Xena crew lists

China Coast Regatta here.
HK to Hainan Race here.
ATIR here.

Xena first call: China Coast Regatta, Hong Kong to Hainan Race and ATIR

Hi All,

First call to join us on Xena for the following, one, two or all:

• 10-12 October: China Coast Regatta
• 16-19 October: Hong Kong to Hainan Race, Cat 1.
• 16 November: Around the Island Race (ATIR)

Can you let me know which you could be available for?

(Note: I'm sending this out to a few more folk than we can fit on Xena, so it's possible I may have to trim numbers to fit our maxima: 14 Inshore and 10 Offshore.  If so, I'll do the trimming by my own secret algorithm…. part of which is first in, best dressed….)

Cheers to all,

Peter ("Forse")

North Clients Claim the Podium at Rolex China Sea Race

Stevo's write up for the North Sails magazine... A good story, well told.

And from X-Yachts magazine -- http://www.x-yachts.com/news/company/china-sea-race-2014?contentmap=444

RCSR Prize giving, 30 April

From the RHKYC Facebook page.  Hop over to FB to Like it..

Simon Powell, Chairman of the China Sea Race Committee, presents
Forse with a lovely photo of Xena at the race start (16 April).
Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, 30th April 2014.

RCSR Xena photos

Photos on Picasa, here.  Courtesy Jonno and Celine.

Below from Jonno, photos from the Rolex China Sea Race (RCSR).  You can see what a light-airs race it was.... (Crew full names here).

Subic, about 2:30 am on 20th April.
LtoR: Big Al, Noel, Forse, Jing, MC, Celine, Biggus, Stevo, Jonno

At RHKYC pre-start, 16 April.  Forse and Noel;
Jing and Wobbles; MC and Big Al
(The cranes and cement behind are part of the work
on a new under-harbour road tunnel)

Click "Read more" to see photos below the fold

Pipped in the Philippines. Xena's Rolex China Sea Race

Xena races out of Victoria Harbour, 16th April 2014.           Photo: Sina.com

Xena is now back in Hong Kong, put to bed at the RHKYC pontoon on Thursday night, 24 April at 20:30, having left Subic at 14:00 on 21 April, for a trip time of 78 hours.  

Thanks to Jonno, Noel and Lony for helping me bring her back.  And with no damage; a first. 

We used only the Storm Tri-sail and high-cut delivery jib, which worked fine and meant less strain on the rig.  Delivery winds mostly gentle to nothing on first few days and then 20+ knots and choppy confused swells 3-4 metres on the last day, with plenty of fishing boats to dodge.
Xena performed beautifully both in the race and on delivery back to Hong Kong.

Strompfie asked me to write an article on the race for the X-Yachts magazine.
DRAFT X-Y Article is below.  RCSR Crew: Please feel free to comment: either in the comments section below, or direct to me.
And also: can you send me some photos that I can add to the blog. Thanks.
Best, Forse

Pipped in the Philippines.  Xena's Rolex China Sea Race

Words (560): Peter Forsythe                                     Pictures: J. Rechten; Sina.com

If you have to get pipped into second place by 31 minutes in an offshore race, what better way than by another X Yacht?

That was the case with us on our X-55, Xena, in the recent Rolex China Sea Race, a 565 NM Category One Offshore race from Hong Kong to Subic Bay in the Philippines.

After 84 hours on the water, we needed Hong Kong’s latest Xc-50, Explorer, to come in 9 hours after us, as she rates 1.089 to our 1.205. In fact, she arrived in Subic 8 hours 35 minutes after Xena, giving a corrected time difference of 34 minutes.  Well done new Xc-50!

The Rolex China Sea Race usually starts with a breezy first day and night, as the north-east monsoon kicks in.  Out of Victoria Harbour turn half right, set a rhumb line course of 145 degrees, crack sheets and set up for a long reach on Port tack.  Then, as you approach the Philippines, it becomes a very tactical race, dealing with shifty and light breezes and attempts to avoid the notorious “Luzon hole”.  In the 2012 race, we were leading the whole fleet for 2 ½ days, including TP52s and a 90-footer.  Then we fell into the “hole” for 6 hours, zero wind, zero boat speed, floating with sails down, fishing for squid in the middle of the night.

But this time the breezes were gentle even as we headed out, making the first night the calmest any of us had done.  The winds continued gentle all the way, 3-12 knots.  Xena showed her light-wind colours, as we managed to keep moving, with boat speed above wind speed, even in zephyrs of 3-4 knots.

It was a rhumb-line race, but with the fleet being forced south of rhumb by veering winds.  One tactical call was middle of night two: do we tack back to the rhumb, or stay on Port? No, we won’t tack. We tried it last time and it didn’t pay. 

Another tactical call was approaching Subic Bay around midnight.  Do we duck inside a rock and the mainland, or leave the rock to port, north of us? We decided on the inside duck, just as the full-ish moon rose ahead to give us a clear view of the gap.  Mistake. 

From 9 knots boat speed under our North Sails' A2 spinnaker, we came to a screeching halt with zero wind and boat speeds.  A whisper of wind and we hoist the Code Zero, tack with the tide, which gives us apparent wind, and head back to the main bay. 

Meantime, we had our long-time friendly rivals Moonblue2 (a Warwick 61) right on our tail just two boat lengths behind us.  They stayed in close to shore, while we searched for wind in the bay. 

One a.m., and the land breeze kicks in, 18 knots and a race to the line, which Moonblue 2 won by minutes, giving them another win in our “on the water” competition, which now stands at 3-2 to Xena in races to the Philippines.

And so to Subic and its pretty town of Olongapo. Rum and calamansi.  Mahi-mahi, dried milk fish, prawns.  Friends met, lies told.   

Wait for Explorer….  Result: X-Yachts First and Second in Premier IRC Division, Rolex China Sea Race.  Well done, XY!

Another Subic under the belt and the next one to look forward to, searching for a second win, our record to Philippines now being one win and three seconds.  Ducks in a row,  we need another bullet….

Peter Forsythe

26^th April 2014

In a box out-take:

Xena Crew: Regulars: Peter “Forse” Forsythe and Jing Lee (Owners); Steve “Stevo” Trebitsch (Crew Boss);  Ben “TC” Harding (Navigation); Michael “MC” Dangar (Main); Richard “Biggus” Hawkins (Radio Op); Noel Gabutin (Mid-Mast). Newbies: Alan “Big Al” Reid (Trim assist); Joe Bottomley (Bow); Jonathan “Jonno” Rechten (Mast); Celine “Wobbles”  Shao (Sina.com embed and Trim Assist); Robert Bottomley.

Pete Churchouse on the China Sea Race

Moonblue 2, leaves Victoria Harbour, CSR 2012

Pete Churchouse, owner/skipper of Moonblue 2, one of the boats in our Premier Division writes about the race on our Club's Facebook page, here.  For those of you who don't Like Facebook, here's the text:
Rolex China Sea Race - starts Wednesday 16 April

Owner/Skipper Peter Churchouse has had Moonblue 2, a Custom Warwick 64 ft since new in 2000. His crew of two women and ten men are from New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, the United Kingdom, the Philippines and France. The crew that are flying in for the Race are Doug Flynn (Australia), Brian Wade (New Zealand), David Baker (Australia) and Greg Conley (France). Moonblue 2 has done every Rolex China Sea Race since 2002 (save for 2010 when she was being repainted) and personally, Peter has at least 12 under his belt.

Timing is everything it seems. Pete is hoping to avoid “the bloody awful holes at the mouth of Subic Bay which kill the boats that get there between 1600 and 1700hrs as the inshore wind dies.

Outside boats carry the wind for 30 miles and we all end up at the same place, having been miles ahead. You sit at the mouth of the bay as the sea breeze dies inshore, and the land breeze does not kick in until about 2200hrs - so that’s five to six hours of sitting there going nowhere while the slower boats are still enjoying the breeze up the coast all the way to the mouth of the bay, just in time to pick up the evening land breeze! If you are a super fast racing boat, you get to the mouth of the bay during the day, when there is plenty of wind, but for the ‘faster’ cruising boats like Moonblue 2, we get there just as the wind dies. It’s a fact of life that we have to live with going to that destination.

Pete says that “possibly the best parts of this Race are the evenings after Day 1, when the typical configuration is spinnaker up, modest winds, flattish seas and a beautiful full moon that comes up at about 2100hrs on the port bow, and goes down behind the stern over the course of the night - and huge ‘Pixie’ pies baked beans, pots of coffee and lashings of Branston Pickle and brown sauce. The teapot and sundown is also keenly awaited!”

Apart from looking forward to some great fishing, Pete is planning on doing well in the Race and enjoying the tactical challenges that come with it. “With all the ‘racing’ boats masquerading as ‘cruising’ boats, it is difficult for genuine ‘furniture’ boats to do well under IRC. In fact it is almost a waste of time thinking that you can do well in Premier Cruising Division in such genuine cruising boats given the increasingly racing configuration of some of the boats that slip into this division these days - or older racing boats that decide they are now cruising boats.” says Peter, adding that “everyone that is a racing boat in sheep’s clothing is Moonblue 2’s greatest competition, I like to race against genuine similar ‘furniture’ boats - unfortunately that is increasingly not the case”.

Pete continues to join offshore races despite what he describes as a “yachting bureaucracy making these events more difficult to do” by “adding increasing levels of regulatory and administrative encumbrances to the sport.” He’s dreading the the possibility of “a new raft of rules that need to be complied with next time, adding further additional layers of reasons not to participate.” Let’s hope so too Pete, we would love to see you on the start line every time!

Back to the Race that Pete is taking part in - Pete says “there are all these folks that think the Hobart Race is the ‘biggie’ for sailors and yes it is a classic hard race for sure. But this Rolex China Sea Race takes sailors much further offshore and well out of range of airborne help in the event of a disaster. Hence a need to be well-prepared. I have had guys on board who have done literally double-digit Hobart races and get as sick as a dog on this Race given a very uncomfortable quartering sea on the first day out typically. It is not quite the benign tropical paradise that some people might imagine.”

The mast walk by Alex Thomson

Alex T, 30 metres up.  Click here for the vid.

This, reminds me we need to do a rig check...
(h/t to Hetho for the link)

Report into the abandoning of “Walawala 2” on the HK to Vietnam Race

Walawala 2, August 2012 on Western Circuit.  Courtesy WW2 Facebook

Report of the review into the abandoning of “Walawala 2” on the Audi Hong Kong Vietnam Race on 18 October 2013.

This review of the abandonment of Walalwala 2 is well worth reading, and worth close scrutiny in particular by Xena crew in forthcoming Subic Race. [Backup PDF file here].
BTW: Our crewmate on forthcoming race to Subic, Stevo, was on Walawala 2 when she went down.... 

Pine-Pacific's Premier Performance: King's Cup 2013

Two X-55s "match race" in Phuket
Xena (blue kite) and Pine-Pacific battle it out at King's Cup, 2012.
Note the different spinnaker set-ups: us with pole, Pine with bowsprit.

This year, Xena didn't make the trip down to Phuket, so we didn't get the chance to tussle again with our sister ship, Pine-Pacific, the "other" X-55 in Asia, as we did at last year's King's Cup.
Pine cleaned up in the Premier IRC Division, taking all six races, some by as much as 30 minutes corrected.  Their only competition was the lovely grey Swan 75, Silandra V, but Pine beat her handily, including on the water in Race 4.
As Phuket Wan news says:

In Premier class, Pine-Pacific has dominated their class all week, and took two more victories again today. The team have been in a ''class of their own'' all week, and finished well ahead of nearest rival Silandra V.

So well done to Ithinai Yingsiri and his crew!
Also in the Division, another old sparring partner, the First 53f5 Baby Tonga, now owned by our neighbour Garry Smith, under charter to an Aussie crew, as Sailing Adventures and they too made it to the podium in Race 5; well done lads and ladies.

Baby Tonga crew pick up their second place silverware.  Our mate and
neighbour, Garry Smith in the middle.  Sorry don't know the others...

In other Div's news, of boats we know:
IRC 0: the big boys.... Neil Pryde racing again in his much-campaigned Wellboune 52 Custom, Hifi, came in third to two TP52s, just pipping another Hong Kong sailor, Frank Pong on his RP Custom 75, Jelik into fourth.
IRC 1: Long-time Xena cremate, Stevo, was racing on the Patrick Pender & Jamie McWilliam's Ker40, Signal 8 picking up a podium-finish third, in the hotly contested IRC1 Division.
IRC 2: Pete ("Sorro") Sorensen in his newly-bought Beneteau First 44.7 Fujin (Matt Allen's ex Ichi Ban), scored a second overall in their division IRC2.  Sailing mate Rob's Sailplane, a First 47.7, was chartered to Russian Kirili Sakhartsev -- whose folks had looked after us so well on our Russia trip in May this year -- and finished a creditable 4th in the division.
IRC 3: Hong Kong boat, the A35 Red Kite II owned -- and raced so well -- by Anthony Root and crew, won handily, tussling along the way with Matt Allen's new Ichi Ban an Adams 10.
LATER:

Baby Tonga, 2nd place, R5, on the King's Birthday....
Owner Garry gets his just desserts, from Dagmar..

Around the Island Race, Hong Kong, November 10th 2013

L to R: Angel, TC, Zoe, Noel, Garry, Dagmar, Jing, Claes,
Jade, Steve, Biggus, Stevo.  Post race, Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club

We raced Xena in the annual Around the Island Race (ATIR), this year with over 250 entries, in about 20 classes, everything from Flying Fifteen dinghies to Frank Pong's Custom 75-footer.
A great race this year, with plenty of wind, rarely below 15 knots, averaging in the 20s, with occasional gusts over 30 knots.  This was the wind being sucked in from just north of East, by the super typhoon Haiyan, which has wreaked havoc in the Philippines... an ill wind...  Rather shocking and sobering to think, as we enjoy our race, such devastation was happening in our neighbour country.... our thoughts surely with them, as must also be our help...

LATER: The best way to donate is via our Club, which will match your donation one for one.  The link is here.

EVEN LATER: if you're not a Club member and wish to donate,  send a cheque payable to "Royal Hong Kong Charity Foundation Ltd" or  transfer money directly to the Foundation's HSBC account number 652-214743-001.  Receipts can be issued at request to email here.

Only one slight area of less pressure, as always south of the Island around Cyberport, where it dropped to 5-10 knots, but we never stopped, and made it round the island in just 3 hours 15 minutes, which averaged 8 knots even, for the 26 nautical mile course.  And we were fastest speed on the water in our division.
In our Class we came second, to the Beneteau First 50 Lighthorse.  We beat them by 10 minutes on elapsed time, but needed to be a bit more to beat them on corrected, which put us 4 minutes behind them.  Oh well -- I still recall we raced that boat last year in the China Coast Regatta, beating them five out of five races, so it will all be on next time we meet them.
Special guests on board Xena yesterday: Claes Tallberg, who is Commodore of the Nyslandska Jaktlubben in Finland and is in Hong Kong with about 20 other Commodores for the ICOYC Commodores’ Forum. To whom we said: "Tervetuloa"! (which is, I trust, "welcome" in Finnish).  And two youngsters, "Sharks" they call them, who are on the Club's Youth Sail training program: Freya and Thorwen (piccie below), who were making a transition to a big boat from 29ers (Freya) and Optimists (Thorwen).
Results (Click "IRC Cruising")
Above photo missing a few of the crew: MC Danger, myself, who took the photo and the two "Sharks", young sailors on RHKYC's sail training program:

Freya Darnton and Thorwen Uiterwaal-Postma
young "Sharks" with RHKYC youth training courses.

And another of the crew:

Only difference with one above, is I'm in this one...

Beauties and the Best... Stevo with Dagmar and Jing.

Some photos from Cess:

Hold on tight to that mainsail, Gaz!...

Whoops!....

Post mortem.... Jing, Biggus, Forse, Stevo, Zoe

Angel and TC

Dagmar and Forse, with prize giving lady.  RHKYC Poolside Prize giving
11th November 2013.

Pleasure boat industry is being stifled by government inertia

Kwun Tong typhoon shelter.  Courtesy SCMP

I've written about this before.  The government here is now stuck in a mode of the least done the safer...
Below, a detailed look at the issue of lack of moorings in Hong Kong, by Howard Winn of Lai See column in the South China Morning Post of 24 October.
The link is here ($). [PDF (free)]

There has been increasing concern over the past few years over the shortage of moorings for private pleasure vessels. Indeed, it is apparent that government intransigence is strangling the local boating industry and stifling Hong Kong's potential to be a thriving boating hub. There are about 18,000 local craft of which about half are categorised as pleasure vessels. Of these, nearly 700 are yachts, about 2,500 are motor boats and junks, and about 4,500 are essentially small speed boats. Many of the latter can be kept on land and don't need moorings.

There are about 2,800 recognised private moorings which exist in private boat clubs and typhoon shelters, which falls a good deal short of the demand. Outside these, there are also a number of designated mooring areas around Hong Kong but according to the Marine Department no more moorings can be laid as a result of objections from "villagers" and other curious brotherhood organisations requiring payment for loss of ancestral fishing rights and so on. Increasingly, boats are anchoring in various bays around the city. The mooring shortage has been exacerbated by the department's ban on subletting and sale of moorings.

Walawala 2 abandons ship -- all safe

Walawala 2, with Steve Manning helming, Stevo to his left

Not exactly breaking news this, I'm afraid, but posting for the record, and with thanks that all are well.  Another case of good training and coordination of emergency measures leading to all safely rescued (Tipsy Frenz also lost at sea, June 2012)  Great news on that front, as we know a number of the crew on board.  Kudos, to the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and HK Government's marine emergency bodies, especially the Government Flying Services.

According to one crew member, they were having a quick trip, in winds of 18-25 knots at 140-150 TWA, boat speed 15 knots topping at 21 knots, in control with full mainsail and A6 kite, when they had the rudder incident, quick ingress of water, losing it quick and had to bail out...
SCMP Report ($) [PDF]

Report from the RHKYC [Link] [PDF]:

At 0135hrs local hours on Friday 18 October, Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC) Sailing Manager, Alex Johnston, received a distress call via satellite phone from the skipper of Walawala 2, Steven Manning, reporting that the yacht had lost its rudder and was taking on water.  Manning also advised that there were no injuries to the 10 crew. 

At this time the crew activated the yacht’s EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon).

Life in the Xenaverse

An article about the wonderful Warrior Princess, muse and inspiration for our own boat's name, from the equally wonderful Jennifer Sky:

....  Xena [the show], however, was also special. It was feminism at work, with female lead characters who were unapologetically powerful and sexy. During my time on the show [as the "Amazon Goddess" Amarice], on six episodes from the fourth to the fifth seasons, I kicked butt. Off screen, I was trained in numerous fighting techniques, in archery and horseback riding. On screen, I hung with a Christ figure called Eli; I had a same-sex lover and a boyfriend of a different race than mine; I threw bombs and walked along high wires. I killed so many bad guys that they began to look the same. In fact, they were the same — 20 or so stunt men and women who did the most difficult tricks and falls, making the rest of us look good.

And I did it all in a wig of wild red hair and leather short-shorts.
Xena, which ran for six years before it ended in 2001, was a show that charmed even as it taught its audience a thing or two. It never reached too far beyond its kitschy foundations: in one episode, characters were crucified; in another, we did musical numbers. But it managed to bring home thought-provoking story lines about same-sex love, about religion, about soul mates and manifest destiny. Gender was not relevant in the Xenaverse. There, a girl or a boy could be a warlord or a farmer, a bard or a sad sack needing protection....  

[Read it all. PDF]

"Give HK people a boat policy anchored to real needs"

Many yachts have been moved into dry dock at the Royal Hong Kong
Yacht Club.  Photo: K.Y.Cheng, courtesy: SCMP

In today's South China Morning Post, an article by Paul Zimmerman, maybe some good news on an issue I've written about before: the severe shortage of berthing and mooring facilities in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong government has belatedly acknowledged the need for a fundamental review of policy and management issues relating to vessel berthing space. The review will explore solutions for better management of berthing spaces for local vessels and the challenges faced by the Marine Department.
The marine industry wants this review to include supply, given the dramatic shortfall of over 20,000 berthing facilities for leisure, recreational and sports vessels. A champion is needed within government to ensure waterfront land and seabed is set aside to address this.

Read the rest of the article [pdf]....

Phuket Race week

Moya Hin approaches top mark, Pete J at helm, yours truly, Forse, on Main,
Kevin on Jib/brace, La on checkstay, Paul on the keyboard.  Photo from regatta site.

I'm down at Sanwa cove in Phuket for Phuket Race week, an "off-season" regatta in the SW monsoon; hence based around the SE corner of the Island.

With Peter Jones, wife La and their crew on Moya Hin, a Bashford + Howison 41.  Lovely boat and crew, good winds in the 10-20 knot range with no holes. Met Pete Jones through sailing mate Rob, of the Vlad-Moscow trip...
Pete ("Sorro") Sorenson and Gordie Ketelbey walked away with first, notching up 8 bullets, basically unbeatable.  They're racing in their new purchase, the old Ichiban, ex-owned by Matt Allen, a Beneteau 44.7 raced successfully for years around this area, now renamed "Fü Jin", (風神) or wind god, in Japanese, keeping that Japanese vibe ("ichi ban" = "number one").
"Moya Hin", meantime, means "Rock Doctor" (or "Dr Rock", which is maybe cooler....), in Lao, as Peter Jones is a geologist, exploring for minerals in Laos.
The next top four after Fü Jin, had some close racing, sometimes just seconds of time in it. We were the big improvers up to the second-last day, in contention for a podium finish overall, but a touch of the wobblies on the last two fresh-breeze races led us to drop down a place, one point off fourth.
Enjoyed by all, with thanks to Pete J and team.

Moya Hin approaches bottom mark, Day 2.

Fü Jin and Moya Hin, Day 3

Marine Department on the warpath

Live-aboards at Discovery Bay Marina

Unintended consequences of the tragic crash of a ferry with a pleasure boat in October last year, from a couple of sources in the shipping industry:

To Russia with Voxy

The road follows the railway, mostly.  The only difference was that we went
Perm-Kazan, rather than through Kirov (in the NW).  Click to enlarge.

First post here.

For the past three weeks have been sailing across the steppes of Russia -- from the Vladivostok in the Russian Far East to Siberia and the Urals, and thence Moscow -- with sailing mates Gordie, Rob and Joe.  

10,221 kilometres on the trip-meter, from Vladivostok to Moscow, and we've made it in our trusty Voxy. Now just back in Hong Kong, and some random photos below.... [and for gluttons for punishment, more piccies at Picasa]

Four blokes in a Voxy: Rob, Pete, Joe, Gordie in the hiker's hut, hills of Krasnoyarsk.
We were served tea by the caretaker Viktor who was born and brought up here
and spends all his days in the mountains.  

BTW: I've been asked about "Treacling" (from my last post):  Rob tells me it's the Yorkshire habit of putting the car in neutral going downhill, to save fuel.  Yorkshire folk are renowned for being careful with money, if I can put it like that....  There's also "extreme treacling", which is, in addition to being in neutral, also turning off the engine -- which can, of course, be a bit tricky, what with steering locking up 'n all... if not outright dangerous.
We had to Treacle on the road to Chita, east of Lake Baikal, as there's a bit of road, about 400 km of it, where there's not a single gas station: and the little Voxy only has a range of 410km.  Rob was Treacling like crazy for a whole afternoon's driving...
There are more photos below the fold..

Treacling in Siberia... Sailing lads cruise Russia

Sailing lads on the road...Joe, Rob, Gordie, in Vladivostok, 8 May 2013

[Second part of this trip report is here]

We're now in Krasnoyask, which you can see on the map below, Siberia's third-largest city.

So, we're about half-way on our current drive across Russia: Vladivostok to Moscow.  10,000 km, give or take.

The idea was Rob Bottomley's, a Yorkshire-based sailing buddy of Xena crewmate Gordon  ("Gordie") Ketelbey, with whom I also did the Cape to Cairo Rally in 2011.  Rob is here with his son and fellow sailor Joe.  Yorkshire lads.

We're in a Toyota Voxy that we (Rob and Gordie, that is) bought in Vladivostok, a right-hand drive number imported from Japan, for which the aim is to sell her in Moscow.  She's no Land Cruiser, but a plucky road warrior for all that.

While the Trans-Siberian Railway has been in place for century or more the road through has only recently been completed -- the last bit, the Zilov Gap, driven by Putin in 2009, in one of his he-man stunts.  By the way, and for what it's worth, no Russian in the Far East or Siberia has had a nice thing to say about the he-man... 

Since the road has only recently(ish) been completed, there's very few who have done the trip by car.  In most of the places we've stopped we're the first tourists they've seen, and we ourselves didn't see another tourist till Ulan Ude, 3,800 km west of Vladivostok (in between Irkutsk and Chita on the map below).

And what's this "treacling" business?? Answer later (maybe; I'll see how I feel)...

As always, click on the photos to enlarge.

This map says "Early 20th Century", but nothing much has changed on the
rail since then, other than the new BAM railway north of Lake Baikal.
The Road more or less follows the train's track.
Newby writes about it amusingly in "The Big Red Train Ride" of 1978.

Klaus' fabulous photos

"Sunset Skyline over water"

Some really fabulous photos from Xena crewmate Klaus, here.  Thanks Klaus!

Sail Twist and Wind Shear

Remember we've had a few discussions on board and in the pub.... about Sail Twist and why, sometimes, do we do better on one tack than another?  MC, one for you, in particular, esp on Sail Twist!

Here's an interesting article, courtesy Jamie McWilliam on the RHKYC Big Boats Forum; thanks Jamie!

"G Unit" winning on Katusha

From regular Xena tactician Stevo, news of exploits of sometime Xena crew member, "G" (aka Matt Kelway), in the RC 44 Cup at Trapani, on Katusha.  That's G above on the rail furthest forward....  There'll be none of that hikin' on the rail on Xena, thank you very much.... at least for the more mature crew folk....

News and more great photos here.  Hat-tip to Stevo.

"China's Guo Chuan back home after successful non-stop solo sail around the world"

Guo pops the bubbly back in Qingdao.  A fantastic effort in a 40-footer.

We met Guo and his boat, back in September when he was in Hong Kong just prior to his non-stop round the world single-handed, in his Class 40.  And now he's back home in Qingdao.  Well done to Guo!
From here...

QINGDAO, Shandong Province, April 5 (Xinhua) -- China's Guo Chuan sailed back home on Friday morning to become the first Chinese to successfully circumnavigate the globe singlehanded. Abroad his Class40 yacht, 48-year-old Guo travelled about 21,600 nautical miles in 138 days before he returned to his hometown of Qingdao, where he set off on November 18 last year. The once-in-a-lifetime journey saw Guo pilot his yacht across the Pacific Ocean and then down to Cape Horn off the coast of South Africa before crossing into the Atlantic Ocean. Guo, one of China's most accomplished sailors, previously became the first Chinese to traverse the Atlantic Ocean by himself and to take part in the Volvo Around-The-World Ocean race.

Sail-world story here.

Tucked in safely in San Fernando....

Congratulations to our mates on Antipodes (Geoff Hill) and Moonblue 2 (Peter Churchouse).  Antipodes has secured the double: Line Honours and first on IRC Overall.  Moonblue 2 has secured first in Premier Division and 4th IRC Overall.  Results here.
Meantime, not all are quite "tucked in"... there are still 13 boats out there, battling wind holes of various sorts and positions.  This morning there were three boats about 40 miles out going round in circles in zero wind (been there, done that...).
There are still some of those doing well and headed to SF, but a couple clearly suffering in local wind holes and almost zero boat speed.  We feel for them and wish them wind filling in!
Here's the 17:30 screen shot for the record:

Three Divisional leaders still on the water (those with crowns): from bottom:
Red Kite 2 (IRC 2), Hedonist (IRC Cruising, most westerly) and, Northeast,
Wonderwall (HKPN).  Tom Wiesinger's Allegro is most northerly.
The most SE are Premier Cruisers Tipsy Easy and Clove Hitch
17:30, 30 March

Moonblue 2 going great guns

Geoff Hill's Antipodes still leads on the double: Overall IRC and Line Honours
Pete Churchouse's Moonblue 2 is 65 miles behind, still leading Premier
Cruising (white w/crown), 3rd IRC and 3rd LH.  Peter Cremers' Shahtoosh is the red one north
of the rhumb, after tick-tacking north yesterday; 3rd PC, 4th LH.  The TP52, Standard
Insurance is second Line Honours immediately north of Antibodes.  She
tacked north early out of the harbour, and so was able to avoid the knock
and tacking back to the rhumb that the rest of the fleet suffered yesterday.
Talking Head still leads IRC2, and Crystal leads Cruising
09:30, 29 March

UPDATE: 15:00, Moonblue 2 and Shahtoosh now level-pegging on the water, both with 98 miles to go.  MB2 still first in Premier, Shahtoosh moved up to second, with Explorer, the new XC50 in third.  Meantime, Andipodes has less that one mile to go, still with the Line Honours and Overall Handicap double in hand. [probably finished by now, given the Race Tracker delay..]

Live on the YellowBrick Tracker here.  (I'm not sure how long these stay online; I wonder...).

Tactically the two front boats are in interesting positions: Antipodes is harder on the breeze, currently 40TWA, while Standard Insurance north is travelling freer, about 70 TWA, and has slightly better boat speed at last checking.  Distance to finish between them: 20Nm.  If breeze clocks right a bit more, will favour the TP, though it seems to be sailing into a hole (4-5 knots) that doesn't extend down to Antibodes. So should be interesting and maybe close finish sometime later today. [current rough estimates: they'll be two hours apart, Antibodes first..]

At last checking of tracker: Moonblue 2 doing 9 knots in 11 knots of breeze at a TWA of about 55-60 degrees, so clearly revelling in the light-tight reaching conditions.  Antipodes and the TP52 are both doing a touch over 10 knots. (Can't help wondering how Xena would be doing, as do G&A in a comment to yesterday's post).

Winds 070-080, 10-12 knots.  Wonder if there'll be the usual "Luzon Hole"?...

PS: sometime and regular Xena crew: "Bucket" is aboard Moonblue 2; Stevo and TC aboard Shahtoosh.