Aug 30 – 07:10 UTC Here we go again. In the middle of the dark summer night the Sailonline fleet leaves Gran Canaria for the first leg of SYCC, Sailonline Yacht Club Championship. The wind blows from north east and the fleet gybeing down towards the doldrums. The passage of the doldrums, the area just north of the equator, is not easy. There is lots of high pressures and the wind is light and changes much. It looks intressting. More tha 250 competitors and more than 3000 Nm. At the moment, six hours after start, Tangosailing is in 145th position. true wind speed: 7 m/s, true wind direction: 35° and boat speed: 16 knots. It feels good and I have my strategy ready for the first days. The finnish boats 153623 and Sniff are leading the fleet.
Aug 31 – 08:45 UTC Sunday morning and the fleet sails south towards The Cabo Verde Islands. The wind blows, like always here, from north east. Just south of The Cabo Verde it looks like a big high pressure is building up.
Number one and two on the todays leaderboard is Jimmi (NZL) and my brother Jepsom. They both choose the easterly route, better wind angle, but lighter winds I think. Tango is just now in 95th position, heading more westerly. On Tango’s starbord side we have Jeroen and Wiz.
There is now more than 320 boats started.
Sept 01 – 04:10 UTC The Cabo Verde in sight! It has been at tough race so far. The wind turns against everywhere! But now it feels better, Tango has climb to 38th and overtake Wiz during the night. The ”aussie” Roseabout is now in the lead, a big lead, 14 Nm ahead of the swedish SunFast. Now we are going to pass the Cabo Verde Islands, and the high preassures.
Sept 02 – 04:30 UTC The weather updates can change big things. Yeasterdays update was very good for the easterly boats, but the boats in the west didn’t jump of luck I think… There is still the western boats who are in the top of the leaderboard. But K3, BossesBil and Zowee hav no wind… In the east we are doing more than 20 knots at the moment. The most easterly boats are NZL_Minimus, Jepsom and Zappe. Tango is in 67th position just behind Wiz and Jimmi. 2500 Nm to Rio!
Sept 03 – 04:20 UTC Tricky winds yeasterday. And now the wind is decreasing and turning against again. Tango is west in the east group with Gintonic, AcmeRacing and 153623. Wiz and SunFast is a little bit more. It is not much to write home about today. The boats in the top of the leaderboard is in the westerly part of the fleet, but are they in right position? The wind turns now more and more from south and the south east.
Sept 04 – 05.30 UTC Now it is a drag race down to Rio! The east part of the fleet has now tacked and it looks good, specially for Jepsom, and SWE54. The westerly boats is still in the topp of the leaderboard, but for how long? Mac (Pol), Seafly (Aus), Popeye (Nzl) and Jeroen (Nl) is hunted. The wind turns more and more from the east and soon we can hoist the Code Zero sails.
Sept 05 – 04.25 UTC Tango in top ten! Feels fine, but the boats in the east is going a little bit faster. SWE54 is now in the lead in front of Jepsom. The equator is just passed.
Sept 06 – 05:50 UTC Saturday morning and now one week at the ocean. The leaders have just passed the small island Fernando De Norohna outside the Brasilian coast. The wind blows from south east about 8 m/s, 25°C and a little bit cloudy, good sailing. SWE54 is still the leader in front of Jepsom, and Tango is still in 9th. 1100 Nm left to Rio.
Sept 07 – 06:10 UTC 587 Nm left to Rio and now it happens things. The wind turns more from north, but I think SWE54 win this race. Yesterday Tango’s VO70 competed in Caribbean Sprint, but the race was over for Tango just after start. We lost 15 minutes after some technical problems, and it was impossible to catch up on that ”drag race course”. In this race to Rio Tango go for a top ten.
Sept 08 – 04:40 UTC Now we are in the final of this race. Only 280 Nm and we have just gybed from south to westerly course. On our way to Rio we must pass a high pressure. SWE54 has a good advantage and is probably number one in Rio. Jepsom looks to be number two. But who will be number three? LefromageII, Nightmare, Prin or SunFast… or maybe Tango? In about 24 hours we know…
Sept 09 – 04:30 UTC 54 Nm left to Rio…. Still in 9th place, but just in the high pressure passage Tango was up in 4th. But it think we tacked a little bit to late. Jepsom is now in the lead after perfect racing through the high preassure, but it is not over yet.
Sept 09 – 20:00 UTC Hallo, Tangosailing calling from Rio! Here we are! This morning the first boats arrived to Rio. It was a very tough battle between SWE54 and Jepsom. Jepsom sailed a perfect race through the high preassure and untill the finish. He passed the finish line five minutes ahead of SWE54. Number three to arrive in Rio harbour was the swedish Nightmare. Tango passed the finish line as number 8. One of the favorites to win the championship is (was) Wiz. But after a 26th place in this first race it seem hard to take the gold medal. But remember, the race isn’t over until the fat lady sings. Next race starts on saturday, from Miami. Watch out for hurrycanes!
I have not give up the 1:st place yet…