Brian Thompson from Bahrain Team Pindar:
"All well on Bahrain Team Pindar, after a long 36 hours in the Biscay storm that saw so much carnage through the fleet.
I seem to have come through unscathed with no damage at all, but it was rough, especially yesterday afternoon just before the front came through, and then again after the front and the big windshift from SW to NW. The first part of last night was very hard as I had to reach straight into a head sea caused by the 40 knot SW winds that I had before the front. I reined in the boatspeed to protect her from herself and sailed a course to try to keep the waves at an angle to the bows but it was still like jumping off 4m ramps in your car.
The day before I did 3 accidental tacks, the first in 35 knots of wind, which makes an almighty mess to sort out, as when the wind goes on the wrong side, the sails are aback and all the keel, water ballast and stack is suddenly on the low side. It felt like we were heeled over 80 degrees, and I had to climb up the cockpit to the new runner to wind it on, before easing the main and other runner. Not sure why the tack happened but I just got to the helm a second too late, and once the wind gets on the wrong side, its an unstoppable force and the boat just keeps heeling and heeling till it finds it new horizontal equilibrium, going sideways at 3 knots. At the time I was right alongside either Brit Air or Delta Dore.We had been running alongside each other for several hours in the dark, just a hundred metres apart..
That probably cost at least an hour to get the boat flat again, then bear away, and get prepared to tack and sailing properly again. It’s something fairly unique to sailing canting keel boats singlehhanded, so there is no need to try it at home. The next two accidental tacks did not take so long to retrieve as they were in daytime, and I had some recent practice.
I feel really bad for those who are having to go back especially for Alex who has moved heaven and earth to start the race at all, and he was going really well before he had the hull damage. Hope he can restart.
Out here not delighted with my position in the fleet, but very pleased to see how Bahrain Team Pindar handled the storm and got us through what will be some of the roughest weather of the entire trip. She is a great boat and there is a very long way to go in this VG, and lots of racing to come, so better go on deck now and put up some more sail, now that the wind is coming astern.