November 25, 2013
Hey everyone
Firstly, thank you so very much to everyone out there who has been following along and sharing all of your heart warming messages of encouragement! I spoke with our race director through email and he has confirmed that I have run out of time under the rules of “technical stopover” to be able to carry on with the race. He also raised the issue of safety as an additional concern. Even if I had the time to do the repairs, I would be three days behind the closest support boat and a day behind the closest competitor who left this port this morning. There is a high pressure system floating over us right now, but there is a weather bomb of a low that will drop in and when it hits I would be far far out of range of conventional safety and rescue measures if something again went wrong. As the Mini Classe rules don’t allow for communication, the race organizers need to take this into account when making decisions. So for adhering to the “technical stopover” race rules of 72 hours and for additional safety concerns, my Mini Transat race has finished here in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote. I will post a full story of the events as soon as I can get the pics and stuff off of my camera.
The good news is that I have some footage of flying my code 5 in 27 knots of wind and some pictures and stuff to share of the 1500 miles I have done from the top of France to here. Once I can get back to the boat and get some good computer time I will try to sort sharing with you all. In the meantime, I need to figure out how to get the boat back to Canada. It’s probably going to cost about $10,000….a cost I wasn’t planning on having to incur as I was meant to be sailing to Miami to bring the boat home. If anyone has any connections or resources to move a mini in an overheight container from the Canary Islands to Canada or the United States, I would be happy to entertain!
Diane
November 24th, 2013 at 4:54 pm
DAMN!
Still incredibly proud of your accomplishment. We know you will be baaccckkk!
You are a true inspiration to the rest of us single handers on Lake Ontario.
Well done Diane!
November 24th, 2013 at 6:39 pm
It’s a shame this race is over for you, I know that if the race committee had of of let you restart you would have. But we have to respect their decision. I’m glad you’re safe. Hope to see you soon.
November 24th, 2013 at 11:19 pm
I’m sorry to read about the abandon.
You may consider exchanging the boat with some other competitor at Pointe-a-pitre shipping you boat is 10K USD and shipping a competitor boat back to Europe is another 10K, shipping from Canary Island to Spain is about 3K, it makes more than 15K diff. should be enough to settle a good agreement.
At least Craig Horsfield and Pilar Pasanau are racing Zeros.
good luck!
November 25th, 2013 at 7:38 am
Diane, speaking for all your friends in Kingston: we are SO proud of you. We’re happy you’re safe, and we’re frustrated au-max with the breakdowns, just as you are. The people of Puerto Calero will be getting a dose of awesome Canadian in the coming days. Shine on, you crazy diamond.
November 25th, 2013 at 10:34 am
Diane, it must be very disappointing for you. Well done for getting so far in conditions that look to have been the most difficult in the race for more than 20 years. I was hoping to see another Canadian finish the Mini Transat. Instead of shipping the boat back, could you sail direct to Miami? Now that you are not subject to race rules you might be able to beg, borrow or steal (maybe renting would be better than stealing) a sat-phone, take someone else on board and double-hand to somewhere mainland USA?
Just a thought.
November 25th, 2013 at 2:55 pm
Sorry to hear the news Diane.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:53 pm
Diane. GREAT EFFORT!!! Break downs just happen as we all know. I echo Steve’s comments. We are all very proud of how far you have come. Safe travels home. Tiger.
November 26th, 2013 at 1:02 am
Dave from Kingston agrees….Shine on you crazy Diamond.
November 26th, 2013 at 2:20 am
To have participated was already an incredible accomplishment! You will have other opportunities this is just the beginning of more beautiful things to come!
November 27th, 2013 at 1:41 pm
So sorry you didn’t make it all the way Diane but it is better to be safe. I hope you try again and build on what you have learned from this attempt. All the best. Freda