Will Sayer
11/06/09, ELMARLEEN

To sleep or to trim - part 2.

Okay so its now the morning - what did I do.

Well the wind in the end dropped to nothing and so removing the possibility of squeezing that 2 knots out of the boat. I dropped the kite onto the foredeck and straight into its bag, ready for a quick hoist later on. I drifted with a flogging main held forward on a bungee and went to sleep. The genoa eventually was poled out but to no significant gain - there simply was no wind. I think last night will have been quite costly to my lead, but at least I know I tried everything I could and that it was due to a lack of wind and not my sleeping.

I must have jumped up on deck 5 or 6 times thinking I could hear the wind and hoping i could get her moving but no - nothing until 10 am this morning. Currently doing 5.5 knots under kite 267 direct for George's bank and shoals. Under 800 miles to go.

Will

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Will Sayer
10/06/09, ELMARLEEN

To sleep or to trim.

Its 00:30 UT and only the smallest breath of wind. I'm tired and would love to go to sleep, but I have the kite up and if I try really hard I can squeeze about 2 knots out of the boat. If I turn away both the main and kite start flogging and I loose all boat speed.

The wind speed is about 5 knots true from directly behind. What to do? Say sod the 2 knots, drop the kite and get some sleep for an hour or two, or trim and stay awake as long as I can. Alternatively I am considering poling out the genoa as this will be more stable and then going to sleep. So what difference will 2 knots make for a couple of hours!!!

'Come on Will'- I hear, this is a race, this is the OSTAR, pull your self together and get the boat moving.

Am I better off refreshed and alert in the morning, having travelled no distance at all or am I best forcing the boat along 5 miles, being exhausted and tired after working the sails all night. What I would do for crew right now.

Alternatively and most likely - I can try and stay awake and trim, fall asleep and keep on being woken by the snagging of a kite on my hands, and end up going no where and being exhausted. But saying that the alternative of just going to sleep with the rolling and flogging of sails in no wind is hardly peaceful and doesn't promote a good nights sleep.

Ah, yes there is the last option - anyone got a gun.

All my blogs can be read on willymakeit.co.uk or blogstar

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Will Sayer
10/06/09, ELMARLEEN

To sleep or to trim.

Its 00:30 UT and only the smallest breath of wind. I'm tired and would love to go to sleep, but I have the kite up and if I try really hard I can squeeze about 2 knots out of the boat. If I turn away both the main and kite start flogging and I loose all boat speed.

The wind speed is about 5 knots true from directly behind. What to do? Say sod the 2 knots, drop the kite and get some sleep for an hour or two, or trim and stay awake as long as I can. Alternatively I am considering poling out the genoa as this will be more stable and then going to sleep. So what difference will 2 knots make for a couple of hours!!!

'Come on Will'- I hear, this is a race, this is the OSTAR, pull your self together and get the boat moving.

Am I better off refreshed and alert in the morning, having travelled no distance at all or am I best forcing the boat along 5 miles, being exhausted and tired after working the sails all night. What I would do for crew right now.

Alternatively and most likely - I can try and stay awake and trim, fall asleep and keep on being woken by the snagging of a kite on my hands, and end up going no where and being exhausted. But saying that the alternative of just going to sleep with the rolling and flogging of sails in no wind is hardly peaceful and doesn't promote a good nights sleep.

Ah, yes there is the last option - anyone got a gun.

All my blogs can be read on willymakeit.co.uk or blogstar

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Will Sayer
09/06/09, ELMARLEEN

Morning all,

The Atlantic was very kind to me last night. I have had the most wonderful nights sleep. In total I must have had eight hours. The autopilot was set to steer to a heading oppose to a wind direction as I thought the light winds would just confuse it. I turned in at about 01:00 BST and slept under a sleeping bag in my favourite berth behind the chart table.

I would much rather in these conditions set the autopilot to steer a heading than a wind angle. It makes the system work as an alarm clock. If you set it to the wind, like a wind vane the, you can get a wind shift and you don't always no about it. Yes, there are alarms but they tend to go of half the time when there is nothing to worry about. By setting it to direction you know you will always be sailing the right way. If the wind goes one way the sails will start to flog and you wake up. If the wind goes the other way the boat becomes over powered and rolls you over in your berth, waking you up. Most importantly you are making ground towards Marco and Mervyn.

I must have woken up with flogging sails or being overpowered four or five times between 1 am and 11am. Each time my reaction is to look at the COG and check that I am pointing in the right direction. I have a number of times when under wind vane found myself sailing east or south east! Every time the COG was within 20 degree of my preferred heading of 267'. All that meant was either a tweak of the autopilot from the remote control - can be done from within a sleeping bag! Or a quick dash on deck without putting your waterproofs on, fine tune a sheet. It went on like this all night. I would get a little awakening from a rattle or a little bump, make a minor adjustment and roll over and go back to sleep for an hour or to until the next one. All the time making good progress in the direction I want. Fantastic

Its very cold here this morning. The air temp is 7.7 degrees and the sea temp is 7.2 degrees. Quite a contrast from a day or so ago. I am situated right on the edge of the tail of the banks, If you were to get a chart or look on Google earth you would see I am on the steep contours to the east of the tail and to the west of the Flemish cap. The sea bed underneath me must be like a cliff face with the depth going from 3600 meters to just 38 in a matter of miles. This is not where you would want to be when it was kicking off like it was on Sunday night.

I am definitely getting an advantage from the Labrador Current which is funnelling sout between the grand banks and the Flemish Cap. Its pushing me south so i don't mind being a little high on my desired bearing of 267' - I am actually sailing about 300' but the COG is about right. The wind is still very light - about 6 knots but from behind so its that annoying situation where there is just enough breeze to get the boat moving nicely at about the same speed as the wind, which then of course make it appear to the boat that there is no wind so you slow down again, until you feel the breeze again. I'm huddled up behind the chart table, woolly had and fingerless gloves on, wrapped in a fleece blanket, having just eaten what I call my 'Atlantic' breakfast. 3 eggs scrambled and a tin of baked beans. What I would do to add some bacon or sausage to that - The really grease kind, not the ones you get in your tin of beans.

Talking of food, I am starting to think about my first meal ashore. I am a little sick of tinned and bagged food, it all starts to taste the same after a couple of weeks. I have a curry left and a few dolmio sauces which I will keep for a special treat between now and Newport but the rest of what I have left is not looking that appetising. Anyway back to my first meal ashore. I would love a fry up. Scrambled egg with load of butter, 2 x sausages, 2 x bacon, baked beans, fried potatoes and some toast - that is what I would like if I arrive in the morning. Lunch - a big grease home made burger with cheese and bacon. Not the McD's variety, the type the Bugle pub churn out to all the sailors after a Sundays racing. If I arrive in the evening - well I have not quite made my mind up, its between a sirloin steak with pepper sauce, jacket potato and sweet corn or a jumbo rack of ribs served with chips. While I am at it I wouldn't say no to a lamb shank with mashed potato. Vegetables oh vegetables. Tinned veg isn't crisp, I would love some crisp fine beans, broccoli, carrots - oh god, how many days have I got left! Oh ice cream to - something cold. Double choc chip ice cream in a cone. Not having a fridge and everything you eat being ambient temperature gets to you. A ice cold glass of milk. Ummmm

Talking of days to go. Today I hope to drop below the 1000 miles mark. Wow, over 2/3 thirds of the way in 15 days. If I keep my current average speed up of 120 miles a day I could be in, in 9 days. Surely not! A 23 -24 day crossing! I was expecting 30-34!

Oh I have learnt a trick to keep my clean dry sock, dry for longer. I put my feet in bin bags before I but them in my leaky boots.

Cheers for now

Will

All my blogs can be read on willymakeit.co.uk or blogstar

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Will Sayer
08/06/09, ELMARLEEN

What a surprise. Here I am again BECALMED! Well that's not true, im doing about 2.5 knots in the wrong direction which is just as bad. I cant believe the contrasts you get out here and in such a short time. It was less than 24hrs ago I was battling over 40knots of breeze.

Anyway, today has been a good day. I have double porridge for breakfast and a little snooze for half an hour. Later I had chilli con carne with a large portion of rice, followed by a large double chocolate chip cookie. Then for dinner I had a fray Bentos Steak and Ale pie with mixed veg and potatoes. I have mastered the art of cooking a Fray Bentos pie on a marine over. Quadruple the cooking time and ensure the tin dish it comes in is right over the flame at the back - something you can only do in a calm sea.

I have managed to get two hours sleep this afternoon which make the world a much nicer place. Its amazing though. Here I am in the middle of the Atlantic and my sat phone rings three times and wakes me up each time. Of all the places in the world you thought you could get away from a telephone!

So I am feeling much better and happier just which there was 15 knots of breeze and not 6. Its looking like it going to be a quite night and day tomorrow before the next weather through. Not a lot else to report but its great to have so much feed back about my blogs and to know that everyone is reading them and enjoying them so much. If only there was a way we could knock Hannah White of the top of the blog rankings.

The weather here at te moment is lovely. It's a great evening and the barometer is raising. The temperature is 14 degrees which makes it feel very cold. I peeled of some of my wet clothes from last night a few hours ago and it was amazing how cold my feet, hands and head got. It's a bit like going camping in April or November. The days can be very warm but the air temperature in the evening is very cold. Sea temperature is back down to 13.5 degrees.

I'm going to run the engine for an hour now as the autopilot has been working for the last 24 hours with the last 6 not being supported by the wind generator. Then I might sponge out the bilge water I got in last night. I bet it's only half a bucket! Cracking boat these Sigma's.

Good night

Will and Elmarleen

Thanks you for all your e-mails and text messages. I do enjoy reading them.

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Will Sayer
08/06/09, ELMARLEEN

Sorry I haven't been writing much the last few days. Its been pretty tough on me and the boat and I have hardly slept, writing a blog seemed the least important thing. How wrong was I, Graham and David you have spurred me on to pull my thumb out and get me writing.

The weather over the last few days has been all over the place and it finally seems to have settled in as uncomfortable. The winds yesterday afternoon were sending me further north and into the ice than I wanted but the grib files said it would veer further north allowing me to tack on to the direct line. The water temperature yesterday started at 18 degrees and finished at 11 degree so you can really see the gulf stream and Labrador current making there impression. Speed over the ground also seems to be all over the place with one hour you going faster than boat speed and the next slower.

The wind yesterday started off quite high 20-30knots dropped right of to nothing about mid day as I sailed very close to the centre of the low and then as I came out the other side they started to pick up again. I knew it was going to get windy as the barometer was dropping and dropping fast, the latest grib data forecast 30-35 knots. Okay more than I would like but I can deal with that. I sail on deeper to wards the ice waiting for the wind to veer. It did at about midnight. I would bet that I was one of the fastest boat to take advantage of the shift. I happened to be sitting at the chart table on the laptop as I really couldn't sleep. The noises Elmarleen makes really gets to me in rough weather. The pour girl makes some awful noises and I feel everyone and struggle to relax enough to sleep. She is like a voodoo doll. I was also worried about my rudder which seems to have become increasingly sloppy although I have just fitted new bearings!!! I also kept on hearing this grinding noise and I convinced myself it was one of the corners of my new stainless steel water tanks grinding holes in the hull.

Anyway I tacked on the shift and it was a perfect direction, free and easy and a great bearing. The wind initially dropped and then started to build again. I left the sails as they were (3reefs and Heavy weather jib) as I thought I was already under powered and went down for some damp sleep on the bean bag. About 30 minutes later it felt like I had been knocked down. Half dozing I climbed on deck and my god was the boat struggling. A few cold waves in the face and I realised that the situation on deck was a lot worse than it sounded from below. We had got far too much canvas up and it need to be dealt with. The wind speed was reaching 30 -35 knots as expected but gusting nearly 40. The waves had got up and I was beam on to them. Time after time the waves would roll Elmarleen onto her side and submersing the side deck completely. Sitting on the windward cockpit seat it felt like being in a dinghy on the edge of a capsize. That moment your just about to topple and fall onto the main sail. I looped an arm around a winch and we came back up again. Bloody hell, this isn't fun. I cracked off and hand steered for a while to just wake myself up a bit and think about a plan. Still we were being picked up and spun round. Ok. I have no option but to put up the storm jib and drop the main.

Storm Jib. In order to put the storm jib up I need to get the HWJ down. This requires me to quite literally swim up the side deck to the mast, blow the halyard and then get right up the pointy wet bit of the boat and pull the bloody thing down. In winds like this they dont fall down, the wind holds them up. Finally getting it down I lash it to the guard rails and secure the halyard. I then swim back to the cockpit to release the sheets so they can be re- run for the storm jib. Also the cars on both side of the boat need to have there positions altered to suit the new sail. Then storm jib in hand I swim back up the side deck trying to hold onto the boat while not loosing the jib over the side, I then clip it onto the inner forestay. Then back to the mast and hoist before rushing back to the cockpit to sheet it in before it flogs the boat, mast and sails to pieces.

I gave this a go for about 5 minutes and then realised Yes the main would have to go aswell. This should be easy as I have 3 reefs in. Oh no, nothing is easy it's a boat. I go back to the mast and blow the main halyard, nothing happens, the friction of the sliders sailing down wind pin it into position. I am going to have to head back into the wind to get the main down. Back to the cockpit I steer the boat up a little and then go back up to the mast and pull the sail. She comes down, but this time the full length top batten pops through the area between the mast and the shroud. Its stuck. The sail has to go back up a little and I will have to steer further into the wind and waves. In the end the main is down and I have lashed as much of it as I can to the boom to stop it flogging. Its exhausting and frightening. This is all happening at about 3:30 when all of you are tucked up in bed, there is me being punished for something I have done in a former life. You can't be scared, it just has to be done, you cant wait and see if the wind drops as it wont, you just have to clip on, dig deep and get wet and cold. Also bear in mind this is all done with a head torch!

Once I was steady I flicked the wind instrument onto max and it read 46.9 knots true! I couldn't believe it. No wonder it was all such hard work. I gave up on sailing my ideal course and just sailed what was comfortable downwind and with the waves. I returned to the relative calm of below and tried to get some sleep.

Still doing 6 knots under storm jib I was far to uncomfortable to sleep. I was wet and very cold and things just didn't allow. I put on a pair of mittens and a woolly had and just lay in a soggy mess on the saloon floor until the sun rise this morning.

Today I have slowly put more and more sail up as the wind has dropped but it is still blowing about 25 knots. It's a really annoying direction - I am about 60 degrees off the wind which in these conditions means the boat with every wave luffs up and then the autopilot forces her back down, up, down, up, down , up, down, up down. It drives you crazy. I have had some breakfast and some lunch and I'm feeling a lot better. I will get this off and then check the weather before trying to get some sleep.

How is the office today?

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Will Sayer
06/06/09, ELMARLEEN

The wonders of technology.

After yesterdays half way party the wind finally built..and built until it ended up giving me a soaking I wasn't expecting. I think I ended up with two reefs in the main and the heavy weather jib up. The wind continued through the night and then as we got further into today it decreased until maximum sail was back up. Then we went full circle and once again later this afternoon I was drifting with not a breath of air.

To keep me entertained today I have had Banjaard and De Franschman within VHF range. It appears that Jon has spent all his iridium credit and is incommunicado with the outside world. He called me up and we had a chat about it. I then relayed a message back to RWYC, blogstar and rang Jons home leaving a message to give him some more phone credit. Its taken all day and I think we are nearly there. I have had a few phone calls from Jon's family asking Jon for information about phone numbers, sim card numbers and service providers which I then would relay back to Jon on VHF etc etc etc I'm sure you get the picture. After all our efforts I think we are still snookered for the time being as it take two working days for minutes to be credited and it being a Saturday doesn't help.

Bart and Jon eventually got so close that I heard them chatting on the radio - "if I come round your port side you can take a good photo, then you can come round and do the same for me' I tell you this OSTAR is very hard work. Did you realise fewer people have done the OSTAR than climbed Everest. Racing the OSTAR and doing a mid Atlantic photo shoot is seriously hard core - these guys are tough let me tell you.

Anyway as the wind dropped its always a good opportunity to have a clean up and get on top of a few things, whether washing, sleeping, eating or in my case drying out last nights wasted kite launch. I then spent the rest of the time playing with my HF radio receiver. It not something I have used much but wanted to bring with me as I thought it would be useful if I lost all sat comms - I nearly did during the first few days. I can listen into any frequency and pick up most things that travel as far as the middle of the Atlantic - in particular Weatherfax. So for an experiment I thought I would try and download the Halifax Ice report. A great little test and it would result in a great nugget of information that I could use in the next few days. I tuned in and picked up a few charts - great fun. This is real boys toys type technology. I love it. You tune into a blip, beeping noise and then asked your computer to decode it and make this noise into a picture. The technology is ages old but its great fun and you feel like you are tuning into aliens from another planet and awaiting there first message. So a few practise goes on some of the weather info they send and now I am all ready for the ice chart. It not till 10.22 so I had some dinner, tweak the sails and waited. Computer all set up, radio on, audio cable plugged into the laptop and waiting for the start signal...waiting..waiting.blip..blip.beep.beep..shhhhhhsssssccccccrrrrr...and it starts. Line by line its appearing the first time I have ever used this bit of kit for something useful on the boat. Normally I just play with it at home on the kitchen table. How exciting ..line by line. whats it going to look like, is it the same as the Canadian chart? How much ice is there? Ok, there is enough to make out what looks like a crescent shape.oh no it's a 'C'.then an 'H' and before I know it, its printed the word CHART..what next CHART - Ice Patrol, or CHART, Ice Analysis..What is it going to say.here it comes line by line CHART N and then there is an O and then a T.CHART NOT..I wait and see the excitement killing me..CHART NOT AVAILABLE.

Hey at least I tried - it looks like I will be downloading it over sat comms anyway!

On another subject I saw a group of whales yesterday. About 6 or7 all coming straight for me. They weren't that big about 20 foot but they were definitly coming to check me out. I was running the engine to charge the batteries and it obviously caught there interest - a little unnerving for me. And today I had a group of dolphins join me too.

Rigth as its such a lovely quite evening and there is a nice steady breeze I am going to make the most of it and have a decent nights sleep. That means peel the waterproofs and boots off and sleep in a sleeping bag on a bunk, something I haven't done enough of so far.

Catch up tomorrow.



Will and Elmarleen

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Will Sayer
05/06/09, ELMARLEEN

Return to wet mode.

Ok so it's been very frustrating over the last three day with lights winds and little progress but it astonishing how quickly things can return to the damp wet misery that was forgotten while showering on deck and eating lunch in the sun.

The wind has finally picked up and we are off. I'm guessing it just a front coming through as its raining and it didn't show this much wind on the grib data. Grib files are not very clear at displaying fronts.

It came in slowly and from behind so I threw up the kite as I believe I have a bit of catching up to do. Last reports were that I had dropped the lead and was now in fifth, how demoralizing. Well as soon as I had it flying I had to take it down as the wind had come forward and I couldn't hold it in the direction I wanted. A school boy error really and next time I shouldn't be so quick. A lot of wasted energy and now a very wet kite and a very wet me.

So its about and hour or two after the breeze came back in, Its about 25 knots so not insignificant and I can immediately feel the way it was before the last three days of frustrating calm, However this time I am not in my routine. My chart table was covered with lots of irrelevant things, like ipods, books, fluffy mascots, which are now all over the floor. The kite which I just took down in the rain is now thrown down below on top of everything that was on the chart table. My waterproof were not properly done up so I have wet arms to my elbows. I'm wearing the wrong boots, I'm wearing the eggy ones so my feet are now wet. All the things that you get used to in those calm conditions have instantly been upset and turned on there head. My bunks are now back to storage, my bean bag as come back out to form a wet bed on the saloon floor. The leaks that you had forgotten about have also started to drip again. The towel and water you had by the hatch to wipe your face with and grab a drink from have ended up some where else.

Where the hell is my head torch!! Its night and I want to put a reef in.

Okay - I have put two reefs in the main and swapped my furling headsail to a heavy weather jib. It amazing how much canvas you can take down and still remain flying along at the speed. Makes me a lot happier as I am on the bad shroud side!

So starting to get things sorted, my head torch is back where it belongs, my towel is in place and my drink is at hand. One thing I forgot to do when hoisting the heavy weather jib was wear my gloves - So I've just open up a few healing wounds.

Any finally, ouch - all the old bruises I had forgotten about are being banged around again and hitting the same old saloon table, galley grab rail and chart table. Why do we do this I wonder!!!!!

Oh actually there is one more thing to add - the windgen has started when it left off and is going mental - I'll be making some more of those kitchen towel ear plugs if I want any sleep tonight.

As I sit hear thinking of a way to sign off I can feel water seeping into my waterproof and into my thermal pant. Musto - I hate you! I'll leave it there.

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Will Sayer
05/06/09, ELMARLEEN

Oh bollocks to it, there is no wind again. I'm going to have a party.

Whales sorry for the headache.

Let me introduce you to my Frog and Frigate playlist featuring The Who, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Oasis, Simon and Garfunkel, The Eagles, Van Morrison, Lynyard Skynyrd and many other greats.

Playing it right now, Playing it loud, Live from the pirate radio station Elmarleen mid atlantic.

Tam - this one is for you Van Morrison Brown Eyed Girl - Sh la la la la

Mum - I'm baking that cake, should be ready in 15minutes.

Banjarrd and Olbia - you can probably here me. Feel free to join in.

Cheers for now

Will (who is not going to let the lack of wind get to him)

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Will Sayer
05/06/09, ELMARLEEN

Half way day!

Ok so I have just passed 38 west and I am half way based on longitude. Having got to this point in the race after only 11 days is pretty amazing for a Sigma of the cruising variety. Been a very frustrating day again. Woke up this morning drifting around again but this time I had both Oblia and Banjaard on AIS and within 5 miles. Its great for keeping you focused and I just tried to keep the boat rolling along at 1-2 knots. I didn't see either of them gain or shot of in another direction so hopefully they haven't made any gains. I picked up fresh wind around mid day and have been sailing at about 5 knots ever since. Strange though as there is definitely a knot, possible more of current. Water temperature is 17.5 degrees and I am being carried south!! The gulf stream doesn't run south! I am sailing on port tack a bearing of 250-260 and the COG is more like 190-200. It works in my favour as I can sail free any easy in these lights winds to maximise boat speed and still make my course to steer.

Was so tired last night I lay down for a npa before dinner and the next thing I knew it was 3am. I made a course correction and went back to sleep until 6am. Woke up starving and had the nearest thing to a fry up mid Atlantic - baked beans and scrambled egg with a part backed baguette. Then supplemented that a few hours ago with the other part backed baguette (they come in packs of two) drowned in Nutella.

I've just double check my route and downloaded the latest grib files. It looks like It will go light again one more time this evening early morning before we get clear of this high. Then the worry is the low just around the corner. It's a big one and there are wind speed up to 45knots and gribs tend to under read. Ouch and with a broken shroud!!!

So there is a lot to think about in terms of nav at the moment. Big winds, ice, gulf stream and my shroud. I have looked over the gribs and it looking like the wind won't hit for 48 hours (Sunday night). That gives me a 240 mile area to which I can manoeuvre my self to in order to miss the worst. 240 miles is based on an average of 120 mile a day. So my plan is to head direct for the western most part of the ice boundary. The winds are favourable over the next few days, bar tonight's light breeze. This although risky on the ice front does in fact follow the shortest great circle route to Newport. When I get to the edge of the ice (2 days) the wind should have backed and I can tack onto starboard (my good shroud side) and then head more southerly aiming for the southern limit of ice. Hopefully this route should also mean I don't see any more than 30-35 knots which was like the second night near Ireland. Its all going to come down to what my two day range is and if the wind holds out. Not much else I can do really.

I will get the storm sails out next time I am becalmed and get them all ready and stacked on deck for use. I will also dry out the bean bags as these will become my primary wet beds again. Its been quite nice sleeping on bunks the last few days! Can't be too careful especially when nursing a broken lower shroud.

Not much else to report other than I have been headed while writing this e-mail and my COG is 270 exactly.

Write again later.

Cheers Will

Steve Sedgall Emma John Spotiswood Richard Saker Clare Holly Izzy Gibbo - i promise i will e-mail yor dad at some point - it will have only taken me 2 months to get around to doing it but I've been a little busy.

I got all of your messages.

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