Virtual regatta

Stevo, I knew the shiny XTR would attract you in the end, I’ve broken through the 10000th place barrier overnight and heading to the stronger breezes sw of Cape Verde. The race is on!

Stevo, cheers for the bump up the SO standings 😉

You’ll get an even bigger bump up the overall when those east o you hit that still air. The guy in 1st place is already down to 8 knots with those just behind on around 10. They havnt even hit the slowest air yet! The forecast for 36 & 48 hrs looks a bit grim for those guys.

I just hope you haven’t stayed too far east.

Not too worried, if it comes to it I can just head south-west for a couple of hours and stay out of the worst of it.

Well at the moment I am second to last of the STW lot. That is if you do not count the ones that have run aground or are heading to Canada.

Hopefully I can make decent progress and make Cape Town for the party at the end of the first leg before you lot drink it all!

Hold on to yer horses Uphillcursing. You’re only 400 or so miles ahead of me. 😕

Should have gone west at the start like that lot down there.

Finally managed to overhaul doug and seem to have hit lucky with the winds so far, must avoid the temptation of heading too far west to hunt down the stronger breeze.

For now I’ll continue to head south (ish) and hope the strong winds allow for some good tacking action.

Aye, it’s going to be a slog for a day or two, then it might get a bit interesting – there are some big winds down south blowing all the way to Cape Town, but is it worth trying to go there?

it’s all gone quiet since the winds died down, can you not get a connection from that close to the african coast? or are you scared pirates will kidnap you if you give away your position.

It’s really looking it’s going to be tacking all the way to Cape Town now. Would be great if a low formed up near Brazil and headed west but I’m not seeing anything in the forecasts.

Ive clawed back warton and njee20.

Next stop dazzlingboy.

Cant wait for the shifty beats – my favourite. Didnt they say an iphone app was due out on Sunday too – just in time to allow me to play the shifts during the night in bed.

All hail Neptune!

Anyone else tried the app yet. Looks like you need to buy per race, or stage?? Not clear as it’s in French!

Now in the hunt for the main fleet now. No iPhone here so will just have to start tacking as and when i am online for the great long beat to Capetown..

One of the main reasons I’m so far west is to hopefully avoid all the tacking as I only really have a couple of VR ‘windows’ per day.

I’ve given up

What time is the wind change? 20:00 GMT +2 is surely 18:00 GMT – no?

Sorry to see we’ve had a few that have given up, the going is looking slow to Cape Town now, shame we’re not in the southern atlantic in a week, long range forecast has some great looking winds kicking up!

slow drag down to the cape, and I can see it getting tactical as we approach

Should have the Spinny out by tea-time tomorrow. I’m still hoping to get across to the back of that low off Rio as it weakens before the window shuts then be low enough (40S) to ride the front of the next two all the way to CT. :fingers crossed:

i am beating to the east of the rhond line, made a turn back west just now as I read the most up to date wind chart. It is heavy going, I would say the optimal selection seems to have gone west to Rio and steam it across to the east.

Forgot to start the Rhum Baa Baa Route race 🙁 Joined late and both vessels are at the back of the flotilla in around 65,000th 😯

AAAAAAAAAAARGH

Lost nearly 2000 places 🙁

I guess that’s what happens when you spend most of the day drinking 🙁

Drink Sailing guys – it’s not cool!!!!

I decided more than one race at a time was a bad idea!

I’ve been playing it cagey over the last couple of days, just making best speed due south. Decided last night to go for broke and try to pick up the westerlies down south.

As expected, dropped nearly 2000 places overnight to my worst position in weeks, but hopefully it’ll pay off!

Looks like my trek almost all the way to S America is about to pay off BIG time 8) See you all in Capetown.

I came up about 10miles short of getting into that air-flow. Becalmed for the next few hours, but I think I’ll still get going in time. i.e. still ahead of Doug. 😉

And the weathers changed again 🙁

I’ll dig around and find some sort of prize I’m sure.

I’ve been sailing around in circles all afternoon, planning on eating my stock pile of beans to generate some wind though.

The upgraded sails do work, if there’s wind….

so here’s an idea.. the prize value will increase incrementally with the more sponsorship I get for my London – Paris ride next year,,, give me all your money!

Massive Error,

Thought I’d try and pick up the stuff at the south, then realised I would effectively have to go below Africa and sail back up.

Balls.

Oh well, I guess I’ll be having fun tacking through the wind for the next few days.

Thought I’d try and pick up the stuff at the south, then realised I would effectively have to go below Africa and sail back up.

That’s what I’m doing. Should be in Capetown by Saturday morning. 😀

I just missed the weather window the other day and ended sitting still for the best part of 24hrs. In it now, but annoyingly the weather system is moving faster than I am and I’m struggling to stay in the best winds!

17knots is not to be sneezed at though!

Short of the swift deployment of a torpedo, looks like Doug’s got it sewn up for the STW group. Fair play for going for it – I’m blaming some bad luck with the weather off the coast of Brazil, but if I’d been more decisive about going south it wouldn’t have mattered!

Tilter is still a few miles ahead, but I’m going to back myself for 2nd place!

[Deploys anti torpedo nets]

Currently fighting it out for a top 200 SO finish 😯 . Anyone know when the next leg starts?

Currently fighting it out for a top 200 SO finish . Anyone know when the next leg starts?

No idea. The overall classification is on “points” (combined position over all the legs, with the worst leg not counted) so they need to let a good chunk of the field finish, but they surely can’t wait for everyone? (Given that at least 3 of the STW group alone aren’t likely to get there any time in the current decade!).

Just realized, they’ll probably restart when the real race does. 🙄

12th December apparently. Mrs is going to love me over Xmas.

I just want to make it to Cape Town before the cut off. Shesh, one bad decision took me from jumped me a decimal point to the right with the overall positions..
Must do better next leg

12th December apparently. Mrs is going to love me over Xmas.

Just in time for the start of the winter season! Expect to see me making extended straight-line sprints followed by irregular radical course changes!

I’ve properly ballsed this up 🙁

Still hopefully I’ll be better next time.

buggeration,, a two day business trip to Northern Ireland has seen m yacht turn north and sail away from the finish with a nice strong tail wind,, 😥

oh well, looks like my decent start has come to naught, fingers crossed for the next leg

Doug, where did you get that image from?

i think parkerkr is gona be the first with the no pro sails option. I cant get south quick enough.

Im hoping for the southerly but it is staying SE

It seems having a new job is not conducive to making the regular course changes necessary to be any good at this! I’m hoping a few days actually paying attention may mean some good places made up, but I appear to be heading towards a rather still patch!