Meeting Sir Knox-Johnston

A couple of weekends ago, I went to Norfolk to see the racers in town for the Velux 5 Oceans solo around-the-world race. The rain held off and I was fortunate enough to meet Sir Robin Knox-Johnston on the dock. I offered my congratulations on his race, and he told me "I don't deserve any congratulations, I'm not winning the thing!". (He's in 4th place at the moment.) I asked him if he thought he could make up the time on the 3rd place boat, and he said he thought it would be tough. I checked today, however, and he is roughly 12 hours ahead, so he needs to put more distance between him and his competitor if he hopes to beat him out for 3rd.

I also briefly met Koji Suraishi, in second place. It was great to see the skippers and their boats. Best of luck to all of them in the third, and final leg, back to Spain.

The Mast is Out

Last Wednesday, Bryan and I took Silence around to Jabin's to unstep the mast. We had already unhooked all the electrical connections at the base of the mast. The guys from Chesapeake Rigging did a very professional job of unrigging all the standing rigging and preparing for the hoist. After about an hour of work, we were ready, so we spun the boat around and brought it up close to the bulkhead. The crane was brought up to the edge and stabilized, then one of the riggers rode the crane up to the spreaders. A sturdy strap was wrapped around the mast, just above the spreader and secured against slipping by running a line down to the winches near the deck. Once the crane was ready, the forestay and shrouds were released, and crane lifted the mast out easily. The mast is lying in the yard now, awaiting new paint.

Velux 5 Oceans in Norfolk

All of the racers, save one, are in Norfolk, and will be restarting the race this coming Sunday. The last racer, Graham Dalton, has been struggling with damage to his boat, and is racing against time to make it to Norfolk in time to avoid disqualification. I plan to drive down on Saturday and see the boats and, hopefully, the sailors.

Dismasting

That headline may have gotten your attention. However, the dismasting of Silence will be intentional, and will happen next week. We plan to have the mast hauled out, painted, and rewired. This will be our biggest project to-date, but we're looking forward to having a working anchor light, working deck-lights, and a new radar. Not to mention, no more snagging halyards!