Blogs 2009

Gbr1659r . Just 4 fun.Just rounding the fastnet rock in the fog. Might noteven see it! All a bit soggy but moral good. Played 52 games of ' i spy',need a new game now. Looking forward to a good spinaker run tonight notat 45 degrees. Sweet and sour pork for tea. Over.

bluQube - probably the only boat in the Rolex Fastnet Fleet listening to Girls Aloud!!!

drizzle again. unbelievable !

And it's all over Red Rover! The 2009 Rolex Fastnet race has ended 68 hours after it began for allonboard Aviva. We had a great race with the front of the fleet being closetogether for the entire race. The lead in the IMOCA Open 60 class changedregularly and scattered amongst us were the mini maxi yachts of classSuper 0. Within eye sight of each other the first five Open 60's rounded theFastnet Rock at breakfast time yesterday. Artemis 2 led followed by BT,Pindar, Safran and then ourselves. Spinnakers were hoisted and we returnedto the English Channel in smooth downwind sailing conditions. Although welost sight of the other IMOCA 60's we remained in view of Luna Rossa andRosebud.Continuous gybing saw us round the Scilly Isles and the Lizard headlandmaking tactical gains on the two other boats. We were unable to catch theother IMOCA Open 60's but we did finish within a few hours of each otherand ahead of the two other Super 0 yachts that we had sailed with sincethe Fastnet Rock. Breakfast off Plymouth breakwater saw a happy and relaxed crew onboardAviva. It was wonderful to sail with the boat team onboard as normallythey do all the work and preparation and don't get to enjoy the sailing. Ienjoyed their company and we all took pleasure in having Brian Thompsononboard with us. A wealth of knowledge, his calm manner made some goodtactical decisions and helped keep us on the pace to finish in amongst theleading pack. Congratulations to BT that sailed an excellent race, two handed inpreparation for his race this winter, the Transat Jacques Vabre race fromLe Havre, France to Puerto Limon in Costa Rica.We are now heading home bathed in sunshine with the spinnaker still up andafternoon tea being enjoyed. Everyone is smiling as tonight we will sleepin our own beds! Dee and Team

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So the Fasnet race has changed face somewhat from a driftathon to a slamathon. Sailing upwind is never that much fun but sailing upwind in a figaro II for 3 days is a real test of patience! Soggy doesn't come close to describing both boat and its 2 crew, the talc has even had to be deployed in an attempt to dry out damp derriers (with not much success I hasten to add). Oh the glamour of life on the ocean wave.

Ok so last time we reported a string of disasters that had plagued us even before the race began so today we bring you a resounding success story, as well as a couple of minor problems but we would be lying if we told you it was all going swimmingly out here! In a brief spell of nice weather early Tuesday morning, we deemed it suitable conditions to crawl into the back of the boat and remove the offending ballast pump that had stubonly refused to work. This was after exhausting all other options to jump start it back into life including hard wiring it to the batteries (a few sparks went flying in that attempt). After taking the thing to pieces we have diagnosed it with death due to drowning, not good news. With more wind forecast and the need for ballast imminent, Hannah set to work with a fierce determination to turn the stirrup pump and a length of hose cut from the bilge pump into something that could draw said ballast. 15 minutes later and with the aid of a hacksaw, some emergency repair tape and the essential ingredient to all boat repairs, good old gaffer tape, we are proud to introduce 'Big Bertha'. This legendary device involves lowering the hose over the side of the boat whilst the output pipe of the stirrip pump gets wedged down the ballast overflow pipes on deck. You pump like crazy for about 10 minutes and there you have it - ballast!!! Simple but highly effective. Big Bertha then really came into her own, after the removal of the electric ballast pump and in our excitement over our new creation we had completely forgotten that the scoop was still down. This resulted in rather a large volume of water entering the boat and momentarily had us thinking we might just be doing a spot of sinking, (we might both be brunette but we are still allowed blond moments when tired). All sorted now.

This mornings fun has involved being chased by a guard ship for a vessel towing seismic gear. The on deck VHF sounds like someone talking in a fish tank so we hadn't heard their call. Katie then spoke to a very nice chap who whilst obviously concerned that we didn't become an involunatry part of the seismic survey was more keen to make sure we could get back on our course asap as he appreciated that we were in a race! And finally for today we bring you the tale of the great spoon hunt. There are or should we say were 4 spoons on board, essential for the consumption of the delightful freeze dried food. Unfortunately the spoons don't seem to like staying where they are meant to which involves a major hunt every meal time. This morning however we have discovered that the best way to hunt a spoon is to exercise a little patience. Sit at the nav seat for long enough and one is sure to come floating by!

That's it for now but fingers crossed we will get round the rock tonight and no we are not at all jealous of the crews from the big fast boats who are all home and dry...ok maybe a little bit...

Blog 5

Tequila Sunrise!!!

Every time Rusty talks to me I get a nice feeling in my tummy! J'adorethe way he trims his kite.

But I am very glad you asked me that other question. My trip is a fairytale come true and yes it has been a life changing coola-bulla awesomeexperience.

How did it all begin? It all began last Saturday night in The King andQueen, my usual watering hole in Hambletown.

Doris, Daphne, Dolores and me were having our weekly shot contest. It wastequila based. In walked the tools!!! Cool, manly, muscled legs inwhisper-grey cropped lycra leggings, speedos on top  - the layered lookmeets superman and of course the most INCREDIBLE tans ( well they AREIrish).

Rusty glanced across ; our eyes locked. Omygod he's just a babe magnet.

Next thing me and Doris are back in their camper boat, lorrying up thelast of their voddy, my considerable emotional scale that ranges fromlust to love truly awakened. Then I must have dozed off quite soundly(hope I didn't snore) because next thing I woke to hear a lot of countingcoming out of their transistor, people shooting at us and all the toolssitting in a line with their legs through the fence on the up side of thecamper boat!

So I don't know where I am but I do know that I am now - Prisilla, piratequeen, very much in love, surrounded by tools all talking in a more thanusually animated fashion about 'tying up',(i hope that doesn't mean likewhat happened to Dolores in Corfu). And I just KNOW, I want to haveRusty's baby.

And I do need to think about happy things because quite honestly there wasquite a bit of unpleasantness last night when the Maniac needed wool forsomething ( never looked the knitting type) I just stayed very, very quietand put on an attractive My Little Pony look. Anyway it worked. Later Ithrew the scarf over the side. He's such a KIWIanker! (my words)

Well, actually I threw two things over the side...when i noticed thattransbonder thingie that some silly billy had tied onto the fence in themiddle of the outdoor loo had got really quite very smelly, It really hadto go.

I am just so looking forward to my next trip and wonder whether there areany other camper boats that have needs. I can do all the directions anddrive really fast. And of course I can knit.

But right now I'm hiding because those tools are looking very ugly again.

Byeeee for now

Prisilla

Top of the mornin to u! Apparently this is france...News from the dash...Leroy's musto drybag doesnt fit, so refuses to come on deck. Skip tried towarm the valves in the weatherfax to find the antenna was connected to thestereo speaker, boat enquiry later.... Jury still out on historic orclassic but happy to be on a such a fine 70's (man) yacht!

At around 0530 this morning with approximately 58NM to go to the Fastnet Rock EH01 suffered catastrophic mainsail damage with the failure of the sail just below the the top batten resulting in a luff to leach split and the head coming completly off the sail.

To say we as a crew are somewhat disapointed would be an understatement however we have chosen to continue the race and not give up. Currently under #1 and storm trysail we are making around 7kts in roughly the right direction with and ETA at the rock of 1630 today. We are going to have a go at cobbling together a mainsail to go downwind with, failing that we'll hoist everything else we have on every available halyard - we wont be last!

Crew moral is still good and not one single member of the crew wanted to retire, we intend to finish no matter what as the beer will definately taste better! If any further news comes up we'll let you know.

Cheers
Andy Middleton
(disapointed) skipper EH01

Hi there,

The Scilly´s look nice this time of the year, not sommething I can say of the inside of Sjambok. If I told you before the boat was smelling, it is even more smelling now and if this is going in a straight line... she will be in quarentine by the time we reach Plymouth.

We can just see Tonnerre de Breskens and Lucky who past us early this morning. We are now figuring out wether to stay on the shoreside and avoid the current and maybe catch some seabreeze, or go out to sea looking for more pressure.

If I see the tidal atlas and the latst weather forcast (thank you BBC), I can say that this race is far from over. We are hoping to arrive in Plymouth somewere around 1AM.

Sunny greetings
Yani

Top of the mornin to u! Apparently this is france...

News from the dash...

Leroy's musto drybag doesnt fit, so refuses to come on deck. Skip tried to warm the valves in the weatherfax to find the antenna was connected to the stereo speaker, boat enquiry later.... Jury still out on historic or classic but happy to be on a such a fine 70's (man) yacht!

Hey blog the Chernikeeff has had a pretty interesting 48hrs with a few more minor breakages which the onboard maintenance team have under full control.

The Chernikeeff was fully flying yesterday being 2nd 52 to round the fastnet rock, visibility was down to 1/2 a mile when we rounded, but did not get to crack sheets until we had reached the turning mark.

Once their we hoisted the spinaker and have been sailing some very good speeds on the rum line down towards bishop rock.

Over night we had limited visibility as we sailed through some of the fleet appreciating being in a bigger faster boat.

More to come
C2 pease out

we're on board with a man who turned 60. He's over the hill but still frisky. He said thanks for the scarf it gave me a laugh. Lucky i brought my own whisky.

At 0831 this morning

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At around 0530 this morning with approximately 58NM to go to the Fastnet Rock EH01 suffered catastrophic mainsail damage with the failure of the sail just below the the top batten resulting in a luff to leach split and the head coming completely off the sail.

To say we as a crew are somewhat disappointed would be an understatement however we have chosen to continue the race and not give up. Currently under #1 and storm trysail we are making around 7kts in roughly the right direction with and ETA at the rock of 1630 today. We are going to have a go at cobbling together a mainsail to go downwind with, failing that we'll hoist everything else we have on every available halyard - we wont be last!

Crew moral is still good and not one single member of the crew wanted to retire, we intend to finish no matter what as the beer will definitely taste better!

If any further news comes up we'll let you know.

Cheers
Andy Middleton
(disappointed) skipper EH01

0715hrs - Finish line in our sights

We are just ahead of Luna Rossa and about 6 miles from the corner of Plymouth Sound. We then have 1.5 miles to go to reach the breakwater and finish line which we anticipate crossing just before 0800hrs, making us 8th across the line in the Rolex Fastnet race.

Dee and Team Aviva

Leopard with the big genny up seen by Picolini at 20:00u on 11/08, passinglands end!

Editor's Note:

The Report arrived only now, probably due to mobile phone coverage.