The final leg...

And so, it is all over!! HotSocks is alongside the quay in Bergen for a few days before Matt and Whitbread Legend Dirk bring her back to Shotley Marina.

The last leg from Shetland to Bergen was an interesting one to say the least. Having started the race jousting with Fastrack for the inside berth with around 60 other boats, it was a light winded beat out of the narrow channel around Bressay. With Ninja Matt on the helm and Katie on trim before we knew it we were second around the headland behind only the TP52, not bad work! From there it was a slight ease and a drag race to the finish line.

For HotSocks, sailing on a light winds fetch is not her greatest angle, and it was with some disappointment that we watched yachts hoisting their code zero’s and gaining make the distance that we had made in the starting beat. To keep our movements up we hoisted our spinnaker and set her as tight as could be possibly managed, a move we noticed Rafiki had also gone for… The disadvantage was that we could not sail as high as the Code Zeros, but the strategy was that when the wind kicked it we could regain our height and speed mid North Sea.

With the spinnaker dropped and said wind increasing, it was back to the drag race and we held onto Rafiki’s tail for some time. The weather itself was pretty grim, with very poor visibility and some pretty heavy downfalls of rain. When Katie could hear a ships engines but not see it, it was decided to sacrifice some battery power on the SeaMe.

The race was a very quick one, with HotSocks racing across the North Sea and not far from land within 24 hours. Our only fright, was when land appeared particularly quickly out of the gloom and the breaking waves at the bottom of the cliffs suggested to us that we had not appeared where we wanted to. A quick tack up the coast for half a mile and our light house finish line appeared out of the gloom. As we crossed the line, a little more on edge that we had intended, we realised with some sadness that our 1000 mile adventure was over.

Apart from a deceased kettle to add to the list, the minor finishing cock up and a comedy torpedo bunk induced head injury to Katie, we were happy with our final leg performance. As the results filter through it seems we came second in the double handed fast class, and 4^th overall in the 1000 mile race, not too bad given our limited battery power and defunct engine.

For Katie, it is back to work and finding a solution to the engine problem onboard. For Matt, it is a few more days sailing back to the UK before he resumes work mode. With Cowes Week on the horizon, there is something of a jobs list to get through, and then it will be time to start thinking about next years sailing…

Massive congratulations to David and Nigel on their Sunfast 3200 Fastrack VIII who won the event overall and every single leg. Great sailors and great sources of fun shoreside too. Thanks also must go to Huib and the organizing committee of the 1000 mile race, without whom it wouldn’t have happened. It is a great race, and certainly one that should be returned to in the future!