July SITREP

Photos: Vinvent Olivaud / SAS 2022

Made it to the Azores!

The month of July was all about preparing for the Les Sables-Azores-Les Sables race, getting to the starting line, and completing the race. During all the preparations I was interviewed by Sail-World.com and Around the Buoy Podcast. Make sure to check out my interviews using the links below!

Sail-World.com Interview

Around the Buoy Podcast Interview

On 31 July, Sunday evening I crossed the finish line in Horta, completing the first half of the Les Sables-Azores-Les Sables race. The 1,300 nm Leg 1 of the race took me 12 days, 10 hours, and 53 minutes. This race tested me across a wide range of conditions.

The race started with multiple days of heavy air, downwind sailing. I was averaging speeds over 10 knots and even hit 15 knots a few times! Then the light air set in…there were days of drifting without a breath of air around. The main challenge was a high pressure system was sitting right on the finish area which stopped the entire fleet. The final few days tested us all mentally with the slow speeds and physically with the intense heat with no help from the lack of wind.

SAS Tracking Link

I plan to do a full after action report for this leg once the entire race is over. Since I am tight on time, below are the highlights:

The first few days I was making great time with the spinnaker, winds were ranging between 16-24 kts. I would shift between the A2 running and A3 reaching spinnakers.
After rounding Cape Finisterre (NW Spain), I continued to head southwest to stay in the pressure. For about 4 hours I lost full control of my steering. A nut that secures the tiller bar between a rudder and the tiller fell off. Of course it was blowing 20 knots at night and we were surfing down waves. This caused me to lose close to 40 miles on my competition.
Once I got the steering sorted out…Initially going farther south felt like the right move. However, in the big picture this was my greatest tactical mistake. By chasing the wind too far south, I endured more light air from a high pressure ridge line that divided across the fleet from SW to NE.
I continued to fight hard, but the drifting started about 800 nm out from the Azores. Most days we only had wind around the hours of dawn and dusk. It was common to not move at all for hours, just waiting for a little puff of wind.
There was enough food and water to last me another week, but I ran out of snacks and chocolate during the final four days of racing!
With just 10 miles until the finish, the wind died and rotated, forcing me to sail directly upwind for the final few hours.
As I approached the finish line in Horta, the sun was setting and the wind slowed down. With about 3 meters to go, the wind shut off and I started drifting backwards.
At 22:11 I finally made it across the finish line. It was an incredible experience seeing so many of my fellow competitors there on the dock in support.

Overall, this was an excellent test of the boat and myself. While the results were not what I intended, I still feel more prepared than ever for the ultimate mission of the Mini Transat next year.

Now time to race back to France! We start TOMORROW at 1600 local (1200 EDT)…keep an eye on the tracker!

Thank you to everyone who has donated to get me to this point. The costs for this season continue to add up and we still have a ways to go to make the Mini Transat! Please help me raise awareness with this campaign for U.S. Patriot Sailing by donating on my GoFundMe page here: https://gofund.me/1089a37b

Made it to the Azores!

Terminal Leave is Racing Back to France! Follow Along on the Race!

Watch the Start to the SAS LIVE! Track Terminal Leave During the Race