Mother & Child

Young dolphin seen, swimming in perfect unison with its mother, south of Start Point. Such a wonderful sight.

Finished!

 Richard and Jeremy have finished the Fastnet race in Plymouth, 4th in the two-handed division and first GBR boat behind two French and one Dutch boat! They are also 13th in their IRC class 3 and 57th (out of 300 ish) in IRC  overall.

What a good day this is turning out to be - Christopher received his A level results this morning and has secured his place at Warwick University to study Maths.

Cornish crabber

Thursday 0800
Good to see some posts from the boys!  They're doing really well, making up one place during the night and are now lying in sixth in class.  Even though they're now going downwind with the spinnaker up, they can't head straight for Plymouth, because the kite works best at an angle to the wind, so its actually faster to zig-zag downwind.  They're now only about 33 miles from the finish, which means they'll be in  Plymouth in about 4 hours.  Believe me, its hard work keeping a boat going at full pace, double-handed.  Sleep deprivation and the physical demands take their toll, so I expect that, when they get into Plymouth, I'm sure they'll go straight to bed and have a nice, early night....Yeah, right! 
It's been great following your progress - have a good final leg guys and I'll catch up with you soon.
Trev

Jangadieros

In true Jangada tradition, we start to haul out first catch of fish. Just the one, but it's a start. Don't tell Skipper - he's off watch at the Chart Table and doesn't need to know.

Yours,
Sir Admiral.
Keeper of the ship's flapjack.

Daily Treats

Many thanks to Grace for our daily surprise. Day 1 - Pepper Pig and his Friends went down very well. Day 2 - dark chocolate Kit Kat, a well earnt break.

Homeward Bound

The Fastnet Rock lived up to expectations - damp and misty. Once again we
have rounded the famous lighthouse in both the dark and rain. So no photo
opportunity - will just have to try again in 2015!

The past 18 hours have been fairly hectic. As we approached the Rock the
wind backed enough for us to fly the A3 reaching spinnaker. But anticpating
the weather front coming through we changed to the Jib Top, and then again
to the Heavy No 3 Jib as the wind increased. Then we had the fun a trying
to weave our way amongst our competitors as we tacked to Pantaenius. To our
joy it looked as though our route south at the Scillies had paid off as we
were rounding with the lead pack. So no sleep for either of us last night.

The reach home across the Celtic Sea has given us the chance to for some
sleep. The Jib Top is flying and holding our pace at almost 9kts, even
against some boats that have hoisted Spinnakers. However the wind has now
backed slightly and the kites are back in their bags. We are trying to stay
high on our course to give us the option to hoist kite and free off toward
the southern shores of the Scilly Isles. Then change to the A2 for a run to
the finish - it is at this stage that concetration is key with many a place
won and lost on the final leg.

And finally a quick word of praise for our third crew member - Trevor. I
understand that Trev is providing a running commentary on the Blog. Cheers,
Mate!

Homeward bound

Wednesday, 08:00
Los Jangadieros are now homeward bound, having made great progress during the night - averaging a fantastic 7.5 knots since yesterday evening -  the wind had backed around further, to set them on a beam reach - fast, with or without the spinnaker, but, at that angle, debatable whether to fly it.  And it's strengthened too, now 16 knots.  After the rock, they had a short beat to Pantaneus - a race mark intended to help separate the incoming and outgoing boats - and are now again on a beam reach on the other tack, doing about 8 knots back to the Scilly Isles.  Of course, the strengthening, backing wind has also benefited everyone else and they seem to have lost a few places, now nominally lying 7th, 28 miles behind the class leader (The one with a crown) and with a Figaro II, "Rare", hot on their heels.  That should spur them on!
Trev

Jangada Too GBR8537R

Fastnet Rock on 14 Aug @ 02:36 BST

Bend it!

Tuesday 18:35
Well, the decision to go south and west of the Scillies seems to have worked out very well for Richard and Jerry (White, just next to the wind text)- the wind strength kept up and backed to the west, bending their course nicely around so they're now heading straight for the rock, in fourth place in the double-handed class - well done guys!  The wind should come around a little more, though probably not enough to get the kite up - but never mind, it should be perfect for the return leg!  They've got about 60 miles to go before the turn, so should reach the Fastnet rock around 03:30 - so no nice photos, I'm afraid - or maybe a night shot?  It is a lighthouse, after all!  Then south west to Pantaneus and the long spinnaker run back to the Scillies.  Good to hear from them - I knew Richard wouldn't have been able to resist a Scilly joke! :-)
Trev

Scilly tactics

Apologies for the radio silence, but we have been concentrating rather hard.
Both on sail trim, keeping our performance against targets up at 100%, and
also on routing decisions. The Scilly Isles and surrounding Traffic
Separation Zones are no go areas that form large obstructions. As a result
we were faced with three options - left, right or up the middle. During
most of the pre race analysis the centre route seemed to be favoured. But a
few boats have opted for the northerly route presumably hoping to stay in
stronger winds away from the High Pressure ridge. In the end we decided
that the tide gate around the Scilly Isles was going to shut us out of the
middle option, so we have elected to stay south, risk light winds in favour
of picking up the forecast wind shift to the west and then south west. Only
time will tell who was right with their Scilly tactics.

Good call!

Tuesday 07:42
Well, they did it!  A fantastic call, standing on their westerly course, south of the Scillies.  They've gained at least four places, by resisting the temptation to go with the fleet and are now only 12 miles behind the class leader, "Night and Day".  They tacked north a few hours ago and, if the wind back around again towards the west, as forecast, they should be on the right side of the course to gain advantage over the cluster of yachts north of the Scillies, by being able to follow the wind around and ultimately sail a bit faster, more off the wind.  Keep it up, guys!
Trev

North or West?

Los Jangadieros (white, to the right of the wind text) are currently lying 10th in the two-handed IRC class.  They are approaching the Scillies and must decide whether to tack north, like everybody else, or carry on and pass south of the islands before tacking.   A tricky call, which could lead to big gains or losses, depending on what the wind does.  It is predicted to back (anticlockwise) which would favour standing on and going south - but it will take some nerve!  It might be prudent to cover the others and go with them.  Can't wait to check again in a couple of hours!!!    Sitting on the sofa with an tide tables, chartlets showing currents and weather maps is not as much fun as being out there - but is still pretty exciting!!
Trev

Tracker spaghetti

Here is a screenshot of the tracker as Jangada Too rounded Portland Bill earlier this evening - looks quite busy out there! (they are the slightly larger pale blob on the screen, just to the south of the land)  They are currently 15th in class, but there is a long way to go, so lots of time to move up the leader board.  They were in good spirits when I spoke to Richard a couple of hours ago.

Grace

Portland Bill

Traffic Jam?

With 350 yachts trying to register at the start gates, with storm sails set, its getting quite busy. Fortunately we set off early and can now relax whilst we watch some spectacular trimarans as the start first.

Pre race preparations.

With less than 24 hours to the start, final preparations are now complete. Weather and routing options analysed. Daily surprise bag from the family wrapped. As usual we will blogging at www.jangada.co.uk. To follow us on the tracker go to fastnet.rorc.org or download the Yellowbrick App for mobiles. Time to sign off as I head off to a 60th/21st birthday party - only one glass of champagne allowed until we reach Plymouth.

Fastnet Race starts 11th August

Jangada is now back from Portugal, after an unscheduled stopover in Falmouth to replace the gearbox and saildrive, so final preparations for the Fastnet Race can be completed.  All safety equipment to be checked, food & kit to be loaded, satellite tracker installed and navigational marks uploaded.  This year there is an interesting variation to the race - KEEP OUT of the Traffic Separation Schemes, i.e. the shipping lanes.  At least three of these TSS's lie in the way of our direct route - two around the Scilly Islands and one on the approach to the Fastnet Rock itself. Time to look at the routing options.....