BLUEMOMENT

It's over and for Marisca it only took just under 44 hours, 4th in class, 11th overall. Again, I am in total awe of our runners - rain, hail, snow, gales and, on Jura, sunshine, they had it all, in spades - and then we bounce them around in a boat. The forecast was great - no tacking and just one gybe at the MoK. The Sound of Mull played its usual tricks with holes in the wind as did the approach to Holy Isle but the wind was out the west or southwest mostly 'tween F5-8, don't really know 'cos the wind instrument gave up, but we used a triple reefed main and storm jib from Craighouse to the MoK and were exceeding hull speed for a lot of the time. We went through the Coire Bhreacain to avoid the end of the flood at Fladda - Claymore's Definitives are wrong, by the way - we hit it 10 minutes early according to him and found up to 2kts contrary nearly all the way through (can I have my money back?).

Lots of retirals again this year, mostly from hypothermia I believe. It was very cold all the way and our lassies got to run Goatfell at night this year - how do they do it? The sailors were running out of layers to add and were doing Michelin man impressions - how jealous they were of my pee tube exiting above my boot!

Well done, Geoff, we are a rare breed. Did it produce the cathartic effect I needed? Yes, definitely - after that normal living is just sublime!

Well done.

Lots on Facebook and you got a mention.

A good write up by a bloke who seems to have survived on Snickers was worth a read.

marisca wrote:It's over and for Marisca it only took just under 44 hours, 4th in class, 11th overall. Again, I am in total awe of our runners - rain, hail, snow, gales and, on Jura, sunshine, they had it all, in spades - and then we bounce them around in a boat. The forecast was great - no tacking and just one gybe at the MoK. The Sound of Mull played its usual tricks with holes in the wind as did the approach to Holy Isle but the wind was out the west or southwest mostly 'tween F5-8, don't really know 'cos the wind instrument gave up, but we used a triple reefed main and storm jib from Craighouse to the MoK and were exceeding hull speed for a lot of the time. We went through the Coire Bhreacain to avoid the end of the flood at Fladda - Claymore's Definitives are wrong, by the way - we hit it 10 minutes early according to him and found up to 2kts contrary nearly all the way through (can I have my money back?).

Lots of retirals again this year, mostly from hypothermia I believe. It was very cold all the way and our lassies got to run Goatfell at night this year - how do they do it? The sailors were running out of layers to add and were doing Michelin man impressions - how jealous they were of my pee tube exiting above my boot!

Well done, Geoff, we are a rare breed. Did it produce the cathartic effect I needed? Yes, definitely - after that normal living is just sublime!

How much did you pay for my definitive work and how come its been ok for everyone else? And did you check your watch against mine!?
Well done anyway - good effort!

Just out of interest, what was the windstrength and direction there?

claymore wrote:Just out of interest, what was the windstrength and direction there?

The wind was pretty much straight through. We gybed onto port and goose-winged through before gybing back onto starboard. Strength? - about F4 I would guess. Absolutely no drama, just a slight disappointment it didn't switch instantly at the prophesied time. As to whether it did any good, I don't really know - we missed the last hour of adverse tide in the Sound of Luing, got about a knot of good down past Scarba and then, as I said, a couple agin through the gulf. Certainly kept me and the crew awake though.

We were lying second in the 1984 race and missed the gate at Pladda. Our hearts broke as White Lightning sneaked through and hugged the Scarba shore and the fleet caught us up.

How were the conditionds around the Mull? I watched the tracker and saw one of the leading boats appear to almost turn back then head inshore and hug the coast all the way round. Most seemed to be staying a few miles off. The leading Cat went south of Sanda.

Alastair I'm in awe of you (and your girlies!) you're amazing! Catch up soon. Liz

We were pleased just to finish, and our two girls were, as those on Marisca, amazing. How they can run for a total of about 22 hours solid up and down mountains in the dark, in the rail (Mull), hail (Jura), and occasional glimpse of sunbut mostly more rain (Arran), I don't know.
How we sailed, mostly at night, and in such mountainous seas (MoK), and some high winds (MoK) I'm not sure either.

We put up our "storm spinnaker" in sound of Sanda, and used that to Pladda. I've never seen Contender go so fast, but nor have I had such a "white knuckle" ride as that for a while. We desperately got the oars ready when we ran out of wind just a cable off the Troon entrance, thinking we'd never get in, but before we could dip it in the water, a puff came along and we sneaked in.

Rather than battle the tide against wind round MoK, we waited at Craighouse, setting off about 1030pm. An enjoyable meal in the pub with other crews that had retired, then back to the slog. We nearly visited Gigha when the wind shifted too far south of west, and had to put in a couple of tacks to clear MoK.

Think we were 19th over the line, but not sure. Can't find any results yet.
Heard that some runners didn't leave tags at right places, not sure who.

MoK was fine. We hit it at the right time and the swell got big but not much of the nasty bouncy stuff. We went in with storm jib and 3 reefs and came out in flat water and full sail. Like Contender we carried the kite all the way to Whiting Bay with a SOG >7.5kts.

Marisca: I need your design for the "pee tube".

Climbing over stretched lee cloths full of females, a cabin floor cluttered with running shoes, clothes, bags, a few cans of food, and anything else that rolled out of a locker for the heads, was not great.
The 2 litre milk bottle with a hole cut near the top worked OK (though we had a discussion about the diameter of the hole!), but still requires peeling some layers, undoing various zips and other inconvenient things.

The principle sounds simple, but the arrangements at the upper end need explanation.

You might come to wish you hadn't asked that!

Geoff, Silkie has it right as usual. You don't really want a catheter bag strapped ro your leg. While I try to see the positive, there is a definite downside to the process that makes it a necessity. Enjoy what you have and if access through the oilies is difficult, they can be altered by those nice Mountain Wear folk in Musselburgh
I, when I had my faculties, used a 2 litre milk container with its bottom cut off so it looked like a dinghy bailer. Standing with one arm round the backstay could have been envigorating last weekend.

I misunderstood, sorry.

I imagined a home made affair allowing easy drainage of spent coffee. It's the attachment at the upper end I was designing in my head. A funnel would be cumbersome and risk spillage, something more elastic might be required.
There must be something on eBay for this issue.

On another line, I have entered this race twice, and both occasions we had an issue with using the sea toilet in rougher seas.
First time round, door closed, and from the cockpit I heard a female squeal, a clatter, crash, and then an embarrassed woman emerges holding the loo seat.
The hinges had broken while she was sitting, but sitting at perhaps 30 degrees. She slid off, onto the floor. "I didn't make a mess" she promised.
This year, while kneeling at the bowl (I figure a closer target is harder to miss), a sudden lurch of the boat sent me towards the locker door behind the bowl, head first, smashing the door off its hinges, and into the wet gear locker behind. I emerged with a door in hand, relieved in one way, but facing yet another small repair job to do sometimes.

The whole business of dispensing liquids seems to have its problems.

But you need the correct size for your own equipment. Not quite as simple as they look as the attachment point tends to change form depending on temperature, fear factor, etc..
Perhaps something like this with plastic pants would suffice .....



As Silkie warned you - "You might come to wish you hadn't asked that!"