Tuesday, January 21, 2014
news...21 January 2014
These past 24 hours have been frustrating.. with light
winds. During the day yesterday it was fickle with wind shifts and chaning
strenths, at Sunset the winds died down and shifted, so after almost 2 weeks the
jib was hoisted again for about an hour when it all died down to nothing. With
the sea swell the main was slatting a lot so it was dropped as we were not
moving anyway.. This gave us a chance to attend to any chafe issues. Main was
down for 2 hours.. and then the rainclouds fired up.. With us quickly
rehoisting, getting the kite working and off we went.. But after every
raincloud there is a calm. and this is how the night went.. with lots of
shifts..
The conditions last night were exactly as our Gribs
forecasted.. so not a surprise.. just makes it a very slow crossing.
As one can see a definite split in the fleet between the
fast and the slow boats.. The fast boats managed to sail and stay ahead of the
weather system whereas the slow boats could not outrun it.. Leaving us
"wallowing"
All well aboard Yolo this Am.
BEst to All.
Monday, January 20, 2014
position report 10am (SA time) 21 January 2014
Our position this AM is as follows:
S20-30-56
W22-32-39
Frustrating night past.. with lots of dead calms and rain
clouds in between..
shift and sleep patterns on board YOLO...
We are often asked how we manage this being Double
handed. Firstly we always maintain a watch..24/7. We operate on a two hours on,
two hours off.. this ensures optimal helming and during the day limiting
exposure to the sun. This does not mean the rest of the time is R&R time..
there is navigation that happens, maintenance, cooking, cleaning.. So ideally
one tries to catnap during the day an then during the night-hours to get around 1.5 hours at a time.. this can leave one at times wanting
for more.. but this is how we do it.
Temperatures aboard are hot, currently
with a water temp of 25.5deg, So nights are hot and humid and daytime is hot
hot. With little wind it aggravates things..
Aboard we try and helm as much by hand rather then the self steering, this
saves power and hopefully allows us to optimize as well as to keep us
occupied.
position report 10am (SA time) 20 January 2014
Our Position this AM is as follows:
S20-26-29
W20-57-98
Sunday, January 19, 2014
NEWS from YOLO 19 January 2014
Yesterday AM Yolo had good breeze but as the day wore on
the winds became fickle again with lots of kite changes and Gybes to be had.
Looking at the breeze it looks like the tail enders will benefit most as Yolo
has been concertinad into the system. AS the system changes those behind are
less affected. Yolo now needs to sail her "socks" off to have any
chance of a podium. The moon is rising later and later and soon we will have no
moon at all.. making for dark sailing unless we have clear skies.. which we
have not experienced too much of late. The water temperature has been up to 25
degrees but is now back to 24.5.
Conditions are very hot during the day.. With one taking every precaution against the sun.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
news from YOLO 18 January 2014
Hi all,
This last 24 hours has been a bit improved.
We still made
some more Northing till late yesterday, when at sunset we gybed and made more
Westward. Most of the day has been filled with wind and a slightly confused sea
making steering awkward. The moon rose slightly later last night with it giving
a bright seaway to sail in. No need for torches to find thing.. Our current
strategy is to work westward but we are aware that there are still light
patches ahead.. Hopefully we will able to skirt it by gybing and Northing
again.. We will have to see.
Friday, January 17, 2014
position report 10am (SA time) 17 January 2014
Our position this AM is as follows:
S20-00-35
W13-25-43
news DAY 13..
This past 24 hours has been very similar to the previous
pattern, light winds in the morning, more wind in the afternoon and lightish in
the evening.. Boat is going well and we are doing our best to maintain our
class lead.
Last night had a full moon which lit up the ocean like it was
almost daylight.. Spectacular.
At sunrise a few flying fish were found on the
deck.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
news from YOLO - 16 January 2014
This past 24 hours has been slow, with the highest breeze
recorded at 12 knots and the lowest..well....
We are currently trying to skirt the high pressure zone..
and still expect lighter conditions for the next few days.. then hopefully it
will increase.. the bad side to the increase is the guys behind stand to
benefit more from it then us.. Grrr.. again.
The seas are a bit flatter helping the kite to hold it's
shape in the very light conditions. We passed a ship in the early hours of this AM. Still
lots of flotsam in the sea.. Gosh how it is changing. Aboard we are eating well
and although an adjusted ETA, we should still be fine with provisions and
water. Water temperature is 23 degrees and climbing and the daily temperature
is now very hot, especially in the
late mornings when the sun is at full
glare.. Sunsets are a site.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
interesting article...
MASERATI
SAMBA PARTY
Louay
Habib
Giovani Soldini’s turboed Volvo 70, Maserati finished the Cape to Rio Race in the early hours of Wednesday 15th January 2014 to shatter the course record, which has stood for 14 years. Completing the 3,300 mile course in 10 Days, 11 hours, 29 Minutes and 57 seconds. Maserati beat the previous record by over two days.
In
IRC Two, a tremendous battle for the class win has been raging since the start.
Royal Cape Yacht Club Commodore Dale Kushner, racing Yolo Two Handed, has
pulled out a lead of over 130 miles on the water from close rival Perie Banou
Rolly Tasker, skippered by Australian Jon Saunders. However, after time
correction, the two yachts are less than two hours apart after ten days of
racing.
The
Cape to Rio Race has become a fascinating strategic battle for the remaining
yachts, as indicated by Dale Kushner’s latest blog, sent via Xtra-Link
Satellite connection.
“We have been sailing in winds varying from 6 knots to 12 knots, right from behind in swelly conditions. This means that it is very difficult to keep the kite trimmed all the time.. and this means not such good speed. We are still trying to make northwards in an attempt to stay in the better winds.. what this means is that we now need to sail extra distance and our lead in our class could come under threat as the rest of the fleet have more northing already.. It would seem that the prevailing conditions are covering most of our fleet at the moment. Port gybe is faster due to the swell action. Otherwise all good aboard YOLO, just disappointed that these light winds are going to severely affect out ETA.”
Xtra-Link
is the official Sat.Comm Partner for the 2014 Cape to Rio Race.
Update 15 January 2014
Not much to speak of in the last 24 hours.. we have been
sailing in winds carying from 6 knots to 12 knots, right from behind in swelly
conditions.
Loosely this means that it is very difficuly to keep the
kite trimmed all the time.. and this means not such good speeds. We are still
trying to make Northwards in an attempt to stay in the better winds.. what this
means is that we now need to sail extra distance and our lead in our class
could come under threat as the rest of the fleet have more northing.. It would
seem that the prevailing conditions are covering most of our fleet at the
moment though.
So depends on if you are on Port or Stb gybe will tell which
would be faster..ie. Port gybe would be faster due to the swell action.
Otherwise all good abord YOLO, just disappointed that
these light winds are going to severely affect out ETA's.
Best..
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
News from YOLO - 14 January 2014
Well, it would seem that the South Atlantic High is going
to catch us after all. The system seems to have moved a touch more North then
anticipated. and it is likely that we will get messed around by it in the days to
come.. not enough wind to outrun it..(unlike the big boats who can generate
their own wind and outrun these things). So this means a couple more days to the
ETA.. Grrr.. we have a challenge with the delivery guys to beat our time, this
is like handing it to them on a plate.
Looks like this is going to be a slow crossing after all.
Other then that our time is spent with sail changes,
managing chafe, sleeping etc..
All well aboard.
Monday, January 13, 2014
NEWS from YOLO 13 January 2014
This past 24 hours has been varied conditions being
had...fortunately we had wind. The day started with nice 12 knoters.. and
increased throughout the day.. having us doing kite changes to optimise. We
needed to do some spinnaker repair as well as there was chafe on the leech line
as well as to manage chafe on the halyards.. By Late afternoon the winds had
settled in nicely. Ian was introduced to the delicacy of Fried Garlic Warsaw polony for supper.. Nice evening with winds at one stage gusting up to 25knots,
steering towards the early hours was a bit more difficult as there was no moon
and a clouded sky. At sunrise the winds softened to 12ish again.
Our aim is a bit more Northing. We are happy with our
last 24 hour run.
All well aboard the good Ship Yolo
daily position report 10am (SA time) 13 January 2014
Our position this AM is as follows:
S24-12,59
W06-07,46
Sunday, January 12, 2014
position report 10am (SA time) 12 January 2014
Our Position this AM is as follows:
S25. 54,08
W03. 25,76
news from YOLO - 10am (SA time) 12 January 2014
Well the past almost two days have not been great.. after
being enticed into cutting the corner, we lost a few miles in the process and
have gone back to working Northish. Yesterday proved fickle with some
rainclouds which proved difficult to dodge(behind a serious raincloud is a no
wind
zone) so not a fruitful day.. the evening bore on still
with lighter winds..
By around midnight the winds were good again and at
sunrise this AM we have around 18knots across the deck. Sailing nicely at the
moment.
All good aboard.
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Position report 10 am (SA time) 11 January 2014
Hi All,
Our Position today is as follows:
S27,39,67
W01,37,44
All good aboard. Lighter winds being experienced. Rain
clouds around.
BLOG report - 11 January 2014
Yesterday am was good sailing, good speeds being made..
by late afternoon the wind had reduced.. with us changing to a lighter kite and
then later struggling to support this.. In the end, we opted to make some
northing and spent most of the night doing this in much lighter breeze. By
Sunrise the wind had filtered back and Yolo is sailing comfortably again,
albeit still in lighter breeze. There are rain clouds all around us.. and we
have sighted a rainbow this AM. The intention is to still keep going NNWish..
for now. There are no short cuts. Our last one cost us a
couple of miles.
All well aboard. Eating well. All good.
We have sailed this part of the Atlantic on numerous
occasions. This Ocean is known to be one of the cleanest in the world if not
the cleanest. So it was disappointing yesterday to see the sort of litter we
did.. there were Nylon ropes, buoys, nets, plastic cartons floating around..
this is not normal litter, but litter generally caused by careless fishing.
This needs to be monitored.. this is bad for the environment and a risk for
smaller vessels.
Friday, January 10, 2014
update from YOLO - 10 January 2014
The past 24 hours have been pleasant.. yesterday the
whole day was spent under spinnaker.. and most of the time was taken trimming,
steering, checking the boat and resting. We still have fresh ingredients aboard
which are being used for our meals still.
Onboard, we try and eat well, good
for morale and important to keep energy up. So for example, Yesterday's
breakfast consisted of Oats, lunch was cold meats, salads etc.. Late afternoon
some snacks.. normally chips or biltong and the evening meal consisted of Spaghetti
Bolognaise. Around midnight the chocolate normally comes out.. Last night had
the breeze increase slightly, with nice sailing conditions.. This morning we
are sailing along in 22 knots at the moment..
We have sighted lots of flying fish, frigate birds and
some brides whales this AM. We are not slowly arching to the West.
Of significance is that we are not far from the 1/3rd
mark in the race which we will reach later today..
Also significaant is that in a couple of hours.. we
should be crossing the Meridian..(for the lesser educated.. where East meets
West.. and where time is taken.. ie. if we are on the Meridian and the sun is
exactly above us, it is exactly midday) for those of you who still don't get
it.. we are on the South side of that line that runs through Grenwich.
All Well aboard.
Pic-Of Ian steering this AM.-(Pic to follow seperate)
YOLO position report 10am (SA time) 10 January 2014
Good Morning,
Our position is:
S 28deg, 37,84
E 00deg,24,04
s/v YOLO
Thursday, January 9, 2014
article from www.yachtsandyachting.com by Louay Habib (9 January 2014)
Xtra-link, Sat.com partner for the Cape to Rio Race, mourns the death of Bille crew member António João Bartolomeu. The incident occurred during the ferocious storm that hit the fleet with 50 knot winds on the first night.
All of the yachts that sent out distress signals have now been accounted for, 10 yachts have returned to port with the remaining 25 yachts racing towards Rio de Janeiro. During the difficult time, that has now thankfully passed, the Royal Cape Yacht Club and the South African rescue services showed incredibly tenacity in assisting every yacht in need and should be congratulated on their efforts. During the emergency, Xtra-Link worked around the clock to ensure that the tracking devices on board all yachts were functioning to their optimum to assist with the rescue operation. For those yachts still racing, the cold front virtually disintegrated the usual area of Doldrums associated with the South Atlantic High and the fleet is making great speed towards Rio de Janeiro. Giovanni Soldini's turboed Italian Volvo 70, Maserati is making record pace. The current record is held by the American 74' maxi Zephyrus IV - she completed the race in just 12 days, 16 hours and 49 minutes in 2000. Maserati needs to complete the 3,300 mile course by dawn on January 17th and is currently well inside record time. Whilst Maserati is hot favourite to take line honours and set a new record for the race. The overall leader of the race using the IRC Rating system, is extremely close. After 92 hours of racing, the top three yachts on corrected time are all racing in IRC Two. Perie Banou Rolly Tasker is currently leading the race overall. Skippered by Australian Jon Saunders who is the only man to have circumnavigated the planet three times without stopping (in 1986-88), having previously done it twice non-stop in 1981-82. He and his boat Perie Banou have done many Sydney-Hobarts but missed the 2013 race to compete in the Cape to Rio Race. After 4 days of racing, RCYC Commodore, Dale Kushner, racing Yolo two handed, is 175 miles ahead of Perie Banou on the water but after time correction is less than a mile behind the Australian boat. Dale reported in via Xtra-Link satellite link: "After several days of rough weather, with the boat and the crew soaked through, we seem to be in the trades for now. Sailing along at approx. 9 knots with kite up. Nice to have some sunshine on our backs and after the first few days of turmoil, we can settle down to a decent meal and watch system. All is well on board, it was a real asset to be able to tell family and friends that we were ok over the last few days." Yolo is a much lighter boat than Perie Banou and that may tell in the overall standings, now that the yachts are in lighter downwind conditions, it is likely that in the next update of the leader board that the race will be led by Yolo. The Robinson family racing, Investec Ciao Bello are also doing extremely well. There are no less than seven family members on board. Father and Mother, Gillian and Michael, are racing with their five children; Kathryn (28), Ricky (26), Brennan (25), Ryan (16) and Michaela Mae (13). Currently lying third in IRC Two and fourth overall, the Robinson family was runner up in the last Cape to Rio Race.
All of the yachts that sent out distress signals have now been accounted for, 10 yachts have returned to port with the remaining 25 yachts racing towards Rio de Janeiro. During the difficult time, that has now thankfully passed, the Royal Cape Yacht Club and the South African rescue services showed incredibly tenacity in assisting every yacht in need and should be congratulated on their efforts. During the emergency, Xtra-Link worked around the clock to ensure that the tracking devices on board all yachts were functioning to their optimum to assist with the rescue operation. For those yachts still racing, the cold front virtually disintegrated the usual area of Doldrums associated with the South Atlantic High and the fleet is making great speed towards Rio de Janeiro. Giovanni Soldini's turboed Italian Volvo 70, Maserati is making record pace. The current record is held by the American 74' maxi Zephyrus IV - she completed the race in just 12 days, 16 hours and 49 minutes in 2000. Maserati needs to complete the 3,300 mile course by dawn on January 17th and is currently well inside record time. Whilst Maserati is hot favourite to take line honours and set a new record for the race. The overall leader of the race using the IRC Rating system, is extremely close. After 92 hours of racing, the top three yachts on corrected time are all racing in IRC Two. Perie Banou Rolly Tasker is currently leading the race overall. Skippered by Australian Jon Saunders who is the only man to have circumnavigated the planet three times without stopping (in 1986-88), having previously done it twice non-stop in 1981-82. He and his boat Perie Banou have done many Sydney-Hobarts but missed the 2013 race to compete in the Cape to Rio Race. After 4 days of racing, RCYC Commodore, Dale Kushner, racing Yolo two handed, is 175 miles ahead of Perie Banou on the water but after time correction is less than a mile behind the Australian boat. Dale reported in via Xtra-Link satellite link: "After several days of rough weather, with the boat and the crew soaked through, we seem to be in the trades for now. Sailing along at approx. 9 knots with kite up. Nice to have some sunshine on our backs and after the first few days of turmoil, we can settle down to a decent meal and watch system. All is well on board, it was a real asset to be able to tell family and friends that we were ok over the last few days." Yolo is a much lighter boat than Perie Banou and that may tell in the overall standings, now that the yachts are in lighter downwind conditions, it is likely that in the next update of the leader board that the race will be led by Yolo. The Robinson family racing, Investec Ciao Bello are also doing extremely well. There are no less than seven family members on board. Father and Mother, Gillian and Michael, are racing with their five children; Kathryn (28), Ricky (26), Brennan (25), Ryan (16) and Michaela Mae (13). Currently lying third in IRC Two and fourth overall, the Robinson family was runner up in the last Cape to Rio Race.
CAPE TO RIO Q&A via Sat.link ((9 January 2014) courtesy Louay Habib
On board YOLO in South Atlantic via
Xtra-Link sat.com
Q&A with Royal Cape Commodore, Dale
Kushner @ 9th January 1400 GMT currently leading the race overall
under IRC. Yolo is also sailing two-handed.
DK: Perfect. it allowed for quick
downloads, so less time at computer and tablet, and gave us optimal info quick.
Incidentally we have wifi aboard for internet so we are using a tablet a lot
for routing.
How useful was sat.link to get news back
to shore that all was ok on board?
DK: Very important,. With the big weather system that came through the fleet, it was important to let all home know that we were all fine.. and we kept them abreast and with this event the race was being tracked was really nicely.
Now Yolo is into the Trades what is the
sailing like?
DK: In some of the storm conditions we
got some very good surf.. now a bit more trade conditions.. at the moment
sailing along in 15-17 knots.. kite up. really nice aboard.. but not much surfing.. we are
still playing the waves and trying for what we can and manually steering to get
the most out of the boat.
Any wild life? Dolphins Whales ….
What is on your mind tactically at the moment? What lies ahead?
DK: Between us and Rio is the South
Atlantic high and whatever else gets thrown at us.. this makes us sail around
it.. Interestingly enough the routing programs gave us a
routing through it on the South Side..
but we want the conservative approach in case the door shuts halfway through.
So we want to sail as close to it on the North Eastern Side of the High Pressure and
then we will see.. Might even try and cut the corner a bit.. to save some
distance.What is your regular food and watch system?
DK: Basically we are running 2 hours on -
2 hours off to get the most out of the boat, helming for longer is not
productive, resting for less equally so. Today we ate oats for breakfast, Salami and salads for
lunch and some sort of pasta dish planned for this evening. We try and drink as
much as possible as it is hot out in the South Atlantic. We also snack on nuts
and dried fruit.
Go YOLO!
News from YOLO...
Yesterday was pleasant with slight reaching conditions.
Nice sunny day.. We were able to catch up on some rest.
Evening was pleasant if
not a bit cool.
This morning sea temperature up by a degree, so it means
we are getting to the hot weather soon.
This morning still kiting in around
14-16knots of wind.
Boat is happy!
Daily position report 10am (SA time) - 9 January 2014
Our position is:
S29 04,15
E03 54 97
Pleasant evening sailing under kite.
All well aboard.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
message from YOLO (18h45 SA time) 8 January 2014
To the crew of Bille, from both Ian and I aboard YOLO - our
heartfelt condolences to all of you and the family of the deceased.
Our
thoughts have been with you ever since hearing the tragic news.
position update DAY 4 - 10am (SA time) - 8 January 2014
Hi All,
We seem to be in the trades for now. Sailing along at
approx 9knots with kite up. Nice to have some sunshine.
Our position this AM is:
S 30deg 32,76
E 07deg 13,27
Best for now. Team Yolo
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
update from YOLO (from Dale - yay) 8 January 2014
Apologies for very little news from the boat since the
start.
So a brief run down from the start;
Start day was overwelming with so many boats on the water
jockeying to get a prime position to watch, at time getting in the way of the
competitors.
Yolo had a good start but as a smaller boat we were quickly
rolled by the larger boats, which in turn left her in bad air turbulence, so
quickly thrust Yolo back in the fleet. At the first mark, we opted not to gybe
straight away like the rest of the fleet, good hoist of the kite, went a bit
further and then gybed. This seem to have paid as we sailed in unaffected airs
and got through a big chunk of the fleet. The last of the bay legs was
sublime.. then into the big ocean.. light wind beated for a few hours, then
the breeze started to freshen.. later in the night it had shifted and
increased. We opted to run with it.. not that strong, but seas were a bit
messed up. We ended up sailing into lighter breeze the next day and night..
followed by thirty plus knots and lots of rain.. and
eventually squalls of 50knots and sustaining 42 for long periods of time.. it
rained consistency.
The deck was either awash with rain or the waves that
were hitting up against us, we were making some Westing to break the pattern.
By later in the day the winds had started to ease and by late Tuesday the kite
was up and very little water on the deck.. Last night we kited till we had some
strong gusts so opted on the conservative route.. (Sailing Double handed means
you need to be extra vigilant.)
Late yesterday PM Yolo was able to hoist kite in 20 knot
conditions.. with her making good miles.. close to midnight the kite was
dropped as the breeze had picked up a bit.
The rest of the night had good
averages.. We are planning on taking the north routing around the high. All
well aboard.
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