17/08/2026
Day 8. And possibly the last for team Gambit. Both boats have entered the tactical battle in the north sea with 100s of exclusions.
Team Calanach MacDonell Finlayson on GAMBIT CLASS40:
"Day 8
This is a busy part of sea. Between wind farms, sand banks, traffic separation schemes, oil & gas platforms and general traffic, there's a lot to avoid. Routing is as much about optimising for instructions as for weather.
Our little fleet of 3 came to a standstill at the edge of the Thames Estuary as expected. We were each separated by a few miles, just as we had been in the Celtic Sea almost a week ago. As is often the way in these situations, the first to get moving can extend on those still stuck. So it was that Swift and Penfret got a jump on us. Now we 150NM to go and 7NM to catch the leaders. Can it be done? Moderate westerly breeze is expected along the south coast, giving us an upwind slog to the finish. A drastic change from the race so far!"
Team Maggie Adamson on :
"Day 8
We’ve started to see the North Sea getting busier and every gybe has a few more oil rigs to avoid.
We’re still VMG downwind spinnaker sailing and our unfortunate highlight for today was in the early hours of this morning our spinnaker wrapped itself around the forestay. This has happened before and usually with a gybe or two you can manipulate the twists out but in this case it only made it worse and it was so tightly twisted at the top of the mast the halyard wouldn’t come down.
I really didn’t want this to be the end of our race so got the harness on and went for a trip up the mast.
The top set of spreaders were at the right height for standing on while I pulled the twists out of the kite.
Safely back on deck, we lowered the sail, took the remaining twists out and hoisted it straight back again.
Unfortunately Griffin overtook us in our dancing about the North Sea but we’re back in catch up mode…again!"