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.

Tonga out?

hmmmm...
Just checked the entries in our Division and Baby Tonga's not there.  She was yesterday...
So far only five in our Div.  Last year 16 entries. Perhaps there'll be some more before we line up...

Update: she's moved into IRC, out of Premier.  Interesting.
Also: so far there's 48 entries total.  Last year there were about 115, so they must be hoping for lots of late entries, for this, its 25th Anniversary

Gold Coast Australia finished

Screen grab, 09:30 HKT, 30 Oct.  Real-time race viewer here

They finished at 07:04 this morning, HKT. Congratulations to skipper Richard Hewson and the crew, which includes "our Babs", from last year's King's Cup on Xena.
Report here.

"Gold Coast Australia extends lead..."

You can virtually "see" the high pressure system in this screen grab of the Race viewer! (HKT: 15:30, 29/10)

Check out the milling boats on the left! Gold Coast Oz went down and right
and picked up the breezes filling in from the East

From the Clipper site, Race News:

Gold Coast Australia’s bold move to sail much further than the other teams in order to run around the high pressure system that has dominated proceedings for much of the last week seems to have paid off.

“We have successfully escaped the grasps of the massive high pressure system that is currently playing havoc with the rest of the fleet,” reports skipper, Richard Hewson. “Yesterday we set ourselves a goal to try to be in a certain position away from the light winds of the high, and we managed to reach it before the high pressure system caught up with us.  This is a massive relief as now it looks like we will have good winds all the way to Geraldton.....[read more]

Swan 82 for King's Cup Premier Div

Uh oh. (hat tip: TC).  

She's called Chao Ren Plus One. Without the Chinese characters, I'm only guessing at the meaning, but "chao ren" is likely to be 超人, which is "Superman".
Update: it is indeed 超人, as in Superman.  Anyone got any kryptonite?  And who's the "plus one"?

"Gold Coast Australia" powering to 4th Bullet! Go Babs!

Gold Coast Australia at far right, on way to Geraldton, 08:00 HKT, 28 October
The above is a screen shot.  See the real time viewer here.

Remember: "our Babs", who crewed with us on Xena at last year's King's Cup, is on Gold Coast Australia in the Clipper Round the World Race.
They won the first three legs and look in good position to win the fourth, to Geraldton, Western Australia. That's them way out in front in the screen shot above, with about 450NM to go.  Plug the wind in, on the real time viewer, and they look in good position to get the strengthening breeze first.

See the crew profiles here.

Related: Volvo Ocean Race.  In-Port race in Sanya, Hainan Island, 18th Feb '12.  Chinese entry, Team Sanya, with Mike Sanderson at the helm, here.

Babs at last year's KC.
Iris, Stevo, Digger.

Update: found Babs' diary entry on the race site, latest, Day 10 of Leg 4, 18th October.  Dramatic stuff!

I have come a long way, from the person who till a year or so ago was pretty scared of water, to one who is now sailing through storms in the most feared ocean on earth, the Southern Ocean.

18/10/11 RACE 4 - DAY 10 - by Babs Yendell (Gold Coast Australia)
As you probably know if you've been following the latest Gold Coast Australia updates, we are down in the Southern Ocean, at the bottom of the world, in one of the most remote and extreme environments on earth. We are such an insignificant little blip on the huge expanse of ocean we are crossing.

Everything associated with this ocean here is bigger and wilder than any other. Birds, waves and wind are all of enormous proportions. We've experienced some rather extreme conditions down here in the southern ocean these past few days.