Nova One - Nova One

ARC Leg1 24112008 1211PositionsNovaOne 25.03N 16.07W 00:00Day 1 - The Start24.11.2008The start of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers was pretty nice with a fresh breeze settling right after the start from NNE with approx 20 kts. Our average speed was around 14 kts ...During the clear night the wind shifted to E which made perfectr sailing along the coast and also the forcasted refugee boats were not spotted on the horizon.Our Russian crew was full of expectations and got a firework of shooting stars and flourescent plankton which a made a great green carpet all around the boat. It looked like a cloud of lightning bugs :-)Now I am hungry ... also sailors need to be fed ...Norbert. read more...

Nova One - Nova One

Day 2 - Surfing25.11.2008As the wind dropped this morning to 5 kts from NE the sun was warming us and we had some pleasent but "boring" hours. As the wind went up again the boat was planning down the waves with speeds up to 18 kts :-)))Even if the direction was not bringing us any mile closer to St. Lucia we enjoyed a lot and it gives us at least an excuse if we do not finish in St. Lucia but end up surfing to the southern hemisphere ...Tomorrow we expect our first miles towards Cape Verde Islands which we will pass quite close!Norbert. read more...

Nova One - Daily Log

ARC 271108 1345Positions41 15.55N 22.24WEverything is fine on Volvo Ocean 60 "Nova One" on it's way to St. Lucia for the beach parties and Mai Tai cocktails.Beside this the Russian bear has visited "Nova One" and ripped the A2 spinnaker this morning so it was all hands on deck to get the 300m² back down in one piece and set off to prepare another kite to push the boat towards W.According to the fleet "Nova One" is pretty far south and trying to keep WSW course to avoid the unstable tradewinds in the NW.Fair winds, NorbertOur 3h Tracking can be found on www.tripsailor.com!. read more...

Nova One - Nova One

ARC 281108 0300Positions41 15.32N 24.58WWith the spinnaker safely stowed for the first time in 5 days since the start of the ARC I finally find enough time to send this update from Nova One.Its been an exciting trip so far gradually building our miless every day to yesterdays 240nm run. Nothing spectacular but considering most of our Russian crew hadn't stepped aboard a boat before the result is pleasing.The highlight being yesterday afternoon when we were surfing at 20kn boatspeed with 2 whales off the starboard side waving to us with thier massive tales. Right now we are amongst the Cape Verde islands being the most southern boat in the fleet and about to gybe again and head further south to allow us to hold on to the steady NE trades as winds are a bit shifty to the north.It's a few. read more...

Nova One - Nova One Dez 1st

ARC Leg1 011208 0830Positions41 13.04N 36.04W 00:00Where is the wind?01.12.2008All fine on board even if there is lack of wind. Has anybody seen the tradwinds lately? They seem to be hiding behind Capverde Islands :-) Maybe praying helps a little to accelerate.Anyway wind now 10kts E just shifted south 10deg so our heading is 230 which is nice but brings us to Brazil rather than St. Lucia :-)Greets from the Russian Team on Nova One,Mike. read more...