Calvados Cup Race 2

After a couple of pleasant days spent in the charming town of Deauville, we were ready for the start of the second stage of the Calvados Cup. This time the race consisted of two crossings of the English Channel, plus a longer passage to the south of the Isle of Wight from East to West. Overall the race track looked like a big triangle, starting and ending in front of Deauville. The weather was more complicated than in the first race. For the start it was forecasted very light wind, which gradually built in intensity as we headed out north….

Calvados Cup Race 1

The first stage of the Calvados Cup 2022 took place between Douarnenez and Deauville and contained some iconic passages, such as the crossing of the beautiful Douarnenez Bay and of the reputed Chenal du Four with its very strong currents, passing along the British Isles (Guernsey, Aurigny) and finally sailing across the Bay de Seine with its heavy marine traffic, changing currents and fickle winds. This year 48 boats were present at the start, 42 in the Series class and 6 in the Proto class, a figure double than last year, which shows the great interest in the offshore races…

Plastimo-Lorient Race: D-4

Yesterday we brought Cirrus Minor to Lorient. The weather forecast looked kind of light, with winds of 6-8 knots from NE, and getting stronger in the afternoon. I was prepared for a relatively short, downwind sailing to Lorient, hoping to get there around 3 PM, and enjoy a nice lunch with Nico and Victor. Given his experience, Nico was not as optimistic as me when he saw that the wind dropped completely around 11 AM, after we got out from the Concarneau harbour into the bay. He said in a relaxed manner that we would arrive around 8:30 PM… if…

The start of my Mini campaign

My long awaited Mini campaign starts in just a few days! Many sailing related events have taken place since I last wrote on this blog. For a long time I neglected it because I have always found it easier to quickly share something on Facebook. I even created a dedicated Facebook page for my Mini Transat campaign (Bogdan Grigorescu Mini Transat 2023), only to discover recently that my Facebook account was hacked and then disabled 😦 Despite all my attempts to bring my account back to life, Facebook seems very slow to respond and set things right. Therefore I needed…