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Oscar Mead, Katie Miller, Jerry Freeman and Pip Hildesley reach Newport in the OSTAR

Elapsed time results:

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Posn	Time	Spd	Crs	DTF
1	LA PROMESSE	Jan Kees Lampe	Finished	12/06/2009 05:10			-
2	JBELLINO	Rob Craigie	Finished	13/06/2009 11:40	-	-	-
3	SPINNING WHEEL	Roberto Westerman	Finished	13/06/2009 14:44	-	-	-
4	PURE SOLO	Hannah White	Finished	14/06/2009 11:52	-	-	-
5	DINAH	Barry Hurley	Finished	15/06/2009 10:05	-	-	-
6	IN DIREZIONE OSTINATA E CONTRARIA	Luca Zoccoli	Finished	15/06/2009 10:09	-	-	-
7	KING OF SHAVES	Oscar Mead	Finished	15/06/2009 12:37	-	-	-
8	QII	Jerry Freeman	Finished	15/06/2009 14:19	-	-	-
9	BLUQUBE	Katie Miller	Finished	16/06/2009 06:33	-	-	-
10	FANFAN!	Uwe Rottgering	Finished	16/06/2009 10:12	-	-	-
11	BRITISH BEAGLE	Marco Nannini	Finished	16/06/2009 11:14	-	-	-
12	VIJAYA	Huib Swets	Finished	16/06/2009 11:57	-	-	-
13	JAGER	Dick Koopmans	Finished	16/06/2009 16:05	-	-	-
14	TAMARIND	Mervyn Wheatley	Finished	16/06/2009 17:17	-	-	-
15	DE FRANSCHMAN	Bart Boosman	Finished	17/06/2009 08:34	-	-	-
16	ELMARLEEN	Will Sayer	Finished	17/06/2009 13:00	-	-	-
17	CAZENOVE CAPITAL	Pip Hildesley	Finished	18/06/2009 04:35	-	-	-
18	OLBIA	Christian Chalandre	40°41N 70°03W		5.5	280	76
19	BANJAARD	John Falla	40°57N 69°13W		3.2	259	102
20	FLAMINGO LADY	Michael Collins	41°18N 64°36W		2.7	259	304
21	SUOMI KUDU	Peter Crowther	43°18N 61°00W		0	246	472
22	JEMIMA NICHOLAS	Andrew Petty	No report		0	0	544
23	CITTA DI SALERNO	Gianfranco Tortolani	40°58N 54°57W		5.5	129	740
24	RUBICON	Peter Bourke	No report		4	250	976
25	WIND OF LORNE II	Geoff Alcorn	No report		0	0	1098
-	OKAMI	Jacques Bouchacourt	Retired		-	-	-
-	LIGHT FOR THE WORLD	Reini Gelder	Retired		-	-	-
-	LEXIA	Jonathan Snodgrass	Retired		-	-	-
-	EGOTRIPP	Rob Cumming	Retired		-	-	-
-	CROISIERES ANNE CASENEUVE	Anne Caseneuve	Retired		-	-	-
-	NINJOD	Paul Brant	Retired		-	-	-

Handicap results:

Boat	Skipper	Class	Finished	Time	Corrected
ELMARLEEN	Will Sayer	E	17/06/2009 13:00	23 01:30:30	19 22:47:04
TAMARIND	Mervyn Wheatley	J	16/06/2009 17:17	22 05:47:00	20 10:00:47
JBELLINO	Rob Craigie	PD	13/06/2009 11:40	19 00:10:00	20 13:34:20
BRITISH BEAGLE	Marco Nannini	J	16/06/2009 11:14	21 23:44:30	20 16:04:37
DINAH	Barry Hurley	GM	15/06/2009 10:05	20 22:35:00	21 06:37:28
KING OF SHAVES	Oscar Mead	GM	15/06/2009 12:37	21 01:07:00	21 07:10:40
PURE SOLO	Hannah White	PD	14/06/2009 11:52	20 00:22:00	21 15:16:34
LA PROMESSE	Jan Kees Lampe	PD	12/06/2009 05:10	17 17:40:00	21 15:18:48
DE FRANSCHMAN	Bart Boosman	J	17/06/2009 08:34	22 21:04:30	21 18:10:13
JAGER	Dick Koopmans	J	16/06/2009 16:05	22 04:35:00	21 21:39:35
FANFAN!	Uwe Rottgering	GM	16/06/2009 10:12	21 22:42:00	22 06:36:01
VIJAYA	Huib Swets	GM	16/06/2009 11:57	22 00:27:30	22 07:19:41
SPINNING WHEEL	Roberto Westerman	PD	13/06/2009 14:44	19 03:14:00	23 09:10:59
QII	Jerry Freeman	PD	15/06/2009 14:19	21 02:49:00	23 16:08:29
CAZENOVE CAPITAL	Pip Hildesley	GM	18/06/2009 04:35	23 17:05:30	23 17:39:38
BLUQUBE	Katie Miller	PD	16/06/2009 06:33	21 19:03:00	23 19:10:14
IN DIREZIONE OSTINATA E CONTRARIA	Luca Zoccoli	PD	15/06/2009 10:09	20 22:39:35	26 11:51:52

The majority of the boats in the Royal Western YC's OSTAR have now arrived in Newport, Rhode Island and while Jan Kees Lampe's Open 40 La Promesse won the coveted elapsed time prize (the race is traditionally all about first across the line), the handicap winner looks reasonably sure to be Will Sayer and his Sigma 33 Elmarleen, who has beaten the 2005 handicap winner Mervyn Wheatley.

Wheatley stepped ashore and commented that his 13th Atlantic crossing was very comfortable and went pretty much according to his Royal Marine precision planning. Mervyn went on to say that only two fish, presented themselves on his deck, but sadly they were too small to eat,so the ballast of jumbo peanuts was continually plundered.

Since Hannah White stepped ashore, Oscar Mead, aboard his J/105 King of Shaves, the youngest competitor in the race has come home in seventh place, ahead of both Jerry Freeman's QII and Katie Miller in BluQube. More about Mead's OSTAR tomorrow.

Katie Miller's ninth place was also a huge achievement, completing the race as the youngest female entry at 22 years old and this being her first Atlantic crossing.

Arriving in Newport, Rhode Island early Tuesday morning, Katie and her Figaro 2 bluQube took just under 22 days to cover a total of 3,000 miles since leaving Plymouth on the 25th May.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to have finally made it across the finishing line, which proved particularly elusive towards the end with the wind blowing me backwards," she said on her arrival. "It’s been an amazing trip and although the three weeks seemed a long time at sea, now I’ve finished, it seems really short.”

Asked about the highs and lows of the race Katie said: “After 18 months of hard work and preparation, today the feeling of actually making it here is certainly the most exciting and the most surreal. Looking back now, all I can remember are the good days although Day 13, unlucky for me, was probably my lowest point because of the breakages on the boat and a lost opportunity of gaining a few extra places on the leadership board. But overall it has been awesome - what with the 35 knot winds, the dolphins, the gannets and of course the ‘almost international sea rescue’ when my EPIRB (emergency radio beacon) went off by accident because it got wet. Already I can’t wait to get back on the water, especially as I know that most of the other races will, unlike the OSTAR with its chill factor and icebergs, be predominantly down-wind and warm!”

Katie will spend the next few days getting both herself and bluQube clean, celebrating, chilling out and enjoying some Uncle Sam cuisine. “After a diet of Sweet and Sour, Chilli, Curry and Stew I’m looking forward to something a bit more substantial like Pizza which I’ve been dreaming about for the last three weeks!”

CEO at financial management software vendor and Katie Miller’s title sponsor bluQube, Simon Kearsley commented, “For a first transatlantic crossing Katie has performed exceptionally well. Finishing in the top third was impressive enough but to achieve this in such a small boat at just 33ft is also admirable. Despite having to cope with many obstacles along the way, from ferocious storms to broken rudders, Katie demonstrated real strength of character and a dogged determination to carry on regardless. This is the kind of pragmatic approach that is shared by many successful solo sailors. The OSTAR has certainly proved a significant stepping stone to the rest of her career.”

Katie’s next event with bluQube will be taking part in the RORC Channel Race in Cowes Week. Longer term Katie has ambitions to compete in the 2016 Vendee Globe following in the footsteps of famous female sailors such as Ellen MacArthur and godmother to her boat bluQube, Dee Caffari.

The latest arrival has been Pip Hildesley on board Cazenove Capital, who has put in a sterling effort, and has spent the last days working her way up through the fleet following her stopover in Ireland to effect rigging repairs.

Yesterday Pip wrote:

Tension? Nerves? Running round like a lunatic not able to settle for even one minute? You must be suffering from OSTAR race end syndrome, there is only one cure………

Put a bigger sail up and get on with it!

QII and BluQube have both been crossed off. I am ahead of them on overall position, I just need to get in before midnight 18th UT to stay ahead.

Next target Spinning wheel. He has gone up but will be a tall order, I need to get in by 1700UTC to beat him and I know I am going to hit the skids as I approach the land and the breeze starts to die.

Today has been tough, there is no let up; this morning I was sailing for 5 hours in fog. The radar alarm was going mad for the whole time, I began to think I wasbeing shadowed by the coast guard as whatever was there seemed to be keeping pace and course with me. I was not able to leave the deck at all on constant look out. I put the time to good use though and trimmed the spinnaker for all of those hours.

Even doing this I was learning all the time. After a while I managed to get into a rhythm with the wind and the waves and I could trim the spinnaker in a pre-emptive way that would adjust the balance of the boat and so keep the autopilot to a more steady course than it was managing alone. I was amazed how the hours were eaten up by this, it is all consuming.

The cloud started to lift and I discovered there was no coastguard boat but I was sailing straight up the middle of two processions of fishing boats. I counted 12 once the visibility was better and I tried to radio them to find out how many there were but got no reply. Perhaps it is better not to know.

I have managed 1 hr of sleep today and that is all I will be getting till the finish I think. I am going to sail my socks off to get that extra place.

I have just eaten the biggest meal of the trip, 3 sachets of vegetarian chilli and a packet of cous cous. I have a bottle of energy boost drink at the ready and when I have finished here the flask tonight will be filled with dark and strong coffee.

I am about to cross the traffic separation scheme outside Nantucket and will need to be extra vigilant for vessels from now on. I am sending a secret wish to someone somewhere that the fog stays away tonight.

Bring on the morning and bring on the finish. I still would have liked my extra 1000 miles, but we cannot have everything.