Zahara - blog

Subject: We're off......The atmosphere yesterday for the start of theralley was amazing with flags flying and bands playing all around the marina.Hundreds of locals came down to see us off, giving a real carnivalatmosphere. There was also the matter of 220 yachts all leaving at once forthe start line.     Light winds at the start soon gave way to force 6NNE winds and building seas, giving us a very testing nigh  but Zahara andher erstwhile crew coped well. At the moment we are pretty much deaddowwind with a double reefed main and a small genoa. Winds are 20 to 25kts andseas 3 to 4 M. We are doing around 6 kts with the odd surfingexcursion towards 10 Kts! down below, we are trying to rearrange the boatbefore the sea does it for us but. read more...

Zahara - 1200UTC day 2 to day 3

  Hi, allIdeally we could have done with a couple of easydays so we could have settled into a routine but it's been quite breezy and witha difficult sea and. However, it has given us a good start with Zahara covering135nm for one 24hr period, not bad for a 29 footer. Problem is that I'm not surethey were all in the right direction!.....  We did have one problem though. 20-52kts, 3-4M seas and just as nightwas falling, the reefing line parted on the Genoa.  Being devout cowards we decided that, rather than bouncing around theforedeck in the dark we would wait until daylight.  The problem has now been fixed, though it did take some time and has, nodoubt, cost us in terms of distance covered but at least we are now back oncourse, the sun is shining. read more...

Zahara - Days 3 and 4

Hi all  Sitting in a 20kt Ne'ly breeze with just a moderate sea, bright sunshine and just a few clouds; life is just fine. We have got over our initial problems and we both managed to catch up on some sleep last night so maybe we can now get into a routine (which could very well include the odd 'sundowner'). We spent last night flying along at 5-6kts in a 15 to 20kt breeze under a canopy of stars and did the usual 'how insignificant am I' bit. With the wind still holding up well we are making excellent progress and now with most of it in the right direction! We have not seen any boats now for 15hrs so we naturally assume they are all lost, however, with our reefing line problems yesterday, there is still the possibility some of them might be ahead of us; a temporary situation of. read more...

Zahara - Days 4 and 5

Hi, Larry here Position report..... Tropic of Cancer at 22 deg 51 min W. The great progress continues with us achieving a new 24hr run record for Zahara of 134 NM through the water (near 150NM over the ground) Having done most of my sailing around the coast of the UK, I am used to having to fight the wind. You know how it is, if you want to go somewhere, the wind is always foreward of the beam . It's a rule! The end result is very little practise at downwind sailing. How different is the 'Arc'? since the start the wind has been behind us, and almost dead astern forthe last three days. Whichever God looks after this wind (maybe it's an 'ARCangel'?), could I please borrow it naxt time I'm sailing back in the English Channel!We've had another serious equipment failure, following the latest. read more...

Zahara - Day 6

Hi all, Ron returns as todays scribe ...... It's getting difficult to think of anything original to say right now as nothing really changes. I know what Trade wind sailing is supposed to be like but it's difficult to describe the sheer consistency of the winds. Larry described it this morning as 'Groundhog day', which sums it up well. We have had winds of between F4 and F6 from between 050 and 070 now for about four days. The sea do vary more than you might think with swell generated much further north coming down and giving an uncomfortable cross component. This confusion is largely responsible for making life pretty uncomfortable at times. Things seem to develop a life of there own and magically move around the boat. Something that was safely stowed  on the port side, suddenly appears. read more...