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