@teamtigress on Jua Kali - A day in the life of an Ocean Watch Straddler on board racing yacht @teamtigress on Jua Kali.

A day in the life of an Ocean Watch Straddler on board racing yacht @teamtigress on Jua Kali.Part 1: DisorientationI could just leave it at this, quite frankly. But here is my story from day one of my ARC crossing... when we used to fly kites #nostalgia:Having settled into the watch system with my crew, two teams, alternating around the clock, 6 hours on, 6 hours off, then 4 hour shifts overnight and a lovely rota of chores; all was balanced and dandy, until fate dealt me an alternate hand.A discovery was made, per chance, when Glenny was helming and I made her a tea and a bowl of leftovers at the end of my shift, in overtime I must add, then hand fed her over the wheel. The bright idea was that it was rather useful having a tea bitch to hand, when the watch only had 4 people: 1 on helm,. read more...

@teamtigress on Jua Kali - A day in the life of a ‘Jua Kali’ on racing yacht @teamtigress on Jua Kali - Them’s the ‘Brakes’...

A day in the life of a ‘Jua Kali’ on racing yacht @teamtigress on Jua Kali - Them’s the ‘Brakes’...The ‘brakes’ have gone on; and the Atlantic nearly always brings ‘breaks’ of some form. Breaking of equipment and the breaking of hopes. Yesterday having held 2nd place in Racing Class B and 3rd in Racing overall, we dramatically fell off the podium after losing steerage at 6am. As a sailor who sails or races many miles annually, you become resigned to the fact that eventually many of the biggies in the ‘I don’t want to think about it box’ (dismasting, rudder loss, MOB etc) will catch up with you. Last year I lost my mast on the Fastnet race and this morning we lost steerage at 8knts downwind in the dark, 900 miles from land, on the ARC Race. Prior to leaving Las Palmas, one of our crew. read more...

@teamtigress on Jua Kali - A day in the life of a kite trimmer for @teamtigress on Jua Kali in the ARC racing division

First of all why I do this ? Just to have an adventure ? To bring back old memories 20 years ago when I was part of a past time regatta team in Austria, mainly joining regattas in Adriatic Sea ?I tell you being 20 years older and 20 kg heavier somehow memories seems to be borrowed from a different person.However booked is booked, I could never step back so I join the race with @teamtigress.As certain positions in my watch (the famous dolphin watch), based on age, weight (bowman) or missing experience, downwind with spinnaker (on the helm) are not useful to be covered by me, I found my position as a kite trimmer.I think that sounds good to me as when I used to do this on Adriatic Sea it was an easy job, only sitting and in best case all of 15 minutes at a time.So far theory - how is. read more...

@teamtigress on Jua Kali - A day in the life of a Race skipper in the ARC Transatlantic Racing Class by Susan Glenny, @teamtigress.

A day in the life of a Race skipper in the ARC Transatlantic Racing ClassSusan Glenny, @teamtigress.There are some of us in the ARC who select to go in the Racing division. What does this mean? Well for starters we are not allowed to use our engines for propulsion at any stage during the crossing, charging in neutral is of course allowed though. What this means is that our specific routing becomes critical, sailing into just a patch of no wind can mean having to just sit for days waiting for the breeze to fill in causing issues with resources and provisioning on board. This year unlike the previous two years lack of wind hasn’t been a problem for the ARC fleet and other November crossers. This however doesn’t make it easy either. Selecting a path that keeps you in the wind range ideal. read more...

@teamtigress on Jua Kali - @teamtigress 48hrs in

ARC BLOG- TUESDAY 27TH 13:00 - 48 hours inAre we there yet? What day is it?Team Tigress have certainly spanned what feels like a Fastnet, in 48 hours. The only difference is how many apples we have on board!Our 9 strong team have certainly had plenty to bond over: kites up, kites dropped; kite wrapped, kite unwrapped like champions; clip on, clip off and immediately back on with no messing; items lost, items found🙄; lack of sleep, sleep at last; sun cream and shorts, salopettes and hats. I mean, it’s the usual offshore racing stuff; but this ocean crossing is definitely far more of an operation.The boat, for one, is organised to a precise science, it’s so impressive; with every inch utilised for storage, labelled and ready to go.Navigating the inside of the boat is currently feeling. read more...