"Big waves tip yacht"... a trip down memory lane

Well, well, ya never know!  A few posts back I mentioned Adria Australis, in which I'd done a delivery back in January 1983 from Hobart to Adelaide via the SW Cape of Tasmania.  This was just a passing reference, but it led to the following email from reader Tim Simpson in Adelaide:

Hi Peter,

I was reading about x-boats when I found your blog. Fascinating. 

Then I found a reference to Adria, and was surprised.

You may be interested to know that until about a year ago, Adria (a 46' - not 42' - steel sloop by Alan Buchanan) was still owned by Antony Harry of Adelaide. [PF: we're both wrong; she's 49']. Update: Adria is still owned by Ant Harry: she's in this year's Syd-Hobart! Further Update: no she's not. She's owned by Dan Lightowler and is on the hard in Adelaide, not doing the Syd-Hobart...

I did 3 or 4 Syd Hobarts on Adria from 1976 to about 1984, but not all of the transport legs home. I don't specifically recall Peter Forsythe, but the name rings a bell nevertheless.

SW Cape can be punishing. I remember once spending a couple of days in 'Mouldy Hole' just back from South Cape in a huge westerly, then venturing out but not being able to get past Maatsuyker Island, making no headway at all. 

Sometimes it's quicker to turn around and go east about Tasmania. 

You've got a great boat there. 

Cheers, Tim

So I dragged out the photo album (remember them??), and I'm posting a few from that trip.

This was my first offshore, my first time on a yacht, in fact.  It came about like this:

"Nil illegitimi carborundum". Some car photos for a change....

The mighty 'Stang in Samburu north Kenya

First, re Xena: email in from Grant last nite:

Raining and blowing here last couple days. 40ft sailing cat dragged anchor last night and beached.

Checked with Noel , had 35knts but "Xena" hasn't moved ........all OK.  

Cheers, Grant.

Next, Cars: I just found some photos in my inbox that I'd previously missed, from Namibian mates Dave and Debbie Pineo, with some photos from the Cape to Cairo trip. Since I've closed off that blog, I'm posting them here for a bit of change of pace.  In any case, there's some of our crew, past and present, who are equally passionate about cars as boats: eg MC Danger and eg Gordie who was with us on Xena in this year's race to San Fernando, who me met at last year's King's Cup, when he was on Baby Tonga, and owner of said Mustang in which we did the Cape to Cairo. Gordie's done multiple rallies in the beast, London-Sydney, Peking-Paris, the Himalays, South America, etc.... 

Nil Illegitimi Carborundum?  Dave's motto: "don't let the bastards get you down"! Well, I guess that's also the motto of the crowds in Tahrir Square in Cairo, too.  I see BBC coverage and see the streets they're now occupying again, and it's, like, "I was there, right on that street!"... Outcome looking grim, with the Muslim Brotherhood now in cahoots with the Army.  [but don't get me started on that...]
See photos below the fold...

Gold Coast Australia: fifth straight bullet... on for the record!

GCA crew in Tauranga, 10:30pm last night HK time

And now they're on to equal the record of six leg wins in a row.... Congrats to Skipper Richard and hi to "Our Babs" on board!
From the Clipper website.
It was a nail biting and frustrating finish for Gold Coast Australia, one of the ten 68-foot yachts competing in the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race, as they closed in on the Race 5 finish line at Tauranga, New Zealand, to secure their fifth consecutive victory in the 15-race series.
Beating into a strong north westerly breeze they crossed the finish line at 03.26 local time on Friday 25 (1426 UTC Thursday 24).

The team had led from the start of the 3,800-mile stage, which set out from Geraldton, Western Australia, 19 days ago and has seen all ten teams face the full fury of Mother Nature as they raced across the Southern Ocean, riding out storms and surfing waves as tall as buildings. But, as they closed in on the finish line in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty, the brakes went on for the front runners and they had to watch as the chasing pack closed down their lead. As they rounded the East Cape, 100 miles from the finish line, disaster struck and they damaged their mainsail, forcing the team to complete the race under a much reduced sail plan.

Arriving in Tauranga Bridge Marina, the fleet’s base for the next ten days, Tasmanian skipper, Richard Hewson, said, “The whole race was really hard. After we left Geraldton, we got around Cape Leeuwin and it was on. Basically it was blowing over 40 knots the whole time or we were becalmed. There was nothing in between. The gusts seemed to last hours at a time.

“As we came around the East Cape we had a fair bit on and the other boats were catching us. With that bunch of five boats so close together we could easily have gone from first to sixth place if we didn’t get everything in order so I’m really happy. The crew dug really deep and I’m very proud of them. It’s nice to have another pennant.”

Gold Coast Australia’s winning streak equals that of Ras Turner and his crew on Ariel in the first edition of the event, Clipper 96. The record of six consecutive wins is held by Alex Thomson, winning skipper in Clipper 98. [More]

Silandra V, a Swan 76 joins our Division

Silandra V, the Nautor Swan 76, designed by Luca Brenta of Wally fame....

[Update: Stevo sends link of Silandra's racing in Raja Muda, here.  Tx Stevo.]
******
And now there are 14, almost the same as last year.  And some high-handicappers.  Silandra V is the current high handicap boat in our div, at 1.394.  We're running 4th highest at 1.219.  Entry list here.
New entrant to our division, Silandra V, a lovely Swan 76, up here from her usual stamping grounds in the South Pacific.  Check out her webpage here.  She's available for charter at €22,000 per week....  Mind you, that probably includes the nice table setting... and, has a crew of 3 to look after you...
All carbon, lifting keel: 4.5 m/2.7m.
PS: we're now the largest division, after Bareboat (which doesn't really count, does it?...)

Xena slims down... GCA drifts to fifth bullet.

Gold Coast Australia, making
less than 4 knots.... 03:00 GMT

First, on Xena: she's tidying up in Ao Chalong, Noel and Mike putting all cruising stuff ashore.  Details of what the boyz are up to in Grant's email, in the Comments section of the post immediately before this one, below. [and here]
Heard from our Xena crew member in this year's Samui regatta, Tony Levett, who will be at KC this year, on our arch rivals Baby Tonga.  We're competing again for the Tong-Xena Cup, as well as the Cup....

Meantime, in the Clipper Race we're following on this blog: Gold Coast Australia is drifting to her fifth straight bullet, still in front of the fleet, but battling light and shifty breezes.
Sadly, Qingdao, the Chinese boat has retired and is making her way up the coast to the finish at Tauranga, and we hope she can make the start of Race Six.  Singapore is heading to the finish, also having retired and carried out repairs in Melbourne.  She's going over the top of NZ: that's her in the top left of the screenshot above.

Gold Coast Australia at start of Race 5, from WA to NZ

Meantime: in the RC44 Worlds, just finished in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote, with "our G" on board the Russian entry Katusha, as bowman, some news that they did very well, but not quite enough to catch the leaders of the series, Artemis Racing.  In the Match Racing Katusha were second overall.  Way to go "G"!
From the RC44 website;

It was Katusha (RUS), steered by Steve Howe this week with Francesco Bruni calling the shots, who relished the windier conditions in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote. The team did not put a foot wrong, as the wind touched 23 knots at times, storming to victory in every race. But even three wins was not enough to get close to the leaders Artemis Racing (SWE). [read more here]

"...it is simply one of the best sea sailing venues in Southern Europe."

 And, re the venue, Lanzarote:
Of the seven main Canary Islands, Lanzarote is located furthest to the north, meaning sailors can take full advantage of the predominant NE Atlantic trade winds. Puerto Calero is situated on volcanic Lanzarote’s south coast, which is more sheltered and boasts more sandy beaches than its rugged, dramatic north coast counterpart. [more]
 

Xena at Ao Chalong

Rainbow over Ao Chalong, Phuket, courtesy Alishan from GoogImages.
That almost looks like Xena there on the right!...

From Grant, 15:07, HKT:

Dear Peter and Jing,

Happy to report your lovely "Xena" is safe at anchor with 4m of water at half tide under the keel in Ao Chalong, Phuket.

Apart from a couple of minor issues she is no worse for wear.

Last couple days and nights have been high winds, big seas and rain and local rain storms.

There is a leak getting into the ceiling above the navigation/chart table. Obviously we need to find and repair as too close to "Xena" electronics. 

Have instructed Noel to remove the cieling lining so we can find leak.

Suspect.......grab rail outside on cabin top, or jib track or window surround fixings?

After removing lining tip buckets of water over area,leak should show itself.

Other issue as you know is auto pilot. Intend removing drive and taking to Mick (who is Agent) in Boat Lagoon to diagnose problem. If we wait for him to come to "Xena" may wait forever like last time.

We cleaned "Xena" before coming ashore and now letting her dry out.

Have just finished clearing in Immigration, port authorities and Customs.

Now heading back to "Xena" to do a rig check , then remove auto pilot.

After that will start looking for storage here in Ao Chalong for "Xena's" non racing gear.

Cheers for now, Grant.
*************
PF: revisit a couple of old photos, for fun, below the fold

Gold Coast Oz powering to fifth straight bullet...

Gold Coast Oz is 110 nm in front of Derry-Londonderry
Screen shot at 11:00 GMT, 21 November

Update 22nd Nov: YouTube vid of Gold Coast Oz in the Southern Ocean is here.  Other vids are on the Clipper website here. [For some reason I can't embed vids on this blog.  I have three other blogs, on all of which I can embed fine, just not this one for reasons that -- to me at least -- are a mystery].
The fleet has made very little progress in the last 24 hours, battling shifty light winds and with speed over ground of just 2-3 knots.  "TIA" as Stevo might say.... "This Is Aotearoa" (usually, it's "This Is Asia."  On my recent car trip it was "This Is Africa"...).  End of update.

**************

GCA in the Southern Ocean

Alert readers of this blog will know that we've been following the Clipper Round the World Race, and in particular Gold Coast Australia. Not just cause she's an Aussie boat, but also because she's got on board one I've been calling "our Babs" -- Babs Yendell, who crewed with us last year on Xena at the King's Cup, so we feel a certain proud proprietary sense, especially when we see how well they're doing!
This is the fifth leg of the Clipper Round the World race, and Gold Coast Australia has won all the previous four legs. She looks well set to win this fifth leg as well.
On the left of the screen-shot above is the boat Singapore which had had to pull in to Melbourne for some repairs and is now on the way to the finish of leg 5 at Tauronga, to start again for Leg 6.

Fleet leaves WA, start Leg 5

The race tracker is here.  It's also got a neat feature -- "Replay".  Click on the button on the top left of the screen.
Also:  I was floating round the Sailing Australia website (looking for some articles on Mainsail twist for Jing....) and came across a blog by Gold Coast Australia's skipper Richard Hewson.  It makes good reading, and with thanks to the host of his blog, I'm pasting it below.
The full text of Hewson's latest blog entry (exciting reading) is below the fold.  Click "Read more".

Hong Kong out on the water

We look back, west, to the gaggle with no wind in Lei Yue Mun gap

Yesterday was Hong Kong's annual Round the Island race, with a gaggle of over 200 boats.  I was with ex Thea-Xena crewmate Tom Wiesinger on his Sun Odyssey 36i Vega. Also aboard, Stephan Kottek, also ex Thea-Xena crewmate, and Dennis Dakin, owner of Heartbeat, a Bermuda 55, on which I sailed Kota Kinabalu to Hong Kong with him a few years back.
The breeze started well, but died about 1.6 miles out, at the Lei Yue Mun gap, where boats sat at all angles, sails limp.

South of Penang and all well. Except for....

10:00 today: 06 33n, 99 00e.  98 nm to go.

Update, 21 Nov: Position at 10:00 this morning:

06 33N 99 00 E

140 nm in 24 hours, 98 nm to go to Yacht Haven, Phuket.  TTG: 16 hours.   I expect they'll anchor tonite, somewhere off East Phuket, not go into Yacht Haven till tomorrow morning; tides are an issue there, and Xena can only make it safely in at low tide.

*************

From Grant (20/11):
My position is:   Sunday 20th Nov 10:00
04 29N. 100 09E
just South of Penang.
....
Grant
*************
They've done 150nm since yesterday and 220 nm to go to Phuket, so ETA sometime tonite.
All well.
Only thing is... the $#@&ng autopilot has gone on the blink again.  If you're thinking of buying Raymarine equipment, speak to me first!
Grant's been in touch with the Raymarine people in Phuket, and we hope we can work out a once and for all fix, as we've had problems with the unit over and over.....
More in the comments, if you're interested...

Xena tootling up the Straits of Malacca

10:30 HKT: Xena is the yellow place-marker. Phuket in pink

In from Iris this morning:

Hi Peter
Last email I received
Friday 18th Nov [from Grant]:

Doing Immigration at 2 p.m. then away - try to clear Singa before dark.

Guess he'll call you further down the track.

Via Google 507nm Singa to Phuket .. I'd say 100nm a day ETA  midday Tuesday 22nd at Ao Chalong..i.e. all going to plan.
I know it's great to scan "Xena's"  position via Tracker..perhaps can organise when he calls.
Cheers,    Iris.

_______________________

Me again [PF]: I just got Satphone update of position, at 10:30 am Hong Kong time:

02 29N, 101 38E, and "All OK"

So, if they left before sundown last night, they've made very good time to be 150 miles up the track.  There's about 355 NM to go.
That's Xena in the yellow place marker and Phuket is the pink one top left.
Re the Tracker: the PredicWind folk say that it must be a hardware problem, so they're sending me a new unit under warranty to Hong Kong. Doubt it'll be here before we leave for Phuket, however, so it's going to continue to be contact via Satphone.

Xena safe in Raffles Marina, Singapore...

Raffles Marina website. The old Strewth, a Lyons 49,
and the old Mandrake!  Full services available.

Update: 19th Nov: Engine fixed yesterday, and ready to depart Singapore.  See comment section for blow-by-blow. Tracker is hardware issue, new one being sent....

Email from Grant, 15:03 (15/11):
Hi Peter and Jing,

Happy to report that your lovely Xena is safe and sound in a pen at Raffles.

Managed to sail her into the pen without even the slightest bump. Noel and Mike did a good job executing the plan and rolling the jib just at the right moment to allow us enough momentum to just glide in and no more. [PF note: they've had no engine for last few days, sailing only, in v. light breezes.  Up to then had been moving along nicely with 175 miles/day.]

Spent yesterday sailing thru the ships to arrive just off Raffles at 1am this morning.

Anchored there for the night.

This morning I dived to check prop, strut and shaft with a straight edge. Good news all ok.

I haven't checked in yet, waiting to see what Yanmar service engineer has to say as likely time for repairs.

Will email again when I have more info.

Expecting engineer soon.

Cheers, Grant.

__________________

Another shot of the Marina (Google images)

Our "G" in the RC44 Worlds

There'll be none of this on Xena, thank you very much!

(at least from yours truly)... Katusha in big hang-out mode. "G" front 'n centre

Our Xena crew-mate, bowman extraordinaire and most talented singer-pianist, "G" (aka Matt Kelway) is racing on the Russian Entry Katusha in the forthcoming RC44 Worlds. Go the G-Unit! Sailing on Xena's going to be a piece of cake after all that hikin'...

RC44 Class Association Home is here.

Thanks Stevo for this news.

Nice helm(ing)

It's a young man's sport, this one.  G lets it all hang out at the Austria Cup

More great photos at the site

Four new entries in Premier Division

Four new boats entered in our Premier Division in last few days.  This year's TCC and last year's (in brackets):

• Australian Maid, Cassidy 55.     1.184 (1.187)
• Baby Tonga, First 53f5.              1.162 (1.164)
• Ma Du Zi, Oyster 53.                  1.069
• Odin, Hanse 545.                       1.143 (1.143)

Meantime, we have gone from 1.215 (Samui '10, KC '10) to 1.228 (Samui '11) to 1.219 now, so net differences between above from 2010 to this year:

• Aussie Maid: 7 pips in their favour (25 sec/hour)
• Baby Tonga: 6 pips in their favour (22 sec/hour)
• Odin: 4 pips in their favour (14 sec/hour)

GTS43 is "massive"...

Stevo sent photo of Steve Manning's Walawala 2 the new Sydney GTS43, in Singapore next to Nick Burns and Fred Kinmonth's EFG Mandrake, a Mills 40.  I wondered if by "massive" he meant "awesome" or  if he meant "big", but I now see what he means.... Big baby....
I think she's the first on the water.  Has some great Polars...  Nice below, too....

Mandrake and Walawala 2 in Singapore. Stevo's photo

Xena emerges from Stealth Mode: in Singapore, scathed but safe

Raffles Marina, Singapore.  Xena will be here tomorrow morning, after some dramas...

Grant just rang in.  They've had a "rough couple of days".
Engine not working, and he's not sure why.  They're under sail, in Singapore harbour, making way to Raffles Wharf at a bare 2 knots, typical Singapore, no wind.
They won't be in to Raffles till the morning, so have to anchor in the harbour overnight.
Also: they had hooked up a huge piece of rubber pipe, longer than the boat -- Grant thinks something thrown overboard from an oil rig.  They were only able to get it off by going round in circles.  Grant dived down to see if any damage and seem to be oil leaking from the stern gland.
Once he's in berth at Raffles, he'll be able to work out what the issue is with the engine and the stern gland.  The can lift Xena out lift if necessary.
They'll be along side with the Sam Chan's TP 52, Ffreefire, which is on way to King's Cup, repairing damaged rudder -- which they'd damaged in the HK-Vietnam race.
BTW: Grant had tried to ring a few times but hadn't got through.  He'll ring again tomorrow, once sorted out what the issues are.
Good thing: left in plenty of time. And in Singapore, with good assistance available.  And... all well!

Xena into Stealth mode

O Xena where art thou?

I haven't had a report from Grant and the boyz since the last one, on Friday last, so they've entered "stealth mode".

I calculate Xena should be close to Singapore.

Various discussions with PredictWind folk in New Zealand hasn't solved the Tracker issue, so I've no way of knowing where they are.

I'll post as soon as I've news.

Meantime, please check out the Xena King's Cup webpage here....

There's some more links to boats in our Premier Division, the new ones being:

• Big A (Swan 55), 
• Wasabi (Oyster 56), 
• Shatoosh 2 (Warwick 55) 
• Titania of Cowes (Swan 68)

Looks like being interesting competition.

Gold Coast Oz in lead again!

Positions at 09:30, 14 Nov '11

After their fourth straight bullet in the race to Western Australia, Gold Coast Australia, with "our Babs" on board, is again in the lead of the pack.  See screen shot at left, taken this morning 09:30 Hong Kong time (GMT +8), where they are just south of Tasmania, off South West Cape, which I went round in 1983 on way from Hobart to Adelaide on a 42' steel sloop, Adria Australis and had some pretty wild weather.
They have to go through that gate (the white dots), then south of New Zealand, up the east coast to Tauranga for their next finish.
See the Race Viewer here.  There's a neat function at top: "Replay" which gives speeded up picture of how they got here.  Pretty cool.
There are some comments from various folks here.  "Friends of Babs": keep adding your comments, here.  Babs picks them up when she arrives in port, as it does seem you can't put individual messages on the race site....
Meantime, not sure where our Xena is.... should be near, just about in, Singapore...

South of Vietnam and all well...

09:45 today: 07'16n 107'52e

Xena position as at 09:45 this morning:

07 16 N, 107 52 E

175 nm in 24 hours.

All well.

Raining and Easterly winds, light.

Grant says they've got about the "perfect track" at the moment, just outside the fishing fleets and inside the big-ships' tracks.

Forecast: Continuing from E/ENE, light, 5-15 knots.
Weak high in region, weakening, shallow gradients so continuing light breezes.
Later, Sat-Sunday, 10-15 knots from E.

Tracking: still not working.  Has to turn off the tracker, leave 30 secs and reconnect.  Grant will do that later today and we'll try the tracking again this arvo... If still not, we're out of ideas.... Still, the daily Sat-Phone call is working well.

Superman is an ex Crackerjack!...

This is the actual Chao Ren Plus One, then (2008) sailing as Crackerjack

I bumped into Guilty last night at the Yacht Club.  I was there at my first meeting as member of the China Events Sub-Committee -- and lots of things happening with sailing in and around China waters; more later.
Guilty's in town after delivering Strewth, Geoff Hill's TP52 down to Oz, via some cruising around PNG, for the Sydney-Hobart this year.  He's also been at the Swan Worlds in the UK.
Turns out he's just been out on Chao Ren Plus One ("Chao Ren" = Superman), the Swan 82 that's in our Division in this year's King's Cup. She's out at Sai Kung at the moment preparing for the trip south.
Before being bought by her current Chinese owner, she was in the UK and Europe as Crackerjack.
Here's some info on her.
She rates 1.380

Xena off SE Vietnam

09:45 this morning: 09'52n 109'16e

Position at 09:45 this morning:

09 52 N, 109 16 E

All well.

Distance made last 24 hrs: 167 nm.

Experiencing now: Big seas, 25 Knots  from N and NE, as per Passage weather.


Forecast: continuing 20-25 knots N and NE, becoming lighter into Straits of Malacca, over weekend, 5-10 knots from E and NE, as low weakens.

Tracker: the light on board is green, so it should be working. It's still not.... Have to go back to Tracy at PredictWind in NZ....

Halyards: seems that all are 14 mm, though it's possible that Gen2 is 12 mm. (they don't have accurate rope-diameter measuring tool on board).
Grant reckons there should be no problem swapping some out and changing over so that we only need two new ones: Main halyard and Spin2 halyard (the fractional).

Mills designs doing well in Asia

I get emails from Mills Designs, and the latest reports on EFG Mandrake 2, which we raced against in this year's Koh Samui Regatta.  Nice photo -- looks like Fred at the helm...
China Coast Regatta results here.

Nick Burns and Fred Kinmonth's IRC 40 Mandrake 2 triumphed in IRC 1 of Hong Kong's most important event, the 2011 China Coast Race Week which combines the results of the inshore China Coast Regatta with the Hong Kong to Vietnam Offshore Race. She dominated the inshore series with 5 bullets ahead of the the Summit 40 Blondie, and combined those with a close second in the offshore to take the overall title. Three different Mills Design 40 footers have now won their class at the China Coast Regatta for the past four years running, a remakable feat at one of Asia's premium inshore events. [More piccies at "Results"]

King's Cup photos

The only crew we have that wasn't with us last year is Pip, and she's just sent me a nice photo, kinda funky light....

And here below is a reminder of the crew from last year.  Babs' photo (Babs now on "Gold Coast Australia" in the Clipper Round the World race.  Check her out here). Other King's Cup '10 photos here.

Stevo, G, Ray, Petra, Bicky, Klaus, PF, Jing, TC, Iris, Babs, Digger, MC Danger
Kata Beach, Phuket, King's Cup, 2010

Xena off Nha Trang

09:45 this morning: 12 32N, 110 08E

Position at 09:45 this morning:
12' 32 N
110' 08 E

All well

Weather they're experiencing, as per the current prediction, ie W 5-10 knots, waves 2-3m.

Next 24 hours: W veering NW to 20 knots
Tonite: a squirt from North to 25 knots
Thursday evening will veer to E/NE, 10-20 knots.

Low pressure moving NE slowly and weakening.

Asked Grant about the halyards: whether the fractional spinnaker halyard is same spec as the spare genoa halyard.  He'll check and revert at tomorrow morning's phone call.

Xena nears Vietnam coast

Position at 10:30 HKT this morning: 15'17n, 110'21e

Position 15 17N, 110 21 E at 10:30 Hong Kong time this morning. Distance since 10:30 yesterday: 168 nm.

All well.

Present conditions: 15-20 knots on the nose.

Predicted winds: SW 10-20 knots
Veering to NW 20-25 knots later today/tomorrow
By Thursday: N 20-30 knots

Seas: 2-3 m

Another nice 40-footer

Stevo sent along this link of the Ker 43 Ptarmigan...

One of the most promising IRC contenders to be launched in the last twelve months has been shipped from Salthouse Boatbuilders in Auckland, New Zealand, and will arrive at Newport, Rhode Island, in time for the Block Island Race.

The 44 foot sailboat, which was designed by Ker Design of Valencia, Spain is called Ptarmigan, and has been built for an East Coast yachtsman. Designed as an offshore race boat and optimised for mostly light air and downwind racing under the IRC rule, Ptarmigan is described as a ‘comfortable’ race boat, using leading edge design principles to gain an edge. More....

She got a series of bullets in the Block Island Race week, in IRC2, here.
Rates 1.259.

Boracay 2012

Ffreefire and Jelik 2 at 2011 Boracay Regatta.  From here.
Original caption: "Typical Boracay conditions. 20 kts, blue skies and sunshine."

Have also set up page for this regatta on Xena's main site, here.

Also: Asian Yachting's report on the 2011 regatta, and the inaugural Subic -- Boracay passage race (about 200nm), here.

You can go either side of Mindoro

The course presents an interesting tactical challenge to navigators, as they can choose to pass either side of the very large Mindoro Island. The Eastern route up the Verde Island passage, is renowned for its wind against tide conditions and the often windless area around Dumali Point. The Western option will avoid these but Mindoro Island has a 2,500m high mountain range and this could provide a large wind shadow behind the island and windward conditions on the last stretch to Boracay. More....

Xena on way to Phuket

She left Hong Kong at 16:00 5th November, HKT, and is now (10:30am) at
17:56 N and 111:18 E, just off tip of Hainan.
Weather: 20-30 knots from NE, raining.

Nice photo of Xena

Xena at Koh Samui, June '11.  Click to enlarge. Hi-res here.

Thoughts for 2012 races here.

Mail in from Babs on "Gold Coast Australia"

Hello Peter
Thanks for all your good wishes and blogging on my behalf !  [PF: an earlier Post is here]
Had incredible journey over from Cape town. Bloody scary at times, but some incredible sea scapes that I shall never forget. In Western Australia now and enjoying a couple of days off before we head out again on the 6th for another tumble around in the roaring 40’s. We will be going as far south again as our new route is around the bottom of NZ. I’ve been really enjoying wearing shorts and t shirt here and not taking about 20 mins to get dresses in all the insane layers of clothing needed to keep warm.
Hope all your sailing is going well. I heard from Stevo before I left HK that you had plans for a few races. Hope they were successful. Look forward to perhaps doing some sailing again with you when I get back...... I won’t be so green after 40,000 miles !!
Bye for now
Babs x

Two more join our Premier Division in King's Cup

The updated Entries List, for the King's Cup, has two more boats, Big A a Swan 55/53 (wot, can't make up your mind, Nautor?) and Resolution of Whitby, an Oceanis 523 that was in our division last year.

I did some calculations for the Swan 82, Chao Ren:

• DLR [Displacement to Length ratio]  The lower the better:  = 119, which is pretty good,  up there with Ker 53 (90), Class 40 (98)...  She's carbon built, which accounts for that good number.  Ours by contrast, is 171.  Oyster 56, two in our Div, is 220.

• SAD [Sail area to Displacement ratio]  The higher the better: = 26.3.  Ours is 29.0.  Comparison: Ker 53 is 38.3, Class 40 is 42.0.  Oyster 56 is 20.0.

I'm off to the Club, to check on Xena, and on ETD for delivery by Grant and the Boyz to Phuket. And to pick up tickets for the Club Ball.