The Amazing Gitana

Bay Adventures staff left the dock at 07:00 to meet the great Cat in the ocean. At 07:45 we were tucked into the lee of Point Bonita, calling ashore to get her latest position. When we heard she was six miles out, we left the protection of Point Bonita and proceeded west to R-#6 at the edge of the Potato Patch. The swells were powerful 6-8 footers at a 12 second interval with light winds from the NNW. It was big for a 22' Rib. We went all the way out to #8 before we spotted her huge rig in the early mist and light. Even from 1.5 miles, her great size and power were apparent. We met her there and in the cold silence of the Ocean the tension of light winds so close to the voyages end was a feeling most sailors have had to sit with. Constant trimming, the solent getting furled, and the huge genoa getting raised and finnally sheeted in. She moved through the water with a startling efficiency given the light winds.....10 knots over the bottom, against the ebb in around 10 kts of wind. Very Impressive!

Congratulations on an amazing passage!

Gold Race from New York to San Francisco

Record Holder Yves Parlier at 57 days 23 min.

Come out to see the record fall !

31/01/2008 - 13:38 - The pause before the Horn
Only 600 miles to Cape Horn, the “peak” of our southern trek, a 98° change in latitude from New York. Our trip south was fast up to the equator, and since then it has alternated between high and low phases, which is never good for the average. The same pattern held true over the past 24 hours, during which we had to settle for a score of only 336 miles. After a really rough night, our first foray into the 40s started out nice and calm. “We've just entered bird country,” said skipper Lionel Lemonchois. All around us, various varieties of petrels, including black ones, puffins and the first albatross, small ones, frolicked around Gitana 13 as we gradually lost speed. Crossing the high-pressure ridge was slower than expected and, surrounded by the incredible purity of majestic blue, we dropped the mainsail for a general inspection in the sun.Once we finished taking apart and checking the batten slides, we put the main back up amid a rising wind from the north quadrant, a sign that we’d arrived on the right side of the ridge. Thus began another sprint, flying the big and then small gennaker, with one or no reef in the mainsail. After a night of fantastic beauty, we were again busy in the “gym” before dawn Thursday morning with another gennaker switch, as the breeze began to soften, a harbinger of the next obstacle to come. To keep things interesting, this time we had to make our way around a small low-pressure system. In a few hours, the gennaker should be back in its bag, and we expect to continue nearly close-hauled toward the Le Maire Channel, which we hope to reach tomorrow, 1 February, during the day. Skipper Lemonchois gets the last word: “This route is thrilling, and like anything that’s thrilling, it’s not easy. We’re trying to do things as intelligently as possible, to be as responsive as possible, as we go from one weather system to the next. That requires a lot of work on the map table as well as on deck. But at least there's no time to get bored.” The other nine of us can confirm these words! We haven’t had time to crack any of the books we brought onboard, and tomorrow we’ll be busy thinking about the Horn. So as for reading …Good night