Life on Board - Life of Reilly II - The rest of the story!

One of our Race Committee members, Derek Mason was a crew member on Life of Reilly II.  He did manage to send a fabulous sunrise shot and a couple of posts - but was hoping to file several more updates on the race.  However, he lost his internet connection sooner than expected.  Now that he's back in Prospect, N.S., here is his summary of a week to remember! 

Derek with skipper Peter Blunden on Life of Reilly II

Hey, I'm back. Been away for the week on the Route Halifax Saint-Pierre Ocean Race and have some stuff to share.

I effectively, lived without internet for a week and survived, funny huh? Lost it off Cape Breton and would only get updates when we were out sailing off the coast of Saint-Pierre. My phone and iPad would populate when I wasn't looking. It's not that the Island doesn't have internet, it was just difficult to acquire what was set up for the sailors. Too many people sharing the same connection. I kept a few logs to keep my mind up to date during the trip since I couldn't post daily.

The Route Halifax Saint-Pierre race starts in early July in Halifax harbour and finishes 2-3 days in Saint-Pierre. It's a sponsored event hosted by the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron and the Saint-Pierre Yacht Club.

The race was an amazing trip. It's not just about racing to Saint-Pierre to win honours, (we did capture 4th in our division for the ocean race and the Grand Prix with our canvas enclosure up) it's about a glorious 2.5 day trip to a wonderful place with amazing people.

I only knew 2 of our 6 crew when we left. Actually only met Dirk de Haan as we left the dock to start the race. By the time the week was over, and I had to leave, I had 5 great comrades with bonds for a life time.

We were, Peter Blunden (skipper), Richard Dube (navigator and cook), Dirk de Haan (driver and main trim), Mark Jollymore (driver and trim), Tom Vokey (trim and driver) and myself (trim, photographer, inshore tactics).

The hearts of the Saint-Pierre people are huge and warm. They couldn't do enough for us and we were amazed. They are so gracious. Our host family, Jean-Pierre and José Poirer, were wonderful and I hope to see them again soon.

The weather, although I'm told is always foggy and cold, was warm and clear with moderate winds pushing us downwind to what I now refer to as the little northern Bermuda. Little European streets with brightly coloured houses, both shingle and stucco sided and a rich history dating back to the discovery of North America.

Anyone that has never been, or thinks it's not the place to go, needs to rethink. I'll fly back with my wife and daughter as soon as we can. It will be the leisurely cap to a great trip.

I've dropped in a few pics, 

Enjoy, Derek

While you were sleeping...non-spinnaker race settled

Many of the non-spinnaker division boats raced to the finish line overnight. RNSYS' Jason Coakley and SV Christina Grant crossed the line first at 62 hours, 35 sec. but was overtaken by Genesis, skippered by Gilles Derouet of the Yacht Club de Saint-Pierre when the ratings were calculated.

So the finishing order in provisional results are Genesis in first, Christina Grant, second and Scott MacLeod and Easy Company from RNSYS in third place.  Several yachts are still on the water this morning.

Update:  Saraphie finished and is now in third in the provisional results. (as of 9:00 AM ADT)

RHSP 2012 nearing completion - one division still to come

Competitors continued to arrive at Saint-Pierre all day and three of the four divisions in the race are almost complete.

Following the early results from IRC covered in an earlier post, PHR-1 has top three finishers at the dock.  Number one is Helm's Deep, with skipper Mike Sutton arriving just twenty minutes after the first boat across the finish line.  Second place in PHR-1 is Starfire, skipper Andrew Boswell of BBYC and third place Harrier, RNSYS skipper Evan Petley-Jones.

Four of six PHR-2 boats are now in.  Grant Gordon's Vagrant from the Dartmouth Yacht Club is in the
number one position, followed by two RNSYS boats - Mike Archibald's Glenesk in number two and Judy Robertson and Steve Kempton's Semper Vivens in third position after handicapping.

One fascinating detail of this year's race - two of the PHR-2 boats have the best times on the results board once the rating system kicks in.   Grant Gordon's corrected time in his Morgan 366 Vagrant is just under two minutes faster than the corrected time of the line honors winner, Saint-Pierre en Bessin.  And Mike Archibald's Tartan 3700, Glenesk is also faster, by about 25 sec. on corrected time.

None of the non-spinnaker division boats has arrived in Saint-Pierre as of the 2100 hr transponder check in.

Watch the results page (look on the left hand side menu) here on the RHSP website for the 2012 official results as calculated by RHSP director, Richard Hinterhoeller.

IRC results complete now

The IRC division results are complete now. You'll find them here on our race webpage under results. Final order after handicapping in that division is:

1. Saint-Pierre en Bessin, Luc Coquelin 
2. Dawn Treader, Lawrence Cohen 
3. Bella J, Ray Rhinelander
4. Defiant, Jean Trottier

The only other boat already at the dock is Helm's Deep, Mike Sutton's Soto 40 from RNSYS. His crossing was 43:20:31, approximately twenty minutes behind Saint-Pierre en Bessin. It has been corrected to 54:23:39 by the rating system. Sutton's team was racing in PHR-1 and sits in first place in that division at this point.

Victory!

Here's a moment of victory captured by Saint-Pierre photographer Jean-Christophe L'Espagnol early this morning as the Top 50 Saint-Pierre en Bessin's skipper Luc Coquelin enjoyed his first place finish...leading the whole fleet and winning the IRC division.

Arrivée ce matin à Saint-Pierre du voilier Saint-Pierre en Bessin, premier de la course. Luc Coquelin fait le signe de la victoire ! © Jean-Christophe L'Espagnol - Ville de Saint-Pierre - Route Halifax — Saint-Pierre

Wonderful pictures of the winner!

Saint-Pierre photographer Jean-Christophe L'Espagnol was out on the water this morning to capture the sights of IRC-winner Saint-Pierre en Bessin and skipper Luc Coquelin arriving at the French island.  You'll find a gallery of his shots on this website, which is being updated by the Saint-Pierre race committee.

Copy and paste the link into a new browser window to see the full page:
http://www.chezvoo.net/rhsp2012#!__rhsp2012

First across the line! Congratulations Saint-Pierre en Bessin.

RHSP 2012 is coming to a climax this morning with the first boats crossing the finish line in Saint-Pierre.  Line honors go to Saint-Pierre en Bessin in the IRC class, completing the race in just under 43 hours.  Helm's Deep was next into port, first to complete the race in the PHR-1 division.  The rest are on their way.  Look at the tab for "Race Results" on this website.  Race Director Richard Hinterhoeller is updating with the latest information including corrected times as the boats arrive.