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PB2007
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RIOW Solo 07
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A R T I C L E S
Syllogic
Alice's Mirror
Hands &
Brains
Storm in Barra
Shetland
Dismasted Meridian in Lerwick
alongside Pegasus
Mollymawk damaged
Syllogic crosses the finish line
in Plymouth
Round Britain and Ireland Two Handed Race 2002
compiled
by Roland Jonkhoff
Start of the Dual Round Britain & Islands
Sunday at 13.00 hours Dual Round Britain 2002 started. The Duke of Edinburgh first visited the yachts in Queen Anne's Battery Marina and then went on board the HMS Inverness to give the start signal at one.
The weather was lousy at first: rain, no visibility, 20 to 25 knots of wind from the west. Then it became a better, there even was some sun, but only for a short while... It will be the first test for a fleet of 38 boats that will go round Britain and Ireland the next few weeks. The first leg goes to Cork and is about 230 miles long. We will sail past the Scillies during Sunday night.
Maybe we'll have a reach leg from there. Our ETA in Cork is somewhere late in the afternoon on Monday. The Syllogic is in perfect condition. Roland spent whole Saturday afternoon packing the boat, which has resulted in a tidy looking cabin and there is no unnecessary weight left. Pieter dived under the boat and cleaned the hull. A hell of a job that took three hours. Martijn and Claudio installed the software and afterwards left for Holland. We hope to gather al lot of measurement data for our research on this race. Maybe we'll send you a message from sea, but we'll let you know more when we are in Cork.
Take care,
Pieter
News Letter 12 June
The weather was perfect during the start of the 2002 Dual Round England and Ireland Race on Sunday the 9th of June. There were sunny spells and about 20 knots of wind. At 13.00 hours the Duke of Edinburgh fired the guns from the HMS Inverness and off the fleet went. Syllogic had some problems at the start. It had to avoid La Promesse from Ronny Nollet and sailed into the spectator area. The runners caught the boom and for a moment we could not tack the boat. We had to gybe to get out of the spectator area and some of the spectator boats really had a bad time trying to avoid us, but everything went all right.
The boats stayed close to each other until Eddystone Lighthouse and from there everybody went his own way. We had an upwind leg till Bishop Rock off the Scillies. Some boats tacked into the coast to avoid the swell and the currents, others, like Syllogic, kept the starboard tack in the direction of France. We expected a wind shift that would give us a lift to the Scillies. (It never showed up.)
A few hours after the start the wind grew to gale force, about 35 knots from the southwest. The wind was not so bad, but the seas were very aggressive. Some waves went right over the boat and we had to clip ourselves on to avoid being washed overboard. Over the radio we heard that some boats got into trouble. Cunning Plan lost its mast. Other boats took the wise decision to take shelter in Falmouth. The night was awful. It was freezing cold. We had to steer the boat manually, because of the chaotic seas. Below deck everything was wet. We put two reefs in the mainsail, and flew the cutter jib. The boat was under control, although the sailing was unpleasant. Our plan was to sail very conservatively and to try to keep the boat intact. It was only the first leg and we still had to go all the way round Ireland and Britain. It took us 24 hours to get to Bishop Rock. Round the Scillies there was a huge swell. Some waves were so big that we lost wind pressure. At one point Syllogic sailed right through a braking wave. From the Scillies we had a reach for most of the last 140 miles to Cork. It was good sailing and we even had time to get out of our survival suits and get some sleep. At a quarter past five on Tuesday we finished. We had no idea how we were doing in the race but, as it turned out, we had not done too bad. We were the fifth boat in. There were two monohulls before us: the fifty footer Branec III and Roaring Forty of Hans Plas, one of our main competitors.
When we got to the race office we heard how the gale had affected the fleet. More than one third of the boats had had to retire. One of the saddest stories is that of Roaring Forty from Hans Plas. She had completed this leg before Syllogic and would have been fierce competition for us. But at the finish it appeared that one of the inner stays was torn right through the mast. A repair would take about five days. Hans decided to retire and headed back for Holland under jury rig. Another casualty was La Promesse of Ronny Nollet. Ronny had a brand new mainsail. It was blown to pieces in the gale and Ronny retired to Falmouth. We will miss both boats as they were our main competition.
Glory goes to Meridian, the 35 foot tri, sailed by Roger Barber and Malcolm Whitehead, they had line honours. An incredible achievement in such a small boat in that weather.
Other boats that had to retire were:
William Foster and Robin Knox-Johnston in Spirit, because of water in one of the floats of their tri, the Dutch built tri Gleam, because of a broken dagger board, Western Morning News, Nunatak, Jack O Lantern, Fay-J, QII, Hands & Brains, Triohe and Buck Eagle. The cat Pegasus made it to Cork but also had a broken dagger board and is waiting for repairs.
We hope that the next legs will be somewhat lighter. Thursday morning at five o'clock we start again. The weather does not look too bad. We probably have to tack our way around Fastnet Rock before being able to reach to Barra. A long reach would be very welcome, trying to widen the gap between ourselves and our nearest competitors with Bare Knuckles only half an hour behind. A reach leg is excellent for the Syllogic. More news to come from Barra!
Regards Pieter and Roland
Sail Mail 14 June
If you are making coffee, on a Friday morning and you look outside and see some 40 dolphins jumping around you, you are either hallucinating or, like us, at sea....
We are nearly halfway leg number two from the Round Britain and Ireland race that leads us from Cork to Barra, at the outer Hebrides. We started last Thursday morning at 05.17 hrs. with 8 knots of wind from the south-west. In order to take us out of the bay against the current we decided to hoist the code-zero just before the start. Unfortunately, while doing so the snap-shackle "snapped" and dropped this huge sail on deck and took the halyard up the mast. So, in stead of a well prepared, on the dot kind of start, we first had to retrieve the halyard from the top of the mast before actually getting on our way. What a start of a day.....
That day took us in shifting winds around Fastnet Rock. Drizzle, a submarine, fog, a low cloud cover and winds ranging from 10 up to 20 knots kept us busy all day. After Fastnet Rock we were able to ease our sheets and head on a more northerly course, along the western Irish coast. During the evening and at night a front passed overhead resulting in southerly winds up to 30 knots. Syllogic responded very well to these conditions and rode the waves at remarkable speeds (up to 20+ knots!!) In the gusts that accompanied this front passage, we were pinned down twice but were able to resume our "ride" without notable damage.
As we write this, at 10.30 on Friday morning, our course is due north, at an average speed of 9 knots, heading for the northern parts of Ireland. We still have some 250 nautical miles to go and hope to be able to maintain this speed. However, the passage of a new cold front is predicted for this night, again with 30 knots of wind.......
We have not seen any of our competitors since we started but will give you a full report once we arrive in Barra.
All the best from a wet, damp and grey world, called Syllogic.
Pieter & Roland
Update 17 June
In our previous update, written during the leg from Cork to Barra, we have already informed you on our misfortunate start. The snap shackle of our gennaker halyard snapped just minutes before the start while hoisting our code zero. With the jib on deck and the halyard up the mast there was little else to do then to retrieve it first, hoisting Roland up the mast using the mainsail halyard. After our misfortunate start we got going and rounded the famous Fastnet Rock in windy but misty conditions. To tell you the truth, except for the area around Cork and a few isolated rocks, we have not seen anything from the entire island of Ireland. All covered in mist we past the entire west coast on our way to the Outer Hebrides.
After our first night at sea, with some 25-30 knots of wind, daylight brought us a steady south-westerly wind of 17-18 knots. At night we had really pushed Syllogic, crashing down waves at speeds over 20 knots. Such intensive sailing not only asks a lot from the material (the boat) but also from her crew. The lighter weather conditions were therefore a pleasant change allowing us to make some emergency repairs and to get a little rest. One of the battens in the mainsail had spliced and needed our attention. We lowered the mainsail and repaired the batten as good as we could with the materials available. However, when we had the mainsail back up neither of us was really pleased with the result. We decided to lower the main again and reverse the batten in order to have the weak spot at the leech of the sail, being less stressed then at the mast-end. This worked to our satisfaction but had cost us some valuable time which showed just before sunset when Bare Knuckles crossed our way flying an enormous spinnaker at high speed.
Finally seeing a competitor is nice. Seeing him overtake you never is. The actual conditions allowed some of our fierce competitors to fly huge spinnakers and nearly sail on their rump-line towards Barra. Syllogic however can not sail directly downwind as a result of her wide stern. Under such conditions we have to "tack our way downwind".
Another "problem" had to do with our sail wardrobe. We can use our gennaker up to 15 knots of wind while the jib-top, when used on a downwind run, gets effective with 20 knots and more. The wind? Of course, 17-18 knots. It might look like a minor detail but a speed difference of half a knot during the remaining 24 hour run might lead to a difference of more then 10 miles in favour of our competitors!!! So, after having tried the gennaker again, we decided to stay with the jib-top and do our utmost to prevent further "damage". We cross-tacked one or two of our competitors during the night and the morning. With an expected change in wind direction we decided to tack to the lower side of the field hoping for this "down-wind header" to come. This time the gods were with us. 10 miles before Berneray (Barra Head) the wind veered to the south-east. Bare Knuckles had anticipated the same manoeuvre and had positioned herself 1 mile ahead of us. With the wind increasing up to 23-24 knots, Syllogic felt like flying and just before Barra Head we were really charging forward. Bare Knuckles was still flying this huge spinnaker and had some serious problems keeping her under control. Broaching several times allowed us to overtake Bare Knuckles eventually and regain the lead. The last 15 miles up to the finish just before Castlebay were run in less then one hour!!! What a finish and what a fight. And as it turned out, Bare Knuckles, Audacious, J-Action and Hayai all finished within one hour of us.
As we write this, we are officially 7 hours away from restart, at 22:05 on Monday the 17th of June. Nevertheless, a very deep depression has passed us overnight with winds up to 45 knots. Right now the wind is doing 35 knots and the swell in Castlebay is very choppy. The forecast expects another trough to pass us this evening with even more wind then last night. We will probably decide to stay here for another 24 hours to await the passage of this front. So far, none of the competitors feels like leaving.
We will keep you updated on our progress and that of the weather....
Best regards,
Pieter & Roland
Sail Mail Barra
Thursday afternoon 15.07 hours and 33 seconds Syllogic passed the finish line in Lerwick. She was the first boat in her class with only the multihulls Mollymawk, Pegasus and the 50 footer Branac III in front of her. The next yachts only passed the finish line early Friday morning so Syllogic is doing quite well.
In the mean time racing has been very tough. We had a very hard time in Barra. Barra is a beautiful remote little island, but it has almost no facilities. There are only a few moorings in a large shallow bay. Most of the participants were in on Sunday. We were all a bit tired and having a party with exciting funky bagpipe music. I mean it, the guy in the pub could play the bagpipe so well that you could not sit still and almost had to dance. He was a kind of Jimmy Hendrix on bagpipe. Anyhow.
Late in the evening it became clear that the weather forecast was bad. There was a gale coming, maybe even a storm with hurricane force winds. Some of the skippers proposed to delay the whole race for 24 hours (those that had to leave early because they were in front of the rest), but others were against this idea. In the end we could not reach a unanimous decision so the whole idea was abandoned. Especially the skipper of Meridian, the small trimaran that was leading over all had to make a hard decision. He was to leave at three o' clock in the morning and the weather maps were looking like a dartboard. One gigantic depression between Scotland and Iceland. In the end Meridian took the wise decision not to leave.
We thought we were all moored safely in the bay and went to bed. Roland slept on board the Syllogic, moored alongside one of our biggest competitors Bare Knuckles. That night I heard the storm screaming round the roof of Castle Bay Hotel. In the morning I got a call from Roland. At first he reported that everything was under control. Half an hour later the wind increased. We had force 11 in the bay and we were moored on the lee side, only 30 meters from the rocks on the shore. I got a new call from Roland. Things are not OK here, he said. Bare Knuckles is banging against Syllogic like hell. Most of the fenders are gone. The boats have different hull shapes and behave very differently in the waves. The hull of the Syllogic is badly damaged and you can also see the cracks inside of the boat. What to do?
Ferdinand of J-action had a good idea. Go to a garage and get some used car tires to protect the boats. I hopped in the Landrover and went to the islands only garage to collect all the tires I could get. The guys from the RNLI did a great job in their rib and brought us to the boats. On board the situation was bad. The sea railing was bent like spaghetti. Both boats had hull damage and Bare Knuckles had a broken spreader. We fitted six car tires and two mattresses between the boats and from that point on the situation was relatively under control.
Next problem: the boats were moored on three lines, but the tension was so high the we feared they might break. We decided to attach a chain to the mooring, but in this wind and waves bringing the dingy out was no option. In the end I used my diving gear to swim to the mooring and fitted the chain with help of John, the skipper of Bare Knuckles. I swam back to the shore to consult Rhebergen - the builder of the hull - about a method to make an emergency repair. Rini and Sander Bakker of the Hayai went shopping on the island to buy all the epoxy they could get. Roland and John kept watch on the boats. Later the wind decreased. The chain on the mooring was not such a bad idea.
In the evening Bare Knuckles went to the lifeboat harbour to repair their spreader. Roland laminated the inside of the hull to make the Syllogic watertight again. Officially we could start at 11 o'clock that night but there was still a severe storm forecast so we decided to sleep at the hotel. A soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep. The next morning at seven o'clock we got the weather forecast for the day. The wind would ease a bit in the morning and then increase to gale force again. The decrease in wind (to 7 bft) would be just enough for us to leave the bay safely and reach open sea before the gale would hit us again. So, we decided to start.
We will tell you all about the trip in an new story later today!
Syllogic in Lerwick
Syllogic arrived in Lerwick, the Shetlands, 20 June, at 15.00 hrs. She is second in her Class (first is trimaran Mollymawk)
Syllogic broke its speed record on leg no. 3. Meridian broke its mast.....
The dual handed Round Britain and Ireland Race has everything you can possibly expect from a race. Not only can it be seen as a pure endurance race (half of the fleet is out) it also has the fanatics and eagerness of the crew you would normally only expect at a "round the cans race". Everybody just gives it its best and push their boat as fast as possible, for as long as it takes. And so did we on this last leg.
After the nerve wrecking night in Barra that caused considerable damage to Syllogic's hull, we managed to sneak out between two depressions, approximately 12 hours after our "official" starting time. The wind was still in the lower 30 knots but bearable. We needed this gap to tack our way down from Barra to Barrahead, some 15 miles south of Barra. After that we would be able to ease our sheets an turn the turbo on. Still, to get to Barra head was pretty rough. During the previous 24 hours huge swells had built up and considerably delayed our progress. Even tacking turned out to be a real challenge in this swell.....
After Berneray we were able to take a northerly course towards St. Kilda, ease our sheets and get going.
Slowly the depression closed in on us and the winds increased again to 35 up to 40 knots. While our new course was directly towards the northern part of the Shetlands, north-north-east, the wind was blowing from the south-south-west. And blowing it certainly was! We decided to take our jib down and sail on a reefed mainsail only, just like sailing a Finn or a Laser. The jib did not help us on this downwind course anyway. With only the main on we could easily control Syllogic while the environment dramatically changed. Waves were growing. Wind was blowing.
With a force seven to eight Bft blowing from behind we were surfing down waves like Robby Nash. This was absolutely amazing. Waves increased to 8 or 10 meters in height and we just rode them like a surfboard. Crashing down and increasing speed to 24....25....and yes, even 26 KNOTS!!! This was just some plain southern ocean sailing in the northern hemisphere. After several hours we were actually on the edge of the depression were gusts hit us at 50 knots. Thank god we were able to gybe Syllogic for her new course, a little more to the east and away from the depression. Still the wind kept its end of the bargain and continued to push us at lightning speed towards the Shetland. Surfing down continued and we lost track of the period of time the speedometer showed speed 20 knots an more. Surfing down a wave didn't just take a few seconds, we were planing for nearly a minute at a time. She just couldn't get enough....
This all sounds like fun but don't forget that the temperature is just 8 ° Celsius, the water 4 ° Celsius and both mean a good smash in the face. Waves decide to break all over Syllogic filling the cockpit and, if you are unlucky, your boots. Surfing down a wave is fun, A roller coaster ride down a 10 meter high wave can be very scary. The nose just digs into the bottom of the wave and you pray it will come out within a second or you are in deep s..t.
This "southern ocean sailing" takes everything from both crew and equipment. As it turned out when we reached the northernmost part of the Shetlands, we had several torns in our mainsail. In the lee of the island we decided to lower it for emergency repairs before tacking south towards Lerwick. Imagine, at 4 o'clock in the morning, the sun is still up (!), the temperature is some 5 ° Celsius and you are trying to get some thread through the eye of a needle. Making some small repairs took us nearly a full hour but we were satisfied with the result and continued our race. Beating upwind again, for the final 50 miles towards Lerwick, the wind decreased and started shifting.
In the end it took us nearly 8 hours to finish this final part of leg 3. Entering the bay at Lerwick was a beautiful sight with sunny spells and rising temperatures. We made it again and will surely need the upcoming 48 hours to rest, sleep, take a shower, take another shower (we smell bad) and rest. Oh, and do all the repairs to get us in racing mode again for our next leg; a 470 mile stretch all the way down to Lowestoft. Come to think of it, 48 hours are very short so I will stop writing now.
All the best
Pieter and Roland
Sail Mail 23 June
Update on leg 4
After what seemed like an incredible short stopover in Lerwick, we are currently on our way to Lowestoft. The 48 hours we had in the Shetlands just disappeared into thin air. We had to work hard to get Syllogic back in racing conditions, repairing her hull and her mainsail, checking her entire rig and replacing some small bits and pieces. Saturday the 22nd, just past 3 pm, we left for leg number 4 (to Lowestoft on the East coast).
Ss we write this we are 24 hrs at sea and have already sailed 215 miles of the 470 mile run down the North sea. After our rough encounters with both the Celtic sea and the Atlantic, the North sea seems more like a playground. Still, the size of the waves may be limited if compared to the Atlantic, they are steep, short and aggressive, making the North sea a very wet one.
We left Lerwick under light conditions and had to tack our way out of the bay. Some five hours after we started, the shifty winds of less then 8 knots were replaced by a relative constant westerly stream that varied from 18 to 28 knots. We have had nearly every combination of sails on, varying from our code-zero to a gennaker, the jib top to the high aspect, no water ballast or nearly full, reefed or unreefed.
We are making good progress and are anxious to see what our competitors are doing. We will keep you updated and will try to improve our already impressive 24 hr average.
Greetings from the whirlpool of water.
Pieter & Roland
Syllogic reached Lowestoft on 25 June, 0.53 hrs.
She is now 2nd in her Class and 4th overall.
Syllogic will start again 27 June at 0.53 hrs.
Sail mail 26 June
Some say life is too short, we just say that stopovers are too short.
As we write this we are only 3 hours away from starting on the final leg to Plymouth. Even though we did not have any structural damage a lot of time and effort has gone into keeping Syllogic in full racing conditions. A new wind unit had to be installed in the mast, the top swivel for our code-zero jib had to be repaired, lines spliced, engine checked, winches serviced etcetera.... And yes, the crew needed some rest as well. The leg from Lerwick to Lowestoft went very prosperous but still we are getting more and more tired.
After our start in Lerwick we had to tack our way out of the bay. Light and shifty winds had pinpointed Syllogic at the entrance of the bay and we needed our full sail wardrobe to manoeuvre ourselves out of there. With the code-zero on (our largest light wind jib) and our full main we were able to create our own windage and pick up speed slowly. Some five hours after our start the wind started to increase and positioned itself in the west. What a relief that was, though we had to go right through our entire set of sails as the wind continued to increase. With a beautiful kind of "sunset" in the north (!) we enjoyed a wonderful night of sailing. The speedometer hardly dropped below 10 knots promising a record run to Lowestoft. 24 hours after we had started we had covered 215 miles and were still running at high speed towards the south (as mentioned in our previous update).
During the entire second night we had our full main on, the high aspect jib and 2 full water ballast tanks. Syllogic really enjoyed these conditions and was rocketing on, hitting wave after wave, soaking her crew. The steep and short waves from the North Sea really get you wet even though they are approximately a third in size when compared to their Atlantic brothers. At one stage we were called on the VHF by a guard vessel next to one of the oil rigs. The guy at the other end requested "the sailing yacht in position ..... travelling at 16 knots due south to respond". They were probably kind of anxious to find out what yacht was travelling at those kind of speeds and wanted to warn us about the existence of that specific oilrig. As if you would be able to miss it...
At daybreak the wind started to decrease slowly which resulted in us going down the sail wardrobe again but in the opposite direction. At noon we were sailing near Hull and the wind had nearly dropped out on us. Just a few knots of wind enabled us to maintain little speed but still, we were proceeding. This however got us into a critical time frame: If we wanted to reach Lowestoft with this tide, we had to be there at 00:30 latest or the tide would catch us and, with the limited amount of wind, reverse us. Manoeuvring ourselves closer to the Norfolk coast would be our best option. The existing tidal stream might just "sling-shot" us around the coastline all the way down to Lowestoft. However, you need wind to get there in the first place. And wind was what we were lacking.
With the code-zero on we were able to reach speeds of 3,5 maybe 4 knots...... and time was ticking by. We are at spring tide so the slingshot theory would really work to our benefits if we would reach the coast in time. Else it would backfire on us and we would be captured within the sandbanks, with no room for manoeuvring. Every now and then a slight gust of wind would set our hopes up followed by yet another depressing calm. Suddenly our prayers were heard and the wind increased. We even had to lower our code-zero and tack our way down against a southerly stream. With only 4 hours left to cover 25 miles we reached the point where we had to make our decision. At that time the wind had again abandoned us and we were hoisting our large cloth again with the idea of going outside of the sandbanks. Just as we wanted to winch the sheet in, the swivel in top of the mast snapped and down came our code-zero (sounds familiar?). We picked it out of the water and had to take a decision quickly. Go outside of the banks with room for manoeuvring still without having the possibility of hoisting large jibs or go within and take all the risk of being captured by the tides. We decided for the latter.
Tacking our way down a very narrow channel, at night, with very little time left and not much wind either is pretty nerve wrecking. It, however, had one major benefit. Being so close under the shore after a warm day with clear blue skies created the perfect conditions for a land breeze to develop. And that was exactly what happened. This phenomenon created the right amount of wind for us to increase our speed to the so necessary 6 knots. With near flat water we silently proceeded close to the coast all the way to Lowestoft. Just half an hour after the tide started to change we managed to pass the finish line. Another half hour and we would not have been able to reach it in time.
So, at 00:50 hrs we had completed leg no 4, 470 miles long (measured in straight lines) in just under 58 hours. Not bad. And, as it turned out, we had narrowed the gap between us and Branec (who had hit a coaster and damaged their bow), narrowed the gap to Mollymawk (who had lost the first 2 foot of their bow in a wave!) and increased the gap between us and our next competitors. A comforting thought just before the start of our final leg to Plymouth.
We will keep you updated and will try to write you as soon as we finish the line in Plymouth, somewhere within 48-72 hours from now.......
Greetings from Lowestoft
Pieter & Roland On 28 June at 16.00 hrs
Syllogic finished the Round Britain & Ireland Race in Plymouth as first monohull in Class 3!
FINISHED. Exactly 19 days, 3 hours and 6 minutes after the start of the Round Britain & Ireland Race on 9 June, we are back in Plymouth and have completed the Round Britain & Ireland Race 2002. A race that will be considered as some sort of "demolition race", being very heavy for both crew and ship.
So what happened during our final leg....
We started in Lowestoft on Thursday 26th at approximately 00:50 hrs with a westerly wind. With the full main and flying our jib top we managed to increase our speed to an average of 10 knots, more then sufficient to "kill the tide". The weather forecast had predicted that the wind would veer from the west to the northwest with force 3 to 5 beaufort. All the ingredients for a smooth and quick passage! And quick we were, at least for the first 12 hours. Speeding our way down the Thames estuary in pitch dark at speeds up to 18 knots. I think the captain of the occasional coaster we crossed must have scratched his head looking at this high speed "bleep" on his radar. Syllogic sure likes this kind of roller coaster rides. Just 10 hours after our start we had already passed Dover and were heading towards Beachy Head.
As anticipated, the wind started to veer towards the North. And towards the South. And the West....... Dropping from 18 knots to 8, increasing to 15, falling back to 4 knots, changing.... I think you get the picture. The wind just did not want to settle, neither in direction nor in strength. As a result, we had to go through the entire sail wardrobe over and over again, changing headsails nearly every hour, adjusting the heel of the mast and the amount of ballast. Frustratingly slow we tried to beat our way against tide and wind. Again "parked" next to Beachy Head (not much different from last year!). It was not until dusk that the wind decided to increase in a steady way and settle in the north-west. Still it had a little surprise left. We had been joking all day regarding the fact that all our headsails had been used during that day. All but our heavy weather cutter jib. We should not have made jokes about that. Just shortly after we had set the jib-top to increase our speed, the wind decided to do the same. It did not stop before the meters would indicate a steady 28 knots of wind. So, in the end, we even had to reef our main and furl our high aspect jib to hoist the cutter-jib. The advantage however was that our speed was in the double figures once more. Just as we reached the cape of Start Point, some 15 miles away from the finish, the entire charade of shifting winds started all over again, delaying our finish with at least 4 hours.
The shifting winds had not been our sole point of attention. Ever since Ramsgate, 20 miles north of Dover, we had seen this little white sail on the far horizon. The sails of the only monohull in front of us, Branec. So you can imagine that, regardless of all the shifting conditions, we were focussed on bridging the gap between us and the 10 foot longer French Open 50. Whenever one of us had been off duty to get some rest, the first question when stepping into the cockpit would be "where is Branec?". And it was getting more excited by the hour as you could clearly see that we were getting closer and closer. At Start Point Roger Langevin and Henriette Lemay had decided to round the cape very close while we opted for a wider course with more wind. At one stage the distance between us must have been as little as one mile. And closing...
With as little as five miles to go it was still not decided who would win this "match race". Branec had taken to sea while Syllogic was tacking along the coast, taking advantage of the lifting conditions just under the shore. With the entrance to Plymouth Sound in sight, Branec made its final tack towards the finish line. The additional 10 foot of hull length enabled them to create just the extra speed they needed to pass in front of us and finish ahead of Syllogic.
As it turned out, they had followed our every move and had been fighting their best to stay in the lead.
Still, we think we can be extremely proud of our result. We are second monohull overall, first monohull in our class (which has always been our prime objective) and forth ship overall. Race winner is the 40 foot trimaran Mollymawk, who finished just 6 hours ahead of us. Second was the 45 foot catamaran Pegasus, a little more then an hour ahead of us, followed closely by the open 50 Branec, again just 30 minutes before Syllogic passed the line. All after some 2.000 miles of offshore racing.
19 day, 6 hours and a few more minutes to complete this race. It includes the compulsory stopovers of 48 hours in Cork, Barra, Lerwick and Lowestoft plus the additional 12 hours in Barra after the storm. It has been a remarkable race. One for the books.
We will first get some rest and await the other competitors. In a few days time we will head back to the Netherlands and will start processing the video footage we made on this race. Most of it will find its way to the Robosail site so make sure you will remain updated on the progress.
For now, we hope that you have enjoyed our short updates as we look forward to a warm shower, a few drinks and a long sleep.
With our very best regards,
Pieter and Roland