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Things have been a bit hectic over the last twenty-four hours. With a rising wind, we have had to reduce sail. Meanwhile the ship has been going faster and we are back again, with a vengeance, into a life of "hold on" and "brace yourself" as Pride II smashes her way on a very close reach. We have been experiencing a moderate sea of 5-6 feet, but as Pride II charges along at a steady heel, the ship jerks and lunges a fair bit. Twice we have reefed and un-reefed the foretopsail as wind has come and gone. Twice we have set and struck the jibtopsail and the maintopsail. Along the way, the topgallantsail had a fairlead block strop part, which required the sail to be struck in a hurry.

Also, the forestaysail came apart along the bottom and had to be struck. As an expedient of the race and in hopes of better conditions to affect a repair, we reefed the sail and reset it. The loss of sail area is negligible and there is no additional damage occurring.

We also celebrated Cadet Freeman Jones' 18^th birthday. It happened to be Andy the Cook's day off, so Chris Landers made cup cakes for all.

Damage that occurs underway is always something to be concerned about and prepared for as completely as possible. In the case of the parted fairlead block to the topgallentsail, that is easy to fix with new rope and some seizing line. Having it part is a matter of age. Generally we can spot the possibility of tired rope ahead of time. This was a case of not noting that it was getting old. In the case of the staysail, it remains to be seen what condition the sail is in to determine if the cause was exceptional or to be expected. The sail was new in 1994. It has outlasted its predecessor by about one year. But it was also made out of heavier cloth than the prior sail. We also noted that it parted along the seam, rather than the cloth. This is a hopeful sign. When we make repairs, we hope to find the cloth in a healthy state. If it is not healthy, we will know by how it tears rather than spreads as a needle is put through it. Assuming the worst and it tears as a needle goes through, then we will have to ask our sail maker to make another sail for us quickly.

Meanwhile I spend a lot of time considering the weather and trying to choose a way to use it to best advantage - and not get blasted by it. The low all of us racers are watching closely is not a deep low. Yet it will still provide between 20 and 40 knots depending on distance and bearing from its center. Because lows in the northern hemisphere revolve counter clockwise, and winds associated with them flow to the center as they go around the center, we can guess at the direction of the wind with reasonable certainty. Or at least with as much certainty as any professional weather analyzer can provide. Aboard Pride II, we are trying to keep some distance away from the center of the storm, and to the south of the low. Staying away from the center hopefully will keep wind strength in the twenty-knot range. Being on the south side will limit our exposure to winds coming from east of south. Since we want to go easterly, we would like the wind to be southerly. Right now, we have southeasterly winds and are able to go mostly east and at a pretty good clip since the strength of the wind is just less than 20 knots. As the low approaches, these winds will increase. If we don't veer in front of the low, or it does not track south at all as it drifts east, we should experience a veering of the wind from it's current direction towards the south and eventually southwest and west. All of these possibilities are wind directions that would aid in our attempt to get a lot of sea miles behind us as quickly as possible. However, if we manage to get in front of the low, we may see the wind back a little to the east. Whether it backs or not, the strength will increase steadily and maybe cause us some problems until the low passes through.

There are other things to consider with the low that is approaching. Lows can be very different. For instance, in this low, we are hearing racers in the fleet behind us talk about heavy rain and sudden wind gusts to 40 knots. Gusts are no fun at all. They can take sail down for you. They are invisible except where they are accompanied by rain. We can see the rain with radar from a distance and by the naked eye in daylight. However, night squalls can be quite frightening. We could take a lot of sail in. But then we would be stuck going slow in a race where speed is very important. So a report of heavy squalls is not a happy bit of news.

After a low passes, it often brings a cold front with it. A cold front can be helpful for crossing the North Atlantic since it may bring northwest breezes. This would be good for a race strategy. But when I look at the weather forecasts, I get the impression there will be a chance of light winds rather than a comfortable and steady northwest breeze of 20 knots, which would be idea..

NEXT DAY: Monday, July 30, 2000

1345 HOURS SHIP (-2)/1545 UTC
41D 31M NORTH x 45D 41M WEST

Sailing with Storm Tri-Sail on Main, Foresail and Storm Jim on Forestay.

Troubles at Sea

We have continued to have a busy time of it. After reefing the main to the first reef and speeding up as the wind freshened, the reefed forestaysail tore from bottom to top. It parted right through the reef band. Functionally, this has destroyed the sail for any use till repaired. We have replaced it with the storm jib. This sail is a little thing but useful. Naturally, this is a setback - especially in lighter winds. The conditions are too rough now and too many other things need to be done to get into a repair. We may get on it in another day. Whatever we do, though, will only be temporary. This means we will have to get another staysail made - quickly. Sailing in Europe requires good strong equipment that can be depended on. It would not be prudent to nurse this sail along or try to use our retired original staysail. So I have forwarded the news to our office. They will talk to our sail maker, Nat Wilson in New Hampshire, and get the ball rolling on a replacement meeting us in Europe somewhere.

Meanwhile I must say, no matter what I think I know about the strength of something, I find I really don't have an exact understanding of it's strength. This staysail has exhibited strength on a number of occasions within the last year. So it seemed to me that it would do fine for another year. Maybe it would have if we had been sailing in domestic waters. But a sail across the Atlantic and more sailing in Europe, followed by a return across the Atlantic and a finish into home waters late in November, will challenge any sail. So, with hindsight, I guess a new staysail should have been put aboard.

But other events have conspired to create problems for other vessels as well as Pride II. Our stiffest competitor, Arung Samudera, suffered the loss of her forward mast last night. Thankfully there were no injuries. She is now on her way back to Halifax - and out of the race. A female cadet/crewmember aboard Pogoria suffered a broken leg last night and was transferred to Kruzenshtern for medical attention as she is carrying a doctor. Two of the racing fleet temporarily dropped out of the racing to lend assistance to the beleaguered vessels. Dasher stood by Arung Samudera for a while last night till they were all set and headed back to Halifax. Kruzenshtern maneuvered out of her way to expedite the transfer of Pogoria's injured. Dasher and Kruzenshtern are now back to racing.

In the meanwhile, my struggles with determining the best way to handle the weather did not resolve till John Hamilton, Race Control Officer for this race who is aboard Mir, transmitted his once a day detailed weather report which he receives from weatherman Herb. All night I muddled over the situation. Meanwhile, Pride II moved at a moderate pace considering the wind strength. We are steering to keep from drifting north as we try to go east with a southeast breeze. The latest weather has given me confidence that we can bear off toward ENE for a while. Then, as the winds change toward the south with the approach of the low, we will turn with them and work again to the eastward.

Just as we got up speed again, the rain came and brought with it some strong gusts of wind, upwards of 40 knots. As the afternoon has proceeded, the wind has moderated some and the gusts are less intense, but still occurring. With the moderation in wind strength, we have reset the reefed foretopsail. It has helped with our rolling when the wind is down and also boosted our speed. When the gusts arrive, Pride II leans over a bit, especially with the beam seas we now have. The crew appears happy to be underway again. The pounding that occurred with our heading into the seas has changed to a less abrupt movement as Pride II slides along between the swells. Still, it is a ride requiring one to hang on and brace oneself.

Tribute to Arung Samudera

It is regrettable that Arung Samudera of Indonesia suffered the loss of one of her three masts. She is a fierce competitor. She beat us on corrected time in the race from Boston to Halifax. In this race, we led her for four days in standings. Then she caught us on Saturday and became 1^st in class while we fell to 2^nd. We also fell to 9^th in fleet from a lofty 3^rd that we enjoyed the day before. Yesterday (Sunday), we passed Arung again for the lead in Class B as we regained a fleet position of 5th. Still, I felt it would take the whole Atlantic to determine the outcome of this head to head race between Arung Samudera and Pride II. Now that will never be determined.

Our other Class B competitors are Oosterschelde from the Netherlands, which was our harbormate during OpSail Baltimore, and Akogare from Osaka, Japan. The folks from Akogare were wonderful to us when we visited Osaka in 1998. Both of our class B competitors are larger than Pride II but designed along heavy workboat lines. With this in mind, Pride II's handicap owes them time, so we must stay ahead of them just as we would have had to stay ahead of Arung Samudera. But of the four boats that originally made up Class B, Arung Samudera was the only one that seemed to sail fast enough to offer real competition to Pride II. So it was always with a breath of tension that I listened to the class and fleet standings each day. Being able to pass her again yesterday after falling behind was a great feeling of accomplishment. From now on, we will be struggling for something I don't think we can achieve, that being fleet honors (first to cross the finish line). First in class and first in fleet would be a fantastic result. But there are some wonderfully fast vessels out here. And then there is the square-rigger Mir. In the right conditions she could pass the leaders in the fleet and lead them all home.

Well, the results for today are in. Pride II is 1st in Class B but has fallen to 8th in fleet from our position of fifth in fleet yesterday, probably due to my dithering about the weather.

That's it for now. Must tend to our much stressed staysail.

Cheers,
Captain Miles