Spirit of Hungary 60 foot racing boat is sailing to New York – ocean qualification – our logbook based on skipper’s  info and public weatherforcast

 

29.05.2014.

Nandor Fa: ” At the moment we are 335 sm from NY, and it’s in a 280 degrees angles from us.

We’ve got some company too, bottlenose dolphines came to our side. The wind is blowing from the right direction, we are sailing on the right track. 

We are already above the shallow ocean area, thus I’m hoping we are out of the current. We’ve come out of a 4000+ water depth to only 80 since sunrise, and not only our mood changed, but the circumstances too. 

We’re sailing on an almost smooth sea.

Although we know the wind is gonna stop, I believe we’ll arrive sometime between tomorrow night and the following morning.”

Spirit of Hungary 60′ Short video message from on board

 

 

28 May 2014 (about the 27th and 28th) 

Nandor Fa – letter from Spirit of Hungary 60′

“Pretty tough things had happened here since I last wrote. We went through a very strong upwind of around 40-45 knots, even 50 at some points, combined with monsoon rain and only 100 meters visibility.

We were constantly being smashed and beaten by the waves…

We were literally sailing for our lives.

Since then, the wind has calmed but the waves still made our lives miserable this morning. There’s  a lot to do on board.

We’re sailing on much smoother waters now. However, we still have strong reaching wind ahead of us, about 30 kts. The reaching wind direction is very good, this is the reason why we sailed north before, to reach the right angle. We have to take the Gulf Stream into account, not to end up in Newfoundland…

We have no idea how, but the weather has become winter cold. It should be rather warmer, as the Gulf is getting closer. We can see the streaming through our instruments, but we absolutely can’t feel its heating effect.

Other than that, we feel quite good, eat well, everything is all right and we are in a relatively happy mood.” — Nandor Fa

 

 25. 05. 2014. ongoing flow

and  here  we are, thanks to the OSM  to give us the tracking images also Spirit of Hungary 60 foot of the during it is running the NP-NY prologue …

Bonne voyage au tous!

 05.24. 2014. 13:05

05.24. 2014.
Sorry but we can not get tracking map shots by OSM recently, perhaps it works for the NP-NY prologue race. (@Guillaume Evrard photo)

23.05.2014. 17:00  AFTER ONE WEEK SAILING  – OVER THE HALF of the TRANSAT WAY to N.Y .

23.05.2014. 13:00

2014. 05. 23. 13:00

22.05.2014. 21:00 UTC

LOGBOOK by NANDOR FA , skipper of the Spirit of Hungary 60′

22.05.2014. 05:00 UTC

21.05. 2014. 21:00  UTC

21.05. 2014. 17:00  UTC

 

21 May 2014

Today we both managed to have a shower and to put new clothes on, which makes us feel like we’ve been renewed. It’s really cold, doesn’t make it easy to “go to the toilet” (with the aid of a bucket, trying to hide in a dugout from the waves) … it’s quite risky: you either spill the content on yourself or not … fortunately I managed to avoid that.

We’ve been in real hard conditions until yesterday, more and more tough towards the end, as in spite of the fact that we were reaching, the waves were coming front-wise. We tried hard to keep the boat tilted, because the waves kept banging the bottom so hard as if we had hit a mine…

By this morning the wind had turn back East and then even a little bit further. At the same time, I guess the reason being this, thunder clouds had arrived. These usually either strengthen the wind, or kill it completely, depending on which direction they are from our position.

The forecast augured further weakening winds for the following few days, broad reach or downwind. We’re gonna have to get the gennaker sail ready. However, the waves are too big and I’m afraid they will make the gennaker clash.

We are in e-mail conversation with the race organisers in New York about our delay. Our performance has been held back by the counter current since Brindisi, but there’s nothing we could do, we got to keep moving forward. There is a 2 knots difference between our actual speed and the distance completed, for our expense. It might change in the second half in the Gulf Stream, or the way back.

Earlier we tried to pull the reacher — very important sail and would have suited the weather conditions —, but unfortunately the top lock didn’t bear it. The huge force on the rope teared the cover layer off in the bottom lock. If the weather gets better, we’re gonna have to repair this halyard in any case, and check the lock why it doesn’t hold the rope.

The hydrogenerator works perfectly so far. It’s on about in two thirds of the time and covers all our needs. It’s a little noisy but not impossible to get used to.”

21.05. 2014. 13:00  UTC

21.05. 2014. 09:00  UTC (BST)

progress info received from the skippers info (20. May afternoon)

240-280 miles/day– but most of them not the right direction

speed: 10-14 kn by the hours 

20.05. 2014. 09:00 UTC (BST)

Just we received a few words from the skipper Nandor Fa:

“We are sailing upwind, squeezing it as much as we can, very bumpy, can hardly write. I think it might be a little bit smoother from tomorrow, and then I can give you more info.  bye Nandor”

20.05. 2014. 09:00 UTC (BST)

19.05. 2014. 19:00 UTC

 

19.05. 2014. 19:00 UTC

 

18.05. 2014. 13:00 UTC

18.05. 2014. late evening datas

(by OSM and PassageWeather.com)

18.05. 2014. info received at early afternoon from Nandor Fa,

skipper of the Spirit of Hungary: “We’ve been sailing for two days now, but unfortunately we proceed less than how much we work. There is a rather strong — 2-2,5 knots — counter current, that tries to bring us backwards. On the first day, after departure we flew out of the strait. It was a hard 30 knots wind with lots of ever stronger blows. This rose up to 40 knots after leaving the strait. At some points, the boat was going with 20 knots. Despite, we felt very comfortable and safe. In the meantime, the wind turned up a little bit, and we slowed down, but still with a speed above the average of 10 knots. Only, the counter current takes a daily 50 miles from us. Slowly we are above the line of Madeira. The weather is chilly and murky. We change shifts in every 4 hours and everything is all right”

Various of weather and waves at the area they are sailing actually by the weather screen.

16.05. 2014.

16.05. 2014.

Spirit of Hungary 60′ Imoca Ocean Masters racing boat has left La Línea (Spain) – Gibraltar bay and started her ocean qualification sailing to New York in fair wind 30-35 knots estarly sunny weather. We received a short report and photos about their sailing out from a very friendly couple, owner of the http://www.sailingschoolgibraltar.com Many thanks to Alan and Andrea to set up the sails and  following the Spirit of Hungary  as it was possible to follow a 60′ by a 42 foot pleasure boat. (photos  Andrea Berkes)

“Spirit of Hungary has started his maiden voyage crossing the Straits of Gibraltar and heading towards the Azores. They have left the port of Alcaidesa this morning with very fair winds. The eastly wind and the current is all in favore for our sailors. As they reached the Southern side of the Rock, they hoisted their reefed main sail and one of their stays up. They set course and the masterpiece just shifted further and further away from us