Calm first night on leg 2 of the WOW Cap Istanbul race… 27 - 09 - 10 at 11:03:04

Having left Ragusa, Sicily at noon yesterday, the first night of the second 520-mile leg of WOW Cap Istanbul was calm and with a steady breeze. The consistent breeze from the west helped the 26-boat fleet to cover 120 miles so far. In order to avoid windless holes and make long-term decisions about the course, most of the sailors developed a strategy to climb north of the direct course. The racers took it easy on the first night to conserve their energy for later. Jonny Malbon is currently ranked in 21st place, for now succeeding with his strategy to stay central to the fleet as they spread out on a north-south divide pushing eastwards towards Athens at around 8 knots of boat speed. Artemis is less than 10 miles from the leading pack of Francisco Lobato (Roff Tempo Team), François Gabart (Macif 2010) and Nicolas Lunven (Generali). 

The Cap Istanbul solo Figaro skippers set off on leg 2 to Athens… 26 - 09 - 10 at 18:50:29

Leg 2 of the WOW Cap Istanbul solo race started this afternoon - 520 miles from Ragusa (Sicily) to Athens (Greece). The 26-boat fleet is contemplating another unpredictable, light airs leg with the risk of windless zones race ahead of them. It will be another race to test their patience and skills on their way to the shores of Peloponnes.  Jonny Malbon on Artemis got off to a good start rounding the turning mark in 14th place as the fleet headed east. The latest race tracking shows the entire fleet keeping well to north of the direct course - perhaps in anticipation of the forecasted windless patch ahead that Jonny talked about before the start: “We expect around 15 knots from the west at the start but an uncertain light patch in the middle of the course and there are to weather routing options open at the moment - to go north or south of the light patch.” Only 4 miles separates the entire fleet in these early stages of this leg to Athens.

Latest update from Jonny after finishing first leg of Cap Istanbul race. 2nd leg starts Sunday 25 - 09 - 10 at 12:25:57

Jonny Malbon finished the 600-mile first leg of the Cap Istanbul race from Hyeres (France) to Ragusa (Sicily) on Friday, 24th September in a time of 4 days, 12 hours, 11 minutes and 20 seconds, 16h, 51m and 5s behind the leg winner Gildas Morvan. It was a tough and frustrating leg for Jonny who finished at the rear of the fleet: “I had a good start and got out of bay in a good position so I was happy with that. The first night pretty windy and the aim was to get as far south as possible in the mistral with the routing suggesting we should gybe once the wind started to drop, and get over to the coast of Sardinia which meant crossing a light patch.  Everything was going to plan and just before dawn I gybed with a load of other boats. But after I gybed I just stopped in my own lovely private little wind hole! Even the guys close to me seemed to have their own band of pressure and kept moving. They came from underneath me, overtook me and I just sat there sails just flapping and feeling totally pretty helpless. I changed back to the genoa to keep the boat stable then back to the spinnaker and finally managed to get a little bit of breeze but by then the boats were on the horizon. I managed to get some spots back on the second night and reached the southern coast of Sardinia and was looking okay when the wind just shut off again. There was also a horrible sea state - 3ft waves - and the boat was just slamming around, absolutely horrible. It was so frustrating and for a time I didn’t know what to do. When in doubt, you just point at the next course mark so at least you’re going in the right direction but even that wasn’t possible as the boat was slamming so hard and I was worried about breaking something. Then I got 4-5 knots of breeze so went more offshore out of the big sea and got round Toro Island.  At that point I was so fed up I just put the big spinnaker up and headed south to find pressure and then back on the genoa again to get back on the right track. I managed to make some ground on the guys in front but it was too late by then. It was hard to finish so far behind and watch your time clocking up. I was severely disappointed with the leg and feel I got a bit unlucky and I just seemed to have more bad luck than the others. But I have to put that behind me and got on with the next leg. I know that I’m a lot better than that result indicates and i need to get over that negativity. I haven’t done a lot of sailing in the Med and it’s quite an eye opener. You can be sailing along 6 knots knots with clear blue sky and flat sea, then suddenly you’ve got 27 knots. You get all excited and spend the next half an hour moving everything around to stack the boat then you sail into nothing!”

Leg 2 starts tomorrow (Sunday, 26th September) at 1.00pm local time. Another long leg of 560 miles to Athens. Weather forecasts are slightly conflicting at the moment. There is around 15 knots forecast from the west but an uncertain light patch in the middle and there are to weather routing options open at the moment - to go north or south of the light patch. “For me, it’s just just important to stay with the fleet. I’ve had some good kip since arriving so feel fired up and ready to go.” The next leg will take approximately around 4 days.

Jonny Malbon finishes leg 1 of the Cap Istanbul… 24 - 09 - 10 at 07:07:40

Jonny Malbon on board the Artemis Figaro finished the 600-mile first leg of the Cap Istanbul race from Hyeres (France) to Ragusa (Sicily) last night. It was a tough leg for Jonny who finished at the rear of the fleet but now getting some rest and recuperation. Full update coming later.

Jonny Malbon 66 miles to go to finish of Cap Istanbul leg 1… 23 - 09 - 10 at 10:48:51

Over half the fleet have now arrived at the finish port of the Cap Istanbul first leg in Ragusa, Sicily, and will be enjoying some fresh food and sleep. But for Jonny Malbon on Artemis, he still has 66nm to go to the finish.  Yesterday’s weather gave the front runners some great sailing conditions in sunshine and spinnakers up allowing for some fast sailing to the finish line. It proved to be a near photo finish this morning for the top three with only 1 minute separating each finisher - Gildas Morvan (Cerle Vert) in 1st place at 0831 local time after 3 days, 19 hours and 20 mins, then Francois Gabart (Skipper Macif 2010) 3d 19h 21m and Erwan Tabarly (Nacarat) 3d 19 22 mins. And only 31 minutes separated 1st from 10th - a typical Figaro result where even after nearly four days of racing the solo skippers race in such close proximity.  Looking at Jonny’s race track, it looks like he had to content with a major wind shift forcing him to sail south (away from the direct route) before being able to progress on a more easterly route.  Conditions are frustratingly light for Jonny, only 4.4 knots of boat speed this morning and if it stays the same he won’t reach dry land until later this evening.