some pics

Sailing out of La Rochelle for the start

Almost to Madeira, looking at Porto Santo with one of the Spanish Boats

Off the coast of Portugal

A couple of the many, many dolphins that visited me during leg one

One of the sunrises, it looked a bit better in person

One of the escort boats who took some pics of me

Almost 6 knots of boatspeed in 7 knots of wind, not bad for a 21´ boat

A couple of days before the finish, I think I spent almost the entire day on Port, getting south.

I have a few others on my phone which I will attempt to get posted as well.

Friday in Funchal

Greetings from sunny and rather warm Funchal. It is somewhat hard to believe I have already been here four days and the leg two start is just over a week away. Fortunately, my work list is getting shorter every day and the big items are already checked off. The two biggest are the small bit of damage to my jib which I have repaired and the non-functional fuekl cell. For both I am still waiting for parts which are to arrive on Monday, a new top batten for the jib and a complete replacement fuel cell. The replacement fuel cell is the same one I used as a service loaner earlier in the season and it worked flawlessly. My suspicion is that for 2009 the manufacturer has changed some items internally which are proving to be somewhat unreliable since the loaner is a 2008 unit and I have now had two 2009 units fail completely. I certainly hope they can sort out the issues since the technology is pretty cool.
 The remaining items on the to-do list are things I want to take care of but would not keep me from sailing if they did not get done. All in all a nice feeling. It was similar in La Rochelle where I had a bit of a list but things were generally well in hand. Evidently this seemed outwardly obvious since another American who was there helping folks out never once asked if I needed any help and was instead borrowing things from me to help out others.
I do need to give a big bit of recognition to Sailing Anarchy (http://www.sailinganarchy.com/) for a number of reaons; they are helping out my program directly, they have been one of the greatest sources of news of the TransAt for north american readers and they helped get the word out to help Craig Horsfield who is racing as a South African but lives in the Seattle area. He likely hit a whale or shark off Portugal and tore out one of his rudder fittings along with opening up the hull/transom seam. He put in to Portugal for emergency repairs and made it here a couple of days ago. Repairs are now well underway.
I have snapped a few pics and will try to get them posted soon.

Mini Anarchy in Funchal

As Chris prepares for the next stage of the Mini Transat, he continues to be in the media. There is a new article today in Sailing Anarchy and there is a story about Chris Tutmark and Craig Horsfield's Mini Transat Campaign in Three Sheets.

Chris Tutmark heading out to race start.
Photo courtesy Thomas Schmidt.

Tutmark Finishes First Stage

Mini Anarchy arrived at Funchal to finish the first stage of the Mini Transat at:
13:08:02 September 21, 2009!

Mini Anarchy Nearing Funchal

Live tracking available at Transat Site then click
on Suivi Cartographic
or click here to go directly to tracker


Chris Tutmark heading out to race start.
Photo courtesy Thomas Schmidt.

MiniAnarchy at Lisbonne

Live tracking available at Transat Site then click
on Suivi Cartographic
or click here to go directly to tracker


Chris Tutmark heading out to race start.
Photo courtesy Thomas Schmidt.

The fleet at Cape Finisterre

Live tracking available at Transat Site then click
on Suivi Cartographic
or click here to go directly to tracker

Chris's video interview with
Duff from YachtPals is now up at:
http://yachtpals.com/mini-transat-7023

MiniTransat Tracker

Live tracking available at Transat Site then click on Suivi Cartographic

in the news

Today is Friday and I am feeling pretty good about where things are; need to still get some fresh food and the bottles of optional water from the store, sort out the bag going to Funchal and the one going back to Seattle.
Have had some good chats with folks in the media and my supporters/sponsors. One was with Tom Milne of Remote Medical in Seattle. Our chat is posted on their blog page: http://blog.remotemedical.com/. I also did a video interview with Duff from YachtPals (http://www.yachtpals.com/). Lastly but certainly not least I had a very good chat with Lin Hines which he is incorporating into a story both on his page:  http://www.lynhines-marinemarketing.com/ and on Sailing Anarchy: http://www.sailinganarchy.com/
And probably my biggest news of the week is that Sailing Anarchy is going to be helping out my program for the TransAt. I am right now working on getting some stickers made up here in La Rochelle which might be a little challenging but I am optimistic.

Am here in La Rochelle getting the final details done before the TransAt starts in only 8 days. Things are going well, my list isn't that long but still some really important items on it. Today I have my security (safety) checks for the boat which should go just fine. Yesterday I got my survival container inspected, my medical kit dropped off for inspection and my race flags, banners and sail stickers picked up. Also got my boom and bow sprit re-installed as they were off from the road trip from Lorient.