The North Sea presented typically uncomfortable conditions last night… We

were slamming upwind in force 7 winds, which made even the thought of sleep

difficult, and balancing to get in and out of our foul weather gear pretty

interesting – being thrown from side to side.

So we have another challenge to face for the rest of the race… During the

night out main wind instruments went down, which forced the boat to crash

tack and brought us to a halt. We have tried the spare kit, but it is

refusing to work. So now we are down to zero wind instruments, which means

that we have no wind reference until the end of the race. It’s back to

dinghy sailing mode – feeling for the air, which is definitely a

disadvantage, especially at night when you can’t see the wind on the sea.

Although the wind started to simmer down, it is now back up and has headed

us. Currently we are unable to lay England and we are really hoping this

doesn’t hinder our chances to break the record… Phil

Junique Raymarine Sailing Team All well on board. A bit tired, Some bruises but fine.

There are horses for courses. Our really fine horse is not that good for reaching. So we try to push to keep up. Lot’s of chances in the coming part wil come!

When you receive this mail we’re close to the Shetlands! Now still 100 Miles to the turning point. Now it's difficult sailing. The windspeed is variable between 20 and 30+ knots. Heavy sea state. Our average is around 10 knots. By the way, today a full day of very close racing with Game On. Nice! We have to drink a beer with these guys!

We saw a most wonderful rainbow on thursday - here is the picture.

Best regards!

Chris & Pascal

Junique Raymarine Sailing Team at Shetland Islands Day 7

1. It's Chris’s birthday.
Happy happy birthday celebrations have included but not restricted to chocolate cake, birthday banners and disco dancing in the saloon to the likes of nirvana, oasis, avicci. marcus gave a great justin beiber/ harry styles performance.
Mother nature showed up for the celebrations by way of pilot whales and puffins to send their best wishes to the birhtday boy but he was not on watch so the greetings were passed on by a happy Simon.

2. WE ARE HALFWAY. WE ARE HALFWAY. WE ARE HALFWAY!!! the marker for this is a grey lump of rock exotically called SULA SGEIR. the moment was also marked by the spinnaker S4 (Charlotte) - she blew her clew at the sheer excitement of it all.
So, that's just the last 6 hours or so - there is never a dull moment here on board the jolly EH01.

The first 4 days were tough, i think i can speak for us all on this. beating upwind continuously made for hard work, noisy and bumpy and made me wish i had brushed up on my mountaineering skills for just taking a step or two in such conditions down below decks is a MISSION, let alone getting in and out of all the gear in the dark. Why I considered NOT getting a dry suit i have no idea but rest assured i am very grateful for it now despite the fact that the rubber seals on the cuffs of such pieces of clothing/equipment(?) and watches are not friends.

Getting to know my fellow crew mates has been one of the pleasures of this trip. The camaraderie humbling and inspiring. Alan doing this to celebrate his 70th, a nostalgia trip re living his days as a trawler man. His readiness and eagerness to bail out the bilges a wonder. does this man ever sleep? endless chatting about all manner of subjects and shared experiences with Jen, Heidi, and Chris. I am on starboard watch but somehow still get to chat with those on port watch, Claire, Simon, Emily and Igor.

Hendricks. the team mascot of a fluffy turtle (turtles symbolise a link between man sea and land and are known as master navigators so he is cherished on board) is looked after tenderly by marcus as he was a surprise gift from his beloved, sophie. hendricks appeared in package day 1 of a number of packages to be opened at specific times during the race to add morale and much needed boosts. for example the small boost was some white chocolate buttons and the big boost ‘TANGTASTICS’! the halfway card of photos and loving messages brought a tear. it was at this point that i informed marcus that i am not picking up any text messages from my beloved now due to the exact same reaction!

Some of the day watches have been fantastic sailing, sunny, wavy and windy, reaching all the way up west coast of ireland. a thrill!
We have a storm brewing, we will be tackling winds of upto 40 knots tonight.

It's difficult for me to describe the experience of sailing the RBI because up to 6 weeks ago i had never sailed before, but i am now here, in it up to my eyeballs, there's no getting off or turning back and here i am writing a blog, its happening so the only thing to do is get on with it.
The crew, that's whats its all about. the skill, professionalism and talent, not to mention the patience of Gareth, Marcus and Jules and Jen makes it do-able. A revelation in itself.

Henry Davis
S.Y 'EH01'
Global Yacht Racing

We’re NEARLY at the top!!! Frosty and Pip doing a great job of sailing 2H to get us here, while I’ve been getting involved in pulling on ropes and making tea (Mam, you’d be proud!), bailing and stacking. Stacking 150kg worth of kit every time we tack/ gybe.
That’s a lot of weight for a desk based bum like me.
“Tubs”, our boat has been gathering pace. At times she’s charging ahead like a Welsh prop forward about to score a try in Twickenham.
35kts of wind does that to you. Otherwise she’s pretty slow and heavy.
We got to see a bit of Ireland which looked stunning, as did St Kilda.
Then taking it steady for the last leg to get round the Shetland Islands in 35kts of breeze with more forecast.

Elin Haf Davies - Aparito

Aparito rounding Muckle Flugga

After passing Muckle Flugga yesterday evening I, for some reason had a

sense that we were on the home straight, but in reality this isn’t true at

all. A lot can happen even in a short space of time.

It has been awesome to team up with such a good group of guys, we are

pushing so hard, but at the same time making sure we have as much fun as

possible, which makes it all the more easier to work even harder.

Last night the North Sea lived up to its notorious name providing freezing

cold water and a short, sharp sea state, it was without a doubt the wettest

night yet on board.

The biggest challenge coming up is on the navigation side, as I sit here

now looking at the long list of no go areas it almost looks like a maze to

the straits of Dover, and gas and oil platforms are appearing in front of

us, a true sign you are in the North Sea. We can’t and we won’t rest until

we cross that finish line! - Sam

Video of Combre XL going around Muckle Flugga taken by classic yacht Mariette.

Last night was really quite special rounding Muckle Flugga, the most

northern point of the British Isles. We’re feeling really positive aboard

with our progress considering our set-back and happy with how hard we

fought to reach the top of the course. Last night we celebrated with a

taste of Pablo’s incredible jamon serrano...

Apart from a lot of rain, the north is wildly different from the south. It

is a barren, isolated part of the world, but absolutely booming with life.

Every direction you look there are gannets or fulmars roaming for food,

gliding over the waves. There are so many gannets that live in the Shetland

Islands that Muckle Flugga was actually white! The ocean is pumping with

life, a couple of nights ago we had hundreds of small shrimp, possibly

krill that washed onto the boat emitting an incredible phosphorescence

glow. Nature never ceases to amaze me…

Right now Julien is cooking up a hearty porridge with the Jetboil, Sam is

on watch trimming the boat for speed and getting hosed with every wave we

pass through, I am navigating, and Pablo is enjoying his off-watch.

It’s still a very long way to go, but rest assured, we are racing hard for

the win and a new World Record - Phil

Last night was really quite special rounding Muckle Flugga, the most northern point of the British Isles. We’re feeling really positive aboard with our progress considering our set-back and happy with how hard we fought to reach the top of the course. Last night we celebrated with a taste of Pablo’s incredible jamon serrano...

Apart from a lot of rain, the north is wildly different from the south. It is a barren, isolated part of the world, but absolutely booming with life. Every direction you look there are gannets or fulmars roaming for food, gliding over the waves. There are so many gannets that live in the Shetland Islands that Muckle Flugga was actually white! The ocean is pumping with life, a couple of nights ago we had hundreds of small shrimp, possibly krill that washed onto the boat emitting an incredible phosphorescence glow. Nature never ceases to amaze me…

Right now Julien is cooking up a hearty porridge with the Jetboil, Sam is on watch trimming the boat for speed and getting hosed with every wave we pass through, I am navigating, and Pablo is enjoying his off-watch.

It’s still a very long way to go, but rest assured, we are racing hard for the win and a new World Record - Phil

Turn right at the light!

Oh, getting the hang of typing at plus 10Knts now! :) We've just

gybed to head into Muckle Flugge (mugga flugga!) and the Outstack and

we're pretty well at our highest at 60 50.00 N. Its COLD!

The day and night have been a fantastic kite run. With a relatively

flat sea, the boat was calm but there was enough for plenty of long

surfs. We were hit by various squalls which you could see rolling

down from the west on us, so we took the kite down 8 times in the last

24 hrs only to put it back up again when the wind/rain had past.

Credit has to go to James who only joined the crew with 2 days to go

and has been an excellent bowman. He has freqently had to clip on and

then get out onto the bowspit to trip the kite, typically as the bow

of the boat sank into a wave. Last night, with the fordeck light

beaming from above, all you could see was a shadow of his arms and

legs after a mountain of spray passed through... looked just like a

sailing version of doing an "angel in the snow". He's really tested

his gear and we can report that "Mum, he needs some new boots". He's

got around this problem by gaffer taping his oillies to his boots.

He's been a great late addition to the crew and us older ones are

really really thankful he's here to do the tough stuff at the front.

The pic shows that we turned right at the light. We're starting to

get into the land of oilrigs and apart from that saw absolutely

NOTHING in the last 20 hrs. No dolphins, no boats, not even many

birds. Clearly far too cold for it. It says a lot when we queue up

to grind to warm ourselves up. We did the honourable thing and left

Giles in bed overnight as 4 on deck was plenty.

Aim to do a report at Muckle Flugge, but it might take some time as we

expect to be turning into 30knts on the wind... keyboard skills might

suffer a bit.

(cold) Chris

Hi HSR Watchers! So, Region Normandie is currently smashing up the Irish Sea, going great guns - 7th in Class 40, 10th in overall line honours. Word from the boat is that everything is currently behaving - including the instrumentation which has had it's ups and downs so far. It's definitely colder and wetter than it has been, but the crew are well fed (thank you TentMeals), staying as warm and dry as they could expect (thank you Helly Hansen) and supporting each other. As they cross to Scotland we'll have limited contact but we'll be back this time tomorrow with an update if not before. Please keep the support coming!

Sunshine, the sea and a cup of tea. What more could anyone ask for?

Quentin driving Region Normandie as Team HSR speed towards Scotland.

Hallo allemaal,

Behoorlijk pittig hier. Vandaag hadden we ff geen antwoord op de “breed” konters! Die gasten gaan gewoon allemaal harder dan wij met spi kunnen. Enfin inmiddels zijn zij ook gestopt met de spi en stabiliseert het weer een beetje.

Het is nog een stukje... en waar je niets aan kunt doen moet je ook niet druk over maken.

De boot, en wij, begint inmiddels flink nat te worden dus het is bikkelen.

De nacht blijft het 6-7 waaien. We schieten wel lekker op zo. Vrijdag of zaterdag wordt het “overleven” er wordt ruim 40 knopen verwacht...

Groeten vanaf de oceaan!

Chris en Pascal

Hello all,

Pretty spicy here. These guys are all going harder than we can with spi. In the meantime, they have also stopped the spi and stabilises it.

It's just another piece... and you can't do anything about it. You don't have to worry about it.

The Boat, and we, are starting to get pretty wet.

The night continues to blow. We'll shoot like that. Friday or Saturday it will be "survival" there will be more than 40 knots expected...

Greetings from the ocean!

Chris and Pascal

On route to Mugga Flugga (Via Satalite)

Photo of St Kilda resent!

Since St Kilda, we've been trucking along at about 13 Knots touching

18Knots at times in the surf. Sun is up and the boat/crew have dried

out a little. Dave T's driving is very impressive and seems to put

the boat on the surf on the smallest of waves, but sailing a Class 40

around the world does that for you!

Kite is under huge pressure, so the kevlar in the flaking off on the

turning block. 5 Turns on the winch but everyone is getting some

exercise grinding.

Last time Giles Redpath (owner) was up here, he rowed around St Kilda

with the late John Fisher in a Corby on the Double Handed RBI race.

He's dreaming of wanting to stop in Lerwick as the reception there was

so amazing... however we can't so he'll have to wait to Cowes for a

drink.

Lunch was ham/cheese sandwich and tonight is FD Spag Carbonara... the

delights of offshore racing :)

Attached is a photo of lunch (with Giles in the bunk asleep whilst I

work) and the other photo is the guys putting the boat through the

paces downwind. Sorry for the small images, but data is reserved

strictly for weather!

Hope the fleet are OK... looks like we're in for a windy time on Saturday.

Chris on Pata Negra

It’s pretty stressful sailing pushing the big (replacement) spinnaker so hard... We are right on the upper wind limit and have all fingers and toes crossed that it holds out until after we have rounded Muckle Flugga, when our wind direction will change.

All the way up here today we are lucky to have some sun, but the sea temperature is icy and the nights are very cold, where you can see condensation with every breath, and it’s definitely mid-layers, thermals and a sleeping bag for off-watches.

Roll-on Muckle Flugga! Phil

British Beagle just north west of Galway Bay - relentless 23-28Kn winds and so far all forward of the beam with no downwind sailing at all - big and angry sea state to boot 😩 - Ohhh for a faster/bigger boat!  Charles

It’s pretty stressful sailing pushing the big (replacement) spinnaker so

hard... We are right on the upper wind limit and have all fingers and toes

crossed that it holds out until after we have rounded Muckle Flugga, when

our wind direction will change.

All the way up here today we are lucky to have some sun, but the sea

temperature is icy and the nights are very cold, where you can see

condensation with every breath, and it’s definitely mid-layers, thermals

and a sleeping bag for off-watches.

Roll-on Muckle Flugga! Phil

A quick update since Ollie's voice message yesterday.

Good progress last night as we passsed Black Rock off the North West of Ireland.

We had a host of boats around us - Junique, Azawaky, Scarlet Oyster, and then EH101 joined the party. Had a match race with Junique for a few hours, literally 100 yards from each other. We managed to find the majic surfing sauce in the pitch black and overtook them.

Not long after that around midnight, we got hit but 35 knot squall. My shout in the darkness above the howling wind and flapping sails was answered by the sleeping Ollie and we (he !) got the reef in the main whilst I fought control at the control and command centre behind :)

Control restored, Ollie returned to his dreams and I spent an awesome few hours surfing under jib and reefed main at 12+knots before it was his turn for helming fun. Only sailors would probably get these moments as when you say it out loud it does sound somewhat insane. The boat is screaming through the pitch black of night in big breaking waves, in the middle of know where, only instruments to guide the helm, being battered by the spray and sea surf as it launches over the boat and tries to detach you at every opportunity whilst you mate sleeps in the washing machine below....thats living !!

Just to add to this intoxicating mix the stars broke through and we were treated to a fantastic shooting star, watching it break up into two. 10 minutes later there was something new on the deck - a fish had been dumped by the spray onto the boat. Now we had a battle to save the fish. He was flapping on the deck halfway down the boat, well out of reach. I am tethered on and helming...my life saving skills for the fish didnt extend to going up the pointy end. Plan B, hit the surf hard and get more water on deck to wash it down to me so I could flip hip back in. A few failed attempts, his energetic flipping was waning and the battle for Freddy was looking lost. But then then magic wave delivered, Freddy was washed in to my lap and I relaunched him sea side. Hooray the fish was saved I hear you all cheering...or have I spent too long at sea ?

So its now 2PM Thursday and we are heading to St Kilda (120 miles to go). Main is reefed again and Ollie just danced around the foredeck changing our J2 to J3. Currently have 28 knots and big seas but the boat is calm and flat and the sun is out. Heads down and we keep charging on. Be good to get tomorrow over and done with and get through the worst of the bad weather.

Cheers for now,

Ian and Ollie

--

Position: 1st / Distance to finish: 870.9 nm

We’re all very relieved this morning to see that we haven’t made too much of a loss over Concise or Corum through the night.

Last night we felt we were suffering a lot without our small spinnaker, but actually it was really gusty and we were surfing down waves in pitch black reaching speeds of 22-23 knots, which is always an adrenaline rush.

After losing a spinnaker yesterday we spent several hours repairing the sail, which unfortunately failed when we tried to fly it again. In its place we are using a larger spinnaker, which is less efficient and is really on its upper limit, but hopefully we can keep a good speed.

Despite the fatigue and time set back, spirits on board are high and we remain alert for the next potential problem. The multitasking nature of offshore short-handed sailing never ceases to create new surprises. Along with working as sailmakers mid-race, this morning I was given the delightful task of putting in Pablo’s contact lenses!

We are all very much looking forward to rounding Muckle Flugga tonight and making the turn south, though what will come will be heavy upwind and reaching conditions, more suitable for both Corum and Concise. So it’s important for us to keep pushing and extend as much as we possibly can… Phil