Me'Julie Fastnet Race 2005

Please visit www.justgiving.com/fastnetrace to see how our fundraising is going or to make a donation. For general reports on the race see also RORC's fastnet page.

Map last updated Sun Aug 14 23:24:57 BST 2005

Last position:    50^o 51' N    001^o19' W

We arrived back at Warsash at around 3 am on Sunday after an exhilarating sail back from Plymouth, calling in briefly at Newton Ferrers on the River Yealm for breakfast. We covered 135 miles in 16 hours, an average of 9 knots - not far short of double our average speed for the Fastnet Race. We carried the spinnaker from Start Point to about 15 miles SW of the Needles in a force 5 to 6 westerly, keeping us all on our toes! That concludes our live reports. Again, many thanks to all who have helped us raise a substantial sum for Marie Curie Cancer Care, and thank you for your messages of support.

Last position:    50^o 51' N    001^o19' W

After an early start and a nip into Yealm River for a breakfast at a mooring buoy, we set off fot the return passage to Warsash. Favourable winds around 20 knots helped us get home a lot quicker than anticipated. With our small spinnaker set we made our wind downwind, surfing down waves at up to 12.1 kn (yiehaa!). The boat became a bit of a handful to handle as waves tried to broach us from time to time. But in between those, what a feeling to plow down a wave with two streaks of foamy water swishing past on port and starboard! We averaged 9kn over a distance of 135 nautical miles. Only when arriving in the small hours of Sunday morning, we encountered a slight glitch with the engine cooling. We gamely tacked up the river Hamble in the dark in search for an easy berth/mooring. At this point the engine agreed to collaborate so that we could finally moor at the pontoon. We sat down for a brief cheese-and-cracker meal washed down with wine and beer before retiring to a deserved four-hour sleep. Thanks again for all the support you showed for Marie Curie Cancer care.

Last position:    50^o 12' N    003^o02' W

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Last position:    50^o 20' N    004^o10' W

FINISHED!!! At 0907 on Friday morning we finished the Fastnet Race in just under five days. We had an astonishing run back from the Rock with exhilarating spinnaker sailing for a continuous 33 hours. After 662 nautical miles we were still racing boats around us. Today we'll use for recovery and attend the prize-giving party tonight. We are planning to set off tomorrow for Warsash. We would like to thank everyone for your tremendous generosity in sponsoring Marie-Curie Cancer Care and your support and encouragement to the team. [we'll continue to provide reports for our return passage to Warsash, current ETA Sunday morning]

(Photo on main page.)

Last position:    49^o 51' N    006^o23' W

From on shore: RORC reports Me'Julie finished the race at 09:07 this morning (Friday). :-)

Last position:    49^o 51' N    006^o23' W

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Last position:    49^o 51' N    006^o44' W

Finally rounded the Rock at 18:09 on Wednesday & broke open the Champagne. It's been a long & tortuous trip out with big calm patches, however the wind finally filled in from the north west at force 4, giving us a beat for the last 30 miles. Discovered there was a lot of tide at the Rock & rounded it extremely closely in true dinghy fashion, to be informed by the race organisers at the Rock "that the shops are shut, so there's no point in landing". Rounding the rock we set off to a spacer mark before hoisting the spinnaker for the run home. The weather gods have not been kind to us, as a dead run in a big swell does not suit a boat with an asymmetric spinnaker. We've had the spinnaker up for 24 hours now & finally reached the scillies. Spirits are still high, the sun is shining & we've had some good surfing down the waves.

Last position:    51^o 23' N    009^o27' W

From on shore: RORC reports that Me'Julie passed Labadie Bank (between Fastnet and the Lizard) on their return leg at 04:07 on Thursday. As before, awaiting their actual positions to update the chart.

Last position:    51^o 23' N    009^o27' W

Another update from on shore: according to RORC, Me'Julie rounded Fastnet Rock at 18:08 on Wednesday (again, chart won't be updated till they're within phone range to send their actual positions).

Last position:    51^o 23' N    009^o27' W

After a long and slow struggle across the Celtic Sea we have finally reached the Irish shores. Three days of sunshine with very little breeze saw us struggle together with a lot of the fleet still within sight, went into a bank of fog as closed near to Ireland. We were treated to the sight of one whale and three pods of dolphins. They put on a beautiful display of graceful and effortless play in our bow wave (not the whale thankfully). Atmosphere on board still good with only the minor concerns of food and beer rationining later. Still too early to predict ETA Plymouth but we hope to be there this week. We are now 5 miles east south-east of the Fastnet Rock at last making good speed in a force 3 to 4 westerly. Listen for the champagne corks at around 6.00p.m.

Last position:    49^o 58' N    005^o11' W

Note from Mark on shore: the RORC have a communications vessel at Labadie Bank (midway between the Lizard and Fastnet) and reports Me'Julie were in that vicinity at 21:21 on Tuesday. Exact position unknown so I haven't updated the chart, but probably somewhere near 50^o 30' N 008^o 20' W. While the team is out of mobile phone range for emailing reports, you can see RORCs occasional position reports on their site under Me'Julie.

Last position:    49^o 58' N    005^o11' W

Extreme rock hopping around Lizard in very light winds. Forced to anchor for a short time due to strong adverse tide. We've got some breeze now & are crossing Mounts Bay.

Last position:    50^o 00' N    005^o04' W

Monday 5pm. A long slow testing day struggling to get to the Lizard in very little wind. And the tide is about to turn adverse before we get there.

Last position:    50^o 13' N    004^o36' W

The wind has died right away this morning after a good spinnaker reach from Start Point in a light NE'ly; now 9 miles south of Fowey. We've covered about 150 miles of the 608 mile course in the 1st 24 hours from the start - but now we eagerly anticipate a sea breeze. Wonderful clear sky last night - Milky Way clearly visible and many shooting stars. Impossible to tell where we stand in the fleet which is now well spread out.

Last position:    50^o 26' N    002^o24' W

We are now about 7 miles (the nautical variety) south east of Portland Bill enjoying a force 4 wind from WNW, and an excellent dinner of chicken & new potatoes washed down with beer. the present wind is a slight surprise as it started to ease around 6pm and veer (as expected as we have had a sea breeze all afternoon) but picked up again. We had a great spectacle of the bigger boats including a fleet of Open 60s passing us. Fine weather (albeit not tropical). Written 1950 Sun 7 Aug but it seems we are out of range.

Last position:    50^o 51' N    001^o19' W

Last supper ashore; facing light winds from the NW for the start but buoyed up by a few bottles of La Tour Clerac (Cotes du Rhone).

$Date: 2005-08-05 22:53:30 +0100 (Fri, 05 Aug 2005) $