Siri Ros - News Flash

What a fantastic start! We crossed the start line just after the canon on the start ship (Spanish Frigate!!) was fired at 13:00 on the 21 November. We headed south flying our red, blue and white spinnaker.   The week leading up to the  ARC start was extremely busy with everyone making the last minute preparation, seminars and shopping.  The bike came in very handy for getting around. The evenings were party time with opportunity for all the crew to get to know each other.  The Siri Ros crew dressed as flying fish complete with "code piece" we gained an entry on the ARC website for this effort. Andy has caught two Mahi Mahi's and a small baracuda (we think).  We put the fish "to sleep" with a bit of rum and a dark cloth, works very well, no. read more...

Siri Ros - Update 25 Nov 2010

We're making slow progress heading south as we are trying to avoid hitting 40knots of wind in the wrong direction. We estimate that we should pick up thetrade winds around 20 degrees . We download daily weather reports from varioussources to assist with the decisions. A pod of dolphins is joining us on our journey, they have been swimming alongwith us making leaping and belly flopps at the bow. You can even hear theircalls; a kind of squeeky sound.We try to make the best of the calm conditions; we had a lovely evening lastnight, dinner served in the best dining room in the world; candle light, nicedinner good wine panoramic views and a clear night sky with a fantasticpesentation of the stars and planets accompanied by a few tracks from Pavarottiand "Flight of the concord". Denises toe is. read more...

Siri Ros - blog 3

There are three division in the ARC; racing, crusing or motor sailing division. The racing division requires that the boat has an IRC rating, this is a formal international rating. Racing yachts are typical stripped of all unneccsary items to make them as light as possible, toilet doors removed ,no cosy cusions or blankets for the night watch to make them as light as possible. The sails and rigg are design for maximum performance with a very large sail area. However, these boats are NOT allowed to use their engine for propulsion. The ARC fleet has some very large racing yachts that will be in St Lucia before we even get started, their start time was half an hour before the rest of the fleet. The yachts entered in the cruising division have a less formal racing rating based on. read more...

Siri Ros - November 30, 2010

The "trade winds" are winds that at this time of year blow from east to west 12-20 degrees north of the equator (Northern hemisphere). Sailors take advantage of this when crossing the Atlantic from east to west. This year the "trades" have not developed as expected and we are experiencing winds in the opposite direction, in other words directly against us. We may have to drop down to as low as 12 - 13 degrees to find winds in the "right" direction however these are currently very light. Siri Ros has for the past few days battled with the winds trying to make headway westwards towards St Lucia. We have encountered strong winds and high seas. The motion onboard has been such that 3 of the crew have developed sea sickness, they are now slowly recovering as we have decided to head further. read more...

Siri Ros - Siri Ros 1 December, 2010

Trade winds here we come! Watch out St Lucia!After heading south we are now finally sailing in the right direction. We are racing along ... well almost.... under spinaker at 7 knots, just like a Mongoose Stalking it's Prey! Just 1700 miles seperating us from the first taste of rum!Its absolutley stinking hot and we've just had some lunch. Denise and Frankie are on cooking duty today, the consistently creative duo rustling up truly delicious ham/cheese/tomato sarnies and naturally lashings of Helmans mayonaise. We have a fridge onboard, not very big, probably you would say a rather small fridge with a tiny freezer compartment that takes just about one tray of ice cubes. Enough for the yard-arm gin and tonic. The fridge is starting to look a bit empty but still loads of frankfurters,. read more...