Spirit of Canada reaches Brazil

Derek Hatfield lining up for Ecover B2B race

Spirit of Canada sits peacefully at the dock in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil after 4300 nm and a 17 and a half day delivery from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Skipper Derek Hatfield writes: "We arrived here around midnight local time on Tuesday Nov 13th and sat on the boat for more than an hour contemplating the trip. The Open 60 Spirit of Canada proved a lot more physically demanding than the Open 40 but the performance is very impressive. I am slowly coming to grips with how to run the boat by myself. Because of the grand prix design, the boat trim requires a lot more diligence to maintain maximum performance.

After many months of preparation, we left Halifax on the 27th October. The Ecover B2B required that we travel non-stop and without assistance in order to qualify the new boat for the upcoming race. The 4,300nm course proved challenging with a number of routing options requiring decisions.

The sailing conditions proved straightforward with just a couple of unpleasant nights of upwind sailing with the boat slamming down the waves.

It is hard to believe how noisy it can get below when you are trying to get a bit of sleep. The boat has also hit a best speed of 26 knots with just main and jib so we are pleased with the performance. The crew on board consisted of myself, Patianne Verburgh and Damien De Pas. Damien did the Mini Transat in 2001 and is a great asset on board. He is an avid environmentalist and his own sailing programs fit well with ours, as he is involved with education programs that teach children about environmental issues. To find out more about him and his sailing experiences, please visit www.bleuvoileoceanique.com.

We quickly settled well into a routine of watch keeping and maintenance work and the 17-day trip passed quickly. There have been a few expected breakages on board, but the delivery and time on the water proved a great testing ground for the upcoming race to France. The plan at this point is to leave the boat in France for the winter months and then deliver it back to Toronto to fulfill the many sponsorship sailing events. This means
that I will have more than 12,000 nm on the boat before the start of the Vendee Globe in November 2008.

We celebrated crossing the equator in the usual way with a salute to Neptune. After crossing into the southern hemisphere, it was a straight sail past Recife at the bulge of Brazil and then southwest into Salvador at about 13 degrees south. The trade wind warmth and sailing conditions were a welcome condition from the wooly caps and boots that were donned to leave Halifax. The sun and deep blue water are very motivating. One disturbing aspect of the trip here is that in 17 days of sailing, we saw only three dolphins. This seems almost impossible as in the race around the world in 2002, there were almost daily visits of some sort from these fantastic animals.

Currently the rest of the Open 60 fleet are racing south engulfed in a close battle in the Transat Jacque Vabre. We expect to see them here in Bahia in about three days. We are really looking forward to seeing the rest of the fleet and getting the job list done for the Ecover B2B race back to France. It will be a great day when we have qualified the boat for the Vendee Globe.

Another word of thanks to our sponsors.

Racing and representing Canada at this level of competition requires financial sponsors and one of the most important parts of my job is to support and recognize those special people and companies that support us.

We have many sponsors to thank including the 5000 individuals that have put their name on the hull of Spirit of Canada as well as the more than 45 corporations that have made in-kind or financial contributions.

Recently VELUX Canada increased their support for Spirit of Canada and their support greatly helped us in the upcoming Ecover B2B. Also, increased support from The Caritate Foundation and Earth Rangers allowed us to proceed with preparations to date. To all of our sponsors, thank you. And to everyone, please support our sponsors in every way that you can. Without them, Spirit of Canada would not exist.

Stay tuned for further updates as we prepare for the Ecover B2B.

Take care,

Derek