Melbourne to Osaka

Since we know that a few of you shorthanded (read: kooks) sailors check in here from time to time, we were looking forward to bringing you regular updates from onboard the 38' Beyond Outrageous. We wondered why we hadn't heard anything, until the following note arrived. You may follow the fleet at www.osakacup.com

Just a breif message to let you know that communications from Competitor # 28 'Beyond Outrageous' in the Melbourne Osaka yacht race may be limited. During the storm conditions that the fleet enountered in the first week of the race, Beyond suffered computer problems, which serriously limited their communication abilities.

Other damage/problems include:

Sail damage caused by, in part, the leeward runner block and an expoded headboard car.
Autohelm breakdown resulting in them having to hand steer the storm.
300mm of water through the boat caused by crew error

The sail damage was repaired by myself in Eden. I recieved a telephone call at 3 pm and by 4pm my car was loaded with 2 sewing machines and materials required to effect the repair. After a 7 hour drive to Eden, the damage was assessed and a plan of attack was formulated.

I would like to thank the people of Eden for being helpful in finding somewhere that I could repair the sail and also the Twofold Bay Yacht Club, where the repair was undertaken.

All other problems (apart from the computer) were fixed, with a new autohelm freighted overnight from Sydney and installed and the yacht has returned to the race. Both crew plan on getting the computer up and running again during the race.

Karl Blitz
Global Sails Pty Ltd.