OSTAR 2009 - More retirements head back to port

by Marten Holden on 30 May 2009
The Original Single Handed Trans-Atlantic Race (OSTAR) is the world’s oldest solo ocean challenge, dating back to 1960. Founded by ‘cockleshell hero’ Blondie Hasler and first won by the circumnavigator Sir Francis Chichester, the race has upheld its Corinthian roots, providing aspiring professional and amateur sailors with the ultimate challenge. Below is the latest news from OSTAR 2009.

May 29th Report:

Jonathan Snodgrass (Lexia) has returned safely to Plymouth and has retired from the race. He was in good spirits this morning having had a good nights sleep and said he was now feeling hungry which is a good sign.

Reini Gelder (Light for the World) has reached the Isles of Scilly and is on a mooring in St Mary’s Pool. In his own words he is going to ' do emergency repairs to his rigging, visit the island, sleep and then proceed towards Lorient in the next few days'. Good luck Reini and have a safe passage.

Pip Hildesley (Cazenove Capital) is making good progress back to Cork where she has arranged to have new lower shrouds waiting for her. Her ETA is 0500 30/5/09. She intends to then rejoin the race.

Rob Cummings is on his way back to Falmouth at about seven knots; but is still having engine problems. An alternative to Falmouth might be Newlyn. His current intention is to carry out repairs and rejoin the race.

Paul Brant (Ninjod). I spoke to Paul on the Iridium at 1610 today. He says he is heading for Cork where he will have a rest and take stock before deciding what to do. He says he has water ballast problems as well as no foul weather gear. It meant that to continue he had to be in the cockpit dumping the main and with no protective clothing he got very cold and decided he had no alternative but to return.

From Hanna White:

Evening All!!

Felling a bit brighter this evening, probably something to do with the fact that I have just my first hot meal of the trip!! Thank you very much to Fuizion for making such terrific food - its better than tesco finest I tell you! So another very full on day. As the sun rose the wind started to ease off I was able to gradually able to take out the reefs in the mainsail and also the reef in the jib. By midday the wind had really dropped off and it was time for the impending front to come through that I was expecting and waiting to tack on. I think unless you have sailed through a front you will never quite understand the bizarre force of nature that happens. First it started raining and the wind went right, then it dropped to absolute zero through my tack and within 5 mins of being through the tack the wind was up to 30 knots from a completely different direction. Quite something! I wasn’t quite expecting 30kn behind the front, so actually ended up with a bit too much sail area on…I decided to ignore that and hang on for dear life, hence the speeds in excess on 15kn power reaching down SSW.

So here we are probably back close to the rest of the pack in 15-17 knots of breeze and a gorgeous summers evening - still BLOODY cold though!! After tonight it looks like we are going to have quite light downwind and reaching conditions for a little while with a lot of gains and losses to be made in the areas of no wind. I think the next couple of days are going to be exhausting in a completely different way. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will be doing the rest of the race on a autopilot which only steers by compass as opposed to wind direction. I can’t seem to fix the problem - this will be ok when it is quite stable and not downwind so not ideal for the next couple of days….
All else is ok, my back is giving me quite a lot of jip, and if I find a spare calm patch I am going to have to take 2 winches apart as despite having new innards don’t seem to be doing there job…apart from that, all ok. Need to go on deck now as I think the wind has shifted again and I need to go and re-trim!! Looking forward to a change of clothes later or tomorrow…starting to feel a bit minging!!
H xx

http://www.hannah-white.co.uk

The rest of the news and skippers blogs etc can be found on www.blogstar.org.uk

May 28th Report:

The day started badly with the arrival of an email at 0700 from Anne Caseneuve advising of her retirement from the race. We subsequently learnt this was due to a broken rudder and she is making her way back towards France.

We noted last night on the tracker that Lexia (Jonathan Snodgrass) was sailing back towards Plymouth. He has now arrived safely back in Plymouth and has confirmed his retirement.

Out on the water we have heard of more difficulties and damage during the day. Paul Brant (Ninjod) sent an audio message to www.blogstar.com to the effect that he was returning eastwards as he has no foul weather gear left. His only pair were torn to shreds in the stormy weather.

We then heard via Rob Cumming’s family that Egotripp is heading for Falmouth with complete power failure and no engine.

The last piece of bad news was from Pip Hildesley who reported a broken lower shroud and that she is heading for Cork. This is a real shame for Pip as she was doing so well and was well up with the front runners before receiving this damage.

We would emphasise that none of the last three mentioned yachts have retired and it is within the race rules for them to return to any port, effect repairs and then rejoin the race. Any yacht which does this however will suffer a 24 hour penalty.

In a lengthy report Peter Bourke who is attempting to race back to his home port of Newport Rhode Island on Roubicon says he has some 'pretty significant equipment issues'. These are mainly to do with the failure of his generator and problems with his main engine which could provide back up for the failure of his generator. Peter has a modern yacht which is power hungry and he is now having to conserve power. Peter effectively stopped for a few hours to rest and evaluate his options; but concluded that he should continue racing.
On a lighter note Katie Miller reported that she had dropped the book she was reading into the bilge water and she now won’t know what happened in the rest of the book. Other skippers report lighter winds, some blue sky and pleasanter conditions.

http://www.ostar2009.co.uk/