June 21, 2005 - 49 37N, 28 01'W
The RoboSail has indeed experienced major damage to the mainsail, skipper Pieter Adriaans confirmed last night. It seems there is a 2-meter tear at the height of the second reef. Repairs are not possible under the current weather-conditions, so Pieter will wait until things get a bit easier. Until that time, the RoboSail is continuing its voyage underpowered. We will of course keep you informed.

June 20, 2005 - 49 27N, 25 26'W
Major damage to mainsail just under second reef. Probably caused by breaking reefline in a squall this morning. Adequate repair will be difficult. More news to follow.

June 19, 2005 - 49 13N, 23 57'W
Had a terrible day with negative progress. Yesterday started with very little wind. It ended with gale 8 and very heavy seas. Because of trouble with the boomvang and my ballast tanks I cannot trim tyhe sails optimally and I always have to sail with one reef more than usual. SInce the centre of the gale was some 200 mile above me I decided to go south The wind was southwest. In the end it was absulutely impossible to make progress against the breaking seas, so I decided to heave to. Thus I spent the night rather cosy in my berth while the seas were breaking over the Robosail. This morning things are not much better. The wind has eased down a bit, but there are squalls anjd I have put reefs in and out about 5 times today. In short the mood is not very cheerful on board. Nice detail: I am close to the spot where I had to abandon the race 5 years ago.

June 18, 2005 - 50 48N, 24 44'W
Had rough night. Heading south to avoid big depression. All well on board. Pieter

June 17, 2005 - 50 58N, 21 26'W
Had a gale this nght. Now the sea is rough. Fast but unpleasant sailing. Making a cup of coffe is an advernture in itself. All well on board. Only three quarters to go.

June 16, 2005 - 51 17N, 17 48'W
Some problems: delamination in attachment of boomvang and delamination in 3 of the six ballast tanks (2 on pt side one on sb side). Both problems are under control and no showstoppers. Will need to slow down a bit. Apart from that all well on board. Smoked a good cigar while listening to Vivaldi.

June 15, 2005 - 50 36'N, 13 49'W
"This night gale 8 with gusts to 45 knots. Had to heave too. Now doing 7 knots in, about, the right direction."

June 14, 2005 - 50 16'N, 10 46'W
In an email that came in, Pieter reports a steady progress of 7 knots, albeit still in very light weather. All's well on board, and spirits are high.

June 13, 2005 - 49 47'N, 8 54'W
Pieter just reported very light and variable winds, but all well on board. The repaired boomvang looks sturdier than ever. The skipper is reading the biography of Taberly and is content in making modest headway: 4kn VMG. 

June 11, 2005 - En route again!
Repairs onboard the Open40 RoboSail have been completed. Skipper Pieter Adriaans completed repairs single-handedly, in OSTAR-style. Surprisingly, this enabled Pieter, according to the RWYC rules, to continue racing! This was confirmed by the race director. Pieter did not hesitate long, and set sail again for Newport, Rhode Island, USA!

June 1 2005
The robosail seems to have some problems with the hydraulics. See news for latest details.

May 30 2005, 49 22' N 5 23' W
Today no wind for about 10 hours. Very little progress. I used the time to do some maintenance on the winches. Finished reading Dirk Gently's holistic detective agency by Douglas Adams. Very funny. Had a good laugh. Now wind 10 knots from the south west. I'm going south to avoid coming depressions. Tomorrow wind from the south, so we can finally make some progress.
 
Cheers Pieter

May 29 2005
Today we frinally started., The weather was excellent from a party point of view but not so good for the Robosail: light variable winds. Anyhow we have had a gorgeous day of sailing today. All well on board. Also on behalf of my crew Oscar Ostar (a tedyy bear with a Royal estern shirt)

May 27 2005
Syllogic arrived in good condition in the harbour of Plymouth. On sunday the 31 the race will start in Plymouth sound.The last days we had a lot of wind, sometimes force 9 but it looks like the waether will be good this weekend.

The OSTAR 2005 preparation

IJmuiden, May 8.  This weekend Robosail made a successful crossing to Lowestoft. With winds up to 30 knots and a choppy sea, it was an excellent opportunity to test the new mast. Especially on the way back from Lowestoft  the Robosail had a field day with a 10 hour crossing from habour entrance to harbour entrance. The boat performed very well under autopilot. Pieter and his co-skipper Roland Jonkhof used the trip to calibrate the instruments and to make the last checks before the boat leaves for Plymouth next week.