FINISHED in Zeilen TransOcean sailing Race

HURRAY...HURRAY...HURRAY 


Suratna has Finished her Zeilen TransOcean Sailing Race in Paramaribo, and ultimately reached the 25th Place; some 6 hours, 15 minutes and 51 seconds behind the Winner. (+ 6h 15m 51s). 


The last day was a glorious day as my plan to make a strategic move to the North-West to start the Ultimate End-Sprint worked out Fantastic. 
I managed to set heading to the Finish about 11 hrs before and in that stretch I could pass some 38 boats, :)

A screen shot for the Podium Winners:
1st Place for Cagouille17 in a winning time of 11 days, 8 hours, 43 minutes and 50 seconds
2nd Place for Fourwinds1000 who finished only 16 minutes and 32 seconds later
3rd Place for Dilolo who came in 32 minutes and 43 seconds after the winner. 


A complete ranking list can be found here : LiveSkipper - Ranking Zeilen TransOcean Sailing Race


A like to conclude showing the map of the route that Suratna followed (link also on the right in the list of links)

I  like to thank, my followers and readers, the organisers , Nauticlink and Zeilen Magazine and not in the least LiveSkipper for allowing their Marvelous sailing simulator to complete this beautiful Zeilen TransOcean Sailing Race. 


Note: for sailors that appreciate virtual sailing, Liveskipper is organizing a new but shorter race in Japan on 21st May starting at 08:00 GMT. Hope to see you there. 

End-Sprint to Paramaribo

I think I found out the Best location for the End-Sprint start to the Finish in Paramaribo !
it is coordinate N: 9degree 32' 26' and W:52degree 15' 35"


My placing at the moment of making my last jibe was 63. 


I am sailing on the Final Course to the Finish of the Zeilen TransOcean sailing race to Paramaribo.
Since the moment of my last jibe, I have gained already some 5 places and my rank now is 58. I hope I have the good line to pass some more boats.


The Podium is now too far for me. Some 2 days back I should have sailed further South for the stronger winds. However I didn’t.:(

I will report once Finished.

The best Location/Time to start the End Sprint

The wind is stronger and the boats are sailing beautiful with mid twenty kts of boatspeeds. The Fleet has moved more to the South last day, except that I found myself almost as the most Northerly boat in the fleet this morning. 
Luckily the wind direction gave me best approach speed to the Finish in going South and I can close the gap maybe a little.


Still difficult to say what will be the best approach to Paramaribo. South has the best wind speeds but then the winds are more easterly there, which would either push you further south for the final jibe or would force a jibe just before the Finish. 

Most likely the Finish of the first boats will be tomorrow mid-day gmt; but...........tomorrow is Friday 13th May ?!


My rank this morning 18 in a still growing fleet of 1062 boats.

How to Approach the Last part of the Atlantic?

Today I see some two groups forming in the middle of the Atlantic passage? This is strange for me, as I can see only one route , jibing till the Finish. Maybe I have to do some simulations in the LiveSkipper simulator to see which of those groups has the better strategy. Funny thing however is, that both groups have some of the better sailing strategist !

Or................would it be the story of the 2 dogs fighting and the 3rd getting the bone? So if I keep sailing on headings around the direct line of sight, I might get the benefit ; at least my placing is improving greatly !!! So maybe , maybe ?

Winds are still in the same NE corner but picking up in the mid teen Kts. The boatspeed is nicely now 25 kts and I have to be careful not to spill my coffee , Irish coffee that is of course.

My Rank this morning : 24th   in a fleet of 1059 boats.

In the middle of the Water

Sailing across the Atlantic. The wind is nice constantly from the NE directions and strength comfortable just over 10 kts. This allows to sail the boat in the high teens boat speed giving a very nice sailing experience.

And though some boats have slightly different routes, the majority of the fleet is keeping a common route.


Distance sailed yesterday about 577 Km = 312 Nm, not a bad day of sailing I would say.


My rank now 34 with 1058 participants in the TransOceans race.

Passed Cape Verde Islands

So early last Night Suratna passed and validated the Gate at Cape Verde Islands. In the process I won many places , mainly by steering close to the Western buoy to reduce the overshoot to the minimum .

Now we are sailing in Westerly direction towards Paramaribo in a nice 12 kts NE breeze. The wind is veering more towards ENE in coming hours.

I have to make a study of the wind situation, should have done that maybe before, to see what is the best and fastest route to the Finish, as the winds in the South are stronger, but the wind-angle to wards Paramaribo is not that favourable.

Just you show you the route followed so far a screenshot of the TransOcean map, see link on the right.

My rank this morning is 40 in a still growing fleet of 1049 boats. For a ranking list see Ranking list

Target Cape Verde Islands

The target for today is to pass the Gate at the Cape Verde Islands and validate before turning the Heading West to Paramaribo.
Yesterday, we had a weakening wind (<10kts) that slowed the boatspeed. The wind direction was not too bad and we could use the Genaker as most effective sail. 
Today offers a little better wind and the direction is still fine from NE. 
ETA at the gate is Sunday 15:00 GMT, wind permitting.

I see some boats sailing SE to very close to the African coast and after some study, I found out the wind is a lot stronger up there. Guess these boats have a good strategy and some may even pass me.

My rank is now 122 and the fleet 1049 boats.