Xena PosRep 2 Nov

Bottom Red pin: 09:00 today. 6 53'N 107 34'E

Tootling along at 6-7 knots, 211T, in light Easterlies.  Same forecast for coming days.  Still in front of last year's run.

Leaving Vietnam waters

Bottom Red pin: 08:00 today 09 12'N 109 04' E. [yellow pins: last year]

Travelling along at 9.5 knots, 198T, in moderate following breezes.
The Boat Tracking is now working again.  Please go here to see how to log in and follow Xena on Predict Wind. [it's also in the Tab above, "Track Xena"]

Xena runs down the Vietnam coast

Position at 09:40: 12 09' N 109 41' E.  The red pin

They're in no wind, motoring.  All well.  Passage Weather suggests breezes will freshen from N to NE over the next few days, so good for the continuing run down the Vietnam coast.
On-board Predict Wind still not working.  I'm in touch with the PW folk in New Zealand, and they're going to try a remote fix.  Meantime they have no email or weather on board, so we're in touch each morning by SMS on the Satphone.
Note they made a bit better 24-hour distance than last year.

You know how you can never find a cab when you want one?...

New York, post Hurricane Sandy.  More photos      Photo: Charles Sykes, AP. 

Xena heads South

Red Pin: Position at 09:30, 30 October.  15 22'N 109 31' E

After a bit of ducking and weaving around Typhoon Son-Tinh, and some contretemps with the Sanya Marina that would not let us back in -- for nothing other than bureaucratic reasons -- necessitating an overnight stay in the Sanya commercial port, fending off anchor-dragging coastal vessels, Xena and crew (Grant, Noel, Oscar) headed off yesterday morning and at this morning are at the red pin above as of 09:30. Grant reports "all well".  There's a bit more to this whole saga over the last few days, which I won't go into here, save to say that "safe haven provisions" don't mean the same in China as elsewhere....
They are travelling in fluky 5-10 knot breezes from all over the shop, circulating around a weak high after the passing through of the typhoon; from NW to SE mainly (but also sometimes from W...)
By comparison, the yellow pin just to the East of the red pin, is where Xena was last year on her way down to the King's Cup, so we're 10 days ahead of then...

Sanya port in a storm

Xena headed off ex Sanya, Hainan, the night before last, to go North to avoid the above bit of weather, but then came back into Sanya Port, after some discussions by Satphone, where she now is safely tucked in with some commercial craft, experiencing 40+ knots, anchor holding.  This nasty lump of 50+ knots is forecast to go by today and be out of the way to the NW by tomorrow afternoon, winds then moderating staying SE for a couple of days, then freshening from NE -- what we want as Xena's headed down to Phuket in Thailand for the King's Cup.
Fortunately the Immigration guys in Sanya didn't cause a problem, as we might have expected from previous experience, saying they understood the issue, Safe Haven, Port in a storm, and all that...
PS: for friends and family who may not know: Hainan is the Chinese Island, right above that bit of purple...  It's where we sailed to in the race last week from Hong Kong, 365 nautical miles.

UPDATE (09:00, 28th Oct):

 The TRS became named Typhoon Son-Tinh and moved a bit faster than
expected, to the N. Vietnam Coast.  Here at 08:00 HK time this morning.
For the trip south to Phuket, winds expected to moderate and veer South,
before backing to North again later in the week, and abating.

UPDATE: Photos from Grant in Singapore and issues during the Typhoon in Sanya.

Hainan Start: nice photo

RHKYC Hainan Race 2012 - Xena makes the pace up the harbour -  Guy Nowell/RHKYC 

From Sail World.com.  Here.  Thanks to TC for the link.  Click to enlarge.
LATER (26 Oct): Ray of Raymarine went down yesterday to Sanya and managed to finally fix the instruments (all of which had been off for the whole of the race).  Was the DCU (digital control unit).
Race report....
A quick trip down to Sanya in Hainan... just not quick enough to catch the racing boats....

Day Three: regatta win, and home East around.... Suppin' the Cup

Middle Island Prize giving, Day Two (Saturday):
Biggus, Cess, Alfie, Liz, Iris, Grant, TC, Jono

Race Three, windward/leeward: Forse and Jono. This one was
close: we won by only 1 minute....

Heading back to Middle Island after Race Four, Sunday: Iris, Alfie,
Grant, Strompfie, TC, Matt, Jono, Biggus

Cruising Mode: on way back to Kellett Island: Matt, Jono,
Forse, Liz, Alfie

Biggus, Grunter, Strompfie, Cess, Matt, Iris

Jono, Liz, Alfie, a-winin' 'n cheesin'.  Note Jono's "8-pack"...

Cess, Matt, Iris, Biggus, Liz, Alfie

Poolside, Royal HK YC... evening 14th October.

China Coast Regatta, Premier Division Cup

Getting down and dirty.... sipping Rum and Ginger from the Premier
Division China Coast Race Cup

Jono.  Mr Cool

Oscar takes a toke...

Cess

Our two house guests: Gioia and Annie Reid get into the act

Annie and Gioia show off the Cup to be engraved with "XENA, 2012"

Race note: Race three a W/L twice round, we won by only one minute, in fresh-ish breeze of up to 10 knots, E at 080-100.  Race four, a geometric, triangle followed by sausage, in dying breezes, we won by 10.5 minutes.  A1 and J1 sails.  Great crew-work: fast and smooth gybes, good working upwind.
Results.

Waiting..... Day Two China Coast Regatta

Boat boom tent up at Middle Island, waiting for AP to go down.... Day Two
(Thanks to Cess for photos)

Waiting for wind on Day two, races started two and a half hours late.  They sent us off finally on a windward-leeward in about barely 5 knots of breeze, very fluky, shifty... fuuuun!  We were first on the water in our class, in one hour fifteen, and ten minutes in front on corrected time.

... waiting... so PF goes over some safety stuff, for
Hainan crew: Hainan race starts 18th Oct...

Result: one short windward/leeward of about one hour fifteen: we won by 15 minutes elapsed, 10.5 corrected. Hardly any wind.... 080-100 degrees.

The nav-lads and technology gaggle...

Biggus, Jono and TC kill some time waiting for race two to start,
fiddling with a gaggle of technology.
Posted from my iPhone

China Coast Regatta, Day 1

Biggus, Grunter, TC, Forse, Jono, Mark, Noel
Cess, Alfie, Liz, Splash.  Photo taken by Oscar in dinghy

I guess piccie says it all.... win by 31 minutes ET, 22 mins CT

Slow race day, winds fluky galore and light, 5-10 knots max... holey like cheese.
We did course 8, a 15.5 miler that gave a choice of N or South of Beaufort on the run home; we chose N, which turned out fine.... One in the bag...
Thanks to Cess and Richard for the photos.
And I guess I should post this, that Cess calls "shortest and tallest"...  Oscar will be with Xena on the delivery to Phuket and back, and racing with us to Hainan in the meantime.  He's a good Bowman.

"Shortest and Tallest". Oscar and Forse

A Day on the Water...

Some photos from Heiko and Cron, who came out with us on cruise Sunday 23rd September.  I met Heiko on the Cape to Cairo car trip in 2011, and Cron his mate and colleague, both of South Africa.  Also joining us was Adrienne Loeffler, who I recently met at the Club Siena pool, a nice place to meet folk....
Easy breezes, no swell, beautiful sunset.  And a swim while drifting off Big Wave Bay.
Thanks to Heiko and Cron for the photos..

Adrienne and Jing

Yours truly, sleek in black...

PF and Cron

Cron, Adrienne, Noel and Jing

Heiko mans the Bow

A beautiful Hong Kong sunset....

... and more sunsetting....

And so to bed... Xena lies happy alongside the pontoon at the Royal
Hong Kong Yacht Club.  In the background, Qingdao, a Class 40
that is going to be sailed round the world by Gao Chuan.
Report of that attempt here.

Tragedy off Lamma: 36 dead

Rescuers check on a half-submerged boat [Lamma IV] after a collision near Lamma Island,
off the southwestern coast of Hong Kong. Picture: Kin Cheung Source: AP

Last night as Jing and I were enjoying a meal at Tosca, on the 103rd Floor of the ICC building, just to the south of us, off Lamma island a tragedy was playing out... a Hong Kong & Kowloon Ferry hit another ferry carrying over 120 passengers, employees of Hong Kong Electric company, to the National Day fireworks.   At latest count the death toll is 36.  Apparently the HKK Ferry hit the other amidships at full speed.  What was going on there?
One of many stories here.
My letter to the South China Morning Post, 17th October.

Top of Kilimanjaro

Gordon, with Brett and Ali

"I did it!", says sometime Xena crewmate (San Fernando 2011), Gordon Ketelby (aka "Gordie").

He goes on...

Here is the proof – me on the top of Mt Kilimanjaro with Brett and Ali

Its very high 5,890m or for those from the old school 19,430ft

Its very hard to breathe up there particularly when you have to climb 1,000m on the last day up a 45 degree slope. Its seriously cold at night -10 C or less.

It was seriously hard particularly the last bit of the assent, and going down hammers your legs.

Due to global warming there is not always snow on top, and most of the glaciers are receding fast!

Swell Times...

Click to enlarge... Photo: Reuters

Great photo in today's South China Morning Post, with the caption: "Surfers and dolphins at play in the waves off Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.  Dolphins are a common sight along Sydney's beaches, as they hunt for small fish, and waves suitable for surfing add to the attraction of venturing close to shore.  Surfers like their presence, too, as they are thought to keep the sharks away.  Australia tops the world in terms of shark-attack fatalities, with more than 200 deaths based on latest figures by a local conservation society."

Cool Change

Sent in by Iris, see her comment below. Sorry can't embed any more in this blog, not sure why, so link to YouTube is here.

"Adventurer Guo Chuan to attempt solo world sail"

Gao Chuan at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club yesterday

In today's South China Morning Post, a report of Gao Chuan's preparations to take Qingdao, an Akilaria Class 40 round the world, solo non-stop.  We're off to the Club this morning for a sail on Xena, so may see the boat there....
Report below the fold as it's behind a paywall on the SCMP site...
LATER: we did see Qingdao alongside the pontoon at the RHKYC last Sunday 23rd and she looked fabulous, extremely well prepared with all new gear aboard.  Everything looked as though it was just where it should be.  She really does look the right stuff for round the world. Hope to get some piccies later, as I forgot to take any myself. Actually, I did take one, at the end of our cruise last Sunday 23rd..

Qingdao at the pontoon, RHKYC, from deck of Xena, after our cruise
out to around Shek Oh rock in 3-5 knots.... nice, relaxing day with
Adrienne, Heiko and Cron, who are going to send some other piccies, I hope..

Pier Pressure

Article in today's South China Morning Post by Paul Zimmerman, about the lack of facilities for pleasure craft in Hong Kong:

There were some 9,500 licensed leisure craft in 2010, comprising nearly 7,000 pleasure boats and about 2,500 open sampans. Our estimates show that there is an unfulfilled demand for another 13,000 leisure craft in Hong Kong. Much of this latent demand is for small, affordable boats and some is for larger boats that require permanent crew. What stops people from buying water sports equipment is that fewer than 4,000 berths are available for safe mooring and convenient storage. There is not even enough space for the existing boats in Hong Kong, let alone for visiting yachts or new sampans.

PDF here

Crew Lists coming together...

... nicely..

China Coast Regatta: 12-14 October

Hainan Race: 18-20 October

King's Cup: 1-8 December

Nothing to do with these races, just a cool photo you get if you Google
"China Coast Regatta" and leads to this cool site

A day sail up the Pearl.... soon to be new cruising grounds?

From the South China Morning Post, Aug 16th....

Cross-border sailing to begin soon

Private boats will be able to enter Guangdong waters

Tony Cheung in Nansha Updated on Aug 16, 2012

A Hong Kong businessman operating a marina in a pilot development zone in Guangzhou expects a cross-border sailing scheme for private vessels suggested by Guangdong authorities to take effect soon. Ian Fok Chun-wan said he hoped power boats and yachts would soon be able to travel freely between Hong Kong and Nansha. This is not possible now because of legal restrictions.

G in Sweden... and maybe Phuket...

25knots at the start line. G on  Katusha (21), RC44 Sweden Cup.

G, our regular Bow on Xena in the King's Cup says he's hoping to be with us again, just subject to working out some work issues.  So I've got him down as a definite "maybe".
Also sends along the above photo, about which he says...  "also attached a little photo from our latest regatta in Sweden.  Was pretty breezy on the last day, this was us trying to start in 25knots and a very choppy sea! Went well though we finished up second."
Another phote of G on Katusha....  too much hard work!....

G works on his 6-pack up front.... more photos

Digger in default mode

Digger (2nd fm right) with his Plate for 2nd in the Heineken Regatta

Digger sends news that he'll join us again for King's Cup and sends along a photo of himself... as usual amongst the babes.  Above, picking up Second in the Heineken Regatta.  Way to go, Digger!  See you in Phuket!

"Gold Coast Australia" cleans up...

Crew of Gold Coast Australia, celebrate their win, in the fifteen-day race
Nova Scotia to Londonderry, 29 June.  Babs second from left at front.

Below: Email today from Babs, who was with us on Xena in the King's Cup 2010.
Gold Coast Oz now have a lock on the overall race, with 10 bullets out of 12 races, 36 points ahead of Visit Finland, and this 13th race giving them another ten points, they can't be beat with just two short races to go.
Way to go GCA! Congratulations to Skipper Richard Hewson and all GCA crew!

HI all

Here’s mini films of our arrival after winning race 13 from Halifax Nova Scotia to Derry Ireland. We crossed the line around 2.30am then had a 2 hour motor up the river Foyle to the city. We had the most amazing reception, people had got up at the crack of dawn and were there waving from the river banks to welcome us in.  The little sail boat came alongside to give us champayne and the coast guard which had escorted us on the last few miles across the finish line handed us a bottle of Whiskey. A wonderful finish to a tough, wet, foggy and rough 15 day race across the Atlantic, our last big ocean crossing of this mammoth adventure. 
Vid One
Vid Two
Vid Three
See you all soon
Babs x
[email babs, click here]
LATER: Meantime in other news of sometime Xena crew: Ranger, with "our" Bicky on board, as upwind/downwind trim at the Falmouth J-class regatta have pipped Velsheda to overall Regatta win: they win on count-back what's more! (both on 4 point)  Results, Report Race 5.  Earlier post below, here.