I have been so busy that I’m years behind editing the 3rd and 4th leg videos of Frank’s solo sail from Gosport England to Corpus Christi Texas. This weekend I managed to put together a video of one day, from Dawn To Dusk, March 2nd 2015.
The audio is poor. There is so much background noise on a sailboat, which you tune out when sailing. Lines banging and all sorts of other noises, plus the GoPro has a very limited microphone. I’d assumed it would be better. Next time I will wear a better mic.
Month: February 2024
Philippe Delamare Wins GSG
I’m 3 days late posting this but – great sail by Delamare!
He sailed to the race line with no mainsail, due to a broken boom. Mowgli had a knockdown and the boom was badly damaged. So Delamare came home on his headsail. Great job.
Link to the GSC story here: https://globalsolochallenge.com/philippe-delamare-wins-gsc-en
Sailing: A Business Case Study
Philippe Delamare posted this last week and I have been meaning to put it up as a superb case study. For sailing. For business. For life.
“Let me explain: we all start with a strategy, a roadmap, a certain level of aggression versus a degree of caution, ambition, a vision of what we came for. It’s really great to have tons of messages of support, words of encouragement, signs of friendship. But they are often also opinions, advice, especially caution and safety. Paradoxically, all of this can become anxiety-inducing – discreetly – which is very bad of course, and can influence you or make you lose sight of the direction of your initial energy.”
Link here Straight Line
2nd Yacht abandoned in GSC
Cannuck William MacBrien was rescued by Japanese cargo ship “Watatsumi”, some 1200 miles west of Cape Horn.
MacBrien had spent 46 hours in cold 7° sea water (Is that F or C? Both are cold!) after trying but failing to stem flooding in his yacht Phoenix. The water eventually killed his onboard power.
Like all of the GSC sailors, MacBrian had an immersion suit, carried for just such emergencies, that he was able to get into.
Mowgli romping home in GSC
There’s many a slip twixt cup and lip, but Delamare has run a superb race in the Global Solo Challenge from the start. He has the shortest distance sailed, and Mowgli’s heavy displacement hull has been able to withstand the heavy weather and seas around Antartica better than the faster but lighter racing yachts behind him.
Fingers crossed. More at http://globalsolochallenge.com
Global Solo Challenger Abandons Yacht
Ronnie Simpson, who was lying 3rd in what I term the Solo Race Around Antartica, was dismasted early on Feb 12th 2024 when his yacht Shipyard Brewing fell off a big wave and almost pitchpoled: the boat took a nosedive into the trough of the wave. The boat stayed right side up, but the G froces of the sudden halt put tremendous strain on the standing rig, dismasting Shipyard Brewing.
A dismasted yacht is an unstable and dangerous platform. Without the mast to counterbalance the keel, it and its crew are going to suffer from wild gyrations from waves and wind.
So Ronnie requested help, and was rescued by a Taiwanese freighter, Sakizaya Youth. Shipyard Brewing was scuttled, to avoid endangering other vessels.
Ronnie had recently rounded Cape Horn, and must have thought that the worst was in his rearview mirror. More here: Ronnie Simpson Safe
frankjustfrank 