Tecla drifting with no wind

Janette Sluik on board Tecla (Netherlands) has sent in this report on their last day of the race:

“On this cloudy, almost misty day, the race ended because of the lack of wind now and in the coming days. After a night of just drifting at between 0.4 and 0.9 knots in all kinds of directions, we took the mainsail down. It was horrible to see the new sail shaking and hitting itself. Because of the heavy boom and gaff, she constantly went from one site to the other. 

“We had hoped that the clouds would bring us some wind, but they did not move all day. We are in a large area with the same air pressure, about 1012 mbar. We looked on different weather maps, but we did not find anything that showed us a change in the weather/wind. It is sad that we don’t know yet what the new sails can do in a race. We think we are faster with light winds, but there has to be wind to get the Tecla moving. 

“We are glad to see, that we were the third big ship ahead of the others, only the Oosterschelde and the Pandora where ahead of us.

This morning we were second in class and sixth overall. The yachts went up in the overall positions, except for the Pandora, who kept her first in class and first overall position. We saw Pandora on the radar last night, but this morning she was gone. And let me not forget the Astrid, she is still first in the A class. 

“Now we are motoring again, still 184 miles to go to Trapani, where we will arrive early in the morning on Friday.

And as I am writing this, a little wind from the ESE is coming up, time to set sail…”

To track the fleet as they race click here

To view the current placings in the race click here

The Garibaldi Tall Ships Regatta is organised by Sail Training International.