Home of Jazz Racing - RSS SHELL 0.9

2010

WAT GAAN WE DOEN IN 2012 ? - [30-11-2011]
Video midden op de Oceaan. 150 mijl van de Azoren. Truant, een andere deelnemer in de Azab, maakte de video. Ziet er heel relaxed uit, maar de werkelijkheid is dat eerst Truant zijn gennaker in het water kreeg bij het strijken. Gelukkig zonder scheuren weer aan boord. Vlak daarna knalde bij mij een blok eruit van de gennaker tackline. Ik moest dus ook strijken. We hebben toen maar van elkaar wat video beelden gemaakt. Gelukkig kon ik de tackline via andere blokken laten lopen en daarna kon het zeil weer omhoog. Inmiddels is voor mij het zeilseizoen afgelopen. Boot op de kant voor onderhoud. Te druk met werk om mee te doen aan winterwedstrijden. Liever heb ik het onderhoud op tijd klaar. Van alles te doen, zoals gebruikelijk. Nieuwe valstoppers, betere waterballastpomp, nieuwe grootzeil karren. En natuurlijk werk aan het onderwaterschip. Electronica heeft het zeer goed gehouden in de AZAB. Alles heeft van begin tot eind gewerkt. Energie voorziening ga ik wat verbeteren. Fuel cell zou mooi zijn, dan heb ik een alternatief als de motor niet wil starten. In 2012 wil ik meedoen aan een aantal leuke wedstrijden in Nederland. De afgelopen jaren is dat er niet van gekomen omdat ik steeds in mei/juni weg ben geweest vanwege BluQube 1000 mijl solo in 2008, nieuwe mast en daarna Fastnet in 2009, Round Britain 2010 en AZAB 2011. Op het Programma in 2012 staat : 50 mijl duo, 100 mijl Bruine Bank Race, Rondje Noord Holland, en 500 mijl solo (nieuw evenement, info volgt). Ook hoop ik eindelijk mee te kunnen doen aan de 200 mijl solo in september. De afgelopen jaren moest ik die steeds afzeggen vanwege drukte op mijn werk.

Safran - [25-07-2011]

In Trinite sur Mer ligt Safran mooi te zijn aan de steiger. Wat Marc Guillemot allemaal heeft meegemaakt op die boot in enorm. Ik kijk mijn ogen uit naar al die mooie details op het dek.

Figaro - [25-07-2011]

In Caen wordt de komst van de Figaro vloot aangekondigd door billboards overal in de stad. Dat is het betere werk!

TERUG IN LELYSTAD - [16-07-2011]

Van Brighton naar Dover was het vooral een kwestie van zonnebrand paraat houden. Dover IJmuiden idem dito. En dan ben je opeens weer gewoon op het IJsselmeer. Bootje in de box, oude Renaultje start zowaar zonder haperen. Weer thuis en meteen weer aan het werk. Wat een geweldige race was dit.

Zojuist heb ik foto's van de Azab, inclusief voorbereidingen geplaatst.

Brighton - [02-07-2011]

Midden in de nacht aangekomen. Na lekker uitslapen heb ik de hele dag
aan de boot gewerkt. Schitterend weer hier, en hopelijk komt dat ook
naar Nederland. morgenochtend voor dag en dauw met de vloed mee naar
Dover. Ik kijk even hoe het gaat. Tijstop, of door naar Ijmuiden.
Jemig, dan is het opeens bijna over...

Terug naar Nederland - [01-07-2011]

Tijdens de AZAB stond deze blog doorgeschakeld op de Engelstalige AZAB
website. Nu ga ik weer door in het Nederlands.
Omdat het weer er goed uitziet om naar Nederland te zeilen, ben ik de
dag na aankomst weer uit Falmouth vertrokken. Nog heerlijk gelunchd met
mijn plaatselijke host Robert Hichens. In de middag met een lekker
NW windje onderweg. Er staat meer wind dan ik had durven hopen en ook
afgelopen nacht bleef het waaien. Steeds verder naar het Noorden draait
de wind en nu vaar ik zelf aan de wind tegen NO3 in. Prachtig weer. Een
hogedrukgebied komt er aan en zal mij inhalen vanuit het westen. Dan zal
de wind helemaal wegvallen vrees ik. Maar goed, daar heb je per slot van
rekening een motor voor. Het is nu geen zeilwedstrijd meer, dus die
gaat gewoon aan als het moet. Inmiddels voorbij Portland Bill. Met het
volgende tij langs St Catherines Point (Isle of Wight) en dan kijken
waar ik diesel kan tanken, haha. Brighton of Dover, ik zie het nog wel.

ROUND UP LEG 2 - [30-06-2011]
The weather has been exceptionally good. 7 days and 13 hours is better
than I ever thought. The other 2 Dutch entries, Nico Budel (Hayai) and
Kees Jan Lampe (La Promesse) came to see me in at the finish line
yesterday early in the morning at 04.08 hrs.
Today I will prepare the boat for the 450 miles to bring her back to
Lelystad.
I wish to thank to Collin Drummond and his team at RWYC for organizing
this great race. For the next edition I would like to suggest to have a
seperate class for single handers.

Quiet night - [28-06-2011]
Yesterday evening Home of Jazz passed the edge of the continental shelf.
Disturbed seas for a number of hours. As always fisherman in this area,
with big ships and huge ligths. It was a good night for sailing
with just enough wind and beautiful clear skies and stars. The last
quiet night at sea for a while I'm afraid. Tomorrow we will be
approaching the Lizzard with more ships, fisherman, buoys and so on.
Early this morning (cold again, 12 degrees) I hoisted the Code Zero. It
will be close racing with Ntumbi and Merlin who both have a more
easterly position and have to point higher a bit higher. I can sail at
slightly better angles and use the Code Zero and perhaps the Gennaker
later, which might give me just the extra bit of speed to beat them.

Ella - [27-06-2011]
Do dolphins like music? Yes, I believe they do. Often they visit the
boat at the end of the day. During diner I played some old recordings of
performances by Ella and this immediately attracked a group of dolphins.
They stayed longer then usual, obviously to listen to the music. After
they were gone a second group of black/white dolphins came alongside to
enjoy the music. Dolphins have sharp ears and apparently a good taste.
Would they like the military music Mervyn plays at redicoulous volumes
during the prestart of any race ? I learned from his wife that at home
he is not allowed to play any of that music, so that is probably why he
goes to sea. I can assure you that they like Ella Fidzgerald. Try it
for yourself. Just download the album Get Happy by Ella Fidzgerald on
iTunes, go to sea, play Yellow Basket and have your cameras ready.

What else ? - [27-06-2011]
After my little beauty sleep this morning I see that the sun's come
through now. Only sevens and eights on the display. What else could a
single handed sailor wish for? Except of course for good company, a hot
shower, a cold beer .. eh.. let me stop here. Being on your own for a week
perfectly makes clear what is really important and what you can do
without.

BRRRR - [27-06-2011]
Air temperature only 11 deg C .. That wasn't mentioned in the Notice of
Race! The notherly breeze brought us cold rainy weather. Last night we
had more wind then I expected with 20 kts. A very dark night, with no
moon or stars. You could hardly see the water or the horizon, so it felt
like the boat is floating on nothing. Short waves, unsettled, the
powering in 20kts of breeze. Like being in a simulator of the
IJsselmeer. I stayed inside for most of the night.
There are not so many tactical options left. The wind will stay NNW
according to the forecast. But you never know.

Gybed - [26-06-2011]
It was a buzy night. After diner I changed from the small to the big
light gennaker. The Gribs forecasted Southerly 10-12 knots during the
night backing Westerly. We had for bundles of coulds coming over, some
with and some without wind in them. Very decent boatspeed and perhaps we
could overtake Ntumbi who is 10 miles ahead. And indeed, at 0200 I could
see a white light and at 0310 I had overtaken them. Just after
overtaking Ntumbi I started to prepare for the gybe. Gybing took an
hour! First the gennaker down. Then a stormround to avoid breaking
mainsail cars as I did in my last gybe. On port tack now I first had to
come around the stern of Ntumbi (so effectively I sailed around them,
sorry guys). Hoisted the gennaker but completely twisted. Took it
down again. Stowed it properly in a bag which gave a better result on
the second attempt to set the sail. After a small broach sudddenly in
18kts, things settled down and I could go in again.

HOME OF JAZZ - DINER - [25-06-2011]
Happy hour with Borrelnootjes an original Dutch delight, much
appreciated by visiting sailors. Then a proper starter Veloutes de
Legumes, followed by Tartiflette Savoyarde (ou-la-la) and as desert
Creme Chocolade (comme l'amour c'est fantastique). All of this with a
magnificent Ocean View and a decent 8 knots under gennaker at 150 TWA.
Just great!

Learning to sail - [25-06-2011]
High spirits on board Home of Jazz. I finally learned how to use the
heavy asymetric spinaker. This sail needs a spinnaker pole!!
During the Round Britain 2010 we (Harry Vogel and me) couldn't get the
new sail "in the groove". During AZAB I hoisted it several times
(halyard, sheet and tackline) only to take it down again after a short
while. Uncontrollable, not stable, small window to steer, and so on.
Really frustrating. The sail is intended for sailing at 150 degree True
Wind Angle. Now what a huge difference it is to hoist it with a spi-pole
about 1 meter to luff. Now very stable, boat well balanced, perfect! So
the sail has been up all day. The autopiot can deal with it easily. I
could catch up some sleep. Glorious sunshine, shirts and shorts, top
day!!

Emergency repair - [24-06-2011]
When I want to put the kettle on the origo cooker appeared to be broken.
One of the hinches eat itself through the metal bracket. Lucky
that bicycle repair man bought himself a new drill to fix the problem.

Long run - [24-06-2011]
After two days of running in the sunshine, I almost forgot what clouds
look like. Some pretty strong gusts of wind but no rain. It looks like
the long run will continue until Sunday noon, and on Monday a notherly
breeze will come in. Brr I have to find my socks.

Genaker adventures - [24-06-2011]
After a nice night gooze winged I wished to increase speed this morning.
Hoisted a heavy gennaker in 21 knots of breeze. As soon as the sail went
up it was all hands on deck. Single handed that means, handsteering
and sheet in the other hand, no hand available to work on the tackline
or anything else. This was soon to go wrong so I threw the halyard
overboard to bear away and take down the sail. Then we almost broached,
the sail collapsed, filled again and went around the forestay. I
immediately released the tack and blew the halyard and could pull the
sail down before it was jammed. Pfff. Now goozed winged again. Double
handed boats really have an advantage in these conditions compared to
single handed boats. The advantage of sailing gooze winged is that Home
of Jazz can sail much deeper compared to boats without a spinnaker pole
who will have to gybe to avoid being caught by the high. We might just
make it if we can stay a bit north of the rumbline.

Running - [23-06-2011]
With the wind almost following our track, the options are either to
hoist a gennaker, and gybe to avoid going too farr south into the high,
or to go gooze winged (if you have a pole!). I decided to go gooze
winged and gain some terrain to the north. The dyneema backstays show
wear from the main near the top of the mast. Hmm. I have to watch this
carefully. Everything around the mainsail seems to cause trouble, but
that is my own fault because I did only try the sail a few times before
the race, in stead of testing it over a longer period. Good winds
and good speed during the night. I treated myself with the luxury of 30
minute sleeps in stead of 20. All well on board Home of Jazz.

Home of Jazz - Around the high - [22-06-2011]
In day two of the race a lot of suncream was needed. And a lot of work
was to be done with the gennaker and code zero. Truant sailed next to me
for a while. I had to let him go when I needed to repair a damaged
sheave. Tried to catch up with Truant but got too tired and hoisted the
jib for the night. The wind soon picked up and I pulled in a first and
second reef. Fast sailing through the night, but I could get some
sleep.. It looks like this low is going to give us a lot of wind indeed,
and from the right direction too.

Windy start of leg 2 - [22-06-2011]
I must admit my start was chaotic. And 25 knots was a bit too much for
my taste. And I was not the only one. I saw boats with water ballast on
the wrong side, reefs that wouldn't fit and so on. We first rounded a
buoy 1,7 miles out before heading down to the west. I did a storm round
in stead of a gybe. Along the islands winds were gusting up to 29 knots,
but plenty of sunshine too and a beautiful view on the island where we
had such a great week. During the evening things settled down and the
wind died out. On our way again!

Pap ik wil mee - [20-06-2011]

Hard to resist the offer of my youngest daughter Janneke to join me on the return leg, but her mama insisted .. so back on my own now.

Full speed to the Azores - [16-06-2011]

Some video images of the second day of leg1 from Home of Jazz. The NE winds provided excellent conditions during the first days of the race.

Mid Ocean pictures of Mainsail damage - [16-06-2011]

As you can see the headboard and two sail battens are not anymore connected to the mast. I put more tension on the halyard to keep the sail closer to the mast. I was lucky to be able to fix this with just enough spares and a calm sea.

video's Home of Jazz leg 1 - [15-06-2011]

I just uploaded a number of videos from Home of Jazz leg 1, on YouTube. The start and some unedited ocean stuff.

Home of Jazz - becalmed near finish - [13-06-2011]
Yesterday evening land in sight! Great view of the island from a
distance while the sun going down. At midnight I passed Caba Armel and
after that it became very difficult with the wind shadow of the Island.
At 05.00 the wind died out. Sails down at 06.00 and up again at 08.30.
Now fast approaching the finish line in drizzle. I expect some sunshine
when I get then in about 1,5 hours.