See you soon @ the RORC 600!

DEAR FRIENDS,  SEE YOU SOON AT THE RORC 600!!!

Such a wonderful experience, thank you all!

We were racing. ..with comfort…at least, relatively… when during a violent squall the sail broke. Damn! Just two options in front of us: to continue the race, reefing the main sail, 9 knots of wind, waves coming from every directions and rain or retire.

The comfort approach prevailed and our guests decided for the second choice, how to complain!

Crossing the Atlantic is always an extraordinary opportunity, which is double if you do it racing, but that it can become a nightmare if you don’t feel well. 

It has been a great experience for everybody anyway!

Thanks to Team Russia to have chosen Cape Arrow for your first Atlantic crossing and for having approached this experience with enthusiasm and joy!  

N.Simoncelli's Credits

Thanks also to YCCS and IMA for the organization and congratulations to all the participants. We are just so sorry for Ran Leopard crew who are probably getting bored, enjoying the Caribbean atmosphere of  the YCCS club house in Virgin Gorda, while waiting for us! 

Fishing with a killer whale

We are sailing close-hauled until wind direction allows us to do so, then it will be time for the gennaker and we hope to increase our speed to overcome the next air bubble.

Until yesterday the gennaker had a good angle but the continued presence of squall gave us no reliability at all: yesterday we have been all day under water until 6am of this morning.

But today is one of those beautiful days from Aliseo: sunny and a cloudless sky, this is an opportunity to dry our bones and to do some cleaning.

However few hours ago a wonderful, majestic killer whale in all its elegance appeared to us for a few minutes then it disappeared in deep sea. Nevertheless we feel that it is not far away and with a low profile it is still keeping an eye on us.. for sure we are not fishing enough because of its proximity!

This is the Ocean, the seventh and main competitor of this race, the real winner of any race. Because of it we are all experienced and Blue Water beginner sailors.

We equally enjoy its contrasting alchemy of pain and joy, of annoying squalls and trade wind sunny mode, of temporary internet black-out and Tea time meeting with a whale.

Racing is just a cherry on the cake to make this experience unforgettable.

N.Simoncelli's credits

We are not crazy!

When we decided to race this fantastic event, we agreed we would have raced with comforts. We were aware this could have brought us in front of some hard decisions, such us: should we privilege comfort or a fast, thus rough, route?

Few days ago we decided to give some ease to our guests and we pointed South: we knew it was a sort of racing suicide, which would have, put us in the middle of a no-wind-bubble growing in front of us. Nevertheless, we gave a chance to our chef and hostess: will they be so good to allow us forgiving this crazy decision? 
Will Niki, Guido and the rest of the team entertain the guests and crew in such a pleasant way that nobody will ever regret this call? Will fishing sessions hurry up the rhythm of the next couple of days…?

To be honest we hoped in a supernatural luck, as we wished (until this morning) that the no-wind- area would have disappeared allowing us to go through at 13-14 kts. We admit it was only wishfull thinking. It is clear it is not the case….we enjoy the last few hours sailing at a decent speed. 

Well, what to do? We will enjoy the warm trade winds, the colors of the sky, we will enjoy the delicatessen Nico will serve us, and we will look forward to some more serious  racing!

Cheers,

Cape Arrow

PS: Tiny can relax for a while: so far he is leading the Cape Arrow-Transatlantic top speed board.

We are afraid nobody will even get close to his 22,3 kts for a while!



Fish - Boat 1-0!!

Today something has been baited at a speed of 15 knots, that was a fight with unequal weapons. While the fish was pulling and jumping over, the crew was busy with dropping sails to reduce speed. So you can imagine the consequences.. before efforts were paid pack, the fish was already quietly darting in the depths of the ocean ...

Otherwise it was a quiet day, after jibing (finally) we started to gallop towards W with a steady wind between 25 and 30 knots: these are similar conditions, but a little less stressful, to those we had 200 miles to the North.

The unpleasant consideration is that a low pressure is growing in front of us: it looks like within 3 days a bubble of light wind will appear right at our latitude. We will pay high price for our decision to look for more comfortable situations. 

"Se confermata avremo preso un granchio di dimensioni colossali!!"

On the other side the routine settles as stomachs do, we have less “green faces” and Nicola puts much efforts in his delicious dishes that are beginning to be a little more rewarded. As you know, you get used to everything.

Right now on my screen a boat has pointing to us, it would seem someone from ARC because it is proceeding at a relevant speed: it's nice to see a light on the horizon in this universe of with crests ...

Ciao a tutti!

CAPE ARROW @ more than 19 kts!

We are sailing under jib and mainsail, in 20-30 TWS.

Conditions are not very compatible with our goal: racing with comforts... I am sure Blues Brothers crossed the Atlantic before writing their song:  Rolling Rolling Rolling....

Gennaker does not look the best sail to fish at an average of about 13-15 kts, especially if often surfing at 18-19-20 kts!! Bookmakers give Cape Arrow-Fishes 12:1.

Team Russia enjoys, although the sea state prevents our chef from expressing his potential; well, to be honest, sea conditions prevent everybody from fully appreciating his efforts.

Our Kiwi "tiny" representative confirms his consolidated offshore racing experience: he falls asleep as soon as he  stops manoeuvring.  In the other watch, Niki and Guido, entertain their mates so actively that nobody would be able to fall asleep!

Regrettably we report some problems with the guest Wifi. We will try to sort it out tomorrow.

A presto!

Cape Arrow Crew

"It is the weather, not work, that wears out sails"

Glide day aboard Cape Arrow: the sea and frequent squalls speeded us between 16 and 18 knots, but they allowed ​​us to also exceed 20 knots on a regular basis. 24 hours after the departure we have covered approx. 270 miles, with an average of more than 11 knots.

We are beginning to feel Atlantic waves strength, so we are enjoying the strong wind before it inevitably starts to reduce its intensity. Tomorrow we hope wind reaches 20 knots against the current 25-27, however we will do our best.

Greetings from all, see you at the next message.

.

"It is the weather, not work, that wears out sails" 

(Thomas Fleming Day)

UTC Time: 27. November 2012 20:15

Position: 27,27.3N , 21,20.2W

Speed: 13 knots, Course: 205 deg