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Norddeutsche Vermogen Hamburg
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Just before 3pm this afternoon (Friday), the youngsters onboard the RYA backed Unlimited Sailing/John Merricks completed the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race receiving not only a sound signal from the battlements of the Royal Yacht Squadron but the respect and plaudits of all their fellow competitors. It has been a terrific ‘baptism of fire’ for tomorrow’s offshore sailing superstars who have contended with a wide range of conditions from 45 knots to 0 knots and even up to last night were forced to drop anchor with the finishing line agonisingly close. Throughout the race, the Unlimited Sailing/John Merricks team have been mentored by round the world yachtsman Nigel King who describes the closing part of the race and his feelings towards the young crew with an average age of just 23, saying: “We were forced to drop our anchor last night to keep our position when the wind died. There was just this tense feeling on the boat of people wanting to get to the finish, but not being able to do anything because of the lack of wind. At about 6:30 this morning the wind filled back in and now we have 18 knots and are moving again at just over ten knots.” “We passed Beachy Head at 8:30 this morning and are now starting to see familiar bits of coast, which just fuels the crews desire to get home. “We are all looking forward to getting back onto dry land and off of the boat which has taken on a bit of a smell. The crew have done a fantastic job through out the race, everyone pitching in and pulling their own weight. They should all be proud of the way they have sailed and of what looks to be a very respectable finish time.” Stepping ashore at the Island Sailing Club, the team will receive champagne courtesy of the RORC and can reflect on a good job, very well done! Meanwhile, just behind, Volker Linzer’s Norddeutsche Vermogen was making good progress against the tide with just 46 miles left to run and should finish this evening as the westerly breezes look like holding throughout the afternoon. As the race comes to its conclusion the RORC will continue to bring daily updates and position reports from the boats highlighting the highs and lows of this premier coastal yacht race. All yachts competing in the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race have been fitted with a tracking device developed by the RORC in conjunction with OC Technology. Yacht positions will be updated hourly and can be followed on the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s dedicated micro site accessed via www.rorc.org
Quotes from the boats…Unlimited Sailing / John Merricks: Crew get ready to cross the finish line
This afternoon, 18 August, Unlimited Sailing / John Merricks is finally expected home, after a gruelling 1760 mile journey in the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race. The Farr 45 will be the sixth boat to complete the race and is estimated to come in at 14:30 this afternoon. For the Volvo RYA Keelboat Programme crew, a select group of young amateur sailors, crossing the finish line in Cowes, Isle of Wight will mark the end of an adventure that they have been working towards for the last 18 months. This morning Nigel King, who has been mentoring the best of Britain’s up-and-coming keelboat talent, gave his final report from the boat which was becalmed last night.
“We were forced to drop our anchor last night to keep our position when the wind died. There was just this tense feeling on the boat of people wanting to get to the finish, but not being able to do anything because of the lack of wind. At about 6:30 this morning the wind filled back in and now we have 18 knots and are moving again at just over ten knots. King, from Cowes, also spoke about the atmosphere on board, where spirits are up and the excitement of getting home runs high. “We passed Beachy Head at 8:30 this morning and are now starting to see familiar bits of coast, which just fuels the crews desire to get home. “We are all looking forward to getting back onto dry land and off of the boat which has taken on a bit of a smell. The crew have done a fantastic job through out the race, everyone pitching in and pulling their own weight. They should all be proud of the way they have sailed and of what looks to be a very respectable finish time.” Unlimited Sailing / John Merricks will finish the race after 14:30 this afternoon and head for the Island Sailing Club pontoon, in Cowes, to celebrate their success. Jaguar Logic – Flugga Watch Report
Flugga watch update (Stuart, Mags, Mick and Rich) - Thursday 15th 17:46 Tuesday night saw the Flugga watch taking the boat around Muckle Flugga, the Northern most tip of the British Isles. The event was characterized by a level of considerable stress as Stuart helmed the boat in total darkness, thick fog, moderate winds and heavy swell through the gaps between rocks. Pedro provided the navigation direction and inspirational words of motivational encouragement from the chart table, whilst the rest of the crew trimmed and reminded Stuart of the difference between a tack and a gybe (just in time!). Not quite the picture postcard view of the lighthouse and the surrounding landscape we had all hoped for, but job done! Later that morning the wind died and the fog closed in, emerging from the mist a fisheries commission boat stalked us for a few hours, obviously unaware that a large mast and race sails are not conducive to landing an illegal haul of North Sea Cod. Moral remains high and we shared a celebratory glass of champagne with the muddled watch on deck. Watch leader Stuart has been distributing love hearts to the crew as he struggles to come to terms with his heightened emotions (I love you too hot lips!). Mags is keeping us entertained with her constant chatter and rather unconventional trimming theories. A new crew member joined on Wednesday in the form of Chamomile Flugga, a tiny green finch who landed on the decks seeking shelter. He was provided food and water by Mick "birdman" Moore and a safe haven for the night before being tended in the morning. Regrettably his condition deteriorated and he passed away the following morning to receive full Jaguar Logic ceremonial burial at Sea (Nudged off the stern in a cardboard teabag box). We now have 500 miles to go and may perhaps arrive back on Monday evening, to keep ourselves entertained we are taking it in turns to break the pump unit on the heads, trying to perfect Rich's Janet Street-Porter impressions and count the number of times Mick disappears for a "quite moment" after his world record attempt for continuous constipation flounders. Hero of the watch (self appointed) - Mags, our pint sized, light wind helming specialist. The Flugga watch continues its mission to boldly go where only one (thanks Skip) Reflex 38 has been before and circumnavigate the British and Irish Isles, to be continued..... Jaguar Logic – Muckle Watch Report
After another frustrating day, the wind arrived late in the evening and built from 10kts to 20kts. Jaguar is now sporting her #3 headsail and sprinting along and 8.3kts with the wind on the beam (ed. Just hit 9.2kts and 9.0kts VMG). With excellent VMG our finish time is now looking much better - Aug 2006 rather than sometime in 2009! Muckle passed the two evening watches away trimming and playing 20 questions animal, vegetable or mineral. Andy pulled one out of the bag and got 'oil rig' on question two! This is probably connected to us now navigating around oil rigs and avoiding their exclusion zones. It is amazing to see the size of these beasts and the intensity of their lights is very confusing at night compared to normal night lights as the rigs are seen much further away than expected. Accompanying the rigs are their support vessels which monitor the area around the rigs and ensure no unauthorised vessels enter the exclusion zones around the rigs and well heads. We were asked to alter course yesterday by a friendly Scot when we thought we'd already given enough berth to a rig, so we are now being more cautious when we see them. Thankfully we have AIS which picks up the rigs and the support vessels so we can plot our course through them with care. Without it we would have a much more difficult passage south through them, especially further south where there are rigs every 5 miles or so. In attempting to catch Puma, Jaguar is now trying to emulate some of their tactics. Overnight yesterday a winch handle committed suicide, ably helped by the preventer and yesterday evening the washing up bucket was lost overboard (mate Peter ably demonstrating how not to fill the bucket with sea water at the side of the boat rather than in the stern wash). We are now convinced these weight saving techniques used by Puma pre-start are why they have pulled away from us in the last few days. No further items are planned to go overboard! Fortunately we have a spare bucket and it is currently being disinfected to replace the lost one. We have to run the engine in neutral everyday to recharge the batteries and everyone has been asked to be especially careful when moving around near the throttle. Over-revving the engine could be terminal if a gasket were to blow. Whilst everyone has done it, Peter also managed to kick the throttle yesterday and was now very worried what his third mishap was going to be. Fortunately he split some milk this morning and is now feeling much relieved. Allie has also been spilling things, as evidenced by tea stains all over her foulies! Minnie the Moocher – Ker 11.3 – Report from Anthony Richards
“We have a suspected diaphragm failure in our fuel pump and cannot use
our engine to charge batteries. We have passed Great Yarmouth. Our
expectation is to finish Saturday.” Norddeutsche Vermogen – Position Report
Report (Beachy Head) 18.08.06 - 11.28 (local time/board time) Norddeutsche Vermögen Hamburg GER 5500 Class Z 50°,40,12 N000°16,74 O
Everything onboard okay! Puma Logic
Upwind all the way to Muckle Flugga, go past rock, head south, and by jingo, the wind is on the nose again! It saw us coming! Latest statistics from the yacht: Number of dinners left: 2
Amount of loo roll left: Nil
Number of books left: quarter of a 200 pager
Number of toilets (heads) working: 0!!!
Number of winch handles left: 1
Number of buckets left: 1
Number of medivacs 1
Number of crew needing to get back to work on Monday 4!
Amount of dry clothes left 0 The crew are in good spirits still but the loss of the use of the loo has seriously dropped morale. Some of the crew are risking using the heads taking a bucket of water with them, others are using the traditional method of bucket and chuck it, but the brave are using the opportunity to get some sunlight to those areas that normally remain in darkness, and are using the transom! Jaguar Logic – Blog update
Another difficult night has passed with fickle winds and slow progress, but spirits are remaining remarkably high. We have found and lost wind all day with numerous headsail changes as Pete has probably reported this morning, but the sail changes have continued all day. We have just had pasta and pesto for lunch followed by ginger cake and lashings of custard. Crew loved it. We were caught by Sidney today, though they pretended to be Talisman over the VHF and this caused much concern and dismay amongst everyone as we knew we’d been so far in front of them and no-one could believe we’d lost so much ground since Muckle Flugga. We are planning our revenge. They have also been trying to barter for our females on board, but we’re not sure 20L of orange juice is enough and, anyway, we’re not sure how we could do an exchange as we’re planning on staying in front of them until the finish line. Pete (Skipper) has taken the helm again today as the sun is out and the suntan lotion has had to be re-located as the balmy conditions allow people to strip off, wash and wear shorts! Don’t worry we’re still racing hard to the finish.
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