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Broken
The second half of this race has not really started as we had anticipated. First we were caught off guard by the speed and force of a squall. It looked like we might be able to outrun the squall and avoid the worst part, but then the wind started building surprisingly fast. Right after the
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Big red patch
The past days were very variable. The winds near the equator are rather weak and change a lot. On the other hand the high sun radiation creates a lot of thermal activity, cloud formation and potentially squalls. Those cannot only shift the wind direction drastically but produce strong gusts. To spot those squalls in due
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Doldrums for a second time
On our way onto the northern hemisphere, we have to pass the doldrums yet again. Similar to what we saw three months ago when heading south, this region is notorious for light winds, hot temperatures and some squalls. We have meanwhile completed our motor-assisted section in this race and are heading for the end of
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See you again Australia
A lot has happened since our arrival to Australia at the beginning of December. There were the festivities at sea and many more impressions, I will likely remember forever. Nonetheless, the time has come to bid farewell to Australia. But I will be back at some point. To clear out we have moved our boats
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No more options?
As we have now realised we did not just get stuck in a wind hole. We also got dragged into an adverse current which carried us southeast. This pushed us further into the no-wind-zone and we lost distance made towards the finish. This is how we lost more than 400 nautical miles to the next
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New Year – New Luck
We transitioned into the new year a bit east of Tasmania. However, we were far enough out at sea to not see any of the fireworks on land. And the celebrations on board were also quite muted. Right at midnight we had a small whistle concert after having spent almost an hour trying to right
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Course Tasmania
After the cold front passed us a few days ago the temperatures dropped as did the wind. The wind hole had presented itself in the forecasts already, however it was too big to sail around it. Thus, the focus was to use the last bits of wind to get into a position, where the wind
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A Christmas to Remember
Christmas on board is certainly something different. Even though we had a nice meal with fresh vegetables and a big dessert, we only had limited time. And that was pretty much the extent of the coziness. The weather had very little mercy with us. We had reduced the watches to a minimum with only three
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Merry Christmas
The start of the race from Fremantle to Airlie Beach was not an easy on. The wind was only blowing with medium strength, but from southerly direction so that we have to beat against it. That’s not really a pleasure and has caused some seasickness amongst the crew. Luckily I have been able to get
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After one week at sea…
The first week was quite tough. The wind was either very strong or very light. Overall the progress was not as we had hoped. On the eighth day at sea we started the generator as we do every day. This is routinely done by the engineer of the day, which keeps rotating every day. When
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Florian's Clipper 2025-26 Race Campaign
The ocean is the limit
