1000-Mile Double Handed Race news 

Happy New Year

A Happy New Year to all 1000-Mile competitors from the past and the upcoming year.20 June 2019 we will start the next version. Race details to follow in early January 2019.

We have winner!

This was another 1000-Mile Double handed Race!
The competitors had to face the elements of the northernmost North Sea: becalmed for hours, strong winds, a delay of 24 hours of a start because of a serious Low passing, lot of fun in Lerwick at the Lerwick Boating Club, all ingredients were there for successful 1000-Mile Race 2017.

There is only one thing what remains to be done…: the results!
Of course we have a winner!
After Leg 2 the Insomnix and Bliss were on par. Both had 5 points. Leg 3 became a decisive part of the race for the crews. Insomnix won the last leg ± 30 min. before Greyhound. They had pushed the throttle hard and had a wild ride doing 8,5 knots on average.
The winner of 1000-Mile Double Handed Race 2017 is: INSOMNIX

1. INSOMNIX – 7 pts
2. BLISS – 9 pts
3. JAGER – 11 pts
4. GREYHOUND – 13 pts
5 VANDAL – 21 pts
6 POLISHED MANX 2 – 23 pts

The overview of all the results in the 3 legs you can download here.

The 1000-Mile Race will be back in June 2019!

(but first another 500-Mile North Sea Race in 2018, we hope to see you there!)

Pre-Prize-Giving aboard Greyhound

The wild Leg 3

Tonight will be the Prize giving ceremony at the Bergens Seilforening. In the mean time enjoy some pics taken during the wild Leg 3 (by JAGER)

Arrival times Bergen

The provisional times of arrival in Bergen (Marstein) after Leg 3 (in CEST) on 26th of June:
GREYHOUND – 10:21:04
INSOMNIX – 10:46:00
JAGER – 11:45:45
VANDAL – 12:45:00
POLISHED MANX 2 – 13:19:11
BLISS – 15:18:10

Today’s start of Leg 3

Today the postponed start of Leg 3 (Lerwick-Bergen) will take place at 1200 CEST.
Wind force will dominate the start of this leg just as it did in the previous one.
In Leg 2, because of the lack of wind; today the opposite. Yesterday a gale in the 30’s, today fortunately it slowed down to ± 23 knts near Lerwick but still more to the east.
The low pressure system has passed and steadily moves eastwards; the race fleet will depart in the wake of it. So the wind direction will be steady in NW. Later in the race it will gradually veer to NNW or perhaps N sometimes. Wind force will drop some but not that much. The crews will keep 22 to 28 knots on the port side. And it will be sunny 🙂

Situation Sunday at noon

Start Leg 3 postponed due to strong winds

The new schedule is:
Skippers meeting Sunday 25th July in Lerwick Boating Club – 0930 BST
Warning signal for the 3rd leg will be given Sunday – 1055 BST
Price ceremony in Bergen at Bergens Seilforening Tuesday 27th July – 1900 CEST

The ‘eye’ of the system is clearly visible (the blue dot)

RESULTS LEG 2

We have final results of LEG 2 for you:

To download the complete file, click here.

What a race so far..

BLISS has finally time to post us an update. They have been working hard in the second leg:
“Finally a quiet moment for an update. What a race so far on board Bliss!!
Firstly, that long calm just after the start (grrr). When we finally picked up some speed and heel, in the middle of the night we heard  the sound of splashing water from under the floorboards! When we took drinking water in Bergen, we spoiled a few buckets of water. We thought we found the cause then, but apparently we didn’t. In the middle of the night we had to take the floor away, pumped the water out, dried everything  and finally the co-skipper could jump into his bunk again and the skipper back to her night watch.

Later the wind increased to 20-25 kts. We enjoyed it! After a while, though, we discovered that the screws which attached the autopilot bracket to the helm came loose. In the pouring rain we tried to replace the broken screw with a new one. Unfortunately this was cut as well, after a few hours. We’re now supporting the bracket with tie-wraps and straps, which worked well as long as the weather will stay as calm as it is now.

A bit later we were hit by a squall and 30 knots of wind. Some increase of wind has been forecasted but not this much! BLISS was stil under full main an jib. Because of the shape of the main we could handle it quite well for a long time. Nevertheless we quickly set two reefs. Fortunately the wind dropped swiftly  again and the bunk watch could rest again.

Today all went well, despite a rather ‘unsafe meal’; it was even, thanks to the clear sunny weather, quite pleasant.
As we speak we are 53 miles from the finish and sailing windward in the lovely evening sun. We’ll expect a calm again and a windshift later, which could make it possible to get to the Bressay Sound without another tack.

We have no idea where we are in the race. A calm usually is in the advantage of the slower boats. We’ll see. The part between the calm at the start and the 30knts squall would have been perfect for a C0 of C5. We watched on the AIS the yacht which have such a sail sprinting away.., while we just could get to 7 knots with our 100% jib.

I think, it all will depend on if all the yachts wil get into that calm or only  just the slower boats. We’ll see, we just sail as fast as possible.
ETA 5AM CEST

Auto-pilot repair


Eventually the wind came..

After a night of proper sailing the wind is about to veer from SSE to W, a shift of more than 90˚. On the tracker chart it is clearly visible. BLISS can still steer W (wind hasn’t veered there yet). The leaders though, already changed to a more northerly course. Also a tactical issue is noteworthy: the more southerly boats (GREYHOUND, JAGER) have the advantage now, for they will get a position at the luff side (nearer to the wind) of the fleet.

Fleet stalled

1000-Mile & Shetland Race Fleet stalled after only 12 nm! No imminent change expected unfortunately..

Not funny.. #2

VANDAL reports: “Almost no wind, 3-4 knots. A bit frustrating:-)” The yachts are drifting rather than sailing.. Speed 2 .. 2,4… 2.9 knots. The doublehanded fleet is trapped between areas of wind at the W (30 miles away) and E side. Marstein Lighthouse gives 5m/s or 10knts. They have to ‘suffer’ a bit more. Not sooner than early in the evening they will get into wind zone.. To their comfort: wind will be SSE then and increase rapidly to 20knts or more.

Follow the races

How to follow the race live? At the tracker page!

This is not going to be fun tomorrow afternoon…

While the 1000-Milers and the crews in the Shetland Bergen Race are attending the mutual skippers meeting in the new clubhouse of the Bergens Seilforening in Hjellestad, let’s have a look at tomorrow’s events.
Early in the morning the joined fleets of the 1000-Mile yachts and this of the Pantaenius Shetland Bergen Race will head towards Marstein Lighthouse for the start at 1000 LT  of the leg to Lerwick. The distance to be covered is about 150 nm.
The course is straightforward, except for the final approach of the finishing line: either the yachts can enter the Bressay Sound north of Bressay of straight into the sound South of te Island. The finishing line can be clearly observed from the Lerwick Boating Club.

“This is not going to be fun tomorrow afternoon…”
Why is that? Well, let’s have a look at the wind chart.

Litle wind at the start at 1000

When the gunshot sounds at 1000 there will be only little wind from the north but probably enough for the propulsion of the boats and that will not change in the hours to come. Wind will decrease steadily though  until there is none left… Read more »

RESULTS Leg1

The results of the long leg 1 from IJmuiden to Bergen on handicap are:

The complete results can be downloaded here

Photofinish @ Herdla Fort 2017

Provisional Finish Times Leg 1 2017

CONGRATULATIONS GREYHOUND FOR WINNING LINE HONOURS Leg 1
The official times of arrival:

GREYHOUND 13:38:45
INSOMNIX 13:57:47
JAGER 16:46:03
VANDAL 18:37:34
BLISS 22:46:45
POLISHED MANX 2 08:26:03

(times in CEST)

40 Miles to go

Exiting developments! A true battle for line honours is unfolding for the 2 leading yachts GREYHOUND and INSOMNIX. We made a quick drawing on the chart of events. Their average speed at the moment is ± 9 knots. They are on their way to the waypoint s of Fedje then onwards to the finish W of Herdla. They both are clearly visible on the AIS tracker page.

After a very calm, probably never-racking (for keeping the pace up), night they’re now clearly catching wind.

17th June 0200

17th June 0900

BLISS’ after supper report

“Still beating, sunny, wonderful sun set, wind force 4. We just took the last reef from the main. The wind has gradually decreased since 5 PM. Expecting we will have only a few knots of wind left around 2 AM tonight. Then it will shift to S and increase again.
Especially the first hours running with only little wind will be a challenge, for the swell and waves from the NW will still be present. With little pressure in the spinaker could make a mess of the sail.
We finally have birds flying around us, so there must be fish down here! Until now it was deserted and quiet at sea. The awareness of overfishing and humans depriving the sea from life makes us feel uncomfortable. Though now we see a lot of petrels and gannets. Unfortunately no dolphins yet, maybe on the way to Shetland.
POS 58 22.8 N 3 47.7 E”

Finish leg 1 READY

1000-Mile DH Race finish line control is now manned and active @ Herdla Fort

BLISS Report 2

“Last night a frontal passage. BLISS reaching in 20/24 kn wind. Two reefs in the main and a reef in the 100% Jib. The latter we just unreefed again. We tried to stay on the west side of the front to keep the gale S of Norway well on starboard. Which went all according to plan. Clear sky at the moment. Wave height last night estimated at 1.5 m. Now decreased to 1.0 m. All well on board, good health, no seasickness.
Position at 11:30: 57.21.57 3.34.26″

Weather: Friday 16 June

The yachts are approaching the Norwegian coast. Wind from NE force 15 to 20 knts (8-10 m/s). So they still can point directly towards the finish near Bergen. Probably most of them have set a first reef already, but will certainly do so soon, for the wind will increase early Friday morning.
Wind will develop even further just East of them, with strong winds in the 30+ knots (15+ m/s) at the S-Norwegian coast. The 1000-Mile teams will pass this area, with a max. of 25 knts later in the Friday afternoon. This will only stay shortly and the wind will drop steadily during the night with a dramatic outcome early Saturday when there will be a few hours of very calm weather; even chance of hardly wind at all!
Calm often means change of wind direction. So it will this time. When the wind kicks in again it will be straight from the South! Spinakers will be up again!
The downside is there is chance of some precipitation later on Saturday.

Early Friday morning

Friday during the day

BLISS Report I

Report from BLISS: “Wonderful day yesterday, tacking near the coast. We could use our local knowledge well! Excellent night under spinaker. We dropped it too soon perhaps, which meant that the others gained miles. We set the spinaker again. Wind start to shift to W now. Best from the Bliss.”

Start of the 1000-Mile Race 2017

Exactly at 0900 CEST the 1000-Mile yachts passed the starting line in IJmuiden in a very light wind condition (±SE 6knts) Fortunately the yachts were assisted by the last bit of North-going tide. The yachts are on their way to the finish near Bergen!

Sailing Instructions 1000-Mile Race

UPDATED 7th June: some of the dates in ‘5. Race schedule’ were accidentally incorrect. We are pleased to announce the SAILING INSTRUCTIONS for the upcoming race are available for downloading as well! Any updates will be issued here. GOOD LUCK with the final preparations, we’re looking forward to see you in IJmuiden next week!

Notice of Race 2017

We are pleased to announce the Notice of Race for the upcoming race is available for downloading!

The Course

To get familiar with the course and start/finish areas, have a look at the chart. Click on the start and finish icons for more details. To have a better view launch the chart in a new window.

1000-Mile Race in 2017

The next (6th) edition of the 1000-Mile Double Handed Race will be held in 2017; the start will be on 14th of June 2017. Like the previous race in 2013 the race consist of three legs: 1. Start in IJmuiden (NL) to Bergen (NO) 2. Bergen – Lerwick (Shetland) 3. Lerwick – finish in Bergen… Read more »

Trackers are ready for Leg 3

Follow the race by our excellent Yellowbrick trackers: live.1000mile.org Entertaining and interesting to replay the previous legs!