Onderwerp: OSTAR 2009

Ik zal dan een poging doen om een kleine update mee te geven:
Het is ondertussen dag 15 van de wedstrijd.Meer en meer krijgen de deelnemers last van mist naarmate ze in de buurt van Newfounland komen.
La Promesse is nog steeds koploper en ligt op ongeveer 400NM van de finish.
Verwacht wordt dat La Promesse 11 juni laat of 12 juni zal gaan finishen.
Het is nu al redelijk zeker dat La Promesse de Ostar recordtijd voor schepen tot 40 voet zal gaan breken dat tot nu op 19 dagen, 11 uur en 19 minuten staat, gezeild door Seatalk in 1992. Het lijkt er dus op dat het een redelijk snelle overtocht is. Op gecorrigeerde tijd echter ligt La Promesse slechts tweede in IRC1, na Jbellino. Voor de overalloverwinning is het nog wat vroeg om al uitspraken te gaan doen, tussen de eerste en de laatste boot van het veld liggen immers ruim 1200 NM.Sommige zeilers zullen waarschijnlijk nog meer dan twee weken op zee zitten...De strijd is dus nog niet gestreden, zeker niet onder de kleinere boten.
(vergeef me dat het niveau wat gedaald is)

Vooruit lopend op Lannes z`n verslag: www.zeilen.nl/pix/artikel/14%2...1x209.jpg?1244821174
www.zeilen.nl:80/actueel/zeile...der-wint-ostar/12180

Door de week absentie heb ik de aansluiting met de race gemist. Jammer dus. Ik kan het laatste stuk wel reconstyrueren maar dat komt als mosterd na de maaltijd.
Ik ga wel proberen een nabeschouwing in elkaar te knutselen verlicht en verlucht met korte quotes van de respectievelijke deelnemers.
Ik hoop althans dat ze hier aan mee willen werken.

Ik vraag me nog steeds af wat Jaques Bouchacourt bezielde ineens af te haken. Volgens zijn tracker scharrelt hij ergens in de buurt van La Coruña rond. Toch problemen met de boot?

En toch gebeurde er nog van alles…….

Dat de laatste loodjes meestal het zwaarst wegen is een uitspraak die we allemaal kennen en soms aan den lijve mogen ondervinden.
Géén wind, mist en een hoge deining waren het welkom voor de eerste binnenlopers in Newport, Rhode Island.



Na 17 dagen, 17 uur en 40 minuten liep de winnaar, Jan-Kees Lampe met La Promesse binnen en vestigde daarmee een nieuw record.
Wat meer zij, de Nederlanders deden het overall helemaal niet slecht – zie algemeen klassement.




La Promesse

De OSTAR 2009 heeft heel wat opgeleverd: niet alleen een bijzonder sportieve zeilrace tot aan de laatste windstoot, maar ook een kweekvijver van nieuw zeiltalent zoals Katie Miller en Hanna White. Een race zonder bijzondere gebeurtenissen behalve het kapseizen van Citta di Salerno met schipper Gianfranco Tortolani voor behoorlijk wat consternatie zorgde doordat het ongelukkige schip verward werd met de Viyaja van Huib Swets. How can? Levensgrote zeilnummers etc. etc.
“Such things happens,” zegt Murphy dan.
Schipper Tortolani werd van zijn gekapseisde jacht gehaald door een passerende vrachtboot die gewaarschuwd door de coastguard op zoek naar het jacht ging dat door de slechte weersomstandigheden niet per heli of coastguard boot kon worden bereikt.
Het jacht werd veilig gesteld en de haven van Nova Scotia binnengesleept.

Achtereenvolgens lopen dan JBellino, Spinning Wheel en Pure Solo binnen. OSTAR 2009



JBellino, de hardnekkige achtervolger van La Promesse



Spinning Wheel



Hanna White / PureSolo



Katie Miller / YouQube


RESULT – ELAPSED TIME
1st La Promesse JanKees Lampe NED 17D 17Hr 40Min
2nd Jbellino Rob Craigie GBR 19D 00Hr 10Min
3rd Spinning Wheel Roberto Westerman ITA 19D 03Hr 14Min

OSTAR 2009 OVERALL IRC RESULT (CORRECTED TIME)
1st Elmarleen Will Sayer GBR 19D 22Hr 47Min
2nd Tamarind Mervyn Wheatley GBR 20D 10Hr 47Min
3rd Jbellino Rob Craigie GBR 20D 13Hr 34Min

OSTAR 2009 IRC CLASS RESULTS
IRC Class 1 (Pen Duick)
1st Jbellino Rob Craigie GBR
2nd Pure Solo Hannah White GBR
3rd La Promesse JanKees Lampe NED

IRC Class 2 (Gypsy Moth)
1st Dinah Barry Hurley IRL
2nd King of Shaves Oscar Mead GBR
3rd Fanfan! Uwe Rottgering GER

IRC Class 3 (Jester)
1st Tamarind Mervyn Wheatley GBR
2nd British Beagle Marco Nannini ITA
3rd De Franschman Bart Boosman NED

IRC Class 4 (Eira)
1st Elmarleen Will Sayer GBR
2nd Olbia Christian Chalandre FRA
3rd Flamingo Lady Michael Collins GBR

Arme Bart......

Bart Boosman van "de Franschman" kreeg een letterlijke dreun toen een blikseminslag al zijn electronica vernielde toen hij op weg was naar New Foundland.
Bom! Weg vacantie en terugkerende naar Newport, Rhode Island, merkte hij dat werkelijk al zijn electronica, zowel van schip als inventaris was "gefrituurd".
Hij schrijf: "Over de jaren heen heb ik zorgvuldig mijn electronica uitgezocht en alleen datgene geplaatst dat de juiste kwaliteit had en aan mijn verwachtingen voldeed.
En dan blijkt spoedig dat er in het land van de onbegrensde mogelijkheden er vrijwel niets te krijgen is dat aan Bart's eisen voldoet.
Laptop, stuurautomaat, lampen, navigatie-instrumenten - het is allemaal standje hopeloos.
Ik ken de infra-structurele problemen in de States van vroeger, maar dat het zó erg was, dat wist ik niet.
Je bent natuurlijk erg verwend met de overvloed aan materiaal dat in NL te krijgen is en plotseling waan je je weer in de oerwouden van Afrika.

Hier een verslag wat er gebeurde:

Sometimes you're lucky... sometimes not. - (04/07/2009)
I left New York last Sunday, sailing all the way up east river. Beating, that is, as the wind was Northeasterly, but that didn't really matter. It was fun sailing through the big city like that. On the East side of Manhatten Jurrien, Minke and Marijn (with whom they are staying) waited for me to send me off. It was nice to see them standing there, waving at me.

I sailed along the coast, which gradually widened into Long Island Sound. The city density became less and the size of the houses along the shore increased. This area is definitely very well to do! At nightfall I tucked into what I thought to be a small village with an interesting name: Greenwich. Sailing up the small river, beating again, through a whole fleet of boats all on a mooring, I approached a yachtclub where a barbeque was going on. It was , at first sight, a nice looking place. As I sailed closely by this yachtclub I was shouted at by one of the people having dinner: Hey, are you one of the transatlantic guys? Wow, Great! Well, if you like you can take a mooring over there... No, for free! (off course)... And the launch will pick you up and you can have a shower here and a few drinks!!

That sounded like a good welcome, so I went off to that mooring. While doing so, still sailing under main only, the launch came up with me and someone inside shouted that, if I preferred, I could also ty up alongside his boat (the blue one, over there). That turned out to be the famous 12M yacht America 2! The owner picked me up at his boat in a brand new Range Rover and we went off to the club. The parking lot was filled to the last place with Porches, Ferraries, Range Rovers, a few Hummers and Corvettes. That said enough of the club, which turned out to be the Indian Harbour Yacht Club. After a shower I was invited for drinks at a table with the guy who hade taken me in, a family with a 8 year old son (dressed in polished leather shoes and a tie), and a woman who introduced herself as Julia. We had a nice chat and a few drinks. I noticed that there was about as much personnel as there were guests. Julia told me that she had started a new campaign to collect as many sailing club burgees as possible to decorate a new wing of the club, and asked me to send one of the WVM (watersport vereniging Makkum). Late that night the same guy who had taken me, also brought me back to the boat, but not after the man standing at attention at the front door (!), had given me a club burgee and a letter signed by Lady Julia, Viscountess Harding. The Indian Harbour Yacht Club is among the richest clubs in the world, and I had been amongst upper-upper class America.

Well, not all nights were so interesting, and the day after I got to Cedar Harbour, a little bit further down the Sound. Cost me $60,- for no onther facilities then a toilet. Many boats, but few people. All looked more or less deserted. According to the harbourmaster it was because of the terrible weather everybody is complaining about; rain and thunder almost every day for the past two months.

From Cedar Island I sailed along the coast till a rather famous place called Mystic. Maybe I missed the point but I didn't much like the place. I sailed up river until I could sail no further (railway bridge), and took a free mooring on the suggestion of the man in the 'shit-boat' among many hundreds of other boats. The coast looked a bit like the west coast of Sweden; rocky and green, but it is so densely populated with large houses, marina's in every corner and the entire surface of the water filled with boats on moorings. The 'shit-boat' man (people are not alowed to use their overboard toilet; the shit-boat will come to pump your toilet holding tank) told me to just take a mooring. If the rightful owner showed up at night, that would be bad luck for me but otherwise I had a free night. Nobody showed up that night.

Next morning, wednesday, I sailed off at 8, after a bad early morning thunderstorm. Bud rain and hail had ceased and the skies were blue. On my way out of the river I passed a fisherman who threw a bag, containing a dozen oysters, on board. Doing his international dutie, as he shouted. Thanks! Out I sailed between many rocks, to the open sea. There is a strong tide running and I had to be careful in my navigation, as visibility was poor. Just outside the rocks a weak front passed, with rain, a calm and windshifts of 180 degrees All that goes quite quickly over here! After a few hurs of beating along the coast, the easterly wind veered to north and increased slowly as a next big black cloud tried to overtake me. This northerly wind was most welcome as I was heading east and didn't have to beat ino it, so I made the most of it by sailing as fast as I could. For over an hour I raced east, reefing and unreefing as required as the wind was very unstable and varied inforce between 20 and 40 knots. Ultimately the storm overtook me and the wind suddenly dropped to zero, with torrential rain. As there is not much you can do in these conditions but sit it out, I went inside (I hate rain), and was thinking of what I would cook myself for lunch. The thunder wasn't too bad, but passed right over me. When it was almost over, it hit me. It was two o'clock exactly.

Sitting on the engine case, looking forward, I saw a flash inside the cabin which blinded me for a few seconds. As if someone fired a flashlight right in your face. The flash was followed by an intense smell of burnt plastic. Knowing what had happend I immediately looked for where the hole in the boat was where the lightning had gone out of the boat. But no water seemed to be pouring into the boat so I changed my immediate attention to the fire extinguisher and switched the entire electrical system off. But apart from the smell, nothing seemed to be on fire. I then rushed out to check the rigging (mast was still standing), but apart from the sight of an emply mast head (all antenna's and the windex had just gone), there seemed to be no immediate danger. So I went back inside and turned the main switch back on. Nothing worked, but no major short-circuits seemed apparent. I found that almost all fused in the entire boat had blown. Some of them so violently that the fuses had just exploded and disintegrated. Most of the lamp bulbs (halogen) were exploded, too. So, as far as I could, I replaced the fuses, but still none of the electric or electronic equipment came back to life. I replaced lamp bulbs so that I could make some light again, which was nice and made me feel at home. None of the autopilots worked. I took out the emergency pilot, from it's place in the cockpit seat, but that too didn't work.

Until now, the boat was becalmed and bouncing up and down the swell. A mist set in and an easterly wind came up. I started the engine, which worked (!), and motorsailed to my magnetic compass that I checked, just before the mist set in, with a bearing on a small island nearby. I knew exactly where I was: 2.5 miles southeast of Judith Point, near the entrance to the bay where Newport is. I motorsailed further and made a good landfall in Naraganset Bay and sailed back to the Newport Yacht Club where I had left from just a few days before. After having tied up I felt pretty shaky and miserable. Some of the club members saw me and took me with them to the bar to relax a bit. I could use that! After a club-special (a mighty Dark & Stormy) I went back to the boat to assess the damage. The only things still working seemed to be the clock, my cell-phone, the electric bilge pump, the drinkwater pump and the essential electrics of the engine, but not the alternator. I took out my multimeter to check things, but it's LCD screen was completely black. Everything, everything else, smelled burned. Even things that were not connected to the board net. The laptop was dead, the steam light halfway up the mast had simply exploded, the engine oil pressure alarm didn't work, etc, etc. I started to make a list of broken things, and it seemed endless. Then I called Tom Newman, the guy who had helped me to get the materials I needed to fix my fore hatch, just a week earlier.

Tom didn't hesitate and drove straight to the boat to pick me up. 'You are not going to stay in this mess, tonight' he said. So I dined and slept in his place. Next morning, with the Forth of July coming up and accompanying hollidays, Tom drove me to the different shops to investigate what was available and what could be done. I also contacted my insurance. DSV reacted promptly and it felt a big relief to know that they were there when you need them!

All thursday I took the eletrical system and components apart to see what could be done and assess the extend of the damage in the different components and instruments. The emergency autopilot that was stored in the cockpit seemed to be coming back to life after another fuse was replaced. The electric ram that was driving the boat when the lightning hit was blocked solid; motor burned. The spare ram, after taking apart and letting the motor run for some time, seemed to be OK again. But that were about the only things that I was able to save.

Then Jurrien and the girls showed up, to give me a hug. Great! After luch in the Mission they left again and I felt much better. I was also lucky in that Thomas, my brother in law and a good friend, happened to be in New York for work. He was there with Arjan, an electrician. They came over yesterday and together we checked wiring and confirmed my fears: everything dead as a stone. But the boat itself seemed to have no apparent damage, as had the mast which I climbed and very carefully checked. We bought some of the equipment to re-wire the mast. VHF antenna, mast head light cable and a new Raymarine windset. The first $2000,- down the drain and far from finished...

Last night Tom and his wife Kelly took us all out for dinner and we slept in his place. Heartwarming hospitality!

Today is a national holliday and everything is closed. Thomas and Arjan will return to New York this afternoon, but before that I hope we can do some more work on the boat... We will go soon.

Bart

Robert,

Dank voor je inzet en je heldere verslaggeving van dit mooie zeilevenement :!: