Logbook Sept 21st 2015

21.09.2015-Nach-der-Front
Day 3 of Leg 1, Sept 21st 2015:
We are still in the Bay of Biscay, heading towards the northwestern tip of Spain: Cap Finisterre.
I don’t remember much about this day to be honest. A sledgeride with the Code5 in growing winds and waves, skies and water grey. It’s nice to see from the logbook entries how the pressure drops and wind and cloud coverage are rising. At about 5pm the second cold front hits us and it is a more proper one than the weak front we had the day before. The wind picked up ahead of the front, allowing me some quick hours with the Code5 (small and flat storm spinnaker).
Behind the front I am sailing upwind into the night.

This was also the day that excited some people since I was ranked 3rd overall for a brief period of time. As visible from the picture, this was due to the fact that I had not invested as much into going west as most of the fleet, meaning I was closer to the direct route.
In the following 24 hours though, the boats in the west would have a better wind angle and neutralize or even turn their 30nm lag (north/south) into a 10nm lead.

00:00

Wind Waves Clouds Pressure Position Sails COG SOG
W 5kn 0.5m 1/8 Cn 1019.6 N47°04.9 / W006°44.5 Main + Solent 192 5.5kn

Comments from the Logbook:
none

03:00

Wind Waves Clouds Pressure Position Sails COG SOG
SW 6kn 0.5m 5/8 Sc 1018.2 N46°50.9 / W006°42.7 Main + Solent 185 5.7kn

Comments from the Logbook:
Where the heck is the second front? (It was forecast to hit us that night)

06:00

Wind Waves Clouds Pressure Position Sails COG SOG
WSW 6kn 1m 4/8 Cn/Sc 1017.5 N46°36.3 / W006°43.1 Main + Solent 198 5.2kn

Comments from the Logbook:
It is freezing cold on deck.

12:21

Wind Waves Clouds Pressure Position Sails COG SOG
WSW 12-14kn 1.5m 5/8 Cn/Sc 1016.4 N46°01.0 / W006°50.9 Main + Solent 190 6.5kn

Comments from the Logbook:
-no luck receiving a weather forecast.
-last 5 hours we were blasting along doing 10kn with Code5. Awesome!!
-frech military vessel passes me close on starboard. Called them on the radio but no reply. Is this our support vessel!?
-Xu (chinese entrant) passed 1nm in front of me, sailing very high. I wonder why.

18:00

Wind Waves Clouds Pressure Position Sails COG SOG
NW 16kn 2-3m 7/8 Cn/Sc n/a N45°22.4 / W007°21.0 Main(-) + Solent 212 7.0kn

Comments from the Logbook:
21:00: Shook out the reef i the main.
00:00: 24h distance: 150nm

Logbook Sept 20th, 2015

Position on Sept 20th at around 9pm2nd Day of Leg 1, Sept 20th 2015:
06:00

Wind Waves Clouds Pressure Position Sails COG SOG
N 1-2kt 0.5m 1/8 CS 1024.8 N47°50.7 / W005°32.6 Main + Big Spi 290 1.9kt

Comments from the Logbook
Quentin is visible on the horizon to the west, some boats south. Zero wind.
Around 7am: Radek is having keel trouble and will go diving, asks for someone to make sure he arrives back on deck after a while. 20 Minutes later he is back on deck.
09:25: a little bit of wind is there, pulls us very far NW, tacking (others remain on course).
10:30: switching to Code5 to try and make more west
11:43: took the Code 5 down

12:00

Wind Waves Clouds Pressure Position Sails COG SOG
S 5kt 0.5m 1/8 CS 1024.7 N47°46.7 / W005°46.9 Groß + Solent 233 5.0kt

Comments from the Logbook:
12:00: attempted to receive weather forecast, didn’t find any usable signal.
13:00: Code0 hoisted, reefed the solent.
Quentin still on the horizon, Radek about 4nm north. Some sails on the horizon.

15:00

Wind Waves Clouds Pressure Position Sails COG SOG
SE 6kt 0.5m 7/8 CS 1023.3 N47°37.9 / W006°08.7 Groß + Solent(-) + Code0 265 6.6kt

Comments from the Logbook:
none

18:00

Wind Waves Clouds Pressure Position Sails COG SOG
SE 7-9kn 1m 8/8 CN/CS 1021.8 N47°29.7 / W006°29.4 Groß(-) + Solent(-) + Code0 265 6.6kn

Bemerkungen aus dem Logbuch:
19:50 Uhr: Wind dreht! Code0 runter, Wende. Ich sehe auf dem AIS die Flotte in der Flaute liegen, versuche mit der Wende der Flaute zu entgehen.

21:00

Wind Waves Clouds Pressure Position Sails COG SOG
NW/W 5kt 1m 8/8 ? 1020.5 N47°22.8 / W006°41.6 Groß + Solent 152 5.3kt

Comments from the Logbook:
Around 11pm: very (very very very very very) close encounter with MS Emden. While I was avoiding one Cargo using the AIS I did not realize there was another one. AIS also did not show it since I was in “collision mode” with the other ship. At 1nm from the cargo, our passing distance is still 0.015sm, luckily we both manage to alter course sufficiently so we pass each other at .3nm.
Florian 2nm ahead of me, Andy temporarily on the AIS.

Mini Transat 2015 Logbook: Sept 19th, 2015

Position_1909-2141
Exactly one year ago #732 and me took the start of the Mini Transat 2015 and left on the first leg to Lanzarote.

And since I keep looking at the logbook every now and then I thought I would allow you to relive my race by posting the logbook entries of each day here, every day.
Where I have pictures or memories from these days I will write a bit about the days here too.

We start with the entries from Day 1 on Leg 1, Sept 19th 2015:
18:00

Wind Waves Cloud Coverage Pressure Position Sails COG Speed
NW 7kn 1m clear skies 1026.4 N48°05.0 / W004°39.7 n/a n/a n/a

Comment from the Logbook:
none

Comment:
At this time we were still in the bay of Douarnenez approaching the Pt. de Raz and the upwind course was slowly turning into a reach. I remember Andy (587) about 0.5nm to leeward of me waving while the sun was setting.
Shortly after the wind started shifting more northerly and we struggled to get the Code0 up but eventually succeeded and followed the fleet past Pt. de Raz.

21:39

Wind Waves Cloud Coverage Pressure Position Sails COG Speed
NW 5-6kn 1m clear skies 1026.8 N47°54.4 / W005°02.4 Full Main + Big Spi n/a n/a

Comment from the Logbook:
Outrigger (for the spinnaker-sheets): ca. 0.4kn quicker!

Kommentar:
It was an amazing sight with all the masttop lights of the fleet around and the Île de Sein to our north, heading into this first night. The last Zodiacs with photographers and the stress of 10 days in Douarnenez were forgotten and it felt like we now had the sea to ourselves. Finally in the race!