Overnight, the TP52 Spookie finished, the sixth boat across the line in the 2018 Newport Bermuda Race, well in front of the other 162 boats still racing. Finishing a full 24 hours after Warrior, Wizard and Proteus, the smaller Spookie recorded a corrected time that was 9 hours astern of Warrior, leaving her in fifth place for Class 15 in the Gibbs Hill Division. Other than Elvis, in the Multihull Division, all finishers to date were from Class 15.
That looked likely to change, as the smaller boats in Gibbs Hill Class 14 were making good progress. At 630 EDT Tuesday, Summer Storm, a Marten 49 skippered by Andrew Berdon, was less than 100 miles from the finish, leading both on elapsed and provisionally on correct time, while doing 8-plus knots. Meantime, the rest of Class 15 had only 50 to 85 miles to sail.
In the St. David's Lighthouse Division, also at 630 EDT Tuesday, the faster boats of Class 10 were led by Merlin and Kodiak, a few miles apart, with 60 to 100 miles to go. The provisional leader on corrected time was Temptation - Oakcliff, the Ker 50 skippered by Arthur Santry.
We also heard from some of our fleet correspondents:
Inisharon Reports
June 18 - 2030
The dancing and chanting on the foredeck, to include offering SPAM to the gods, paid off today. Yes, there was wind and sufficient amount to get us moving again. Beautiful today, got see some flying fish, as well as some relatively close encounters with what we think where whales.
We are making our way through the cold ring, which is a 50nm ring of ocean current rotating counter clockwise. We had hoped to get more of a boost than we are, but due to the wind direction we won't be able to sail angles that would allow us to harness the current. Good news is that it is not unfavorable.
Our hope is we will be exiting the cold ring around 4am tomorrow.
Inisharon does very well in +15 kts and wind on the beam or aft of beam. Current conditions call for beating into the wind, which many of our competitors are able to maintain higher angles than we can so we will have to work the angles to optimize our course.
Crew is uplifted by the wind and we are moving. Just finished off dinner, burritos with one's favorite hot sauce. A couple of cookies and one is good to go.
This is Chris's first foray into offshore sailing, and he is a star. Willing to learn, willing to help and is a quick study. Not a lot of drama on this year's Bermuda Race, so a perfect year to get experience and become a regular.
We are able to track progress of other boats and their positions. Seems the faster boats have fallen into light air again, as we seem to making gains on them, which is a clear sign they are not moving fast due to lack of wind. The High pressure is slowly moving out and off the race course, and the slower boats including ours are bringing more air as we make out way to Bermuda. At this point, we expect to have good air the rest of the way down to Bermuda.
Talk of rum and proper showers are starting to emerge. Suspect that will become more the norm than not.
For those watching the standings, it has been to difficult to see our progress erode in the wind hole and have to start climbing back the distance. It is going to be difficult, as the competition point higher and are light boats, but will certainly make every effort to claw our way back to the podium.
Thank you again for tuning in and your support.
Insiharon out.
-Jeff Ryer
Dreamcatcher Reports
June 18 – 1100
Restart 2 has come and gone…Cool dynamics among the kids sailing the boat. Wind spotter: “More pressure in 3…2…1…here…light spot in 10 boat lengths…”. Trimmer to helm: “Press down thru this header…lifter coming to you next…” Then wind spotter notes lots of Sargasso weed as we gain the boost of the cold eddy. Main trimmer asks the navigator to note the position of a balloon in the water.
The kids have rotating duties of cleaning the head, picking up the cabin, trips around on deck to check rigging, refilling water bottles, and on it goes. In between sailing and sleeping, the inquisitions are ongoing. To the co-navigators: “Tell me about the effects of the cold eddy…” and we go back to the tutorials prior to the race…counter clockwise cold eddies south of the Stream…clockwise warm eddies to the north. The high-pressure ridge has been the focus aplenty, with replays of the 6-hour Gribs coming thru.
-John Winder
Shearwater Reports (Mason 43)
June 18 -1100
Crew has just finished a breakfast of bacon & egg sandwiches courtesy of chef Dan. Prior to the race, the crew resolved to take over some of the galley duties but have found that Dan is still fiercely defensive of it and pity the person trying to unseat him! As with all the races I've done with Shearwater, food has been fantastic. I've spoken with crew from other boats and they subsist on MREs or freeze dried camping food - here, Dan insists on store-grated Parm cheese and hand poured drip filter coffee (though we now also have a Nespresso machine with about 1,000 pods.
Beautiful night last night though the wind could have been stronger - there were points where we were barely moving any and making any way was a challenge. Still, the stars were out in full force, mirrored on the water along with the nav lights of about 6 boats. Latitude, the other Mason 43 is sailing nearby. Sunrise this morning was spectacular and we're warming up. Dennis is navigating us toward where we believe is a cold eddy - a circular current feature - if we hit it at the right spot (they aren't stationary), we'll have favorable currents, wrong and we'll be sailing in light winds with a nasty counter-current (sure wish I hadn't come across Dennis throwing chicken bones, shaman-style, before marking the waypoint).
Today, Gretchen and I will try to tackle the hot water issue - sure hope we don't pull the wrong hose - we'll have the ditch-bag ready to deploy.
That's it for now,
Shearwater out
June 18 - 1945
After a morning of light winds and painful progress, we're enjoying a great steak dinner with roasted potatoes and a touch of red wine (at cellar temperature, of course!). Our AIS shows about 14 boats around us - close as if we can touch them - I'm sure the Yellowbrick gives you all the same impression. Well, its a big ocean and the several boats we see are on the horizon.
Well, I was ambitious in trying to get something out and dinner is being served (eating when the boat is heeled over can be a challenge. Pretty sure Dan wouldn't be happy with a steak-flavored Mac ( on the other hand...)
Goodnight from Shearwater.
Shearwater Out
-Mark D'Arcy
