Diary

The race so far

Submitted by Mary Falk on Thu, 2010-08-05 17:43

Hi everyone! Sorry about the lack of news to date. It's been hard work and no sooner do I arrive in port and try to catch up on sleep than we are off again on the next leg of the Race. It wasn't helped by a disgusting meal in Alderney on the first evening where I got food poisoning - something I could do without on an arduous week of singlehanded racing. All the same QII's results have been encouraging (more down to QII than to her skipper!) And we've always finished in the top half of the fleet and in the third race, Guernsey to St.

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QII catches up

Submitted by Mary Falk on Sun, 2010-06-27 09:30

By Saturday night QII had caught up with a number of boats which ahd started this final leg of the Race a long way ahead of her. Early on Sunday morning she was kedged in strong adverse tide off Anvil Point on a glassy, windless sea. She is close to the multihull, Suenos and Bluqube is just visible further inshore. Bluqube is a fast Figaro 2 in QII’s class and they had been neck and neck until the Lerwick to Lowestoft leg where Bluqube gained a massive 10 hour lead on QII. QII has now clawed most of that back and race is on again!
 

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A night of drifting

Submitted by Mary Falk on Sun, 2010-06-27 07:06

The wind died to 2 or 3 knots when the tide turned against us yesterday evening but we managed to make our way into Sandown Bay on the Isle of Wight where the tide was nearly slack, and made slight forward progress. As the tide turned our favour we passed so close to Elixir that we could chat with them. We are now about 6 miles south of Anvil Point.  Threres only one knot of wind and so, as the tide has turned against us, we have put down our anchor. The depth here is 38 metres so we’re praying the anchor will hold when the adverse tide really gets going.

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Off Brighton

Submitted by Mary Falk on Sat, 2010-06-26 14:52

We’ve been working hard, closing on the boats who left Lowestoft ahead of us. We’ve been sailing insight of the Shed since the early hours of the morning & have just drawn ahead.. We also saw Elixir earlier today & she may be the boat I can see now just ahead of us. It’s much more fun when you can actually see your competitors, and great to be back in the pack which I had thought had left us behind.
 

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An exciting ride to Lerwick

Submitted by Mary Falk on Fri, 2010-06-18 11:15

We crossed the Lerwick finish line at  1538 yesterday, Thursday. Another long leg in under 3 days. A great relief to arrive safely and be towed by ribs to our berth. Our engine wouldn’t start when we needed to leave Barra so we left our mooring there under sail and with no means of charging batteries to power our instruments, self steering , radar etc. Next we couldn’t fill our water ballast tanks – probably an obstinate airlock- and QII doesn’t sail at her proper speed without it.

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QII arrives in Barra

Submitted by Mary Falk on Sat, 2010-06-12 20:21

We crossed the Barra finish line at 1622 today. Under 3 days for the leg. We are 4th in our class to arrive and so have moved up a couple of places. We may even have moved up a couple on irc handicap.It was a fast sail under spinnaker during the night to the Fastnet Rock, then fast reaching under plain sail and then hard on the wind, having to tack to reach Eagle Island off the north of Ireland. It was force 5, ie plenty of wind,and the sea was bumpy. We then made it on one tack for the 200 miles from Eagle Island to Barra with some fast sailing.

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Preparing to leave Kinsale

Submitted by Mary Falk on Wed, 2010-06-09 16:31

Yesterday we basked in glorious sunshine, drying out boat, sails and gear after our wet & fast sail here. Today couldn’t be more different. I’m writing this in torrential rain and a thunderstorm. There are still a few hours left for it to quieten down before we leave.
 

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QII in Queen Anne's Battery Marina

Submitted by Mary Falk on Fri, 2010-06-04 14:51

After a couple of peaceful days in the comfort
of Plymouth Yacht Haven Jerry and I decided that we neeed a sail. So
yesterday we had a fast and sunny sail to the Eddystone lighthouse, the first
mark of the course, and then back to Plymouth.

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Arrived in Plymouth

Submitted by Mary Falk on Wed, 2010-06-02 11:15

QII is now in Plymouth ready for the start of the
Race on Sunday. Jerry and I sailed here here from Lymington earlier this week.
We had no wind to start with and had to motor but the wind filled in in the end
and we arrived under spinnaker.

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Happy New Year from the Alps

Submitted by Mary Falk on Thu, 2009-12-31 18:29

I'm now out in the French Alps, getting fit for the Round Britain & Ireland Race with some skiing. I'm obeying instructions and taking it very gently (well, quite gently!) to start with as it was only 2 months ago that I had the plate and pins taken out of my leg. The leg is standing up well to this unaccustomed exercise after so many months of only limited activity. So it bodes well for the Race.
A Happy New Year to all the generous supporters of the QII Challenge!

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