One Girls Ocean Challenge

Friday November 22, 2013

The Star, Toronto’s largest circulation daily newspaper has a piece on Diane. It’s a good read for its reminders about the minimalist nature of the boats and the years of work & tough sailing it takes to qualify for the start line, including a classic Diane quote: “What could be more amazing than racing single handed over 4300 nautical miles…..solo, on a boat you can fit in your living room and scream downwind at 20 knots!”

Fleet Tracking sees Diane making 4.9 knots under jury rig, in 14 knots of NW wind, about 120 nm NNE or Puerto Calero, Lanzarote in the Canaries. With the race restrictions on communications in place, details remain thin.

There is a pair of high pressure systems, south or the Azores. Mini Transat news reports the bulk of the fleet has slowed down in the lighter winds. The forecast (en francais & you’ll need the weather zone chart) suggests these slow moving highs will dominate the weather for the next few days.

So… what are your plans for Saturday night?

Here is another Google “chart” you can interact with directly. Diane’s position is not automatically updated. Use the link below to open a larger chart.

View Diane: 120 NM To Puerto, Calero in a larger map

Wednesday November 20, 2013 – 300 Miles North East of the Canaries

MiniTransat has been in contact with some sad news. Diane is OK. The boat has been dismasted.

Mini Transat news reports: The Canadian sailor informed the race management, through a cargo ship which was passing nearby, that her mast has broken. She has not requested assistance and just wants to be supported upon her arrival in Lanzarote. She triggered the button on board to indicate that all is well.

Tim here. I’ve personally raced as Diane’s crew for years. Her perseverance inspires awe in me. And I can think of more than one long distance race where her perseverance has come in inspiring and unexpected ways. Obviously disappointed at the set back and greatly relieved Diane is fine. I take some small comfort and can see “my skipper” shining through in her decision to sail to the Canaries under jury rig.

Go Diane Go!

November 18, 2013

No tow needed, just sailing off the dock after making repairs in Cascais, Portugal - click for a larger image

As foreshadowed in yesterday’s update, a much happier mini has been splashed and Diane has restarted the race, well within the 72 hour limit for technical stops. The local land based AIS tracker is showing Diane at sea making 8.1 knots at 204°T for the Canaries. Expect Mini Transat’s  Fleet Tracking will show her on their next update.

Sail smart. Sail fast!

A very happy mini gets splashed back into the race - click for a larger image.

Sunday November 17, 2013: Cascais, Portugal

Diane writes: You will all be glad to hear that the electrician has come with the new batteries.  He also brought a battery analyser and both batteries indeed faulted to “bad – replace”. New truck batteries are onboard and chugging away like mad! They aren’t deep cycles but they will last to Guadeloupe and onto Miami for sure. The bobstay, bowsprit and glasswork is all finished, reinstated and all the little things are done.

I am fully sorted. The only thing I need is for the bank machine to work tomorrow and then I will be able to pay the marina. I’ve booked to launch at 0830 in the morning. I’ll clear customs and get my passport stamped at 0900 and then I will get towed out and be on my way.

Thank you to EVERYONE!

Diane 😉

Saturday November 16, 2013 – Cascais, Portugal

Diane writes: I was out in all that massive wind on the first day. It was blowing twenty five to thirty knots and I had my code 5 kite up. I have to be very honest: I find it a handful to have a spinnaker up in that wind. Even a little one like the code 5. But, all the rest of the kids did, and the boat is built to do that. It’s just me needing to be confident in those conditions. It was all going very well.

Very well that is, until a big gust came. It was about 38 knots and definitely WAY too much wind. The boat rounded up to weather and laid down on her side, just like the text book says it will do in a gust. The issue here is getting the boat back on her feet again. To get the boat to stand up I need to unload the kite by easing the sheet. Even with the sheet eased, it’s very hard to get the boat moving again, because bearing off, exposes the kite, which then fills, cranking the boat over, back on her side.

So instead I let the tack line go and cranked the sheet in to the boat. This brought the leech of the kite in behind the main. Then I slowly cranked the sheet in with the winch and eased the halyard a little at a time to get the sail in to the boat. Once I could get my hands on the clew I slapped a carabiner clip on it to the lifeline and then blew the halyard off and pulled the sail into the boat.

Then I made a new rule: No kite up in more than 25 knots.

For the rest of the night I kept the kite down with two reefs in the main and my storm jib up. It blew upwards of 40 knots that night. The next day the wind lessened as I was in the lee of Portugal. The waves were still pretty big but the wind was only at about 20 to 25 knots. So I put the kite up again. It was working really really well. I even had the autopilot driving the boat. Sometimes the pilot was a little slow to recover if there was a big wave that would role the boat to weather or if there was a gust, which creates a similar problem of rolling the boat. But I need the pilot to “learn” how to steer in heavy wind, so I let it run.

Just as the wind built to a steady 25 knots, with puffs of 28, I though of my new rule. I was setting up to take the kite down, when I got slammed on my side again. Undid the regular take down set up and got set up for the post broach take down. By the time I got the clew cranked down to the deck and had just started hauling the sail it in the boat, the bobstay ripped through the bow. Without a bobstay, the bowsprit sheared off where it bolts onto the custom, stainless swivel plate.

Oh oh! That's not good: bobstay ripped through the bow - click the image to see the gruesome details.

What a pain in the glass! Here I was cranking in the kite, just hoping, and hoping some more, that the broken sprit didn’t damage the bow before I could get to it. Got the kite in and ran up and got the sprit on deck. It was an absolute nightmare. So I turned the boat back on course, set the pilot and spent about five minutes feeling very, very, very mad at myself.

No time for anger, I had to make a plan. Thought I had the batteries sorted out following the Gijon to Sada delivery. In fact, the first day out of Sada, I almost ran out of power. The second day, although the solar panels brought the batteries up to 12.8V (13.5 is full), I was skeptical that they would hold power while under load. So now with a poorly charging battery system, a broken sprit and a tear in the bow, fortunately in a section that is safe from water coming into the boat, I decided to head for port.

On the radio to the support boat to tell them I was going to head for a port for  a technical stop. It was a very low moment. I though I might cry into the VHF, but I didn’t. I was so upset with myself for letting this all happen. I work so very hard at making sure that everything on the boat is in top shape. And… well anyway. So, the support boat sorted out with me and I started to head in to Portugal.

Another boat was already heading in with a broken rudder, so I would fetch up to them and we’d go in together. Went for the bullet proof sail plan and put 2 reefs in the main and the storm jib. While I did that, the battery power dropped to a critical low. So I radioed the support boat again. Told them I would probably loose power and not to worry if I stopped answering the radio calls. Hand steering again. Once I got to the east side of the commercial shipping traffic lanes, I was almost without power and dead tired. So I hove to, parking the boat so I could sleep.

The support boat watched me on the AIS and watched the traffic around me and let me sleep for an hour so I could rest. Woke to start hand steering again until the sun came up to hit the panels creating enough power that autopilot could drive. Then I lost power to transmit on the VHF. More pain. I can manage the boat without power… that’s ok, but it’s difficult to race. All my emergency stuff works so in a pinch, I am fine,,, just not fast. Not fast. During my race. Sigh.

As morning broke and I was heading in, I heard Pip on the radio. She was heading to the same port with a broken spreader. She is a serious inspiration. Pip was in fear of her rig falling down. She figured she could just make it to port on port tack. It was her starboard spreader that was dangling. She has the same fittings that I have. They have failed me several times as well. So we both sailed into the dock here in Cascais.

There’s a bunch of other minis here also. This race is seriously eating up & spitting out the minis!

With the tear, floating about two inches above the water line, I decided to haul out - click for a larger image.

Anyway, I know this is a long post… sorry 🙂 Turns out that Fiona Brown, the English language media person for the Minis, knows a fantastic guy here in Cascais named Vincent. Although it is late Friday, Vincent found a machine shop for Pip to fashion her a new bracket. He chopped the broken bit off of my pole and we drilled a new hole in it. Had it reinstated within an hour of me hitting land.

Vincent then found me an electrician to sort out the power on the boat on Saturday. Vincent then loaned me his grinder and tools, then found another boat with a work shop on land, next up he found some sea glass and polyester and all the fiberglass tools and stuff that I needed.

Vincent loaned me his grinder... - click on image to see more details of Diane's handy work.

I decided to haul the boat out to do the repairs. The tear was floating about two inches above the water line. I did 6 layers of 600 gram biax sea glass on top. The glasswork is almost an inch thick! Plus I’ve installed a piece of hose into the hole so that the rope won’t cut the glasswork. I’m pretty sure that that is why it ripped out of the boat because the bobstay is still all intact, but the bow was torn. The rope is something called SK-75. It’s incredibly strong stuff and with friction it cuts like a knife.

Diane models the latest in European styling of sailing, sleeping, grinding & fiberglass heating gear - click on image to see a larger version.

The electrician has done some lengthy testing of the solar panels and the batteries. He has decided that the batteries while physically here in Portugal, spiritually they are Phuket, assume he spoke of the sailing place in Thailand, although I can’t be sure, there was a bit of an accent. The batteries metered full today when he arrived at 13.4V and when we would load them the power would start to drop very quickly. The amps as well as the volts coming in to the batteries from the panels were all correct. But the batteries just aren’t holding their power. I should be able to go for three days in a conservative mode and have enough power. I can’t go for five hours right now without running out of power. It’s getting worse every day. While we were sitting on the boat with all the panels disconnected, the batteries drained from 13.4 to 12.8 just having the panel lit up for about 20 minutes. And they were a birthday gift from my mom! It’s the weekend. The only batteries I could get with 100 amp hours each aren’t deep cycles and they are just lead acid. All I need is about 10 lifecycles out of them to get to Guadeloupe and Miami and I will be good.

The bow is repaired - click to inspect Diane's handy work with no less than six layers of 600 gram biax sea glass

The bow is repaired and the batteries are coming Sunday. I’ll rig the pole tomorrow and then climb the mast to see what kind of damage I did to the mast head light which has now stopped working except for the all round white light. The only little problem left is making sure that I launch in time on Monday morning to stay within my 72 hour max time limit for a technical stop. My clock runs out at 1400 on Monday. The marina says they will put me back in first thing monday morning, so I should be good.

I will triumph over all of this challenge. It wouldn’t be the one girl’s ocean challenge, without it. It’s been a little disheartening. But I’m smiling again because I’ve made really, really good progress!

Diane 🙂

Friday November 15, 2013

If you’ve been following the Fleet Tracking you know that Diane is making a pit stop in Cascais, Portugal (the west side of Lisbon). Shore Crew has from heard from Diane, via the race organizers, that: Diane has arrived, is safe and that her good spirits are vexed by charging issues and the bow sprit. The plan is to get these items addressed and back out to race.

Mini Transat has a news item posted, which includes both Diane and her friend Pip Hare, coincidently pulling in at Casais also for “technical issues”.  Do not believe Diane’s bow sprit is broken, just that it needs attention. The big issue being charging batteries. 3,700 miles without power for the AutoPilot is a LOT of hand steering. Nothing yet on Pip’s blog, but the news report speaks of a broken spreader.

Several competitors have had much tougher first couple of days: de mastings, hitting a log and taking on water, keel issues. You can read the english translation of Ian Lipinski’s first hand account of the first night’s de-masting, getting rolled and rescued : spoiler alert: Ian is in a deluxe cabin, en route to Sfax, Tunisia arriving Tuesday.

Hmmm… and electrician on a Friday. Fingers crossed for a quick turn-around.

Noon Update: For the start, the sun came out. The fleet shook the reefs out of their mains. The competitors got a clean start in a north west breeze of 9 knots. It took about an hour to get out the estuary and into the ocean. Diane and the rest of the fleet are sailing along at better than ten knots.

Fleet tracking is up and running, but it only updates four times per day. Being 0800, 1200, 1600 & 2000 in France or 2am, 6am, 10am & 2pm in Toronto. There are some photos from the start, including one particular racer who is very happy to be starting.

Much of the fleet had considerable damage in both Gijon & Sada. Diane was unscathed. It speaks to Diane’s preparation and solid products from her sponsors including  ropes, and her bonus spinnaker from Brainbridge and Sailcare which came with an interesting story. All part of Diane’s team.

In related good news, Diane’s friend, Mylène Paquette arrived in Lorient harbour yesterday. Diane & Mylène met at and sealed a friendship one evening at the Riverdale Winter Training facility. After 140 days at sea, Mylène becomes the first North American woman to row solo across the Atlantic. Bravo! Trust this is a good omen for the start of Diane’s about four week crossing. Mylène has a blog if you’d care to visit. Or check out todays coverage on CBC’s or the Globe.

Click on the image for a bigger view of Mylène finish

3:47am Wednesday November 13, 2013

After a month of delays and an abandoned leg, the 2013 Mini Transat has started. They were all clear on the starting line about 0945 (3:45am Toronto) this morning. Diane has commenced her 3,700 mile, non stop run from Sada, Spain, south to pass between the Canary Islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, then across the Atlantic to finish in Guadeloupe.

Mini Transat’s official weather forecast (en francais) around Cape Finisterre calls for ENE winds at 16/21 knots with gusts to 35, slamming into 3.5M seas coming from the NNW. Wet and lumpy getting the westing out of Sada before heading south past Cape Finisterre. The forecast includes an “with intermittent rain” – those meteorologists think of everything! Hopefully the protection of Sada bay will get them all off to a clean start.

Diane and the other english speaking skippers share their pre start thoughts in a new video. There is an annotated trove of prior English language videos as well as a hub of English content on their video server.

The Mini Transat site has a “how to follow the race” page (in English) with links to fleet tracking (aka cartographie), as well as their facebook and Twitter feeds. With Diane’s communications restricted by the rules, Tim von Incommunicado will continue to keep things up to date on both Diane’s blog and the OGOC facebook page.

The new non-stop course, through the Canaries to Guadeloupe, make this the longest leg since the Mini Transat history, which started in 1977. When Diane was advised last week, that the originally scheduled stop in the Canaries was dropped, she declared:

I am seriously stoked for this. It’s going to be an epic run of endurance.

Sail smart! Sail fast!

Adiós del cabo Finesterre - click in image for a larger view of the Finisterre Lighthouse

November 12, 2013

Well since we’re back on the hurry up and wait program until tomorrow morning, I have one last minute to tell you all about “Cadenote”. Cadenote is the chandlery here at Sada Marina who have been absolute heroes to the mini fleet. Much like the wonderful city of Sada, we have very much landed on them and they have graciously accepted us. They stay open for extended hours at lunch time just to help us out and massively tolerate our inability to speak Spanish. I for one showed up on their door step with google translate looking for a charger and shorepower to get my batteries going. Then after understanding my concerns about my solar panels, they sent the electrician over to me free of charge! If you are ever in Sada Spain, please drop in on Cadenote and enjoy a little apero while you purchase something for your fantastic yacht!

Diane

Tuesday November 12, 2013

So… a guy walks into and diner and a horse shows up behind the counter. The guy just looks at the horse. The horse asks “What’s the matter, are you surprised to see me?” To which the guy replies:

Postponed!

All Dressed Up, but No Place To Go - click for a larger image.

This morning’s news release from the Mini Transat web site reports:

This morning the Race Director posted an amendment regarding a postponement of fifteen hours to the start of the race from Sada to Pointe-à-Pitre. The new warning signal will be given on Wednesday 13 November at 9am [3am Wednesday morning Toronto time].

There are two reasons behind this new start: first, according to the race meteorologist, the fleet might encounter strong winds with a risk of winds gusting over 40 knots off Cape Finisterre. More importantly, the passage of a front overnight will cause heavy rain and very low visibility. To send a fleet of over 70 boats out at night into in a high traffic area where many fishing boats do not have AIS, was an added complication in the circumstances.  In many ways, given all the incidents and adventures of the Mini fleet since its departure from Douarnenez, this delay is only a small hiccup…

They have a timer on the front page of the web site ticking down to Wednesday 9am local (3am Toronto time) start. Lest Diane gets called over early, best note that it’s Tim blogging again.

Monday November 11, 2013

Imagine…. we’ve been postponed again. At the moment it’s from a 1500 to a 1730 local time start [11:30am Toronto start time]. But they are reviewing the weather files again at 1100 tomorrow to decide. Fact is it’s going to blow 40 going around Finisterre. It always blows 40 around Finisterre!  🙂

Anyhoo, I am probably going to loose my phone and stuff tomorrow so I don’t know if I will be able to do a final post, but we’re looking “all systems go” from my end of the stick!

Diane 🙂