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OUT THERE - A film about the 2009 OSTAR

Editor — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:38:10 +0000

DVD RELEASED - BUY IT NOW

TRAILER

Barry Hurley to hold OSTAR Lecture Series in aid of RNLI

Editor — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:44:21 +0000

OSTAR class winner, Barry Hurley, of the Royal Irish Yacht Club, is presenting a series of lectures on his experiences in the 2009 edition of this world renowned solo transatlantic race. Using images, chart references and video footage taken during the race, Barry will recount some of his adventures sharing the many highs and lows of such a challenge.

With this lecture series Barry hopes to promote the sport of short-handed sailing as a discipline where Ireland can be competitive on the world stage.

Upcoming dates are as follows:
11/02/10 Royal Irish Yacht Club – 19.30 Dun Laoghaire
24/02/10 Howth Yacht Club – 20.00
25/02/10 Monkstown Bay Sailing Club – Co Cork
10/03/10 Galway Bay Sailing Club
16/03/10 World Ship Society – Cobh, Co Cork
19/03/10 National Yacht Club – Dun Laoghaire
10/11/10 Royal Ulster Yacht Club – Bangor, Co Down

A collection for the RNLI will be held at the end of each lecture. Please contact the individual venues for booking details and come along early as we expect these events to be very popular. Feedback on the lectures to date has been extremely positive and extra dates are being added all the time.

www.dinah.sail.ie

Hannah White blogSTAR prize acceptance speach

Editor — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:50:12 +0000

David Giddings nominated Race Officer of Solo Offshore Racing Club

Editor — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:36:19 +0000

The Race Committee at the Solo Offshore Racing Club (formerly Racing at Petit Bateau) have announced the appointment of David Giddings as the Club’s Race Officer. David is a former Rear Commodore Sailing of the Royal Southampton Yacht Club where he has been race officer for the popular RSYC Double Handed Series and the Biscay Challenge. For the full news visit www.offshoresolo.com

Solo Offshore Racing Club

Editor — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:03:16 +0000

We are very pleased to announce our new name and launch our new website

Racing at Petit Bateau ltd becomes Solo Offshore Racing Club ltd

and the new web site is www.offshoresolo.com

The new club has evolved from the very succesful Racing at Petit Bateau ltd, organisers of single-handed races since 2004 and continues under the established management team of Paul Peggs, Peter Olden and Jerry Freeman.

The aim of the club remains to support and expand solo racing in the UK
through a series of day races that both encourage new comers and test the experienced skippers.

The 2010 race programme has been published and includes established events such as RIOW solo, Channel week and the Solent Solo Series. New for 2010 are two passage race weekends, to Poole and to Weymouth, designed specifically to encourage skippers who wish to try solo racing for the first time and in familiar waters.

The club also organises the Solo Racing Festival in Southampton , this popular event has moved to a bigger venue in the Solent University Conference Centre to accomodate the growing numbers of solo enthusiasts attending on Saturday March 6th 2010. The first 50 tickets are on sale on the web site.

To celebrate the ten years since a small group of solo sailors formed Petit Bateau in the winter of 2000 the founders have planned a supper meeting to coincide with the London Boat show and welcome friends old and new to the Master Gunner on Thursday 14th January.

Details of the programme of races and events can be found on the new web site www.offshoresolo.com

Many thanks to Marco and his team at Jamorph for the exciting new web site.

Jerry Freeman.

Approaching Malta

Marco Nannini — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:41:40 +0000

the race is almost over with under 20 miles to go and good speed on this
last leg from lampedusa to malta... the race was slow, beating on all
legs but the one from malta to sicily and this last one... choppy seas,
strong and variable winds, issues with the water ballast (now resolved)
made for a much slower passage than anticipated. we hear over 20 of the
entrants have retired, which is no surprise as this must have made for a
much tougher race than many mediterranean sailors would normally bargain
for...

Two of five crew suffered from sea sickness, one has been incapacitated
since yesterday and hasnt managed to keep down any food in over 48
hours, i'm sure he's glad to know it's almost over.

As for me, race apart, i always suffer from a strange sadness when i'm
about to land, as the crew is starting to liven up and rejoice at the
thought of being on dry land i just feel like easing off the sheets and
carrying on a little more...

I hadnt sailed since the OSTAR, but i learnt my lesson by now, after
each race there is a port, followed by a chair in an office... no wonder
i'd carry on.

Stromboli and strombolicchio

Marco Nannini — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:20:41 +0000

Just about an hour ago we passed the black volcanic island where i used
to go on holiday as a kid, i've been to the eolian isands countless
times, but never had to round them as a mark on a course...

Last night was not one of the easiest, as we approached capo passero
under masthead kite we were hit by up to 45kt true which made for some
excitement... i then called a gybe to gain some water over the headland
as i was not sure what the wind would do around there, we sailed east
for about one hour in total, which was probably all wasted as the shift
we had at capo passero was permanent and not due to the headland...

we went on hoisting the smaller A4 but it was still piping seriously and
the only meaningful outcome was a spectacular broach, leaning down
hoplessly we had to jump all the haliards to come upright, we let the A4
haliard go completely and we streamed it behind the boat until with some
effort we recovered it onboard with just a small tear...

As the lions lost their breath everyone felt pretty tame after the
experience and the cockpit was promptly deserted, the nights are long
at this time of the year... we had solid winds all night on a broad
reach, anything between 25 and 35. we got caught into two fishing nets,
both times we wasted a solid 20-30 minutes reaching for it and cutting
the lines snagged in the rudders.

I was taking some bunk time as we approached the straight and it was
quite straight forward to cut through the current although the wind was
quite shifty... from there on towards stromboli in a swell and 25kt
fetch...

i havent been able to connect since the start to check positions, not
sure how we are doing, but given, the gybe i called wrong, the hour
struggle with the kite in the water, the fishing nets and generally a
somewhat far from impeccable race so far, i suspect it's not extremely
good, but there's plenty to go so we'll see.

Approaching Sicily

Marco Nannini — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:24:34 +0000

The start was a bit slow for us as we got glued to the light airs
approaching the second photographers buoy, from then on a fetch under
code 0 then a massive shift and the big kite... reaching all afternoon
and slowly waiting for the wind to pick up...

during the day we passed several boats planing at 9-11 knots in about 18
of true which was fun, now the wind has picked up and we just broached a
couple of times, but everyone on board is quite cool about it and we let
the sheet go and we're off again, not before dipping the long boom in
the water, good fun.

we have to bear off as much as possible which is not easy under
assymetric, but boat speed is up in the 12-13 range.

now about to download grib with iridium for a quick check, then more
detailed analysis once we're in mobile range... the life of the
navigator ain't bad, we just had a short shower and i'm still below in
my t-shirt... more later.