Homeward Bound

Apologies if our blog came to an abrupt end yesterday, but we were on a
mission to beat Voador across the line. Whilst we were catching her all the
time, we simply ran of race track and crossed 7 minutes behind her. Next
time, hey! Then once in Plymouth it was a mad dash to get to the bar.

Overall we are extremely pleased with our result. To be the 2nd J109 in the
results is quite an achievement given the level of competition. That the
J109s in general did not feature high in the results is a reflection of the
nature of the race with a lot of upwind work. Had there been more spinnaker
reaching the story could be quite different. But that is part of the fun of
the sport - no two races are ever the same.

Heading home now, with spinnaker flying in the sunshine. With time to
reflect on the race we are now looking at areas we can improve the boat, its
systems and how we work with them. The list is growing.

Finally, a big thank you to all for taking an interest in our adventure, and
posting your comments which will help keep the memories of the race all the
more fresh in our minds. And in those long winter evenings we will no doubt
be replaying the race time and time again, wondering about all those
opportunities to pick up the 7 minutes that we needed on Voador.

Regards,
Richard & Jeremy
Sir Admiral, Sir Pengu, Dave, JTB & Duck

Finished

At last. Safely tied up, showered, and cleaning the boat prior to
tonights party. The final leg was game of chace with Voador our
target. But the results are not showing her, so not sure what has
happened.

Regards

Richard

Friday surprise

Malteasers - our present for Friday. Fantastic. Love you Grace.
p.s. where did that come from? Been in hidding all week!

Sir Pengu

Five days without food! At last, a meal. Shhhh. The other penguins
don't know about it. Sir Admiral Waddle is too busy guarding the
flapjack- been a bit of a run on them lately. And Dave is still
looking for the Pixie - Jerry's other glasses are now missing!

Fish for breakfast!

The chase

Snapping at our heels as we approach the Lizard.

Rocket Ship

10kt wind at 120 degrees with A3 kite and smooth seas = a rocket ship
cruising at over 8 knots.

overtaking other yachts on the way - very satisfying. Have one more on
my target list before Lizard - must go trim those sails

R.

Sprint to the finish

Have just passed Bishops Rock off the Scilies. After a long "park" in
the sunshine, the long awaited breeze hase filled in from the South.
It was our game plan to head South to pick up the westerly. Just
didn't think it would take all day!

In the 2 handed division we are lying somewhere between 4th and 7th.
Confusion arising as RORC have still not cirrected our rating on the
tracker system.

Its a sprint to the Plymouth in what looks to be an exciting finish
with plenty of places at stake.

Regards

Richard

Fruit surprise

Today surprise present was very welcome - fruit smoothies from Ella's
kitchen. Apples & Bananas for me. Stawberries & Apples for Jeremy.

7:30pm and after a frustrating day going nowhere except with the tide, it
looks as though breeze is finally settling in from the South-West. Boat
speed 2.4kt in the right direction.

All well with crew, except boots are beginning to hum.

Had a surprise visitor today. A small bird with pretty yellow plumage
choose to take a break with us. Managed to catch a moth but struggled to
kill it. Moth ended up in the sea. Bird still hungry!

Unlike other crews we don't seem to be running short on food. Probably
because we have not been eating enough. Jeremy mad a real effort with
dinner tonight and served it up on a plate. Chilli con Carne. Still in its
foil bag though. No point washing the plate. With only two on board we
don't have the luxury of a galley slave.

R & J

Dry Boat!!!!

Just listening to traffic on the VHF as we all lie becalmed to the west of
the Scillies. Boats are running out of food and wishing they had bought
more alcohol. We are thinking of holding a party as we still have plenty of
beer on board. The half can ration per day, which has not been touched up
to now is looking like liquid gold. Shame the other boats can't get to us.
Still, put the music on and turn up the volume. We'll have our own party.
For tonight we sleep.

What I did on my Birthday!

It's the Birthday girl here: today I am riding in the morning

and then this afternoon we are all off to the Fairport's Cropredy Convention. Yesterday we put up our tent and the new Gazy-bo. There was nobody in the arena field, but the stage looks good, hopefully tonight the place will be full of 15,000 people at my birthday party!!

Looking forward to seeing you soon

Sox & Co at home

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to a very special daughter. Not only did she let me go
sailing on Sports day and miss her win a medal, but also lets me go sailing
on her birthday.

Love you lots.
Daddy

Off with their heads!

Todays present from the family is a packet of Jelly Babies - "off with their
heads". They were sumarily dismissed and Jeremy & I are looking forward to
the sugar rush.

Today's dinner, apart from Jelly Babies, includes boil-in-the bag meatballs,
followed by boil-in-the-bag chocolate pudding. No doubt with some home made
fruit cake to follow.

We are setting ourselves up for a busy night on deck, with three sails to
handle. The spinnaker was at last hoisted after the Fastnet along with its
baby staysail which seems to be doing the trick. Only time will tell as we
head west of the rumb line to try to pre-empt a shift in wind from west to
south-west. The routing software has been running overtime and pleased to
say that George is holding his own on the helm. Even to occasional wave
doesn't throw him. George, by the way, is the auto helm.

Choc pud ready, so must dash.....

Jeremy 1st time around Fastnet Rock

Richard - 3rd time around.

Fastnet Rock

Wednesday 14:25 - Homeward bound....

Clear Island?

Passing Clear Island on the final approach to Fastnet Rock. Visibility
- zero!

Newsflash - woman on board?

I keep finding long hairs in the cockpit. Suspect there may be woman
onboard. Come to think of it, Jeremy keeps dissapearing downstairs whenever
I come out on watch - suspicious.

Have challenged him about it, and was fobbed off with some theory about the
pixie being female. Good news - his sunglases have turned up. Its raining.

Rich.

Daily treats

Our latest daily treat was most welcome - not one, but two bars of Organics
chocolate. Didn't last long.

Last night Sir Admiral Waddle was caught napping and I managed to pinch the
flapjack bucket to keep me going on deck during the small hours. Only to
discover that Jeremy had got there before me during the night. Must have a
word with that penguin.

Rich.

Life at 30 degrees

Living life at 30 degrees of heel:
- the galley has a strop to hold you in place
- the toilet does not!
- water doesn't sink to the bottom of the bilges but slops around the
navigators ankles.
- when you fall out of bed its even further to the floor (on the other side
of the boat)
- the bunks can be cranked up to horizontal but then the gap is too tight to
get in/out
- the boat is screaming along at almost 7 knots upwind. Hey, there has to
be an upside.
Fastnet Rock now 30nm miles away. ETA 15:20. Only 4 more hours at this
unsociable angle.
Rich

Jelly surprise

One of our highlights of each day is dipping into a bag of presents/
surprises that the family sent us off with. saturday it was a slice of
fruit cake. Sunday, Stowaway Dave. Monday's treat was postponed until
this morning - jelly beans. Hurrah! Thanks guys. Looking forward to
the next treat.
R.

Re: What's in your wardrobe?

Sorry we're only used to a "floordrobe" back on the south isle....

Great variety you have though, just wondering which shoes will you wear.

M and the Zoo x
On 11 Aug 2009, at 07:50, Jangada wrote:

> Now what shall we wear today? On Jangada we have a varied selection
> to choose from:
> • light & heavy No 3 Jibs for going upwind
> • heavy weather No 4 Jib
> • JibTop, for those not quite spinnaker moments
> • A2 & A3 asymetric spinnakers for downwind (hoping to make an
> appearance on the back from the Rock)
> • Staysail - which only makes an appearance with the spinnaker in
> >10kt winds. North have promised that it should buy us an extra
> 0.5kts. Just hope there is enough wind for it tomorrow.
> • mainsail, which never sleeps
> • and finally the storm jib & trisail in dayglo orange.
>
> So much choice!
> <photo.jpg>
>
>

What's in your wardrobe?

Now what shall we wear today? On Jangada we have a varied selection
to choose from:
• light & heavy No 3 Jibs for going upwind
• heavy weather No 4 Jib
• JibTop, for those not quite spinnaker moments
• A2 & A3 asymetric spinnakers for downwind (hoping to make an
appearance on the back from the Rock)
• Staysail - which only makes an appearance with the spinnaker in
>10kt winds. North have promised that it should buy us an extra
0.5kts. Just hope there is enough wind for it tomorrow.
• mainsail, which never sleeps
• and finally the storm jib & trisail in dayglo orange.

So much choice!

Cheese :-)

Jeremy has at last found the sandwich making bag. Sea state has
subsided enough to mean that we relish a nice bite! Crew moral on the
up, including Richard who has at last relaxed enough to sleep properly.

Still no sign of the pixie!

Pirates off Penzance

A stowaway - Dave, was found onboard amongst our daily surprise bag.
We tried to get him keel hauled but were outnumbered by the penguins.
A walk off the plank was called off at the 11th hour when Dave ageed
not to cause any trouble. Instead he is on Pixie watch - Jerry's
sunglasses have gone missing and we suspect the pesky thief is back
onboard.

Sunrise off Lands End. Off to dodge the shipping lines before a long
haul across the Celtic Sea. Looks like light winds for the next 24hrs.
R&J

Skies clearing

After a wet day with winds up to 20kt, it looks like the skies are
clearing to the West. Still not sure how we are doing - the results
table did have the wrong rating for us and not sure if its fixed yet.
Lunch - pot noodle. Dinner - wil be usual boil-in-bag dinner for two
with seaview table and sunset.

Storming along at 7kt

Had to resort to the Satphone - so much for the RORC briefing when they said
much of the race is within 3G range. Not when you head South. Or
South-East in our case with the tides off Portland. Just didn't feel rigth,
to be heading away from the Rock!

Hope our game plan pays off. Judging by the two IMOCA 60s that suprised us
by crossing our path shortly after dawn, we are hopefull that it has.

R&J

Message from Sir Admiral Waddle

No flapjack until we get this boat going faster! Meanwhile, let me
introduce you to the Nav Team, Pengu on my right, John the Bear (JTB)
to my left. We will be keeping an eye on progress while the boys do
all the hard work upstairs.
Sir Admiral Waddle Flapjack.

Leopard on our tail

Nice to see both ICAP Leopard & J109 Jibe on our tail as we leave the
Solent. Spinnaker flying off the start, until Yarmouth when the
Westerly sea breeze kicked in. Plesded with our position so far. Now
the tactics really kick in.

preparing for another flotilla holiday

Storm sails!

Despite a forecast of light/med winds, the fleet prepare for pre-start
registration where we have to shown our stoem sails rigged. Hopefully
consigned to the sail locket thereaftet.

Watch the Start on Cowes TV

The first fleet (IMOCA60s) start at 12:00BST. We are third fleet off at 12:40. Watch the action live - type "Cowes TV" into Google and follow the links to the Royal Yacht Squadron Line.

The tracker on the RORC Fastnet website goes "live" just before the start, so you will be able to follow our progress with half-hourly updates. The system is not infallable so please do not be alarmed if position reports are not updated.

Please support the UKSA

We would like to raise funds to help support the UKSA in its charitable work. If you too would like to help us in our quest, please go to www.uksa.org/about/about.asp to find out what they do and how you can donate.

Many thanks for your support

Richard & Jeremy

Countdown to the Fastnet Race

As the last few days countdown to the start of the Fastnet Race on Sunday 9 August, preparations for Jangada Too are almost complete. The barn floor is strewn with bags ready for transfer to the boat - sails, food, water, clothes.

Focus now switches from kit lists, checklists, crew lists, waypoint lists (and so the list goes on) to a weather watch. Forecast is for high pressure and light winds - looks like its going to be a long hot race. Just as well we have plenty of anchor line onboard.

Meanwhile, Co-Skipper Jeremy is busy honing his skills in the X One Design Fleet at Cowes Week and celebrating a 1st place in Monday's race -congratulations.

Richard