Umiko - Friday the 6 th of December day 13

Hey Umiko Fans here is todays blog from teddy!UMIKO BLOG Friday 6th DecemberSV Umiko reporting with little over 24 hours to go. As I write we have 250 miles on our Distance to Destination. The mood is very good on board, we celebrated Barry’s birthday yesterday the day after he was injured in a crash Gybe and Chris our cook made crepes with a candle on top, we all gathered in his ‘ward’ to sing him a Happy Birthday! He made it up on deck today so things are looking up. Never a dull moment when Ocean sailing as today we realised the hydraulics on our backstay are not operational so basically we can’t tighten the backstay which puts the rig at risk. We ran a Halyard to a strop from two fixed points on the stern which seems to given it the stability required.We are running under our A4 kite. read more...

Umiko - UMIKO Blog 5th December Day 12

UMIKO BLOG Thursday 5th DecemberGreetings again from SV Umiko. As I write, we have just passed the 500 DTD (Distance to Destination) mark, making slow progress towards St. Lucia. While our primary objective now is the comfort of our crewmate Barry, our course to obtain medical attention for him at St. Lucia takes us towards the finish line, so we’re still in the race, albeit sailing with a conservative sail plan – currently under main and jib. We got some encouraging news from home this morning as the YB Racing App reported us lying second place in the Racing A division, but we’re not sure how much faith to put in that report as we think that there may be a number of yachts sailing faster that us and closer to the finish.Barry remains in good spirits given his injury and is proving to be. read more...

Umiko - UMIKO Arc Blog Day 11 (Brian Blog)

Dear Umiko fans,I hope this finds you well. We are currently broad reaching along in classic trade wind conditions with a lovely half moon to guide our way.It has been an eventful 24 hours. Yesterday after a cracking kite run where Nico set the record of 22kts boat speed we decided that discretion was the better part of valor and elected to drop the kite as the conditions were getting challenging. Earlier our new mast lock had failed to engage so we were on a "normal" stbd spinnaker halyard (having dropped repacked and re hoisted the kite) When we came to drop the kite would not come down. The cover had chaffed and parted from the core. This then bundled up and got stuck in the mast. We had set up for a "letterbox" drop and because of this the kite was protected behind the main. We. read more...

Umiko - Umiko blog day 10 by Paul

We continue to make good progress towards our destination. Last night we went down to white sails and the winds are still honking today. Squalls abound but luckily no direct hits on us yet...Paul has done today's blog.Olly OutUmiko ARC 2019 Blog- Day 10Just over 1,000 miles to go, that’s about two whole Fasnet races, and we are trucking.The much vaunted 20 kt trades have finally arrived and there have been regular shrieks and hollers from aft proclaiming the latest “record” as we surf down the back of a wave.This record currently stands at 18.7 kts, Olly pipped my 18.4 kts earlier this evening, and will definitely hold until daylight as we are currently running under white sails as a night-time precaution with winds hitting 25 kts.This has slowed us a little but we are still managing a. read more...

Umiko - UMIKO Blog day 9

Dear UMIKO Fans,We have had a fantastic days sailing. We are now under white sails after deciding in 25kts with no horizon that the A4 was gong to be a bit tricky... We will likely rehoist at first light. While the A4 is down we are checking it over and doing a few small running repairs. All is good on the good ship UMIKO... I am fretfull as to where we will find stay calm in the morning....Todays blog is from BrianAs we pass the halfway point life on board SV Umiko has taken on its own rhythm. The watches flow by at a pace, as does the ocean. We are mostly sailing for speed and to the polars of the boat. VMG sailing is the skipper’s call. Umiko eats up the miles with relish; I cannot get over this boat. She has power and beauty in equal measure. From a vantage point at the top of the. read more...