spares sails.
Another social tonight. Hope to keep the eyes open past 8pm.
