Elphin II - The last day

Welcome again to our blog update, after such a great start it's frustrating to report that for the last 400 miles we have lost all wind and had to continue under engine. There is a feeling on board that we have been cheated by not been able to claim that we sailed the complete race. I think we all want to get in and maybe have a relaxing shandy or two. Our best estimate on finishing the race is about 20.00 and then we have all the documentation to complete so could be a late night.   We haven't seen another boat for four days now and as we calculate that we have less than 60 miles to do I find it very suprising. We have just passed within42 miles of Barbados but couldn't see anything was sun was in our eyes.   We have at last has a visit from 12 dolphins who stayed with us. read more...

Elphin II - "nd December up date

Hi everybody Firstly thank you for all the messages of support there always welcome.   All the crew are good, all injuries have cleared up and now are thoughts are turning to Rodney Bay, land no motion, proper showers and of course rum punch.    We are getting conflicting info on our position, the messages from home indicate we are about 50th yet the daily reports we receive show us 85th so I guess one lot of figures maybe exclude the racers so will just wait until we get into St Lucia. Whatever I think we are all very pleased with the performance to date. Having reviewed the weather today we feel we are well placed for a good run into St Lucia providing there are no further wind shifts.   In the last blog I said mother nature was been kind to us but the last two days. read more...

Elphin II - Day 10 up date

Well here we go again in increasing rolling seas I will try to make some sensibly comments.   From the sailing point of view the strategy holds good with us moving ever up the field, but please don't expect this to continue much longer, when the fleet nears St Lucia then we will all have the same wind patterns unless something changes over the next few days. That is the one thing that continually changes the wind direction so always needing to trim sales etc. Yesterday was relatively quiet despite a jib sheet breaking at 1.30 am so repairs are needed later today. In raising the spinnaker this morning George was hit by gust of wind which sent him six feet in the air with resultant rope burns to fingers etc. First aid administered and I'm sure in a couple of days time he. read more...

Elphin II - Update day 8

Hi everybody,By special request for more regular updates here we go. As you will see we are moving steadily up through the field of boats, as I write this at the navigation table I can see seawater SWOOOSHING past the port hole as we exceed 12knts, we are creaming along with our spinnaker and main sail up. Couple of incidents during the night requiring attention but all dealt with effeciently by the crew. We only get one update per day as regards our position so sometimes we are out of date quickly. This morning though we had climbed to 95th overall but more importantly 7th in our class so TEAM ELPHIN are feeling good. But as always when things are going well things also go wrong so alarm this morning when we tried to start the generator to charge the batteries but it wouldn't. read more...

Elphin II - Day Six

Hi Everybody Well we have survived the first six days and are settling down into some form of routine of little sleep, eating and maintenance work which appears never ending, with chaffe to ropes and sheets been the biggest issues. All previous injuries are on the mend so all crew are fit and healthy helped of course by superb cuisine served up every day. Last nights dinner was enhanced with a starter of Dorado the first fish caught on the trip by Tim, have had a couple of other bites but they got away. For those of you following us on the tracker will notice our position improving day by day, this is a result of us following the wind and not a set course. A lot of boats that headed west early are now in an area of no wind so hopefully are position should improve further. Most of the. read more...