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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
2nd 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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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:
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 |
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!