#rorcsrbi – At 0900 BST, four yachts were round, or approaching, Muckle Flugga, to round Out Stack, the most northerly part of the Round Britain and Ireland course: Ross Applebey's Scarlet Logic, Ian Hoddle's Rare, Relentless on Jellyfish sailed by James George and Jankees Lampe's La Promesse. Four more yachts should round Out Stack this morning: Stormforce Coaching's Palpatine, sailed by Ifan James, the Army Sailing Association's British Soldier, and Saga, sailed by Peter Hopps.
Three yachts were further back, east of the Orkney Islands and about 100 miles from Out Stack: Change of Course, sailed by Dave Dyer, Liam Coyne's Lula Belle and Werner Landwehr's Dessert D'Alcyone. The Royal Armoured Corp YC's Ruag White Knight 7 appears to be retiring as the boat is making good progress for Peterhead on the east coast of Scotland.
For the last two days, these fourteen yachts have been beating in the North Sea, digging deep into their reserves of strength and tenacity to reach the top of Great Britain. As race fans will have witnessed, the weather can be kind, as it was to Musandam-Oman Sail, but it can be cruel as well.
Just as these yachts reach Muckle Flugga, the wind is veering to the west. This new wind angle will assist those yachts still trying to round Out Stack but the wind is due to continue to veer and strengthen to the southwest. If this forecast is correct then, when these yachts turn west and then south west, the wind will follow them, putting the group back on the wind for at least 24 hours. This will be a real help to Change of Course, Lula Belle and Dessert D'Alcyone, but will hinder the others progress. That is all bar Scarlet Logic, which will revel in the upwind conditions in IRC Two, compared to their close rivals Rare, which will not be relishing more upwind work.
Life at sea is full of surprises, as Scarlet Logic discovered yesterday and revealed on the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race competitors' race blog. They were paid a visit by a rescue helicopter from the Miller Oil Rig Platform. They politely asked if the winchman could be lowered onto the deck as a training exercise. Scarlet Logic's skipper, Ross Applebey replied yes and the man was lowered down to say hello before returning to the chopper and disappearing into the cloud base!