Tag Archives: Ocean Sprint

Planning, recuperating and following

It is nice to be back for a few days planning the next stage of the adventure, but I am starting to get itching feet already. Today I am in Den Helder where the whole idea of travelling round the world and the Clipper race began and where the boats will arrive on 23 July. Planning the next stage of my adventure is going well; 4 days with the Clipper teams in Qingdao, a 15 day tour through China and flights to visit Seattle and San Francisco to then drive a 20 day route visiting the National Parks on the way to Cedar Rapids. Can’t wait to get going again.

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Camper versus Clipper, Wheels versus Wind

This week the Clipper yachts left Hobart to race to Airlie Beach. Two days later I left Sydney to also “race” to Airlie Beach. We are all due to arrive early next week. The Clipper fleet on Monday and I will be there on Wednesday 13th January, follow this race, one powered by petrol and the other by wind.

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Sailing round the corner towards Sydney.

20151211-2This weekend I am packing my things at home, making the last arrangements for being away for 6 months. A month travelling from south Australia to Airlie Beach in the north east, 4 months sailing the oceans and another month working at my company offices in Iowa.

Earlier this week all boats cleared the Ocean Sprint challenge in which they can earn additional points for being the fastest between two lines. The results were 37 hours 47 minutes for LMAX Exchange, 37 hours 54 minutes for Garmin and 38 hours 19 minutes for GREAT Britain. Unicef’s time was 48 hours 57 minutes which was not a bad afford as the conditions were different for them. Continue reading

Miss Universe and big fronts, will they ever reach Albany?

20151115Big fronts continue to catch-up with the fleet which now looks like a straight line of dots on the Race Standings map. Conditions remain difficult with short periods of respite when there is no wind to keep the sails filled. One of the skippers reported that it is getting a little warmer as they are slowly turning northerly which must be a great feeling. It does show how much south they have been as it is 22 oC in Albany during the day.

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Overtaking weather fronts causing concertina effect sailing

20151016 With the first week and 1,000 miles are behind them, Unicef is picking up speed in rough and variable conditions, the “Purring Roaries are Waking up“. But then 12 hours later they are drifting again in zero winds. This week has seen fast moving fronts catching up on the fleet at four times the speed of the yachts creating an concertina effect of varying distances between the yachts.

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