Update after a week of training....

Hello everyone!

I am recovering at home after a week of hard training on the water!

The first three days were with Tanguy Leglatin, with several objectives including solo manouvers, boat speed, working out how to optimise the new daggerboards, and also a day out with Philippe Le Gros from Incidences to work on sail design for the Vendee sails, and rig / sail tune for the Artemis Transat.

 

These days were more than productive, with different conditions every day (and no rain!) so I got loads done. The sails and rig tune are becoming less of a mystery. And after some tacks where my heart rate reached nearly 180 beats per minute, Tanguy and I managed to find some ways to economise on energy. Likewise for the gybes!

 

The sailing has taken Roxy away from the guys, who are still working through the job-list, but there has been plenty to do on land whilst I have been out sailing, and when they stay ashore, I take care to note every little point that needs checking, changing or repairing so that their job is easier!

 

We stayed on the dock on Thursday. In the rain! I spent the morning with Philippe Rousell from nke and Brice from TEEM to start up the new nke 3D sensor and processor, which should vastly improve all my instrument data and therefore pilot performance. It's quite daunting piece of kit, but I managed to learn how it all works which is important if I want to get the best out of the instruments.

 

Then on Thursday night Erwan and I set off in 30 knots of wind and the pouring rain to do a night sail to Port La Foret (via Belle Ile). Firstly for me to get back into the swing of sailing at night, and secondly (and important) to "send it" a bit and test out ROXY in some fully loaded up conditions! So, we did exactly that and hooned off at 90deg TWA with 2 reefs and the staysail at boatspeed averaging 18 knots. I loaded up by filling the ballast and putting a bit of daggerboard down! It was rather WET to say the least! The cockpit couldn't empty out fast enough! We actually tested out our Musto oilskins at the same time! After a couple of hours we tacked to check out the other tack, then did some upwind tests, then headed for Port La Foret, and decided that it was time to test out the cooker and a nice pot noodle and some M&Ms (sorry to Denis, my nutritionist, who will probably not be too happy about the diet for the evening!) Finally, the engine to test out charging, an e-mail on the Iridium and check the F77 connection to the internet..... all in one night!

We arrived at 05.00 on Friday morning, with the high tide, and Corentin was there to help us in with the rib. All in all, a fun, but tiring night!

 

So now ROXY is ready at Port La Foret, as next week I am participating in the training "stage" with Pole France. There should be 6 or 7 boats out on the water - all of which are new-generation boats - so it will be hard work and very interesting. Roxy, PRB, Foncia, Generali, Safran, Brit Air and perhaps BT should all be there.

 

More news soon.....

 

PS A HUGE THANKS to Alex from Ports de France http://www.portsdefrance.com for helping me get my blog onto samdavies.com. I think its the best way to keep everyone up-to-date with my adventure.......