Back in Bergen

After two and a half intense days of playing the tourist and partying Norwegian style on the Shetlands, we started our return race on Sunday at 12:00. Quite a busy start with all participants starting simultaneously on the Bressay Sound, between the Mainland of Shetland and the island Bressay. We were the smallest boat in a fleet of fifty now! We took it easy and chose the high side of the field to avoid being run over by all the bigger boats. This also gave the photoboat a great opportunity to capture us with only the rocks in the background (we hope to obtain the results soono). The downside of it was that those rocks took our wind at times, but luckily our boat doesn’t need much.

When we had rounded the southern tip of Bressay we could set course to our only waypoint for this regatta: Marsteinen lighthouse, at 91 degrees and 184 nautical miles. The wind was northerly all the way, varying between 10 and 15 knots for most of the time. Pretty soon all the big boats had disappeared out of sight; with this kind of wind speed, our short boat can’t compete with the bigger ones anymore. But there were still some smaller boats left to compete with, which is a lot more stimulating than competing in an empty sea. We did our best to trim the sails to their optimum and catch the waves in favourable points. Unfortunately, the partying at Shetland took some of its toll, which made it hard to keep our eyes focussed on the sails and the meters as the night got (a little) darker and the competitors more distant. Some less-than-optimal steering was the result. Also, my (Anne’s) eye had become infected, so I had only one contact lens left which made me feel very piraty but not very good at observing meters and other ships.

Still, we held several boats on the horizon all the way and made our fastest average boat speed of all legs (6,6 knots), due to the stronger winds. At the end, the wind suddenly accelerated and we started surfing over the waves with boat speed up to more than 9 knots. Nice!

At 16:37, we crossed the finish line in Norway as one of the last boats, right behind our friends from “Tavare”. The weather conditions were not optimal for us during this race, but rumours go that we still obtained a third position in the smaller Doublehanded class. We will find out at the prize giving ceremony later this afternoon. Love getting prizes!!

On the other hand, it was a bit of a shock to realize, once over the finish, that this was the end of the 1000 Mile race. It has been so very cool in the past weeks to be in this adventure together, with our boat and all the other competitors. Tonight, the only remaining Norwegian competitor of the 1000 Mile has invited us all to his house for a dinner, so we will enjoy each other’s company for the last time before spreading out over the world again. In October, the 1000 Mile prize giving ceremony will serve as a reunion.

The photo camera to laptop connection is not participating right now, but we hope to be able to upload some pictures soon.

Well, we have to be off and sail the boat to the prize giving place!

Regards from two tired but content team members