Monthly Archive

I had to make a decision today. Having worked on the boat all morning the decision was pretty much made for me. Those 1st 3 days had taken their toll on both me and on Ninjod. When cleaning out the water from her this morning I discovered the following damage to one of the bulk heads.

Hugh came with a battery tester to check my service batteries. They were fine !! Why then could I only pump in a relatively small amount of power? The answer came in the guise of a very small green wire. This small green wire is responsible to the regulator sensor and mine had broken. Once reconnected everything began to do what it was supposed to do.
I am covered in bruises. Some of the more easier to photo are:

Royal Cork Yacht Club Marine have very kindly giving me free berthing for a few days while I sought my problems out. My father is currently scheduled to arrive tomorrow. The plan is to get back to Suffolk before next weekend. This is my last OSTAR blog..Next in 4 years !!
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The wind has backed further and Paul found in teh night that he couldn’t lay Land’s End and was making a lot of leeway in trying. The new plan is to get into Cork, which he is laying. He should be there early tomorrow with any luck.

I have just spoken to Paul and he is now making his way steadily back to Falmouth. He was less emotional than this morning, and mainly annoyed at himself for not buying new/spare wet gear. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I guess whatever may have broken on the way we would have thought we should have fixed earlier. Still, he is safe and that’s all I am interested in. He asked me to read him some of the messages on the website, and was very grateful for everyone’s best wishes and the fact that you were all watching his progress. As well as the comments that appear here, there have also been many phone calls, emails and texts from people wanting to show their support, which is great. I will continue to update until he back safe on dry land, where many decisions will need to be made…

Those of you that are picking up the wav files will know already that Paul is making his way into Falmouth. He has had no wet gear since day 1, having been knocked by a wave which led to them ripping very badly. Tape didn’t do the job so he ended up very cold and without any more dry clothes. On top of this one of his diesel cans leaked (my fault), leaving him feeling sick to the point where all he has had since he left on Monday is half a packet of peanuts. And then his ballast tank started to leak. He made the very tough decision this morning to turn round and head for Falmouth. There he can rest, get some wet gear and decide if he wants to continue. He is gutted as the boat was doing pretty well and he was really ready for this challenge. We are all gutted.

I know that Paul and Ninjod have many followers so I (Jan) am going to do my best to keep you up to date with information. Of course the blog will be updated daily, but I plan to keep in touch with Paul too so will post any additional news. I know he really appreciates all of the good wishes be has been receiving, so if you have any comments please post them and I will try to ensure that they get through.
So…the start. The wind was light this morning and in the North – kite start! No pressure. We rigged the boat and then said our goodbyes. Paul was very nervous by this point. I managed to get a ride out to watch the start with Colin Drummond on Sleuth Hound, which intially I was very excited about, but then did not know if I coud cope with being that close to the action. We were expecting a very line shy fleet, especially given that the penalty for being over the line at any time after the 10 minute warning signal was 30 minutes for every second over the line. With 1 minute to go, Paul still did not have a headsail up and I was starting to think he did not know when the start was. He then jumped into action and pulled the headsail up. Rob in Jbellino and Barry in Dinah made a real race of it, and were first and second over the line. Paul got a pretty good start, about 8th over the line, and most of the fleet were over the line within a couple of minutes. It turned out to be quite a shy kite and only a couple of boats went for it. Oscar on King of Shave was one and we all feared he wouldn’t lay the breakwater. We cheered everyone over the start line and I got some pictures which I hope to upload tomorrow.

During the race the micro blog will get updated

CLICK THIS LINK TO BE TAKEN TO THE MICRO BLOG

I am currently sitting in a hotel room typing this ahead of tomorrows start. It has been a bit of a roller coaster day for me.
The skippers briefing took place this morning and I wasn’t feeling my best during that. No big surprises during the briefing just an early start tomorrow.
Jan and my father helped me a huge amount today by taking NINJOD off to a remote mooring to meet a diver called Nick. Nick then cleaned the bottom of the boat making sure no nastiness was clinging to the bottom. It all counts !!!
During the afternoon the boat was cleaned, non slip stuff was stuck on the floor beneath the steps and everything else was stowed. Everything not needed for the crossing was taken off of the boat.
A large chunk of my family then made me very happy by turning up to wish me well. My fave cousin Laura and her smashing husband Chris turned up. Laura made me a lovely cake shaped like a lady !!
My brother Daniel, his lovely wife Clare and their young son Charlie arrived. Charile came aboard and met Monty. They seemed to get along very well.
My other brother Marc, his wife Clare and their children Charlotte and Calum arrived. Charlotte is in love with her boyfriend and Calum is a rocking drummer.
During beers with the entire clan there were moments when I felt a little emotional and overwhelmed by it all…

Jan arrived just after midnight last night after a long drive from Suffolk. Most of the final jobs have been done now and we are just stowing everything ready for the off.