40 DEGREES - Horta!

Die Mädels sind erste im Global Ocean Race. Zumindest die ersten, die sich dafür qualifiziert haben. Damit sind sie auch das erste All-Girls-Team, das sich jemals für diese Regatta qualifiziert hat, und sie sind sicherlich auch bei allen möglichen anderen Dingen die ersten, weil sie halt nun mal das erste Mädelsteam in einer Class 40 bei so einer Geschichte sind.

Während Hannah nun ihre 11. Atlantiküberquerung hinter sich hat (aber die erste double-handed, also auch mal wieder erste...), war es Annas erster Trip über den Teich. Im Skype-Interview der beiden mit Lobster One heute nachmittag wurde schnell klar, dass das Langstrecken-Virus sie voll erfaßt hat. Natürlich hat Anna sich gefreut, in Horta anzukommen, aber genauso wäre sie gerne einfach weitergefahren. So gut war es, so gut haben sich die beiden verstanden, auch wenn sie zum ersten Mal länger zusammen gesegelt waren. Ob es ein Risiko war und es auch Zickenkrieg hätte geben können, beantwortet Hannah klar mit "nein". Die beiden hatten sich kennengelernt, gemerkt, dass die Chemie stimmt, und gewußt, dass es gutgehen wird, wenn sie ins kalte Wasser springen und ohne vorherigen emotionalen Belastungstest über den Teich fahren.

Wenn man davon überzeugt ist, dann kann es ja auch nur klappen. "Defeat is no Option" scheint bei den beiden auf der Stirn zu stehen. Also GOR-Boys, zieht Euch warm an.

Am Freitag geht es weiter nach England. Dann wollen die beiden ein paar Double-Hand-Regatten segeln, um sich, das Boot und die Konkurrenz zu testen.

After 2,300 nautical miles of sailing and two weeks to the day after leaving the Caribbean, we've arrived!

In a brisk 30 knot breeze, we saw the island of Faial with its towering volcano and were met by a media reception committee on a bouncing RIB as we dropped sails and motored in to the harbour at Horta. Our first task was to find the harbour master and get him to sign the second part of our declaration. The first had been signed just before departure in Guadeloupe and now our paperwork is officially stamped, we have become the first team in the Global Ocean Race to have completed the mandatory qualifying sail.

"This was my 11th trans-Atlantic crossing but the first time I've done it as a double hander" said Hannah. "It's a big tick in the box and provides us with valuable experience to build on. We took our time to get comfortable with the boat and each other and now that the qualifying is done, we can plan to push things harder from here on in".

For Anna-Maria, it was her first major ocean crossing and it was immediately clear for those watching the team arrive, that the challenge had not phased her.

"It was all cool. I'm happy that we had arrived but a little sad that this part of our adventure was over" said the 30 year old German co-skipper. "And while the sailing was great, I'm much happier to know that we can work as a team - that was much more important for me. It shows that we can team up off-shore just as well as we can on-shore".

The team retired to the legendary Sports Bar, a home from home for all visiting sailors, for a long dreamt about rare steaks with a crisp salad, washed down with several beers. Then it's on to laundry, a deep clean of the boat, victualling and a chance to check out the delights of the island before pointing the bows towards the UK.

The team expect to depart on Friday with the aim of arriving back in the Solent on Saturday, April 8th.

Foto: hAnnaH, Ian Dickens

40 DEGREES - als erstes Team für das GOR qualifiziert

Ohne weiteren Kommentar:

Nur ganz kurz: Hannah und ich haben gerade in Horta festgemacht!!! Damit sind wir das erste Team was sich offiziell fuer das GOR qulifiziert hat!
Wir sind f*** gluecklich und gehen jetzt Biertrinken!

HANNAH & ANNA

Foto: zwar noch ein High-Five aus Guadeloupe, aber so ähnlich wird es auch in Horta ausgesehen haben.

40 DEGREES - 35 sm bis zur Qualifikation fürs GOR

Ein Gruß vor dem Landfall und ein Vorher-Video aus Guadeloupe. Mal sehen, wie das Nachher-Video aussieht...

So this is our final blog from our qualifying voyage. Horta is 35 miles away and we are making 10-12 knots straight towards it. The sun is shining and the wind a chilly 23 knots from the south west. We are both very excited about getting ashore mostly so we can have hot showers and cold beers but there is also that little bit of hesitency, soon the first step in our sailing adventure will be over and when we leave the Azores it will be as a foursome rather than just the 2 of us. It will of course be great to have the company but strange to share our small space now that we are used to having it all to ourselves.

We have learned so much this trip, improved a great deal on our first few days and discovered that we are more than happy to sail with each other. Our shopping list for the boat grows everyday so the race is on to secure the necessary sponsorship ASAP. At the top of Anna's wish list for the boat - an overhaul of the bunks to increase comfort, mine - more beans for the bean bag!

Thanks for following our adventure, in 4 hours time we should become the first team to qualify for the Global Ocean Race 2011-12, not a bad effort for a team established just 3 months ago!

POS @ 0945 UTC 38 21.5N 029 18.2W

Hannah & Anna

40 DEGREES - Es riecht nach Horta...

Horta scheint zum greifen nahe. Anna und Hannah werden vor Vorfreude schon kurz angebunden.

So it’s British Summer Time back home and we hear that the sun is out and the Daffs and blossom are in bloom. Well its steely grey out here and a little chilly!

It’s getting pretty cold at night and damp as well and our calorie requirements have gone through the roof in the last couple of days. But we need to tread carefully because we are a little low on water and need H2o to cook our food, so the intake is reduced. At present, we have about 240 miles to go and are making 9-10 knots towards Horta so we should be there on Tuesday afternoon. More updates from there.

Han, Anna & a rather smelly 40 Degrees xx

40 DEGREES - Die letzte Cola auf dem Teich?

Grummel, dieser Bericht blieb in den Emails hängen und hätte vor dem letzten kommen müssen, dafür sind die Bilder von Bord aktuell. Die Ankunft der Mädels ist für heute spät oder morgen angesetzt.

Wow what a night. Speeds consistenly in double figures, loads of sparkling phosphoresence in the water and a course direct to Horta. We are now down to 580 miles to go and are keeping pace with a nice cheeky little band of pressure that is giving us 23-25 knots of wind from the south west. We are hoping to stay in this band of breeze until tomorrow morning when the wind looks set to drop to 15 knots but still from a favourable angle. So being realistic we should arrive in Horta Marina early on Tuesday morning, a little later than we had hoped but then we did spend a long time beating to windward, zig zagging our way to the the downwind fun bit and sailing a few extra miles in the process. But its all good, our qualifier is meant to be a good test in a range of conditions, as long as we can make the fresh water supply last we will arrive in Horta most certainly having met all the requirements of a GOR qualifying sail.

But what are two girls of the sea to do at the weekend. Well last night being friday we decided to let our hair down (not so easy when it is a matted mess) and crank up the tunes for a bit of a deck disco. This morning Anna had a good lie in and then we decided to treat ourselves to a curry for lunch. We have two sachets of curry on board with real bits of chicken in as a treat and today we ate the first accompanied of course by cous cous! As for tonight, well maybe a picnic under the stars...

Its pretty cold at night now. The boat gets full of condensation and we are living in a permanently damp state. Its not massively pleasant waking up warm but still soggy. We are down to our last sets of thermals, there had better be a laundrette in Horta! So we will leave you to enjoy your weekends, have a beer for us and we will continue pushing hard towards the Azores enjoying the fast and flat sailing :)

POS @ 1525 UTC 34 01.4N 039 14.0W

Hannah & Anna

Fotos: Hannahs rechter Arm und der Selbstauslöser für die Nutella-und-Cola-Orgie.

40 DEGREES - Stop and Go

Mal rauscht es, mal kein Wind von allen Seiten. Hannah und Anna haben scheinbar reichlich Möglichkeiten, das Boot unter allen Voraussetzungen zu testen. Und für die letzten 100 Meilen lockt die letzte Tüte Gummibärchen. Das ist besser als jedes Mentalcoaching. Go GORGirls!

Just like any ocean race, the finale is always difficult. Having been promised 15 knots from the south west by the grib files we actually got 15-32 knots from pretty much any direction the wind fancied. This resulted in some lively speeds (mostly in the right direction), a couple of broaches and a respectable gybe, even if the runner did suddenly go slack after it had been wound on causing minor heart failure as of course this coincided with a gust that saw us take off at 15 knots boat speed. It had clearly got caught on something and just freed itself but we are very pleased to report we still have a rig and I hate to curse the situation but we have even had stable wind for an hour now.

Had it not been for the dry suit that is impossible to remove without assistance, I would have taken advantage of the torrential rain we had this morning and got a quick shower in. Of course this is entirely Anna's doing as she had a word with the wind gods the other day and said she would accept all the rain in the world for a favourable wind direction. Alas now everything we own is soaked so down below currently looks like a Chinese laundry with a washing line strung up around the engine box trying to absorb every bit of heat it produces.

We are now around 400 miles to go and on a northerly gybe for much of the day. We did our final time zone change this morning before the Azores and had Sunday brunch consisting of Cous Cous and tuna for Anna and Thai infused smash for me (aka smash and cuppa soup - a winning combination). The last packet of Jelly Babies are being saved for the final 100 miles, so we shall once again treat ourselves with a spoon of Nutella today.

In other news, we have both randomly developed salt sores in exactly the same place on our left hands, we have probably only got half a baby wipe each left, we are down to 6 litres of drinking water and about 5 of cooking water, we saw our first pod of dolphins yesterday and we have been quite amused by our multi functional bucket - no room for anyone squeamish about strict hygiene in here!

Despite the fact that we are both keen to get in to port, there is also that feeling that the first part of the adventure is now coming to a close and in some ways we don't want it to end. Just three weeks ago we didn't have a boat, yet in that short space of time we have nearly finished our qualifier, right on target with what we proposed back in December. Let’s hope that the next stage of the project is equally as thrilling - there is no turning back now!

POS @ 1252 UTC 35 11.2N 035 57.9W

Hannah & Anna

40 DEGREES - Schwein auf Toast oder Kuh mit Salat?

Bald unter 800 Meilen bis Horta, und es beginnen die Gedankenspiele um den Wiedereintritt in die Zivilisationsatmosphäre.

As the Azores get gradually closer (I say gradually, as we are not blessed with awesome speeds at the moment), we have started to become a little more aware of our appearance.

The last thing we want is for the good folk of the Azores to refuse us entry as we look like a couple of salty Yetties, particularly not after dreaming about cold beers and steaks for so long. On the one hand, it is most liberating being at sea and not really caring too much about how you look. On the other, when you finally DO look, it comes as a rather nasty shock!

10 days of suntan lotion, salt water, basic and not particularly healthy diet equals crazy hair, suffering skin and no doubt struggling digestive systems. This is all OK on a trip of this length but thinking ahead to the 5-6 week legs of the Global Ocean Race, it does make you think about the importance of getting nutrition right and maintaining some kind of basic routine to keep your body in good shape.

But for now, we are looking forward to the celebrations in Horta on completion of our qualifier. We have decided to order an entire cow each, cooked rare with a side salad, just to have something to crunch and remind the teeth how to chew! Our photographer Ditten and communications guru Ian will be arriving in Horta on the 28th and 29th respectively so we best put our foot down and get there ASAP.

We should be under 800 miles to go in the next few hours.

Hannah & Anna

Foto: Hannah & Anna

40 DEGREES - Countdown zu den Azoren

Hannah und Anna feierten den Meilenstein von unter 1000 Meilen bis zu den Azoren mit Coke und Nutella. Eine würdige Mischung. Hier der Bericht dazu:

Oh yes! Finally we are within 1000 miles of the marina in Horta. At 1153 UTC this morning we celebrated the milestone with our last can of Coke on board and a big spoonful of Nutella each. We can now taste the beer and steaks that we have been dreaming about in Horta for the last 9 days.

Having battled through the first major low pressure system on Monday and dealt with the subsequent calm on Tuesday, yesterday once again delivered another nasty low pressure - but this time coming at us from behind. So our first day of downwind sailing on 40 Degrees was spent in pretty lively condition gusting to 38 knots.

The morning turned into some kind of boot camp style session for us both as we went through sail changes and reefs. We began surfing at some decent speeds, although without having the correct downwind sails onboard, we were constrained to the Solent. Even so, but she pulled us along at 12.13.14.15 and then 16.3 knots.

Unfortunately the wave pattern was confused and choppy so the poor boat decided that she would object to the situation and attempt to wipe out. Upon failing to succeed, she then hurled herself down a wave and tried the crash gybe option - again without success. With grey clouds looming and the pilot struggling, we eventually decided to take some time out and wrestle the beast of a Solent down. With just one person on the foredeck this is no easy task, but we got it sorted and then set the boat up to be fast enough but a little more under control. We did keep reminding ourselves that in six months time at race start, we would be laughing at this cautious behaviour!

So the second nasty weather system has rolled over us and we are now reaching a little to the North before hooking into the new breeze and turning for the Azores. Current weather files suggest that we should be in on Monday early afternoon but of course we all know that predicting an arrival time is always a bit sketchy. We have enough food and just enough water and fuel to get us there so let’s hope we don't get becalmed or we will have to prematurely get started on our arrival beers!

Hannah & Anna

Foto: Anna & Hannah

Transatlanticrace 2011 - US-Jugendcrew nominiert

Der HVS meldete, Lobster One rührte in den USA die Trommel, und die USMMA (United States Merchant Marine Academy) antwortete. Inzwischen steht das All American Offshore Team, das mit der STP 65 VANQUISH gegen die NORDDEUTSCHE VERMÖGEN HAMBURG antreten wird (siehe auch Lobster One vom 30. Januar 2011: US-Marine tritt gegen den HVS an). Die Amerikaner haben sich mit dem Jugendgedanken nicht lumpen lassen und gerade den jungen Altersdurchschnitt ernst genommen. Die Crewliste läßt da keinen Zweifel:

Benjamin Allen (Newport, R.I.), age 24
Benjamin Quatromoni (Tiverton, R.I.), age 24
Charlie Enright (Bristol, R.I.), age 26
Chris Branning (Pace, Fla.), age 25
Chris Welch (Gross Pointe, Mich.), age 23
Colin Orsini (Seattle, Wash.), age 27
David Rasmussen (Novato, Calif.), age 24
Jesse Fielding (Wickford, R. I.), age 24
Kaity Storck (Huntington, N. Y.), age 23
Mark Towill (Kaneohe, Hawaii), age 22
Matt Noble (Richmond, Calif.), age 25
Molly Robinson (San Francisco, Calif.), age 23
Nate Fast (Noank, Conn.), age 19
Pat Showell (Sweetwater, N. J.), age 24

12 Jungs und 2 Mädels, die nicht ohne Grund ausgewählt wurden. Molly Robinson ist beispielsweise Segelmacherin in Auckland und hat in einer Firma für Wasseraufbereitungsanlagen gearbeitet - und das mit erst 23 Jahren. Der Jüngste im Team, Nate Fast (19) war damals zu jung für Roy Disneys MORNING LIGHT-Projekt, segelte statt dessen 2008 Newport-Bermuda und war schon in der Crew von BLUE JANKEE (R/P 66), als diese 2007 Block Island gewann.

Die beiden Jugendteams stehen inzwischen im regen Austausch. Mehr dazu bald auf diesem Kanal.

Foto: All American Offshore Team

40 DEGREES - Zwei Tickets für den Horta-Express, bitte

Nach ausgiebigen Kreuzübungen nun die Belohnung: auf Schienen zu den Azoren.

Hello everyone, Just a short update today as we are both quite tired. The good news is that finally we are sailing downwind!!!! It has taken us about 1,350 miles of difficult and often unstable upwind conditions to get on the conveyor belt to the Azores but we have made it and are expecting to be under 1000 miles to Horta by tomorrow morning.

The forecast looks good for the next few days. Today we are under the influence of a nasty and fast moving low pressure system, but are hopefully positioned far enough south that we will not see any crazy wind speeds.

Last night was another driftathon with a left over swell, which meant a lot of slatting sails and an uncomfortable slow sail. However, we now have the pleasure of decent speeds - 11.3 knots as I write and an almost flat boat, unlike the 25 degree heel we have had to get used to for much of the trip so far.

So all good on board and we have just made it into a new time zone so we are now 3 hours behind UTC.

POSITION @ 1050 UTC 29 03.3N 049 34.9W

A tired but happy

Hannah & Anna

Foto: Hannah/Anna

40 DEGREES - A Team Teaming Up

Ein Rückblick der GORGirls auf die erste Woche an Bord und das Leben von zwei noch recht Fremden in einer 12-Quadratmeter-Wohnung ohne Klotür:

Later today will mark our first week at sea so we thought it would be a good time to reflect on how it has gone so far and how we are feeling about sailing the GOR together aboard 40 Degrees. When we slipped lines in Guadeloupe we had never sailed together, just us, before. We had known each other since our first Skype meeting in October, we had put hours and hours of work into the project and send numerous e mail to one another but this was our first sailing experience. It was quite a big day really, what of we didn't get on on a boat?, what if we had had just made the biggest mistake of our sailing careers, after all 2 on a boat is an interesting dynamic and it needs to work.

We spent the first 3 days as 2 individuals finding their way around their new world. Of course we were a team but we had not yet begun to develop that partnership, we had yet to find our team rhythm. Then came the turning point, a day of zero wind, searing heat and a good deal of frustration. We were both tired and hot and the sail to the Azores was suddebly looking like a very long one. Anna became annoyed about how much fresh water we had on board and I was getting short over the poor boat speed we were getting our of the gennaker. We both sensed one anothers angst and no doubt both wondered if this would work.

Well it is working. We left that moment on the last wave and started to see an improvement in how we sailed the boat. We laughed at being tired, smelly and constantly beating to windward. We worked together as a team when we met our first low pressure system and went through a series of sail changes and identified how we could improve performance and ultimatley we have become completely at ease with the lack of privacy on a Class 40! At about 0300 this morning as we sailed at some hideous angle beating to windward still, Anna laughed as she was sat on the bucket just opposite from where I was pulling on wet clothes and said 'if only people could see us now looking like such an old couple...'

So it is safe to say we are looking forward to the GOR together and we are enjoying our great boat 40 Degrees. We are aware of the challenges that we will face and know that it will not all be smiles and laughter but this qualifying sail has so far given us a very good taste of what is to come and we can't wait!

Hannah & Anna

POSITION @ 1400 UTC
LAT 27 39.4N
LONG 050 33.6W

40 DEGREES - Bibo and Bord

Nachdem der Server für die Lobster-Emails streikt, bedurfte es der Hilfe von Ian Dickens, um an Infos von Bord zu kommen. Dazu kommt die PR-Premiere des Mädelstrips: ein Foto von Bord!

I write to you from the festering humidity of a dry suit. 'Dry suit?' I hear you say. Why yes, the turquioise waters, clear blue skies and bikinis are a thing if the past and we are now being pummeled by the North Atlantic. It feels like we are sitting on a raging bull, bucking and rearing up then rolling and lurching. The cockpit is awash as each wave piles down the side decks and periodically a nasty bang can be heard as the boat drops of a mishapen wall of water. I can't say its particularly pleasant but a few years of experience tells me that all you can do is set the boat up properly, sit tight and try to keep smiling. So we have gone from 1 reef and the trinquette some hours ago to 3 reefs and the storm jib and had a little sing song whilst doing it! Sure we are being cautious with our sail plan but we are still making speeds of 9-10 knots and this is no race, we are here to get comfortable with this boat.

Last night we were treated to a viewing of a moonbow or lunar rainbow, something I have only ever seen once before. A perfect arch of silvers and greys but sadly there was no pot of gold at the end of it, trust me we looked! Anna, wearing a borrowed yellow oversized drysuit has been nicknamed Big Bird after the character in Seaseme Street as that is basically what she looks like minus a few feathers and I am just grumpy with my suit as it has a convieniently located mini dry zip for facilitating going for a pee if you are a boy, not much use to me!

So we look set to bounce around for another 12 hours before a calm patch and then another vicious little low. We are curremtly routing south of the rhum line to try and avoid the worst of this secondary system, todays 30+ knots is quite enough neither of us have the urge to go hunting for 40.

Position at 1500 UTC LAT 26 35.9N LONG 053 51.9W

A soggy Hannah & Anna

Foto: Hannah & Anna

40 DEGREES - kurzes Update mit wundem Hintern

Ein Tag ohne Email von Bord und schon trafen wohl besorgte Nachfragen ein. Auf die "worried father inquiry" von Ian Dickens him kam dann dieses kurze Update von Hannah und Anna:

Good morning or afternoon I should say,

Having 1 day off from the daily updates but I didn't want you to be in worried father mode so just a quick e mail to say all is well on board, STILL beating (you really can go off this upwind sailing thing) and it looks like we will get the southern side of a low tomorrow so we are excpecting 20-25 knots with higher gusts. It will be our first sustained blow so we are making sure everything is in order for that. So perhaps for today just a brief Twitter and Facebook update.

I need to win that Euromillions!!!

Gunnel bum is setting in, nit enjoying that part but everything else is great!!

Han & Anna x

40 DEGREES - Tee zum Schauer

Der Weg zu den Azoren bleibt für Anna-Maria und Hannah etwas beschwerlich, wenn man rauschende Gennakertrips als Maßstab nimmt. Bald soll es Bilder von Bord geben. Hannahs Bericht:


Day 4 - otherwise entitled "Would you like a squall with your tea madam?"

After a desperately frustrating day yesterday when the maximum wind speed reached 5 knots about once but generally lingered in the 0-2 range a slight hint of cabin fever was in the air. Despite 2 hoists of the gennaker to try and harness the few zephyrs that passed by, which was of course highly productive in training terms, boat speed was at an all time low. Although the nights require wet weather gear and fleeces the days are still roasting hot, so we sat baking in the sun getting hot and flustered. 'Will we have enough water to get to the Azores?' 'Why won't this bloody wind remain constant for even just 2 minutes?'...you get the score. So once the wind finallly filled in and we got moving again and a bit of sleep was had I decided to do the decent thing and wake Anna from her cockpit slumber with a nice cup of tea at sunrise. I had been so engrossed in taking pictures of a rather crazy looking sky - colourful rainbow set against angry, agresisve grey clouds I hadn't really realised what was creeping up on us on the port side. As the light took on the yellow tinge that suggests you might want some ballast and prepare for a reef, I realised that this rather splendid cup of tea in bed plan was going to have to be swiftly aborted and instead Anna was woken up with 'you might want to haul a**e down below and get that pump running, this one could be big!'. A poor slightly confused having just woken up Anna was dispatched down below as the heavens opened. It quickly became clear that this cloud was not just big but vast. Soon full main and solent became 2 reefs and trinquette and 40 Degrees was smiling again. I write as if it all went completely without hassle which if course it didn't. Class 40's don't like to be left unattended trying to steer close to the wind to let their co skippers wrestle a big heavy solent down. So as we battled the flailing beast up the front, 40 Degrees dug her rudders in and spun us into the wind where we stopped and stayed until we expressed our sincere apologies and promised never to leave her alone again and finally she agreed to bear away.

So after all that work and please bear in mind this is 7am on a Saturady morning, 2 soaked but happy girls sat down in the cockpit eating Jelly Babies and finally getting that cup of tea. Now that the inside of the boat sounds a little as if I am sitting inside a bongo drum, it suggests that all hints of nasty clouds have cleared and we will be at full sail again in the not too distant future.

POS 1420 UTC: 23 22N 05827.7W

Foto: Anna & Hannah

40 DEGREES - Welpenschutz abgelaufen

Nachdem das Wetter bislang gnädig war und dem Sonnenbrand etwas Kühlung verschaffte, gab es jetzt den ersten Klaps vom Wetter. Hannah schreibt am Tag 3:

When so much has happened in the last two weeks, it is hard to keep track of time, all we do know is that it seems like a long time ago when we slipped lines in the rain at Marina Bas-du-Fort to set off across the Atlantic. Having been treated to some relatively nice upwind conditions and having avoided all bar a few big ugly squalls, it was only a matter of time before we got swallowed up by one of those infamous tropical cloud masses. It was about 5pm and we had just done our teeth and got some warmer kit on for the night when a large grey towering cumulous appeared to windward. The radar informed us it was 12 miles away and we started to place bets on whether this would provide us with a nice refreshing shower. We waited, it crept up on us slowly. To our port side was a beautiful pink and orange sunset, out to starboard a grey/green/brown beast. There was only a minor increase in wind as the leading egde crawled over us - we filled the ballast tanks just as a precaution, then came a 40 degree (quite appropriate) wind shift - we prepped for the 1st reef. Still nothing but eerie silence and a few spot of rain, no white horses on the water and then bang 10 knots became 26, spots of rain became torrential and we were off. Reef 1 went in with lightening speed as Anna worked the winches whilst I relieved the autohelm and drove the boat closer to he breeze. It wasn't just 1 squall though but about 5 rolled into 1. We went through about 5 hours of nasty sea state, shifty wind and manic rain but when we got through it all was good, we passed the test.

In other news, Anna's missing beanie - the cause of much distress has been found and aside from picking millions of flying fish off the deck, this morning we had to pick fish eyes up too!!

So we leave you as we get ready to play with the Gennaker. The wind has died right down and the boat speed is a bit pitiful, time to get to work for us.

POS @ 1200 UTC 18/03/11: 22 01N 059 31W

Hannah & Anna

Foto von der Freude über das Ende des Winters: Anna & Hannah

40 DEGREES - Segeln im Lobster-Modus

Am Tag 2 des Qualifikationsschlages (17. März) haben sich die Mädels auf dem Weg von Guadeloupe nach Horta offenbar für Lobster als Hautfarbe entschieden. Passend zum Namen dieses Blogs, der ebenfalls einem Sonnebrand zu verdanken ist. Hier der Bericht im O-Ton:

I am sure this will make you all pleased to know that it is starting to feel a little chilly. What a difference a day makes! Yesterday we were both a little caught out by the intensity of the sun and made the fatal mistake of wearing old sun tan lotion. Anna now has the back and thighs of a freshly boiled lobster and randomly my knees are like a couple of shining red beacons. Sadly we no longer look like ladies! Broken finger nails and knotted hair mixed with the faint aroma of wet deck trainer best describes our current appearence but it has not dappened our smiles, this is fun (honestly).

Our first 24 hours were pretty slow, partially as we held back whilst getting used to the boat and partially due to some fairly unstable breeze. Last night however we were almost hitting our polars and spent the whole night under full main and solent playing with a combination of ballast as the squalls passed us by. We have found a good rhythm and are working well as a team. The food situation has improved since the disaster that was corned beef (possibly cat food) and instant mash on the first night and we are now living a students dream by consuming copious amounts of instant noodles.

Finally the wind has veered a little and we are able to add some east into our generally northerly direction. Yesterdays grib file showed that we would be beating for another 5 days which doesn't fill us with great joy but we just have to get used to life at an angle with an occaisional slam. We are both very much looking forward to the opportunity to bear away. So things are still going well. Any issues we have been confronted with so far we have fixed/dealt with and the wind has remained fairly consistent at 10-12 knots since we passed through a line of squalls in the early hours of this morning. The only hurdle to overcome now is how to dry out our damp derriers!!!

POS @ 1200 UTC 19 51N 060 29W

Hannah & Anna

Foto: Anna-Maria, Hanna und der Selbstauslöser

GORGirls - Qualifikationsschlag über den Atlantik

Seit gestern sind Anna-Maria Renken und Hanna Jenner mit der 40 DEGREES auf dem Weg über den Atlantik zu den Azoren, um sich für das Global Ocean Race zu qualifizieren. Da es keine Bilder von der Abreise zu geben scheint, können wir hier stellvertretend nochmal ein Video von Boris und Felix auf der BELUGA RACER beim Training genießen. Hölle, sind die Kisten schnell!

40 DEGREES - Das All-Girls-Team fürs GOR macht ernst

Im Dezember stand das Team für die Global Ocean Race-Kampagne (Lobster One vom 20. Dezember 2010: Powersurf im HPX-Petticoat), morgen stechen Anna-Maria Renken und Hannah Jenner mit ihrer Class 40 "40 DEGREES" von Guadeloupe aus gen Horta in See.

Zwischen damals und heute standen für die Round-the-World-Mädels unzählige Stunden von Sponsorenaquise, Finanzierungsplänen, Bootssuche, Gesprächen und Reisen an, um das Projekt auf die Beine zu stellen, teilweise neben dem Job. Um so beeindruckender ist es, dass in so kurzer Zeit alles am Start ist. Bei diesem Durchsetzungswillen dürfte sich die Konkurrenz beim GOR warm anziehen müssen, sobald die Girlpower vom Schreibtisch, Telefon und Konferenzraum an die Schot verlagert wird.

Die Anreise der beiden nach Guadeloupe glich wohl eher einer Auswanderung, der Gepäckstapel war höher als die beiden selbst. 120 kg Taschen inklusive einem Segel waren für die Abfertiger am London City Airport wohl recht angsteinflößend. Der Sack mit dem Gennaker wurde als Bedrohung für Leib und Leben des gemeinen Gepäckträgers deklariert, sollte er 26 kg überschreiten, was Anna damit parierte, dass sie den Segelsack mit trotzigem Blick und einem "If I can lift the bloody thing, then so can you!" auf den Tresen schwang.

Szenenwechsel. Karibik, Boot übernommen, ab aufs Wasser. Anna resumiert nach dem ersten Probeschlag: "Die Kiste ist der Hammer! Irrsinnig schnell und maximal gut ausgerüstet!! Wir haben heute unseren ersten doublehanded Trip vor Guadeloupe gewagt und sind sehr zufrieden. Rumgerefft, Wasserballast raus rein und hin und her gepumpt und ein paar Vorsegel getestet sowie zwei verdammt gute Parkmanöver gelandet."

Morgen geht es nach Horta (Azoren), grobe ETA zwischen 26. und 28. März. Go GORGirls!

Fotos: Jenner/Renken und der Selbstauslöser

Volvo Ocean Race 2011/12 - WTF? Neue Anti-Piraterie-Taktik?

In neuen Rumpffarben und mit Turban präsentiert sich das das Team Abu Dhabi, auch wenn nicht ganz klar wird, ob die Tufiya auf den Häuptern der blassgesichtigen europastämmigen Seglern ein integratives Moment im Land des Sponsors darstellen soll, ob ob es sich um eine Statement gegen die Helmpflicht auf dem Vorschiff handelt.

Wenn man das Thema "Kopftuch für Männer" recherchiert, dann findet man bei Wikipedia den Hinweis: "In westlichen Ländern ist das Kopftuch für Männer traditionell als Kopfbedeckung von Piraten überliefert...". Ist das hier also ein Versuch, der Angst vor somalischen Piraten auf der Kapstadt-Abu Dhabi-Etappe mit vermeintlicher Wehrhaftigkeit oder gar Verbrüderungsbekundungen gegenüber den zukünftigen Peinigern und Entführern zu begegnen? "Hallo, nicht schießen, ich bin auch Pirat!"?

Eigentlich auch egal. Lustig sieht es auf alle Fälle aus, und man kann es einen ganzen Artikel lang durch den Kakao ziehen. Danke und weiter so, Jungs.

Foto: Getty Images-Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority

Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta - ROCKALL blitzt Down Under

Erst erschütterte Christopher Opielok das Selbstvertrauen der Briten auf dem Solent, jetzt blitzt seine Corby 36 die australische Flotte. Die deutsche Segelnummer hat im Sydney Harbour schon Seltenheitswert, die Tarnbemalung erklärt die Absichten dann vollends: wenn ROCKALL kommt, wird scharf geschossen. Dabei werden die Klischees, die Deutschen gerne auf britisch geprägten Regattabahnen entgegenwehen, gleich proaktiv mitverbraten. Angriff ist eben die beste Verteidigung, und dieser Humor kam in Cowes genauso an, wie er es jetzt in Sydney tut.

Mit den Einzelergebnissen 1, 1, 3, 4, 2 und damit 11 Gesamtzählern verwies Opi die Beneteau 45 VICTOIRE von Darryl Hodgekinson mit 19 Punkten klar auf den zweiten Platz bei der Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta (hier die Ergebnisse). Gleichzeitig liegt ROCKALL damit auf dem 2ten Platz des Australian IRC Circuit.

Als nächstes wird Opi mit seiner Crew das Audi Sydney Gold Coast Race nach Southport in Queensland segeln (360 sm), und dann die Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.

Foto von ROCKALL: Andrea Francolini, Crewfoto: Rockall

Lobster One History Channel - Episode 8: Hommage an SHOCKWAVE 5

MORNING GLORY, BON BON, SHOCKWAVE 5. Die R/P hatte einige bekannte Namen getragen und nahm im Oktober 2009 ein tragisches Ende auf den Felsen von Flinders Islet/Australien. Andrew Short und Sally Gordon verloren ihr Leben. Dazu Lobster One vom 12., 13. und 16. Oktober 2009.

Hier ein Video aus rauschend schönen Tagen, als die Yacht als BON BON beim HSH Nordbank blue race 2007 im Sturm über den Atlantik fegte.