Category: OSTAR 2017

Now that Resolute is back in Camden, ME, I've had a chance to offload her "offshore" gear (and provisions, like food) and to do a detailed survey of her condition. Overall, it's good news. The only appreciable damage is to the mainsail and to the deck studs to which the shrouds attach. Mainsail I knew offshore that the webbing attaching the sail to several of the Antal mast slides had broken—so the slides, while still perfectly comfortable in the mast track—were no longer keeping their portion of the luff of the sail attached. There are a few other bits of the sail that need repair (telltales are gone, for example), but I'm optimistic that the sail can be repaired to "as new" condition. The body of the sail (all of the…

As the tracker page shows, I arrived back in Camden, Maine just before 7pm yesterday (Friday). The winds were relatively light (less than 10kts) and from abaft the beam for the last 36-48 hours, so I did a lot of motoring. Thank goodness I had extra diesel fuel on board—I was getting pretty impatient to get back and would have been very frustrated to have been stuck sailing the whole way. (Remember that I was sailing with only a storm trysail (no mainsail), so Resolute needed at least 16-18 kts. of wind to get going. Awesome shore crew Tom Babbitt was waiting for me in Camden, peering through "pea soup" fog for my arrival. (The whole day was spent in pretty thick fog—I could only see 50-100 yards or so, not…

I'm in the final stretch--having rounded Cape Sable yesterday evening and started across the Gulf of Maine. The winds aren't particularly favorable, so I'm doing a lot of motor-sailing. My biggest concern now is fishing gear. The deep water lobster gear seems to be in place year-round--whereas there's very little gear in Blue Hill and Prnobscot bays, there is as much as I've ever seen out here. Sure enough, Resolute was CAUGHT around 3:15am today. Big clunking sound, engine stalls out, boat slows dramatically. Dragging behind e boat was a big offshore buoy with someone's name, the letters "4H" and lots of reflective spangles pasted to the buoy. Certainly looks like dome kid's 4H project to me. Fortunately for him/her, I was able to lasso the buoy and tie it…

i made some good progress last night and this morning. Wind was 20+ knots from directly aft, so I set the sails and headed off at an apparent wind angle of something like 140 degrees. (I say "something like" because my wind direction readings have been faulty for the last three-four days. So I have to go a bit more "old school" and pay attention to the Windex at the top of the mast. Of more importance, it also means that I can't use the autopilot in "wind" mode and, therefore, have to be much more attentive to wind shifts than is usually the case. Just more to do and a bit more stress.) I typically made more than 9kts through the water and mid-8s toward my waypoint, so the…

Having complained about stronger winds than forecast, today I can complain about the opposite. Yesterday morning's winds were in front of a broad area of high pressure, which arrived last night. As I might have written yesterday, this was expected to remain in control for about 12 hours, with very light wind forecast llike 5 kts or less). Well, it's now been 20 hours of light air. Thanks to the duration of the calm, the waves have now dissipated and the sea is mirror smooth. The sun has been out all day, and I've used the time to dry out, clean up, and do a few repairs. I've also been motoring constantly, with the sails up for just a tiny extra boost. But I need to watch my fuel consumption…

At the risk of bringing on some bad luck, I hopefully have my last gale behind me. The weather forecast showed moderately "sporty" conditions for yesterday evening and night, like 25-28kts on the nose. Instead, I saw 35+ kts true which, given that I was closehauled, meant more than 40 kts apparent. But I was ready--storm jib went up late yesterday afternoon. I made even less progress towards Camden because of a 3kt adverse current. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to be going 7.2 kts through the water but only 4 over the ground. I tried to go north to get out of the 70 degree Gulf Stream current, but the wind direction didn't cooperate. (In the National Weather Service's defense, I suspect the stronger winds may…

Having now surveyed the damage to Resolute, I came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be prudent to continue the delivery to Plymouth for the start of the race. I've sent an email to the OSTAR Race Committee letting them know. The more I look at the mainsail, the more issues I find. It might be repairable, but only with some major surgery. Plus I've mentioned my concern about the rig. Nothing's visible from the deck, but going another 2000nm (or even 500 or so to the Azores) doesn't seem like a good bet. And there are numerous smaller issues below--no single one of which is a significant issue, but collectively... So I've rigged my storm trysail above the delivery main (which is lashed to the boom) and am heading…

I think I last wrote about the relatively strong wind forecast for the next few days. Well, the forecast was correct, sort of. I did see 30 kts from the north, which was great. It led to speeds of 10-11kts over the ground and much higher--like 18 kts for short bursts. But then the wind shifted to the east--dead on the nose. So you'll see my track tacking back and forth as I tried to make some headway while, at the same time, waiting for the system to pass and the wind speed and direction to become more favorable. Didn't happen. Instead, the wind built to 40kts, still on the nose. Throw in the third reef. Ah, says I, this must be the front coming through that will trigger the…

The forecast for the next three days is pretty straightforward—30 kts from the north. Should be good for speed; bad for crew comfort. Not as bad as going closehauled into such winds, but the seas are likely to get quite big over three days. I would have considered sailing around this weather, but it's basically everywhere. So, grin (or grimace) and bear it. The storm jib went up yesterday; the second reef will go in as soon as I post this note (I'm likely to get a bit wet on deck, so I decided to do this first). Had a close encounter with another sailboat around 2am today. Tamarind's AIS was only visible for 4 nm, so we came within a mile or so of each other (she didn't show…

The weather has changed 100% since this time yesterday. Then it was cold and windy—the wind eventually topped out at 30kts. Around 2am, I put a second reef in the main and dropped the jib entirely. Strangely enough, the boat handled well, so I didn't use my storm jib. I was exhausted. But by 5am, the wind was easing. By 6am, I'd shaken out both reefs and raised the full jib. Since then it's been steady winds, warm temperatures and a following current. My only issue is that the seas are still a bit lumpy, so there's a gentle washing machine motion on the boat. Makes it a bit difficult to relax. I am trying to relax, while also doing some chores: recharging batteries more fully than my hydrogenerator does…