Always look on the brightside...

Always look on the bright side of life....  this the tune that was being hummed and sang across the start line by one Matthew Lingley... who was to know that this was to be our motto for the leg from Scheveningen to Bergen.

Having sat at the start line feeling smug and prepared, an unfamiliar feeling it has to be said, our race didn’t begin particularly well with, as much as I hate to admit it, a spinnaker hoist inside the forestay.  This was all in the name of hoisting the spinnaker the correct way around in order to show off our proud new logo on the spinny!! A quick spinnaker shuffle later and we were away and rapidly making our way to the front of the fleet, surfing at 10 knots and trying to make our way as far north as possible before the wind began to drop off.

Cue engine charge to top up our batteries... cue engine fail... cue aforementioned music. After a quick poke around the engine, we ascertained that it was unfixable in our situation. A mere hour into the race, disappointing to say the least. Given our position near the front of the fleet, pulling into port was out of the question. So it was off with the instruments, lights, music, chargers and lap top, and onward with the navigation by compass and chart. Back to basics sailing when nothing can go wrong!

After sacrificing some battery power to fill our ballast tanks, we were further disappointed to find the boat full of water. After bailing about 50 litres of water out of the boat we ascertained that the ballast scoop had developed a fountain of a leak... the solution was to keep the scoop down. Sailing onwards we enjoyed a good session of tight spinnaker reaching, before being hit by our own personal squall that no one else in the fleet appears to have encountered. Surfs of 18-20knots (approx) later, and green water to the mast, it was spinnaker down and white sails reach back to the North. 

Before long, halfway up Denmark (approx!) it was time to re hoist “The Whomper” and trying to claim a few more knots of boat speed...A highlight of the day involved us huddling around Matts ipod with an earphone each in a scene reminiscent of many a teenager-laden bus on the way to school... Probably a lot less Fleetwood Mac on those buses though!

 With Matthew off watch and myself glued to the helm it was with a somewhat fraught yelp for “Lingley Help!” as I watched the head of the kite drop from the head of the mast and sail beautifully into the water... Conundrum... drop help to gather spinnaker and risk boat rounding up and wrapping her around the keel... keep the speed up and hope the spinnaker stays above the surface.... As it happens I went for a hybrid of both options... grabbing the head of the sail as it floated past and keeping the majority stretched down the freeboard of the boat as I waited for Lingley to emerge to finish the spinnaker retrieval. Spinnaker retrieved, secondary hoisted it was onwards with another job added to the ever growing list.

Now with no real clue as to where we were in the fleet, we remained ever hopeful that we were still somewhere near to the front of the fleet... but who knew!? Well, everybody at home it seems! Occasionally we saw other sails on the horizon both in front and behind, but with no real clue as to who there were!!

As  we approached our Waypoint gate and began the final ten miles to the finish line it was with some dismay that the wind dropped off and we ound ourseves driting down the fjord under spinnaker. It was also fairly disappointing to turn on the iphone and find that two competitors were already in.. we were convinced we were further up the fleet than that!

Once over the line we cracked open a celebratory beverage and began the long drift down to Askoy Marina, with the intention of sailing onto the pontoon. We were 95% of the way there, short tacking up a 50m wide channel when we were escorted under tow into the Marina for the final 200metres of the journey... I remain a little disappointed that we didn’t finish the journey undersail but the tow was very much a relief and well received. Thanks!!

Now its onward with the jobs list... Engine doesn’t look ixable in Norway without incurring a bill into the millions (Kroner that is) so we will fix that in Lerwick. The Naviagtion lights that had shorted for some strange reason still refuse to work despite 13V at the end of the wire! Too much resistance in the wire perhaps... Stemming the leak is on todays list along with a spinnaker head repair... then it is into Bergen for the briefing and across the start line tomorrow with a multiplicitude of other boats also competing in the Shetland Bergen race.

To follow, will be a detailed pictured diary of our meal plan as experienced in the Scheveningen Bergen trip, along with a “Top ten things you do offshore that you would never do onshore”. That once we have achieved something on the jobs list though!

On a positive note.... we have qualified for the Twostar!! Always look on the Brightside!