Monday, August 18, 2008

Team Russia VOR qualifier: Day 5 - Dodging a low

[Source: Team Russia] It was a fantastic ride all the way from the Shetlands to the Irish Sea. In beam reaching conditions "Kosatka" excelled and even though we ran north of Ireland in lighter winds and a nasty swell from several directions, we clocked an easy 420 mile day.

Constantly we have been monitoring a low pressure system that rolled in from the Atlantic Ocean, setting ourselves up to round it's center in the west and ride the back down cross the Irish Sea towards the Scillies. Once again the boat is shaking all over when sitting in the mid twenties and clocking higher top speeds. Impressive waves have built up in the 45 knots of breeze further to the west.

Lots of water on Kosatka. Ireland, 18 August 2008. Photo copyright Mark Covell / Team Russia

On board all ok, everybody is enjoying the ride and we run a queue for the helm. Even in these conditions, the boat is easy to control, accelerates instantly and shakes off water; the bow digs up without losing speed.

We are very pleased so far with the design the Humphreys office came up with. One thing to improve before the start of the race in October is to reduce water ingress. As water is rushing over the boat at firehose speed, every opportunity to get inside is found, making the inside a wet cave.

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