One Girls Ocean Challenge

October 28, 2013
One final race briefing complete!  We start tomorrow October 29, 2013 at 0900 local french time.  The weather forecast has a very large swell and some heavy wind.  Unfortunately it will also be blowing 30 knots from the south west as we go around Cape Finisterre.  It’s going to be huge waves, swell against wind and 30 knots on the nose.  This is going to make last year’s UK Fastnet race look like a walk in the park!  We still have a prevision to be rerouted to Gijon Spain if the conditions worsen again.  Cross your fingers that the big weather bomb of a low climbs a bit further north on Friday to give us better conditions on Saturday when we’re going around!  The tracker will be up and running sometime soon and you will all be able to follow. See you in the Canaries!  🙂
Diane

October 28, 2013
Boat is moved to Treboul with the rest of the fleet and ready for a start tomorrow. Water and apples are loaded in the cockpit, gear is stacked, tomorrow’s clothes are ready….now to finish the weather routing! Tonight’s briefing is at 1900 local time.
Diane

Sunday October 27, 2013

The briefing from today’s Code Green has the fleet sailing directly to Lanzarote in the Canary islands. We’ve got another waypoint added to our Sailing Instructions. There is a Traffic Seperation Scheme at Cape Finistere. Offshore rules require racing sailboats to stay outside of any TSS. Now we are required to keep it to starboard keeping us quite close to Finisterre but keeping us tidily locked in and far away from the very very large low out in the Atlantic that is slowly working its way north east.

They desperately need to get this race started or they are thinking that they never will. There is another cold low setting in that’s going to sock us in if we don’t get going. Once we’re below Finisterre we’re pretty safe but until then it’s a desperate run!

It’s still pouring rain in France. Enough rain to cause drops in WiFi signal, which, to begin with, was none too fast. Makes downloading weather files problematic. Got my head buried in foul weather gear, downloading grib files. before I can bury my head in weather and tide tables to work out some routing options.

Monday we get towed out of the locked in harbour that and taken to Treboul so that we can do the start when we want rather than being forced into timing with the lock. [The harbour is inside the “lock” to maintain sufficient water level to float the boats. The lock is only open a couple hours either side of high tide.]

The race course at the moment is straight to the Canary Islands but we’re required now to keep the TSS off of Cape Finisterre to starboard, locking us all into a narrow corridore at Cape Finisterre of about 15n miles.

I’ll send an update after Monday’s 1900 briefing (7pm France or 1pm Toronto).
View Mini Transat: First Leg: 1,257 Miles to Lanzarote in a larger map

Code GREEN!

It may be blowing 35knots here but we’re officially code green! We have a possible start in 24 hours!!! We will be towed out to Treboul tomorrow so that we are ready to go at any given moment. Time to finish the weather routing!!! Warm up the printers we’re looking good!

Diane

We’ve gone code ORANGE!!!!!
Stand by for tonight’s weather briefing to find out the latest scoop on when we might go and if we’re going to Spain or directly to the Canary Islands 🙂

Diane

October 24, 2013
Back to CODE RED!!  

Wave heights of 10 metres, wind speeds and squalls with gusts up to 45 knots and a bigger depression that might drop on us are holding us back….again.   Although Saturday morning the wind is favorable to race to Gijon Spain with winds up to 25 knots, the wind is also estimated to be out of the North West after arriving in Gijon and preparing to leave to get to the Canaries.  This would be impossible for a second leg.  Also, Sunday there should be a nice weather bomb drop in on Douarnenez with gusts up to 50 knots.  We’re planning a classe trip to go out to the Raz de Sein (by foot) and take pictures of some earth shattering wind and wave action!!!  In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed for the next window opening up Monday or Tuesday.  The weather model for Monday shows the Azores high to lock in with a center isobar reading of 1030!  Fingers crossed, fingers crossed!!!
Diane

Wednesday October 23, 2013

We’ve gone CODE ORANGE! There is a small window of opportunity to send us to Gijon Spain and make this a three leg race. The window is very very narrow though. If you are as obsessed about weather as I am then have a look at the latest grib file. If they start us on Friday at 1800 we will be pushing hard upwind in 35 knots in the Bay of Biscay all the way to Gijon Spain. If a boat gets stuck at the tail end they may have to fight 40 knots of wind to get into the harbour. We’ll have confirmation Thursday at the 1800 briefing (noon Toronto time). Stay Tuned!!!

You can interact with this Google “chart” directly or click the link below to open it full sized:

View OGOC: First Leg: Douarnenez, France to Gijón, Spain in a larger map

October 21, 2013

Well, since we’re still under a code red with a little time to kill, I’ve found a nice little spot inside the boat for “Jack”.

Jack is my new Canadian friend who is coming across the Atlantic with me.  He arrived with friends of mine from Canada and is a welcome little addition.  It’s a bit tricky to find a safe and dry place, but I’m sure I will.  In the meantime, Jack has made a new friend with “Plats”.  Plats is a platypus that has found his way onboard Katrina’s boat in about the same fashion.  Cross your fingers for tonight’s briefing!

October 18, 2013
Ok, I know that I asked for “something to do in Douarnenez that didn’t cost anything”, but I think this is a little extreme.   Night before last someone came into our house and stole a television from the ground floor of the house!  Can you believe it?  So far my adventures in France over the last two years have included a trip to the hospital emerg, living out of a van and now a trip to the  Gendarmerie.

Katrina came along for the adventure of how to file a police report in France and to see if she could spy any good looking policemen.  Nothing quite like a field trip! I think my life is truly complete now! hahahaha! Nevertheless the culprits left behind a box of wine that has gone off for forensics testing!  The police also said that several houses in the neighbourhood have been hit.  We’re not the only ones.

In the meantime, we are still under a code red for starting the race and the best guess is now a week before getting a start.  So, with budgets being tight, we have opted to give up the crew house and find less expensive (otherwise known as free) accommodations.

Living the Dream!  🙂

Diane

October 17, 2013
A few weeks before the scheduled start of the race a friend of mine said “How would you like a new spinnaker”?  I said I would love a new spinnaker!!!!  But, it wasn’t in the budget.  Then he told me a little story about Sailcare.

They’re a loft in Cowes England who was hoping to build a kite for a Mini for this year’s Transat Race.  Bainbridge had already agreed to provide the material and now they just needed a boat.

Would I like to be their boat???  Absolutely!

Then a couple of days before the start of the race a nice shiny new spinnaker arrived for me at the race village.  Gerry and his crew at Sailcare worked through the nights to make it happen.

This new kite has been built to optimize boat speed in 130 degrees and 15 knots of wind.  It has the ability to climb higher and the cloth is a little heavier to manage in the big puffs.  I can’t wait to try it out while we scream across the Atlantic to Guadeloupe!!!

Thanks very much Sailcare and Bainbridge for this amazing opportunity!
Diane