O Y S TER NEWS
DAY 12
GWYLAN: “It is HOT! Sea temperature is up to 33ºC, and the few hours in the middle of the day are very hot indeed – we even switched on the air conditioning. We now have 430nm to go. T e Parasailor has been up for over 48 hours now. Without it this would have been painfully slow. So all those hours of sewing were worth it. A Lady, I am afraid, is going to win the class and the race among the Oyster 56s unless she has used her engine. It’s pretty close between Sarabi and us, so it looks as though the Oyster 56s will all fi nish within 8 hours of each other. T e winds are light, so our skipper has stopped the boat and instructed the crew to have a very pleasant swim in mid Atlantic. Even in light winds Gwylan was still making 2 knots with some assistance from the current, so nervous readers, please be assured that two people stayed on board at all times. Nicky and Lara set up a beauty salon on the rear deck off ering massage and exfoliation services to all, which was quite a surprise to the rest of the crew.”
SPRAY: “Full sail set with genoa goose-winged. Some yachts have already fi nished, but spirits are still high. T e problem is that we all assume that we are almost there even though there is still another 600 miles to go. T e last few days are likely to be a bit slow.”
KATHARSIS II: “A near disaster day. It began with a spinnaker wrap aſt er sunset. Everyone called on deck, but it still took 45 minutes to sort out the mess.
Hoisting the spinnaker again in the dark, the sail suddenly fi lled while Hania was walking back down the leeside to attach the boom preventer. She was caught by the sheet and thrown overboard. I pressed the man-overboard button and we threw over a life ring with a light attached in the hope that she would swim to it.
We wear lifejackets and harnesses at night, but light wind and all spreader lights up had made us overconfi dent, so most of the crew were not wearing theirs. We got the spinnaker down and turned the boat round within 800 metres. Wojtek pulled in the preventer line, which had a lot of pressure on it. Suddenly it dawned on him that Hania may still be holding on to it.
Hania takes up the story: “It was frightening to see the boat, all lit up, disappearing. I didn’t realise I had the rope in my hand until I felt the clip on the end and instinctively clung on to it. T e tow pulled me under water, but I turned on my back and came back up to the surface. Tomek grabbed me and pulled me back on board safe and sound. We were all very emotional and happy.”
DAY 14
GWYLAN: “An eventful night, with tons of breeze, a gybe well executed at 02.00. Not much sleep, as helming was both demanding and exciting with cross-waves getting bigger as we passed the continental shelf and depths went from 5000m to 1200m.”
KATHARSIS II: “We have been keeping pace with all racing boats ahead of us. T en last night, just 100 miles from St Lucia, our spinnaker pole broke and the spinnaker became wrapped around the forestay – total disaster!
All hands on deck. We fi nally managed to clear up the mess, jury-rigged the pole and sailed to the fi nish with headsails goose-winged. Crossed the line as 10th boat aſt er 14 days, 3hrs 55 minutes – 2nd only behind a Swan 112 in our class to fi nish 3rd in our Class on corrected time – not bad!”
DAY 15
GWYLAN: “20 miles to go! We have the Parasailor up, reaching hard at 9.5 knots away from the edge of a cloud, which looks as if it is going to pass. T e wind builds to 20-22 knots, which starts a debate on whether to drop the sail. Suddenly the right fl ank of the cloud detaches itself from the main bulk and dive-bombs Gwylan. We are slow to react. Pop and Bang is the sound of several thousand Euros worth of sail ripping horizontally across. Calm follows storm and we wallow into the fi nish line 45 minutes behind Sarabi and 10 hours behind A Lady (who used 9 hours 40 minutes of engine). Windfl ower is 4 hours behind so, all four Oyster 56s arrived within 8 hours of each other. Total elapsed time 15, days 6 hours and 38 minutes – 3 days faster than expected.”
DAY 16
FIZZ OF COWES: “We are so close to St Lucia, you can almost hear the calypso music driſt ing across the water. We have 228 miles to go and everyone is talking about what they miss most. Apart from family and friends, a good uninterrupted night’s sleep seems to be a favourite.”
DAY 17
FIZZ OF COWES: ”Just 50 miles to go. T e spinnaker has been up all day, perfect sailing weather. Bring on the rum punches!!”
62
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116