meredithcbi
| Vessel Name: | Cape Breton Island Clipper |
| Vessel Make/Model: | 68 ft Clipper |
17 July 2010 | Hull, England
The Fat Lady Sang
4th position..... That's where we finished race 14, the final race! With the winds getting lighter and lighter, we were quickly losing boat speed, and before I finished my night watch.... Australia had over taken us, and Qingdao was breathing down our neck!
16 July 2010 | off the coast of England
Blog 22 - Almost There!
I know this is my second post for today... But I forgot to mention the advantage we had over Jamaica since this morning! We watched them blow out their spinny right in front of us!! It was spectacular sight! Sad for them.... Helpful to us!
16 July 2010 | Holland
Blog 21 - Pulling Away
After our disastrous start to this race, and fight upwind through the wind farms last evening, we managed to gain some mileage back on our competitors! On my night shift, we flew our heavy weight spinnaker in what even I(known as Spinnaker Woman at home) would call 'testy' conditions!
15 July 2010 | Holland
Blog 20 - Windmills, Clogs, and Race Start
Well here we are in IJumuiden, Holland (about 40 minutes outside Amsterdam). This was a short stopover, and really only scheduled as a muster point for the fleet after Cork, and before we head to the grand finale in Hull. Our race into Ijmuiden was much faster than anticipated. Therefore the crews had [...]
13 July 2010 | Ireland
Blog 18 - WELL over due blog
ok... so keeping up with the blogs is NOT as eay as I thought it would be. I have one on the boat which I need to email and then post. it belongs here... im trying to stay on top of them to keep you all as well informed as possible. you would think when on shore it would be easy, but without a laptop [...]
Blog 4: Good made Better
Today our battle to hold our lead against Uniquely Singapore continues as the scoring gate approached rapidly. Over night my watch team hadpulled out almost 7 nm miles from the Singa's by the end of our 5am shift. Upon returning to watch at 9am we had the unfortunate news of a squall, rain and a clam patch which took from us all which was gained. Our struggle began again, as our desire to stay in front increased. With less than 30 nm to the scoring gate, the atmosphere onboard was intense. Wind speeds were building and strong at 15 knots with gusts up to 20 knots. We were continuously making sail trim adjustments and were monitoring every move of Uniquely Singapore. Nail biter, teethclincher, whatever title you give it, we fought tooth and nail to hold our ground. It was exciting and stressful at the same time. The possibility of gaining the 3 gate points may end up countering the 3 points possibly lost the other night with our medium weight spinnaker, regardless, we were not giving up!
As my watch shift approached the end, we asked to extend our positions a little longer to see ourselves through the gate. Shortly after 1pm, we had crossed the scoring gate just 5 minutes ahead of Uniquely Singapore to take 3 points for Team Cape Breton! Cheers, high fives, and smiles were shared all around. Simultaneously, my watch team headed off to ourbunks. I took this opportunity to reflect on some solid strong sailing. I was pleased with our progress!
After supper hour, my watch team is back on deck, the winds are beginning to lighten and shift. Since the scoring gate, we have steered away from Uniquely Singapore to the west and have slipped behind 2nm. We are slowly moving east off our rhum line, into more favourable winds, hoping to find a better breeze to carry us north.
Currently, we are cruising at steady 9 knots in a shifty 12-14 knots breeze. We are 275 nm off the coast of Savannah, South Carolina, and 425nm west of Bermuda. (Yes, almost completely across the Bermuda Triangle) And a little over 500nm to the finish line outside New York! I'm off to my bunk for a brief nap until 5am.
