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High winds, technical hiccups, a torn sail and a lack of sleep have not managed to dampen the spirits of Jersey-born sailor Phil Sharp, who is hoping to make good use of the 1,000 remaining miles in the Route du Rhum to catch up on the leader.
Sharp has been on his Class40 boat, Imerys Clean Energy, for two weeks having left St. Malo for the 3,550-mile single-handed race against on 4 November along with 100 other boats.
After a first week of sailing marred with "vicious squalls" and technical issues, Sharp managed to catch his breath over the weekend by "leaving the mad weather behind."
Heading south into warmer and more stable airs, he was hoping for more stable conditions and some sleep. However, Sunday night proved to be the exact opposite of a good night's sleep due to high gusts. As if that wasn't bad enough, the main autopilot system went down and Sharp had to rely on the spare pilot, which is not always effective. “I was below at the time, trying to get a short power-nap when the pilot locked up hard to port when sailing at around 15 knots – it threw the boat into a crash gybe," he explained.
Pictured: Despite sailing south, Sharp has yet to see better conditions.
"This is a nightmare situation when you have the spinnaker up as it lays the boat right on its side, stopped in the water, with all the sails pinned against the rigging. I had no choice but to engage the spare pilot while the boat was stopped, and then sort out the mess... Miraculously my spinnaker wasn’t damaged in the process, and I managed to recover the boat OK, although I probably lost around six, seven miles, but thankful of the spare pilot!"
The following day, Sharp was overtaken by Aina Enfance & Avenir, helmed by French sailor Aymeric Chappellier. Enjoying the Atlantic surfing, Sharp did not seem to be preoccupied by the loss of his second position.
"Since entering the trade winds yesterday (Monday) I have spent a lot of time on the helm as the spare pilot is not performing that well, and actually, it has been very refreshing," he said.
Congratulations to our skipper @Phil_Sharp_ on achieving the best 24 hour performance for two consecutive days - sans main auto pilot Yesterday covering 274.1 nm at an average speed of 11.4 kts, and 251.5 nm at an average speed of 10.5 kts on Wednesday #RDR2018 pic.twitter.com/KYFG95roh6
— Phil Sharp Racing (@PhilSharpRacing) November 16, 2018
"I am really enjoying surfing down the long Atlantic swells, which I am finding super addictive and am having trouble leaving for rest! My objective is to try and be in slightly stronger breeze than the others, and continue to have an edge on speed, and then at some point gybe back on the more favourable west direction."
The unrelenting conditions continued to test the Jerseyman and the rest of the fleet with gusts peaking at nearly 50 kts. Like many others, Sharp's boat suffered and his mainsail started to show some signs of fatigue.
A hole ironically appeared on Wednesday, as Sharp achieved the best Class40 performance over 24 hours covering 251.5 nm at an average speed of 10.5 kts.
Video: Sharp celebrated reaching the halfway point of the race on Wednesday.
He said: “The conditions are really taking their toll on the boat. Today a hole appeared in the mainsail, fortunately this is currently not too much of a concern, though it does need to be repaired. The trick is trying to make a repair without slowing the boat too much. I will have to climb and repair the sail from the boom whilst the boat is surfing at 15 kts – not easy. For now I have reduced the load going through the corner by tensioning the reefing line above."
Thursday saw Sharp come a little bit closer still to the arrival line in Guadeloupe. Having regained his second place, he was hot on the heels of French sailor Yoann Richomme and his Veedol AIC.
Yet again, he was hit by technical issues and had to reset the whole system when his communications system stopped working.
“The sat comms malfunctioned again yesterday - for no particular reason, which meant that I had to enter the tunnel of problems and reset the system, not the most calming of places to be when sailing! - Phil" #RDR2018 pic.twitter.com/dap3IL25Hk
— Phil Sharp Racing (@PhilSharpRacing) November 16, 2018
He reported: "I have gybed south so will lose further miles in the short time. Going south in general means better wind, but you are travelling further so it’s a tricky compromise… However, we still have over 1,000 miles to go, which will be around 1,500 miles once we have gybed downwind to Guadeloupe.
"There’re plenty of opportunities at stake still to try and reduce Veedol's lead and fight our way to the front… Let’s face it, he has been leading the race far too long!"
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