More long-distance sailing

Curre's blog: (Click here to see the original)

Now it's time for more long-distance sailing

Better to sail than sit still! It's a good rule now that the boat is on land and there is over a month left until the final here at home - Curres Cup from Vaxholm to Sandhamn on Lucia.

For that reason, I bite the opportunity to sail with More Sailing from Ibiza to Las Palmas on one of their five More 55s. The five will sail there to participate in the ARC November 20 to St. Lucia and then go on charter in the Caribbean all winter.

The boats have left Kremik in Croatia as they have completed their charter and service commitments. Two left two weeks ago, two in the middle of the night last Wednesday and the fifth left last weekend.

The two More 55s, which left last week, faced gale force winds, counter-currents and a southbound crossing of the Adriatic Sea. The weather took its toll on the crew and slowed their progress by a day. But after stops in Sta Maria di Luce on the east coast of Italy, one in Palermo on Sicily and one in Cagliari on Sardinia, Moore's skipper Fredrik Olsson made good daily distances as the wind turned south and increased.

With the 55's good performance, and if the forecast holds, Fredrik expects to make up the lost day and be in Ibiza on Saturday afternoon.

The five More 55s will be in Las Palmas well in advance of the ARC start and berthed together in the classic Muelle Deportivo. And just in case something has failed on the boats, the service team from More Charter will be there, ready to fix any technical problems.

Hopefully I will be able to report on how we are doing on the More 55 I will be sailing on together with Fredrik Olsson who I sailed with last spring. There will also be a report on his life as a skipper, what it's like to be on a boat for months at a time, often with new people.

One of the participants is Friskus Herlog Berge, who bought More 55 No. 2, has signed up for More 40 No. 1 and sailed with Pixel, boat 1 across the Atlantic last year. That amount of sailing was not enough for him, so Herlog signed on in Kremik for a new Adventure of the Year.

Curt Gelin