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Scarlet Oyster - First Scarlet Blog 2016, North or South?!



Morning All,

Thought maybe about time to write something! Takes a while to settle into
the rhythm of life onboard, so first day or two is sometimes a bit
disjointed!

We had a reasonable start to the race, rather crowded at the upwind
committee vessel end, as boats all wanted clear air after the start, the big
faster boats had the luxury of choosing a slightly more spacious spot.

There was drama just 3 mins before the start with a collision between Hot
Stuff and Il Cavaliere 3, very sad to see two boats races effectively over
before the start signal, starboard tack Hot Stuff suffering a hole, and I
guess possible structural damage from being T boned by the port tack boat,
and hence forced to retire. The other boat is likely to retire, or face
disqualification from the race. Fortunately it appeared that no one was
injured in the collision.

Our start was a little late with leeward vessels not wanting to head for the
line too early, there were quite a few ahead, some a little too far ahead,
with 2 boats over early. The clear air once we passed the start vessel was
a bonus though and our big blue spinnaker proved the weapon of choice,
allowing us to quickly establish a lead in division C, and in fact all the
boats in div B on the water.

The first decision to make was whether to taker the shortest route to the
west or sail further South and stay in consistent wind as there was a large
hole in the wind showing south of the islands, we elected to take the less
risky option, as South of Tenerife looked very tricky.

We have had a very close battle wit Quokka so far (these two boats seem to
be attached with an invisible bungee on many races!) For the first 30hrs we
were never more than 1.4miles apart! As the wind went light yesterday
evening, our big blue kites flatter shape proved slightly quicker than the
running kite they had and we drew ahead, we now have aboat 5 miles between
us, but the gap is very stable now it seems as they use their Code zero, and
we use our Asymmetric to power westwards.

Now we have nice stable wind (for now!) the next big choice (in fact the
decision that will define the race) is whether to head South towards the
trade winds, or attempt a more direct Northerly route. The issue is that
the trades are not as well defined as sometimes, and there is a good breeze
showing North at first. However the North route will be less comfortable,
with upwind sailing, and leaves us exposed to low pressures later on.
Getting South later could also prove difficult. For the faster boats
(Rambler etc.) the north option is a no brainer, they don't like sailing
dead downwind anyway, it is far less clear for the likes of us!

Normally this may not be such a conundrum, but in this case there is a week
low pressure sucking out all the wind in the middle of the course, so once
committed one way or other we will need to live with the consequences.

Every weather prediction is giving a very different answer right now, if the
trades do establish (as per normal) normal service will be resumed and South
will pay.

Philippe (Quokkas skipper) and I have more or less decided to go the same
way as each other to make a race of it, it seems a lot of our class are
planning to go south also. If all head South then it is an easy decision to
do the same and then we are all in the same boat so to speak, a Northern
passage could prove faster, but poorly executed it could prove very costly!

Best look more closely at the latest weather and see what the computer
thinks also. Answers to where various boats are heading will become soon
clear!

Bye for now from a happy ship team Scarlet!




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