Saturday, 6 October 2007
At last, we have left!
It is always the small things that seem to take you by surprise and take much longer than expected to sort out. This time is was the Sat C communication module that caused us the grief. Without it functioning correctly we were unable to leave due to the race rules. What should have taken no more than two hours actually took about five days to sort. At least we no a hell of a lot more about the system now than we did before!
We eventually slipped Weymouth at 1900 on Friday evening with 15 knots of ENE wind to send us on our way. There was a great sense of relief for Steve who has been working tirelessly to get Spirit oaf Weymouth ready. Hampered by ‘man flue,’ Steve’s patience with the Sat C had definitely been pushed hard.
Last night was one of best nights sailing I have ever had. Soon after the kite was hoisted the wind picked up to 22 – 24 knots. These were perfect conditions for my first night out on a new boat. I was left in absolute no doubt as to why Open 60 sailors become totally addicted. Powering through the English Channel at 18 knots in the pitch black is amazing. We were blessed with a clear sky and plenty of stars to aim at to keep us on course.
Words cannot describe the feelings, photographs cannot capture the atmosphere and video cannot record the moment. This really is one of those rare treats in sailing that can only be witnessed first hand. The power of these ocean race yachts is nothing short of bewildering.
Being left on deck on my own for the first time at 0500 is one of the moments I will savour for a long time. I was completely humbled by the sense of freedom and responsibility that single handed sailors have. ‘Was I nervous?’ You bet I was. There is a fine line between success and disaster which solo sailors must bridge. Being alone, on deck in the pitch black opened my eyes to a whole new world. It was quite magical.
So the question that many people have asked me recently; ‘Is a single handed Open 60 campaign next?’ My answer is simple, ‘absolutely no way!’ I now have an immeasurable amount of respect for the guys that are tough enough (or stupid enough) to take these machines around the world single handed. I know that I could not do it. Two handed is brilliant but I will leave the single handed stuff to Steve!
We eventually slipped Weymouth at 1900 on Friday evening with 15 knots of ENE wind to send us on our way. There was a great sense of relief for Steve who has been working tirelessly to get Spirit oaf Weymouth ready. Hampered by ‘man flue,’ Steve’s patience with the Sat C had definitely been pushed hard.
Last night was one of best nights sailing I have ever had. Soon after the kite was hoisted the wind picked up to 22 – 24 knots. These were perfect conditions for my first night out on a new boat. I was left in absolute no doubt as to why Open 60 sailors become totally addicted. Powering through the English Channel at 18 knots in the pitch black is amazing. We were blessed with a clear sky and plenty of stars to aim at to keep us on course.
Words cannot describe the feelings, photographs cannot capture the atmosphere and video cannot record the moment. This really is one of those rare treats in sailing that can only be witnessed first hand. The power of these ocean race yachts is nothing short of bewildering.
Being left on deck on my own for the first time at 0500 is one of the moments I will savour for a long time. I was completely humbled by the sense of freedom and responsibility that single handed sailors have. ‘Was I nervous?’ You bet I was. There is a fine line between success and disaster which solo sailors must bridge. Being alone, on deck in the pitch black opened my eyes to a whole new world. It was quite magical.
So the question that many people have asked me recently; ‘Is a single handed Open 60 campaign next?’ My answer is simple, ‘absolutely no way!’ I now have an immeasurable amount of respect for the guys that are tough enough (or stupid enough) to take these machines around the world single handed. I know that I could not do it. Two handed is brilliant but I will leave the single handed stuff to Steve!
posted by Sailing Logic at 12:26 PM
