The Heartbeat IV team begin to fly out to the US on Thursday – initially Jason, Judy, Grace and Nic, shortly followed by Marcus, Paul, Sarah, Roger and then by Trevor, John and Ash. Final work being completed at Westbrook. Sea Survival update undertaken with approval in the UK rendering us compliant. A few pics […]
News / blog
12 days 16 hours and 40 minutes (approximately)
June 8th, 2014Heartbeat IV getting ready for Bermuda Race!!!
May 22nd, 2014Judy, Jason, Paul, Marcus and Trevor have just spent a very, very intensive few days transitioning HBIV back from delivery/charter mode to race mode. With great support from the team at Brewers Pilots Point Marina (particularly Jeremy Maxwell) we arrived to find her tied up on the dock and in no time at all Senior […]
Heartbeat IV on her way to Long Island
April 30th, 2014HBIV set off on 26th April from Antigua via Barbuda, for Long Island, and specifically Pilot’s Point Marina. Captain Chris Rundlett is delivering with two others and are making steady progress. In the meantime the shoreside organisation continues. Any race like the Newport Bermuda requires huge logistic support and planning. Examples of what need to […]
Progress for Bermuda Race 2014
March 21st, 2014For those that don’t know he Newport Bermuda Race is a 635-mile ocean race, much of it out of sight of land, usually lasting three to six days. It crosses a stretch of the Atlantic Ocean known for challenging weather, especially in the Gulf Stream, where there are strong currents (http://bermudarace.com/race/). It’s the most important […]
RORC Caribbean 600 2014 & Bermuda Race 2014
February 28th, 2014Sadly Heartbeat IV, although in Jolly Harbour, Antigua has not done this years Caribbean 600 as all efforts are directed towards the Bermuda Race. Current plan is Heartbeat leaves Antigua late April and will travel ~ 1500 miles to Pilot’s Point Marina in Long Island. We will then have to get her race fit and […]
David Geaves Trophy
November 19th, 2013Heartbeat IV and Selene (Adrian Lower’s Swan 44) were joint recipients of the 2013 David Geaves Trophy. This Trophy presented by David’s family in honour of an outstanding East Coast sailor, is awarded to the EAORA boat that races the most miles in the year in RORC races, EAORA series and the Williwaw Trophy. Unusually […]
Dates for diaries – 2014
August 12th, 2013Signficant dates for next year (2014!) for Heartbeat IV (now sheltering from hurricanes in Antigua) are the Newport-Bermuda Race (start 20th June 2014); the Caribbean 600 (start Antigua 24th February 2014) and Antigua Week (start 26th April 2014). Information on these respective races can be found at http://bermudarace.com/ and http://caribbean600.rorc.org/ and http://www.sailingweek.com/v3/index.php. Heartbeat […]
ARC 2012 Video Competition
May 12th, 2013Got a message from Marcus B last week who was in Antigua and checked HB IV out in Jolly Harbour. She looked good. ARC have just created an ARC 2012 Video Competition. So we have put together a 9 minute video. We would like to win so have a look at the video in the […]
Video of Caribbean 600
March 17th, 2013A video (with still some corrections and additions to be made) of the Caribbean 600 can be seen by going to www.vimeo.com and then (cut and paste this) under Search, searching for Heartbeat IV – Dufour 45e. This also shows some of the previous videos of Heartbeat adventures.
Where did all the Caribbean 600 blogs go?
February 22nd, 2013I’m not sure – stuck in a satphone somewhere I think – and will try and retrieved them. Anyway – what a hard race – all agreed most testing ever – but fantastic. Superb team never stopped trying – we podiumed (as we say) by coming 3rd in IRC 1 – completing course in 3d […]
Finished!!
February 21st, 2013At 14 24 27 UTC on 10th December Heartbeat IV completed the ARC 2012. As we came round Pigeon Island from a dead run we gybed onto port tack in about 25 knots of breeze in a lumpy sea – had about a 2 mile reach/fetch towards Rodney Bay and were greeted by Tim Wright […]
Team and Heartbeat IV in Antigua
February 16th, 2013Well, it’s Saturday afternoon, 16th February 2013 – two days before the Caribbean 600. All crew except Ash and John are here (ie Judy, Jason, Grace, Nic, Roger, Paul, Marcus, Trev, Dani), they are due in a couple of hours. Boat looking in good condition, all cruising stuff removed, about to be dive scrubbed, main […]
One Week to Go!
February 8th, 2013Heartbeat IV leaves Martinique tomorrow and should be in Antigua on Sunday. Team begin to fly out on Tuesday. Final member arrives on Saturday 16th. On board will be Jason, Judy, Grace, Dani, Ash, Paul, Trev, Roger, Nic, John and Marcus More details of the RORC Caribbean 600 can be found at http://caribbean600.rorc.org. […]
Caribbean 600 here we come!
February 2nd, 2013Will she, won’t she. As ever, never quite sure with Heartbeat IV. Repairs now finished with the exception of replacing second spreaders. Spares arrived today in Le Marin so hopefully will be dealt with by rigger on Monday. Plan is to leave Martinique on 9th – arriving anyway, at the latest, 12th or 13th in […]
In Martinique and ARC Video uploaded
January 19th, 2013Heartbeat arrived in Martinique last Saturday prior to repair work before the Caribbean 600. A low res video of the ARC is now available at http://vimeo.com/57743327 . The copyright free music track is awful!!
And so Heartbeat IV finished…
January 2nd, 2013…in a total of 15 days 1 hour 39 minutes and 32 seconds. We raced a total of 2771 miles. Tim Wright from photoaction.com was there to record the finish and with his permission reproduce a couple of the images. We had managed to get Heartbeat IV and ourselves looking relatively shipshape and came in […]
Sunday pm – Still Frustrations
December 10th, 2012..running out of spare or replacement running rigging – sea state not safe enough for up mast so having to wait for a bit of a lull to see if we can re-rig a couple of halyards. Now currently the ‘Atlantic Rig’ – #2 poled out with main. Had hoped to be in in under […]
Saturday morning…..A busy 48 hours
December 10th, 2012Well – Thursday night nice steady 20 knots S2 and main – sudden unexpected increase in wind butr manageable for most of the time – all helms struggling with round ups and broaches – all sail outofable (if that’s a word). Then spin halyard broke in am leaving us short of halyards. Too unstable to […]
5th December and 6th December – Never a Dull Day – and Happy Birthday Lizzie P-J
December 6th, 2012Sorry about lack of blog yesterday but we had satphone probs (ran out of credit – I know, I know – but luckily we were cold called about claiming for mis-sold PPI so we asked them to contact our service provider)- now sorted – and a few electronics issues (no wind or speed or location […]
Day 8 – 9 – Laundry, Bilge, Sun!!
December 4th, 2012200 + run by midday 45 Monday. Another windy, squally, wet, electrical night but rain flattened water so last 12 h overnight straightlining at ~ 8.5 – 12k. After sunrise big change in weather with sun and lighter breezes so have been using variously A2, A5 and # 2 with unreefed main. Managed to get […]