Happy Christmas y’all

Seems we are committed. I think Berrimilla is as prepared as we can make her but we won’t know till we get there. The forecast is for a wet and cold and bumpy ride and we will need to keep the boat in conservative mode but not as bad, perhaps, as earlier years. Probably not in time for the New Year’s Eve party in Constitution dock, but we will do our best.

The FastnetFastnet Race: 608 mile biennial race from Cowes, UK, Isle of Wight, to the Fastnet Rock off Southern Ireland, finishing in Plymouth. Berrimilla took part in 2005 and 2009. organisers have accepted a provisional entry for the two handed division for 2005, so we can’t wimp out now. If we actually make it to the start line, it will be 44 years since I was last there.

51 miles ahead of last years position.

We’re off Montague Is., all well and so far, Berri seems to be holding together too. Reasonably dry and snug so our work last week may have been worth while.

Those of us who are experienced in the efficacy of such things had a nice bacon sandwich with tabasco and a small taste of guinness to fortify us for the southerly. Others made do with a stugie or two for similar reasons. We went through the front about an hour ago and changed rapidly from kiteSailors’ slang for a spinnaker to #1 to #4 and two reefs and we’re heading more or less for green cape which is promising. The change was quite soft, as forecast, but it’s looking rather murky ahead.

Thanks heaps for all your messages and g00d wishes and special thanks to everyone who helped us to get organised and get going. Will try to keep updates more or less daily.

60 miles ahead of last year.

What a night. Straight out of one of TurnerTurner, John Mallord William (1775 - 1851); one of the founders of English watercolour painting renowned for his studies of sea and sky in every weather’s paintings – brilliant moon haloed by solid black clouds with translucent edges and a massively fragmented path on the water below. Water not black but steely grey in the reflections and sheets of spray flying all around the boat and over us. 45 – 50 knot-- Speed: definition of speed at sea. One knot is one nautical mile per hour. The nautical mile is about 1.15 % longer than the "statute" mile used on land. A knot is about half a metre per second. -- A knot is also the result of winding a rope around itself or another rope to make a join or a loop . gustsShort increases in wind speed – or people who signed the Gust Book. and we had to slow the boat right down to about 4 knots to keep her from banging into each wave. Just passing Gabo now with thick misty cloud all around with rain squalls and sunshine. Sparkling but cold.

Had to run the skedShort for schedule. A pre-arranged (scheduled) time and frequency for radio contact often co-ordinated by a shore station, such as Penta Comstat, which is monitoring location and safety of boats in their area. Failure to respond to one or more sked can be a sign of trouble for Four Seasons this morning cos Berri’s new radio was working the whole fleet while FS couldnt get most of them. Busy hour or so, and really difficult writing positions, relaying and holding on while also working the mike – Berri going up and down and sideways and rolling on 3-5 metre waves. Breakfast will be Pippin fruitcake – Thanks Anne – with no doubt a draught from Dublin.

Love youse all – it’s going to be aslow trip, I think.

35 miles behind last year.

Following an update email to Berri advising of Skandia losing keel and capsizing the reply was:

… we knew it is adrift and all safe but not why. Getting the boat dried out, doing some sleeping, finally getting stugies into our sickie now that violent motion has stopped and maybe get him back on deck.

Winds due to abate this morn but may not help much. Still getting 9 meter breaking waves and 60 kts in rain squalls but very comfy.

Choc fix administered. About to go on watch.

121 miles behind last year.

This ride is becoming a plum for the headbangers and s&m freaks among us. For the rest of us, its getting tedious. Looks like another shitfight with the weather as we get further south and we may just get in before Easter if all goes well. The Dublin DoctorGuinness will be in short supply. Will call Stephen’s mobile on the satphone if this USB link thingy finally defeats me. Simon at digiboat may have some ideas. Egg mash being concocted as I write – eggs, bacon, cheese, tabasco and who knows what from the smelly wet sock bag. Life goes on.

The sun’s out, the boat smells but is drying out, we’re getting some sleep – even me – and we’re going to finish. We are trying to stay in a dropping breeze tonight and be in position to pick up forecast NE/NW tomoz. Race rules prevent me from being specific in real time. It will be interesting to see whether Windmills and Rollercoaster have the same strategy when they report on the 1705 skedShort for schedule. A pre-arranged (scheduled) time and frequency for radio contact often co-ordinated by a shore station, such as Penta Comstat, which is monitoring location and safety of boats in their area. Failure to respond to one or more sked can be a sign of trouble. Half way guinness was most welcome and we hope we don’t have to sail so far for the second half. Thanks to everyone for messages.

Thanks for the emails. Frustrating morning so far. We overtook Rollercoaster during the night and were hooningAs far as I can gather, if Berri were a horse, she’d have the bit between her teeth to be hooning along with the kiteSailors’ slang for a spinnaker up at sunrise but found the usual hole out off cape barren and watched the bubbles not passing by for several hours. Huge pink and brown jellyblobbers about a metre across and the occasional dolphin. Roll on the Cape Raoul seals. Now under way again v slowly more or less in the right direction. Rollercoaster sneaking past inshore – bugger – we’ll get em in the southerly tomorrow. Saltersboats motored past in cruising mode silhouetted against the rising sun – bastards. We have just done a stocktake and we have just enough of the dublin doctorGuinness’s medicinal potion to get us round tasman is. if we’re lucky. Gripe water in short supply after this morning’s stuffing around but there’s enough goats milk in a suitably innocuous bottle to keep Pete in serious coffee till the new year. Funny stories in abundance but not for family websites.

Happy new year to all seven or so of our listeners in case you are all partying when next we crank this thing up.

58th out of a starting field of 116, at an avg of 3.9knts. Elapsed time 6 days 17 hrs 35 mins 21 secs.

Thanks everyone for messages. We’ll try and reply later – just a bit on at the mo. Tasman Island at bloody last – we’re just rounding. Been a long time coming. James driving, somewhat wet and draggly but seems to be enjoying himself. The usual nasty bullets at 40+ knots and a bit to bouncy for emailing but the mail must get through. Ross cooking up mashed spuds with onion, dried peas, bacon and eggs to fill some empty spaces. We have reserved the last three cans from the medicine chest of of the barber-surgeon to ensure that the agues are kept at bay till the slab of Dr Boags arrives in Con Dock in about 7 hours if all goes well.

We love youse all

Hard to summarise a race like that. Certainly one of the more difficult and interesting that I have done, with a bit of everything somewhere. Seldom do we ever get down to three reefs in the main in Berri but this time we were there three times, with the full storm gear up for around 24 hours and the #5 on its own for short periods. And I’ve never hove to in a race before, although we stopped to dry out in 1999 – but this time it was the obvious thing to do. The boat was handling the conditions really well and Eden was not an option except possibly as a last resort if James deteriorated, so once we found we could not make headway to the south west there seemed to be no point in going sideways fast when we could do it slowly and in comfort. And get some stugies [ed:sea sick pills] into James. And get some sleep.

Comparatively, most like 1977. I think, with a series of nasties and some parking and no let up. The 1998 storm was much more intense but very short and 1999 was a headbang in both senses from half way to the finish. Including our heave to, we beat our 1999 time by about 18 hours, if I remember correctly, but that one also included a stop in Skeleton bay.

Some interesting points in the tracker plot (haven’t seen it but they must be there).

Full stop north of Eden where we got the full force of the southerly and put up the storm gear, quite close inshore near a farmhouse. And the heave to around 70 miles SE of Eden – I think we drifted about 17 miles but I was way past logging it at the time. And the car park off Cape Barren Island where we waited for the north easterly that took all day to arrive. Storm Bay was something else again – really nasty and scary lee shore inside Cape Raoul with huge waves and then more gale round the Cape and calm and variables as well, just to keep everyone guessing.

We are now working on all the jobs on the list to get Berri into voyage mode. She seems to have suffered no damage despite some big crashes off waves and a lot of pounding. We have stripped hor out and James did a big clean and polish with soap and bleach inside and today we will fit the internal insulation and probably move from Con dock to Bellerive.

For the first time since all this nonsense started, we have all the gear together and it is now spread around the Sutherland’s yard in various heaps ready to be loaded. It will be a challenge stowing t all.

The aim is to leave on Saturday 8th barring major problems in the meantime.