The 30 boats in the OSTAR transatlantic race are enjoying a novel sensation in the North Atlantic – sailing downwind!

The fleet has been benefiting from 30knot easterlies and the reports coming in from the competitors paint a vivid picture.

Marco Nannini, sailing his Sigma 36, British Beagle is clearly revelling in the conditions. He writes: ‘I switched to my trusty windvane, the only entity I know that can look at chuck norris straight in the eyes and not sense fear… 2 waves later I had my new personal best – 14.6kt – if you’ve ever sailed a sigma you know i’m having an absolute cracking time downwind at this speed, it’s like rolling down a mountain in one of those giant inflated bubbles. Loving every minute of it!’

The fleet is making such quick progress that the race team has posted a message saying: ‘What’s the hurry? Our flight to Boston is not until Thursday and we need a few days to sort ourselves out and get over the jetlag before you all arrive. There’s another thing too, my berthing plan relies on you all arriving in an orderly fashion with no more than 2 or 3 boats a day. At the moment 15 or more boats could all arrive on the same day! So I need an OSTAR head wind to appear and spread you all out a bit. Some of you need to go and visit Nova Scotia and take the scenic route so you can see the whales and icebergs and I’ve heard the Azores are really nice to visit at this time of year.’

Read all these stories and more on the blOgSTAR site.