One Girls Ocean Challenge

July 28, 2013
Wow!!! What an exciting and tuff tuff race!  After 6 days of fog, rain, more fog, more rain, hi winds, no winds, freezing temperatures and WAY too many bags of freeze dried food, Jean Francois and I crossed the finish line in second place on Antidote.  We spent almost two hours drifting back and forth within a half mile of the finish line and with absolutely no wind, but around 10:00pm we finally were able to cross and get our gun.  Stay tuned for the full report of the race of our stories of hi wind spinnaker take downs, crazy fish following us and even a moment of emergency repair to our starboard rudder. In the meantime we have a boat to clean up, clothes to wash and real food to eat!  AND, if we are very very good and get our chores done, we might get a chance to go see George Leblanc’s Open 60 that just crossed the finish line!  Thanks to George for being the founder of our Rimouski race!
All in all though, a well earned second place finish for Jean Francois’ first long distance short handed race!  Bravo Jean Francois! 🙂
Diane

July 21, 2013
The Rimouski Anticosti Race starts today!  You can follow the four minis on our spot tracker.  I am very thankful to my co-skipper for letting me come and play on his zero for the race!  Jean Francois and I will be onboard Antidote, pressing all the way through the 650 miles to the finish line.  The routing is set, the sails and food are packed, and with the exception of one small little problem, we’re ready to go.  Unfortunately after many years of slow but steady corrosion, our anemometer has finally given up.  The tiny little wires inside are completely broken.  Poor thing has served it’s life and then some!  That means that for this race, we have no apparent wind angles.  We also will have no wind screen to watch at night to see the wind angles.  No problem….we’ll do it old school style!  🙂
Diane

July 20, 2013
The day before the race start inRimouski!…..

Fortunately the list is getting shorter because we’ve stopped adding more things to the list than we are ticking off of the list!  The rig has been checked, straightened and is good to go.  Purchase systems on the boat have been inspected, increased and re-organized.  Food and safety equipment has been inventoried, sorted and stowed, and as always, a large amount of “stuff” has been evacuated from the boat.  The last two days have not only been filled with boat work, but lots of work with the local press as well.  Our race has been featured on CBC Television here in Rimouski, as well as on CBC Radio.   Last night was followed up with a presentation for the community on One Girl’s Ocean Challenge….that I did in French!
Today is inspection day!  Jean Francois and I are hoping for an early inspection so that if anything is missing, we’ll be able to quickly do a store scramble for it.  So far everything is looking good, but the press is on to get it all finished!
Diane

July 17, 2013
Leg two complete!  After a fantastic evening in Quebec city filled with food, great company and a tour of the old part of the city, it was time for some sleep.  Today Philippe and I headed out to Rimouski…a mere 3.5 hour drive further east.  We got to the marina with just enough time to rig and head out for the evening weeknight race.  mmmmmmm salt water!!!  Didn’t even take our bags out of the car!  Tomorrow’s jobs on Antidote are to inspect the mast, tune the rig, go over the boat with a fine tooth comb to make sure that all shackles are moussed, all split rings are taped and all bits are sorted.  Then some weather assessments in the evening and a quicky organization of a power point presentation of our fantastic campaign..in French, for the competitor’s party on Friday night.  All part of the fun!
Diane

July 16, 2013
I’ve made it to the first leg of my journey to Rimouski for the Rimouski Anticosti Race.  After a short flight from Toronto to Quebec City, I met up with my fantastic co-skipper Jean Francois.  Our first task was to start plugging our way through the race route and the possible currents and tides.  Afterwards, Jean Francois and his wife decided to take me on a little tour or Quebec City, as I have never been here before!  We walked through the old part of the city, saw the Chateau Frontenac, ate some wonderful food and then it was bedtime.  Today, onwards to Rimouski!

Chateau Frontenac

July 15, 2013
Well, with the forecast of zero to almost nothing for wind for the next couple of days, and my need to get on a plane Tuesday morning….we have decided to abandon the race.  We will come back again next year 🙂
Diane

July 13, 2013

Race Day!  Today is the start of the Lake Ontario 300.  PredictWind has done our routing and it’s looking to be a slow race for wind.  The gradient is lying as flat as a pancake…and I have to be on a plane to Rimouski for the Rimouski Anticosti race Tuesday morning!!! Yikes!

Diane

July 12, 2013
Check out the new clothes!  This is the Gul Vigo Coastal Jacket and pants.  Looks like they will be perfect for the Lake Ontario 300 and then the Rimouski Anticosti Race.  Not only does this gear have all the fantastic qualities needed for coastal racing, but the jacket also has a little dry pocket for your MP3 player!!!  On the Outside of the jacket!  I’m soooo excited!

The Lake Ontario 300 starts tomorrow Saturday July 13!  I will be on Phoenix, a J109…fully crewed.  You can follow all of the excitement on the YellowBrick tracker.  Click here and go to the bottom of the page to find the link.

http://loor.ca/lake-ontario-300/

Diane