Dec. 7, 2000

Race date rescheduled by Grand Pavois

While browsing the Mini Message Board, I found a post regarding the starting date for the Mini Transat Race. The Grand Pavois Blue Ocean Racing department in La Rochelle, France is organizing the next edition of the Mini Transat. Due to coinciding race dates, the committee has decided to change the race departure from September 29th to September 22, 2001. Over 100 candidates have applied so far for this coming edition. Only 55 participants will be allowed on the starting line with 25 prototypes, 25 series (one design) and 5 guest (overseas) entries. The skippers will have to cover 2000 miles of solo sailing to qualify.

The start will occur during the Grand Pavois in-water boatshow, which draws a crowd of over 40,000 people. Make your hotel reservations early.

—Gale Browning

NOTE: A prototype boat is has either a canting keel or water ballast and allowance for other appendages such as trim tabs and dagger boards. The series boat is strickly a one-design with no water ballast or canting keel.

Dec. 5, 2000

Gale Arrives in Miami

At 0826 on the morning of December 5th, Gale rounded the "M" buoy marking the entrance to the Miami Harbor in South Florida 8 days 17 hours and 40 minutes elapsed time from the "A" buoy marking the entrance to the Annapolis Harbor in Maryland with 1154 miles on the log to complete her 1000 mile (non-race) qualifier for the 2001 Mini Transat race.

Before this mileage can be officially counted, Gale must submit her log book with photographs of her journey and astrosights for two days to the French Classe Mini. Her materials will be reviewed and she will be notified as to whether or not this qualifier is official.

So how was it out there? Here's Gale's reply.

Cold, wet and windy!

No big surprises with the weather thanks to the advise of my weather gurus, Dane Clark Chris Wasserback, Bill Biewenga, and Jenifer Clark. I studied the weather, as well, before leaving so I had a good 5 day forecast that turned out to be very accurate. My biggest concern was to get past Cape Hatteras in decent weather. I passed Diamond Shoal about 10 miles offshore from Cape Hatteras at sunset on Tuesday, my third day out with a 12-15 knot Nor'westerly and 6' seas. On Wednesday night, the wind was howling at 40 knots and the seas were up to 12-15 feet, as the predicted low pressure system caught me off of Cape Lookout. That did get a little bit exciting but the boat handled the wind and seas very well.

I slept in 10 minute intervals for the first two days. Then the storm came and changed my sleep pattern. I started sleeping in longer intervals up to an hour and 20 minutes After a few days of lack of sleep, the sand man got me. I found out how dangerous sleep deprivation can be when I was sailing in towards Savannah and laid down for a 10 minute catnap and woke up an hour later well inshore of where I wanted to be with the Savannah channel markers blinking red and green to the north instead of the south.

I had a problem with my charging system for most of the trip that I didn't discover until I was offshore. I learned a very important lesson. Not only do generators need gasoline to operate, they also need oil. I did have two 18 watt solar panels but they were not keeping up with the power demand. I was concerned that I would be without power for my autopilot so I stood longer and longer watches at the helm as I watched the battery voltage drop down as low as 11.5 volts. I kept wondering what the bottom line was going to be when the pilot refused to operate. As I was rounding the "M" buoy marking the entrance to Miami, the "low battery" warning came up on the screen.