Monthly Archive

NINJOD was lifted out of the water on Friday for a thorough clean and smoothing/flatting of the hull. As you can see from the picture above the underside is now very smooth and has an almost glass like finish. My thanks to Olly and Ian at Speedmarine for helping me out.
Good hull prep is important, even a 0.1% speed improvement can make a massive difference over a race like the OSTAR.
The new bits for the first aid kit were put on board today and a final ISAF category 1 check was also completed
Next stop Plymouth.. We leave Friday evening.

This last weekends work was all about weather. Jerry of Petit Bateau had organized sailor and meteorologist Chris Tibbs to run an OSTAR weather training session on the Isle of Wight in Cowes. Jan and I arrived Saturday afternoon to participate in the prize giving and the drinking of beers for the RIOW solo race at the Island Sailing Club.
I was clearly moved in someway by all of this on Saturday night, perhaps it was the wine, perhaps it was seeing old chums, in either case later that evening I ended up sleep walking through the halls of our hotel naked before bumping into other guests. On Sunday morning I was not sure if it had all been a dream or not but when Jan pointed out that the hotel room door was open we hastily had some breakfast and left for the Cowes Combined Clubs.
Chris Tibbs gave the skippers and shore crew of the 7 boats present an excellent insight into what can be expected in the OSTAR 2009 race. In summary :
Phase 1 – Navigating the headlands and out of the English channel approaches past the South West Coast of Ireland. We discussed wind tunneling effects between peninsulas/headlands.
Phase 2 – The open water leg. Upwind with depressions (lows) rolling over the top of you on a regular basis. We talked about how to navigate the many weather fronts we will encounter and where best to position ourselves to take advantage of the weather systems.
Phase 3 – Nearly there, tired and approaching the Grand Banks. The final thousand miles or so and depending on how far north each skipper decided to go during phase 2 we will be faced with fog and the potential of ice bergs. The currents of the gulf stream are strong and run in the opposite direction of travel, slowing down the boats considerably.
By the end of the day many, myself included, where asking why the devil we are doing this daft race. Nobody really had a convincing answer yet I doubt any will pull out of it, I don’t plan to !

Today I received confirmation from the Royal Western Yacht Club that NINJOD and I have now qualified for the 2009 OSTAR. Next stop Plymouth.

Where do you sleep ? Do you anchor when you sleep ? How much sleep do you get ? I have been asked all of these questions on a number of occasions. Every skippers answers will differ. Mine are as follows:
Where do you sleep ?
NINJOD has a lot of space below for sleeping. I use the main saloon area. Either side of the main saloon is a long seat that doubles up as a bunk. Each bunk has a very large lee cloth that stops me falling out when NINJOD is leaning over.
The port (left) side is my dry bunk. It has a waterproof Ocean Sleep Ware sleeping bag and an Ocean Sleep Ware pillow case. The dry bunk is only used when I take all my wet gear off (rarely !!) or am in port.
The starboard (right) side of the main saloon area is my wet bunk. I picked this side because it has the chart table on it and I am very likely to sit at the chart table in wet gear. I spoke with Clare at Ocean Sleep Ware and after some discussion she made me a couple of 2 meter square Ocean Rugs. These are basically micro fleece blankets backed with a waterproof Exeat outer layer. One of the blankets is wrapped around the cushion, the other covers me and moves about the boat as required. I have another Ocean Sleep Ware pillow case this side, these are basically waterproof fleece pillow cases that you can put what you want in. In my case some of my spare clothes live inside them.
The roaming rug is very nice in the cuddy. Over easter while out in the North Sea it started to rain. I sat with the blanket wrapped around me in the cuddy, the waterproof outer backing layer kept me dry.
Very warm, very functional, very comfortable.
Do you anchor when you sleep ?
Nope, I try to keep the boat moving. I have a number of electronic systems and alarms that keep me on course and let me know if anything starts heading towards me. Most of the time NINJOD is steered by its NKE autopilot. The autopilot steers a course relative to the true wind direction. The wind is rarely constant in direction or force, each little knock or gust (lift) is automatically handled by the autopilot. If a large wind shift occurs, something that will change my course significantly, a loud alarm sounds.
How much sleep do you get ?
This varies from skipper to skipper, for me on NINJOD I have system that seems to work well. My alarm clock is a Screaming Meanie 220, it is VERY loud. I try to write a log entry every hour or so and as evenings draw in I use an hourly cycle to manage log entries, watch keeping and sleep.
For example, if I log at 20:00 I then spend the next 30 minutes checking navigation, keeping watch, trimming sails etc. The final 30 minutes of the cycle are spent sleeping in the wet bunk. When the Screaming Meanie sounds at 21:00 I get up, have a quick look about, log and start the process over again.
Obviously conditions dictate a lot of what can be done and when it can be done but this simple routine works well for me. If I get thrown out of sync I do my best to get it back in a routine as quickly as possible. I don’t usually feel tired the following day with this pattern, If I do I pop a 30 minute sleep in during the middle of the afternoon.