From Sam…

Day 14 On Board Roxy in The Artemis Transat – Frustrating conditions delay finish

Well, hopefully this will be my last full day of the race. Although, at this pace I am beginning to wonder!

The last 24 hours have been incredibly slow, all the time in little or no wind at all.

The
conditions are really tiring as the wind is constantly changing which
means I have to spend all my time trimming and changing everything to
match the wind. It is so frustrating to be so close yet so far, knowing
that if you get stuck a little worse off than the others you could
loose three precious places in no time.

So that is why I am at 200% to try and keep this 5th place. And keep my nerves!

The
weather is beautiful. We saw a lovely sunset yesterday and an amazing
starry night. It is freezing cold and my nose is frozen! I have been
using the little hand-warmers in my gloves, in my boots, in my pants…
at one point I nearly got the duck-tape out to try sticking one on my
nose.

Keep whistling for the wind….

Sam

Carissa Moore really rips in this video. She’s awesome. Wish I grew up in Hawaii like her

May 21st,

First time on the airplane with my little Tripp—dream come true–my baby Blue.
Chance is at home with Dad, my heart is heavy—I miss him bad.

Life looks different from above; we all seem so small.
What divides us, if but anything at all?

Only the mountains, lakes and trees, seem to separate our lives as we please.
For me, the Ocean calls to me—the whisper of the sea foam in the breeze.

What better reason to bring us together—than the Earth’s sweet glory in all her splendor?

The night was a celebration of smiles and sun; photographs of us all, playing and having fun.

Without our stories who would we be?

What would I have become—if I hadn’t danced and frolicked in the sun?

My life is now about my boys—tonight was a night to remember previous joys.

And how I can share the love that I have felt, for the sand between my toes—
The distant lands I have smelt.

It takes but a moment and life goes by—
Relish every second for very soon we all die.

Images:

Top: Tripp on the airplane.

Middle: Ariel (left) and me at the book launch.

Bottom: Mom and Tripp.

More from Sam….

Day 13 on board Roxy in The Artemis Transat – I can smell America!

Hello

It is funny how sensitive my nose is, especially after 13 days at sea. Obviously out in the Atlantic the air is clean and clear. As Roxy is approaching Boston upwind, the wind is coming off the land. This morning I really saw a difference and the smell was amazing! A smell of "urban" land – hot dogs, cars, shops, lots of people and life… It is really quite distinct and a new smell to me. I found it pretty amazing, as the coast is still 200 miles away.

So we are approaching the finish. It is a tight-fought battle out here between me, Yannick (Cervin EnR) and Cali (Akena Verandas) as usual! I managed to go back to my fifth place but I now have Yannick only 10 miles behind me. I am sure that he is waiting to pounce if I make a mistake, as the approach to the finish is not straight forward. Sailing upwind, with also a light patch to negotiate.

I am doing all I can, however, to keep him (and Cali) behind me.

Sam x

Image: ATmd_M3948 Credit: Edition

On May 13th, Quiksilver’s siteLA hosted The Submarines for a very special party and live performance to celebrate the release of their new album “Honeysuckle Weeks” available now from Nettwerk Records.

Roxy Europe Sailing Team member Sam, on board her boat Roxy in The Artemis Transat. Here is an excerpt from her blog:

Day 12 Onboard Roxy in The Artemis Transat – Back on fighting mode after 48 crazy hours

What a crazy 48 hours it has been!

I got away nicely from the
Ice Gate, and then things went wrong…. Luckily I had been sitting
down, so I was fine when we hit the whale. My inspection on deck showed
a large impact on the daggerboard where the
whale had caused it to pivot in its casing. The leading edge had hit
the deck and caused a fair bit of damage to the board. On lifting it, I
discovered similar damage on the respective leading and trailing edges
of the board where they had been touching their chocks. I think I got
away lightly, given the other boats’ problems, but I am limited to only
half of my broken board, so port tack is hard now!

The
crash freaked me out a bit, and for the rest of the day I couldn’t stop
thinking about hitting something. So that night I sailed a bit
nervously and reefed down sooner than usual, as Roxy was doing speeds
of 18+ knots and it was all a bit much.

I am really
cross with myself for having slowed down. On top of that I found myself
in another personal wind whole yesterday morning (that the others
didn’t get), and the result is that I have been overtaken. I am so
frustrated by all this.

So, a new day is here, Roxy is
speeding along upwind in 25 knots of wind and I have a new challenge -
to try to get back past Cali(Akena Veranda) and Yannick (Cervin ENR),
who actually aren’t too far ahead of me. I have gone from being the
hunted to being the hunter and I’m going to do all I can to catch them!

Sam x

Hey girls!

Check out this new South Carolina based band, Ten Toes Up. They play a lot at the restaurant/bar where i work during the summer. They always draw a huge crowd and my friends and I really love them!

There’s something great about bringing a group of ladies together to celebrate a night out in Vancouver, BC! Maybe its the comradery, the conversations about fashion and style, or maybe its opportunity to make new friends that share that same passion for great deals!

Last Thursday, Westbeach here in Vancouver, BC held a special night for all of us Ladies. What a great event! The store offered awesome deals on selected items and pampered us with hair and make-up touch ups from Maude Salon. We had a blast making tee shirts and pampering the shoppers with manicures. There were also tons snacks from sushi to veggie platters – gotta love the catered parties!

Vancouver based fashion designer Christina Culver was there to give everyones nails an extra dose of color and creativity – something that comes naturally to her! Take a minute to find out more about her on her  at www.christinaculver.com.

I showed everyone how to put a bit of ‘Roxy’ into their tee shirts. From Stenciling Roxy logo’s to adding their personal touch with fabric paint – the t-shirts were ROXY-fied to the max!
Our two winners designed their t-shirts with pure Roxy spirit and creativity winning them each a Roxy Bikini! Congrats Ladies!

Hope to see you there again next year!

Roxy Europe Sailing Team, onboard her boat Roxy in The Artemis Transat. Here is an excerpt from her blog:

I sailed into a whale – my starboard daggerboard took the shock and now
I can only use half my daggerboard. Bit scarey! I was sittong at back
of boat fixing my mainsheed padeye and doing about 13 knots. We had
36-37 knots of wind last night but was expecting more so had put 3
reefs in the main – unfortunately, the big wind didn’t come so I was a
bit down on speed. I am knackered from reefing then back to full main,
plus a tack as well. Attach on Safran is quite hard and she is faster
boat than me and its pretty impossible to defend on the 3 boats behind
- if I defend on one another one could get passed.

I will just sail my
own race…

Sam

Samantha, from the Roxy Europe sailing team, is competing right now in the oldest solo ocean race in history, The Artemis Transat. The Artemis Transat is 2,800 mile race across the North Atlantic, alone! Held every four years since 1960, the 2008 edition of the race started in Plymouth, UK on May 11th.

So far Samantha has been at sea 10 days onboard Roxy (the name of her sail boat). Below is an excerpt from her trip:

Firstly I have to say that I feel really sad for Vincent Riou and PRB. Keel failure is a sailors worst nightmare and almost impossible to predict. Thankfully, it happened when Vincent was not far from help, and the conditions allowed him to assess the situation and abandon his boat whilst he still had a choice and whilst physically possible. I hope that he and his team successfully salvage PRB and get her to safety as soon as possible. If anyone looked in a good shape to win this race, it was Vincent, who has sailed well and controlled the lead from the start. He doesn’t deserve this set-back.

Onboard Roxy things are not great as I am stuck in NO WIND! It is so frustrating. It seems that whenever there is a no-wind patch to cross I get stuck for longer than everyone else and all the hard work it has taken to get ahead is lost as the fleet catch me up.

I’ve got the Code 0 up and I am trying to catch every little zephyr of air. The swell is huge, even though there is no wind, so the sails are batting around madly which doesn’t help. The main crashes across so violently that I am worried it is going to break something.

This doesn’t do much for my nerves. The usual healthy porridge has been replaced by a nervous eating session and I have demolished half a pack of Cheddars! They have made me feel better though.

It’s funny to think that whilst I am complaining about having no wind right now, in 24 hours it is likely I will be complaining of too much wind! I have just done a check over of ROXY in preparation for the storm that we are expecting to hit the fleet in the next few hours and everything seems fine.

Sam

We will be tracking Sam’s adventure onboard Roxy as she sails the Artemis Transat.

More info on : www.roxysailing.com