Bermuda Short-handed Return 2024

How eager are you to do a 635 nm double-handed race just five days after you finish a rough Newport Bermuda Race?

At first, not so much.

But as everyone in the crew flew home, except Mattias Bodlund and me, it felt natural to return to execution mode: work lists, food planning, and weather analysis.

Just another day at the office.

At some point, you get eager to start, to get away from all the hustle and bustle at Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and into the “offshore bubble” again.

I enjoyed last year’s return race in Bermuda 1-2 (even if it was pretty uncomfortable), so I looked forward to doing the same thing with Mattias again.

Since this was my fourth (and Mattias’ third) encounter with the Gulf Stream in just over a year, we felt ready to attack the course head-on and push as hard as possible.

The forecast was exciting both from a strategic perspective and because a cold front was supposed to hit the Gulf Stream as we were in the area. So, there was a delicate balance between maximizing gains while preserving the boat and crew. As someone said, “To finish first, you first must finish.”

As we were reasonably (?) sure about where the Gulf Stream meander was, staying east of the rhumbline would be critical. Even if the first two days looked easy (light to medium downwind), a proper approach to the cold front depended on proper positioning on the first evening. Most models also had a high-pressure parked south of Newport, so a restart was possible.

In the ideal world, the first gybe would line up for a fast run to the front, tacking as the wind went from SW to NE and then positioning to get through the high. Easy peasy. What could change…

Day 1 – start action and timing the gybe

The start was in St Georges, a beautiful little town on Bermuda’s northeast tip. Bermuda 1-2 used it as its base, so we knew it well from last year.

As usual, we tend to be aggressive at the start, even if it doesn’t matter in a 635 nm race. But it’s an excellent way to get the racing mind going and set the standard for the rest of the race. This time, we had a friendly fight with Phil Haydons SF3300 Fearless with Joe Cooper at the helm, and managed to come out ahead at the pin.

We soon led the fleet as the pin was favored by 5-6 boat lengths and had better pressure.

It was a great feeling to pass St George’s Dinghy & Sports Club, where people cheered us on. I hope to go back there someday.

Getting through “The Cut”, the narrow sound between St George and the ocean, is always tricky. We managed to extend our lead as the other piled up.

Then, a fast jib reached the first mark, where we put the A2 up. Finally, after looking at jibs all the way to Bermuda, we had some soft sails up.

he race is on. Pretty soon, it became clear that the Figaro II Turbo Groupe 5 with Will McKeige and Zach Doerr had some good pace.

It soon became apparent that our performance profiles, and polars, were very different. They were the first boat to gybe to port, while we waited the longest. Several boats thought the averages between us would be a good compromise…

We had some issues with our plotter, which occasionally thought it was an excellent idea to create MOB positions where we used to be moored in Hamilton and then tell the instruments to go to this important position. This was pretty annoying. We decided to reset the plotter, which resulted in the rudder sensor flipping port and starboard.

Especially for the autopilot, who now steered the wrong way.

Even more annoying.

This would be an easy fix. Just do the “dockside commissioning”… “Turn Rudder to Max Starboard” and “Turn Rudder to Max Starboard” get new meanings when you’re doing 8 knots under gennaker. Even other boats were wondering what was going on…

We tried doing this both from the Pilot Controller and the H5000 Graphics. Nothing worked. Crap. So we had to spend the next three days without autopilot before Mattias figured out that it needed to be done from the Zeus3 plotter (that had appointed itself Pilot Controller) and did it when we were becalmed. So, two learnings: don’t reset your plotter during the race. And know which commands can be done on which device.

In my report I wrote:

“Sunday Evening

We had a great start and lead the fleet out of “The Cut” in St Georges. It’s always fun with some pre-start action vs SunFast 3300 Fearless.

It was amazing to hear all our friends at the Dinghy Club cheer us on when we sailed past.
We extended our lead after we put the A2 up. Second on the water was a Figaro 2, followed by Fearless and the others.

Many gybed early, but we followed our plan and stayed on starboard until the wind went south of 160 degrees. Then, we gybed. We’re now (20:00) the most northerly/easterly boat in the fleet, which makes sense. J/120 Charlotte is following us, so that might be the fight from now on.

Also have some issues with the autopilot, so hand steering tonight.

If anyone has any tips on how to fix an RF25 rudder sensor that has switched starboard/port plus/minus, let us know.

See you tomorrow!”

One skill you learn sailing offshore is to take setbacks in stride. So we enjoyed our first dinner at sea, sailing under gennaker towards the sunset. Life was good.

Day 2 – approaching the front

I wrote in my report Monday morning:

“Good morning. And welcome to another hot and sunny day in the North Atlantic.\

We pushed hard all night with the A2 up. Wind was 12-18 knots so intense sometimes alone on deck.

The fleet is now split with Figaro II Groupe 5 having pace to the west, and another Figaro, Envolee, leading a group of 3 boats to the east.

There is still no autopilot, so maneuvers are hard. But we’ll manage. We’re doing 3-hour shifts and trying to eat breakfast and dinner together.

The forecast is another day of downwind sailing before the cold front hits tonight.”

On the second day, the breeze was slowly building. This was supposed to continue until the front hit, but we knew we had a full day of fantastic sailing before we needed to prepare for the shit to hit the fan. The J/111 liked those conditions, but it was evident that the Figare loved them even more. They had turned on their turbo and vas constantly faster than we were.

We were still happy with our positioning and pushed as hard as possible. The plan was to stay east to hit the front as late as possible – as this would lead to a more northerly position when tacking to the west.

Brochure conditions. For most of the day, we had 16-18 knots from 190-200, making it easy sailing with the A2.

Later on the wind increased to 20 knots and headed so we went to code for a few hours to hold our line …

…and then to the fractional A6. The boat up ahead is Baltic 52 Jules…

…. where Daniel Fisher got this shot when we passed. This was a new sail for VMG sailing in more wind. Even if it’s 100 m2, it’s made to be stable and not load the boat up too much.

We got to do quite a few miles before the wind came up even more. 25 knots, in combination with some steep seas, made us wipe out 8-10 times before we took it down before dark. It would be stupid to break something just ahead of the front.

And sure enough. Just after dark we had our first squall. Massive rain. 30-35 knots of wind. We took a reef and headed downwind in 15 knots.

Then thunderstorms with lots of lightning. In front. To windward. And even to leeward, which was strange. Didn’t feel great.

Wind was now steady at 30 knots.

Then, another squall followed, with even more rain and 38 knots of wind. We decided to take the main down and ride this out. I remember going 20 knots with just the heavy weather jib, alone on deck, and going through all possible ways this could go wrong.

Afterward, it was amazing how we kept to our watch schedule, and I went to sleep at 00:00 like it was just another night at sea!?

At 01:30, the front passed, the wind decreased to 20 knots, and we got the main up with a reef. It went from W to 300, and in the morning, we had it from the north.

Day 3 – cutting the corner

My summary Tuesday Morning

“Worst night ever on a sailboat.

Apparently, a cold front passing the Gulf of Mexico is something special. And this one didn’t disappoint! Both of us agree that we would rather not do that again.

This the potent mix:

• pitch black
• thunder and lightning along the front
  . squalls with more rain than I could imagine (we got hit by 5 or 6)
• 36 knots of wind
• Huge seas

We tried different reef combinations and even sailing with just the heavy weather jib, but everything had the same effect: it was like being inside a washing machine set to “insane.”

The Figaro Groupe 5 lead our little race. They had another mode last night. But we’re well positioned and anything can happen.”

Welcome to the Gulf Stream washing machine set to “insane”.

Afterward, we also learned that the 50-foot sloop Solution had been abandoned just north of us, and the crew was safely rescued by a US Coast Guard Helicopter.

At lunch the wind stabilized at around 18 knots from 10-15 degrees. We found a combination with J3.5, genoa staysail, and main with one or two reefs that felt fast.

We had difficulty going high enough to reach the waypoint we’d set to be safe from the adverse current, but we decided to take a chance and go for speed and cut the corner. We were waiting for a lift, so the risk felt manageable.

As it turned out, we were caught in the stream for 4-5 hours before the wind lifted to 45-50 degrees at 21.00. This allowed the always well-sailed J/105 Young American to catch us, and we crossed paths at 03:00.

Day 4 – getting through the high

I wrote on Wednesday Morning

“What a difference a day makes!

It’s now Wednesday morning (time flies on board), and the Atlantic shows us its other side—the nice side, with 10 knots from NNE, where we can hum along with jib and full main in flat water.

Our position in the fleet is similar to yesterday. We are 25 nm behind the leading boat and just ahead of J/105 Young Americans, who made some good decisions last night. We cut the corner of the Gulf Stream and had to pay with 5-10 nm. Hopefully, this will pay today.

Today will be tricky because we’re entering a high just south of Newport. But this will suit us better than some of the more offshore-oriented boats.

We’ll see in 24 hours. ETA in the morning of July 4th”

After crossing paths with us, they went west, and we pointed towards Newport. Most routings indicated that the best passage around the high was to the west, but I couldn’t see a clear pattern in its movement. If we have a restart, I’d rather be further north.

Looking good?

Sure enough. Late afternoon, we parked up for a few hours. Looking at the tracker, most other boats were also affected in some way, and we just had to wait and see.

The snake pit.

A good thing about being becalmed was that Mattias managed to get the rudder sensor, starboard and port, right, and the autopilot working again. Wohoo!

When the wind filled around 20:00, it was from the west, so we got the A3 up and went west. 23:30, we had almost 8 knots of wind and decided to gybe and go north towards the finish.

Two nights ago was the worst night ever on a sailboat.

And this was easily one of my best.

How things change in the ocean.

Day 5 – finishing

At 02:20, the wind went left, and we gybed again. On the starboard gybe, we had problems reaching 100% of our performance polars, and now we had the same problem on port.

As soon as the sun came up we put a GoPro in the water and found we had another line around the saildrive. We took the A3 down and tried to back down several times.

But in the end, Mattias had to dive to free the line.

Lots of crap floating around.

Lots of possible sail combos ready to go.

Then full speed with the A2 towards the finish.

There were more choices here than going to Bermuda.

We finished second and were very happy with that. Big congrats to Will and Zach, who had another gear and pushed harder than us before the front (but we kept the A2 in one piece).

We were even more satisfied with how we raced the boat through some nasty conditions; we broke nothing, kept our routines, and were proactive with our strategy. It’s amazing how quickly you get used to a really bad workplace 😀

All results.

Tracker.

And the usual aftermath after every offshore race…

Thanks for all the support: B&G, Cyclops Marine, Happy Yachting, Henri Lloyd, J/boats, J/Composites, Maurten, North Sails, Liros, Safe Harbor NEB (especially PJ✨), and Spinlock.

And everyone else who’s been following us.