Jonathan Crinion Ocean Racing
Jonathan Crinion and one of the world's leading Naval Architecture firms; that of Owen Clark Design LLP have together designed and developed a superb racing machine to the new Class 40 Rule of 2004.
| Vessel Name: | Friends of the Earth |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Owen Clark Design Open 40 |
| Crew: | Jonathan Crinion |
20 October 2006 | Pendennis Marina, Falmouth, UK
Falmouth
Well that's it, Cape Town to Falmouth. This last bit of the voyage from Madeira has seen some of the worst weather ever - non stop. My wind strategy worked well to go up the centre of the English channel and ships criss crossed all night. The weather grib files have been hopelessly wrong for the past [...]
18 October 2006 | 48,5.57N , 9,13.81W
Knock down
The ocean can be brutal. More to the point the weather can be. Yesterday was sunny but with large swells and I had been hitting 17 knots reaching on and off for most of the afternoon. Speeding off faster and faster, the feeling is exhilarating. With a reef in the main and the Genoa up I was under canvassed [...]
17 October 2006 | 45,29.51N , 11,19.44W
Approaching the channel
All along I've used one nautical chart for the Southern Hemisphere and St Helena and another for the Northern Hemisphere plus one for Madeira. I'm making fast progress at the moment and should be on the 10 degree West Longitude line shortly where I will switch to a detailed chart to take me into La [...]
17 October 2006 | 42,44.86N , 13,40.48W
Contemplation
I'm starting to understand why Bernard Moitessier made the turn and headed towards the Pacific. He was wondering what he would arrive back to if he kept going on to the UK. It's so vast out here and so far away from everything. I have a 360 degree view of the universe. I'm completely self sufficient [...]
16 October 2006 | 42,33.68N , 14,3.52W
Storm Warning
Wisdom says go wide of the Bay of Biscay but my weather files are showing a huge area of no wind to the West of me which forms the centre of a large and very vicious looking low heading this way.
Nasty Night
Speed: 13 knots, Course: 43 deg.
UTC Time: 14. October 2006 09:17
Yesterday turned out to be a beautiful day after a bit of rain in the morning. The big question became do I roast on deck or get in the oven.
Lots of ships all of a sudden, probably all heading towards or away from either Lisbon or the Strait of Gibraltar.
The sunset was beautiful and then it started to get dark - really dark. A shelf of black clouds moved over and it was so dark the boat almost wasn't there. Then it started to rain ferociously.
I'd been running downwind with a full main and genoa for the night doing 13 knots and then the wind picked up to 30kts. That wasn't on my weather chart. All of a sudden the wind swung around 180 degrees and my mast head wind indicator was spinning in circles and the sails were all over the place.
After a while things didn't change and I thought the boom would rip itself off so I dropped the sails - which may not have been a good idea, because it was still dark and raining.
And now the boat was crashing around as well. In my haste to drop the sails I forgot to pull the lazy jacks back on and with no topping lift to hold the boom up I thought the boom would rip the solar panels off the coach roof as it crashed around. What a mess!
Then a ship pings me on the radar - oh great! Just go around please, I'm busy right now. I finally managed to motor into the wind and get the main back up on another tack and then turned to run down wind now towards Portugal.
The wind blasted and it rained most of the night. I lay in my bunk waiting to wipe out as I listened to the water hissing on the hull as the boat picked up speed. I must have fallen asleep because when I awoke the sun was coming up and boat was still on it's feet, surfing along at 13 knots again. I see on the weather chart there is more of the same coming at 6 today.
All the best,
Jonathan
(then 4 hours later)
Just to let you know storm came through 2 hrs ahead of time. I was prepared and went 180 degrees and put in a reef, dropped Genoa, put up the Solent, now heading up wind, pouring, wet, made lunch at the same time, well reheated curry leftovers, quite proud of myself.
