Safe in Plymouth

Pleased to report that we are safely moored in Plymouth.

Still not sure of the root cause, but essentially the battery reserved exclusively for starting the engine was flat. So no way to recharge the main battery either.

Jeremy and I have thought over all the "if only's". But we take comfort in the knowledge that we had performed well in the often difficult first stage of the race and were positioned in the leading pack. And that lessons learnt include an upgrade to alternative sources of energy.

Bring on August 2013 - unfinished business.......

The Pixie strikes again :-(

I have just had a phone call from Richard to say that they are heading for Plymouth as they have had to pull out of the race due to an electrical fault.

Needless to say, they are gutted, especially as so far they had been up amongst the leaders and doing really well, but as they are unable to charge batteries or start the engine, it is unsafe to cross the Irish Sea without the back-up of being able to use the engine should they need to.

They hope to be in Plymouth late this afternoon.

Grace

Daily treats

Grace has kindly sent us off with a bag of daily treat to surprise us. Day 1 is a sugar boost to get us across the start line. Watch this space as the story unfolds....

Fastnet tracker

With final preparations complete, albeit somewhat stressed with a variety of electronic glitches, we are now ready for the start of 2011 Fastnet Race at 11:50 Sunday. To follow our progress go to the tracker page at http://fastnet.rorc.org and technology permitting we will also post comments on this blog.

Richard & Jeremy.

Seeing Red

Not a good start to the final Fastnet preparations. Firstly the rig is still missing - I can cope with that as its due back in today following a routine checks and some minor fixes. But red water in the bilges was a shock - diesel! Luckily I have found the source - the emergency fuel cannister had split with 7Ltrs missing. If this had happened next week, at best we would have had diesel in all the lockers, at worst.....

Fastnet 2011

The 2011 Rolex Fastnet Race is fast approaching, with the start on Sunday 14th August. Jeremy & I will once again be racing together, competing against 30 other yachts also racing 2-handed. Having set the bar fairly high we are out to improve on our 8th place in 2009. So go to http://fastnet.rorc.org/ to follow the race.

Stowaways

"It was a dark and stormy night said Sir Admiral......" So how did the penguin find himself drinking rum with a pigeon mid-channel?

Some 25 miles south of Portland Bill, this bird flew in to take up station at the "Crows Nest" atop Jangada's mast. He hung on for almost 15 minutes as the mast tip swayed around with the motion of the waves. Finally deciding that we were friendly he flew down to take up station on the "poop deck". Fed tit-bits of flapjack, he seemed to perk up but showed no signs of abandoning his free ride homeward. So George took pity and carefully transferred him to the warmths below. Fortunately I had ticked all the luxury options for the J109 including a bird bath it seems.

Arriving back in the Solent we found out that that our guest was indeed a fellow racer, on his back from France to Croydon. He was provided rest and water overnight, to be freed in the morning to continue his journey home.