Follow SY Nora Simrad on the ARC Europe race crossing the Atlantic from the Caribbean to Europe, updated daily here. CLICK HERE TO OPEN THE LIVE POSITION RACE MAP! (best in fullscreen mode). And make sure to FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK!

Saturday 19 May:

1500GMT: Update from Nora: Jan knows that the other boats are gaining and says he will go more north sailing harder in 30 knots wind. Slight worry about the condition of the foresail. They are almost through the counter-current now, where the bigger boats A Lady, Sookie and Nordic Falcon have an advantage.

1100GMT: Nora is in third position. A Lady is now in front taking a more northerly course having gained 20nm on Nora during the night. Sookie has gained 5nm and is now 16nm in front. Nordic Falcon is also gaining on Nora and is now just 1nm behind.

The average speed is 8 knots, and the good winds are north of the rhumbline. The question is of course how far north to go. A Lady changed course and went further north. Sookie is going south of Nora. Lets see what pays off.

Friday 18 May:

2100GMT: Nora is in second place! Sookie is 10nm in front and A Lady (winner of the first leg) is 10 nm behind. Nora is doing a good 8 knots against the wind. Sookie reported doing about 190nm the first 24hrs.

Unfortunately Nora is having problems sending emails, so we have not had a blog update in a while, but we are assuming the spirit is high at the moment!

Thursday 17 May:

1100GMT: Nora got a good start out of Bermuda, and was the third boat crossing the line, after a rally out the harbor.

Wednesday 16 May:

1100GMT: Its soon kickoff again, and Noras crew have been working hard on getting Nora in top shape while in Bermuda. We know Jan would have preferred another day to get things in order, but lets hope they are feeling well prepared for the longest leg across to Azores.

NORA SIMRAD CAME 5TH IN THE FIRST LEG OF THE RACE.

Friday 11 May:

1700GMT: Nora has finished the first leg of the race. The total sailing time was 5 days and 5 hours. Now we have to wait for the results, probably coming out tomorrow afternoon.

0900GMT: Nora is only 36nm from goal. Four boats have arrived before us, but did they arrive early enough to counterbalance their engine hours? The results will be exciting, and will show whether Jan's gambit has won the first leg of the race.

Thursday 10 May:

1300GMT: Still little wind and most boats are using their engine. Nora is somewhere in the middle at 8-11th place, but we do not know the engine hours. Jan is calculating how he can use the engine as little as possible and still get in goal by the Saturday 1200hrs deadline. The closer to the deadline he gets, the more effect does the engine hours have. This leg must have been frustrating for all boats and crew, unless you like to be stuck in a flat ocean with a slick mirror surface barely moving forward; from the other boats' blogs a crew reported to enjoy the calm ride, lets hope life on Nora is not too frustrating and they are still in good spirit.

Wednesday 9 May:

1000GMT: Nora has dropped to 10th place during the night. Now going north-east from the westernmost route among all the boats. Reading the blogs from the other boats, it is clear that this is an engine race! Most boats barely sail and seem to be more worried about their fuel supply than their engine hour penalties. As long as Nora manage to stay in the middle of the pack, Jan's engine gambit may win the race.

Tuesday 8 May:

1830GMT: Nora is in 4th place, side by side another Norwegian boat Voyageur. The leaderboard in the tracker tool is wrong; it calculates based on distance left to Lagos, and does not take into account that the race is divided into three legs

1030GMT: Nora seem to have climbed to fifth position! Yesterday 1200hrs, Nora was in the back 19th position, but probably with the least engine hours of all the boats. Distance to leader is now just 42nm.

Monday 7 May:

Still little wind, and Nora has to give in using engine for a while. Jan reveals his strategy; use the least engine and come in as close to the 1200hrs Saturday timelimit as possible.

Saturday 5 May:

Start is 1200hrs local time! No wind. Nora tries not to use engine.

Friday 4 May:

1800GMT: Yesterday, Nora Simrad was lifted up and inspected underneath. Everything looked good. One anode was replaced and the hull was cleaned.

Thursday 3 May:

0900GMT: Yesterday, Nora Simrad was inspected by the race organizers. A few small things needed to be fixed, which was addressed immediately. A final approval of the condition of the boat is expected today.

Tuesday 1 May:

1800GMT: S/Y Nora Simrad is in BVI ready for the ARC Europe race. Nora is now at Nanny Cay Marina, BVI where the participating boats are gearing up for the crossing and had welcome drinks yesterday evening. The race is divided into three legs; 1) BVI - Bahamas, 2) Bahamas - Azores, and 3) Azores to Lagos, Portugal. The first leg starts on Saturday 5 May. We are participating in cruising Class B.

The Captain is our most experienced sailor, Jan Evang. We will follow him with live position maps and daily updated positions here.