Elvstrøm Sails is onboard with Ronnie Simpson and his ambitions to race the Global Solo Challenge later this year. The Global Solo Challenge is a singlehanded non-stop, round-the-world race, and the preparations for Sparrow and the campaign are on full blast at the moment in the USA.
Simpson took delivery of a full Elvstrøm Sails wardrobe in cooperation with Elvstrøm Sails Midatlantic/Chesapeake Sailmakers in May and since then, the preparations have been on. To qualify for the Global Solo Challenge, all competitors must complete a 2.000 mile journey.
Ronnie Simpson and Sparrow has now completed the qualifier and also made good progress testing all the new gear ahead of the big challenge starting at the end of October this year from Spain.
Stormy test gave confidence
Ronnie Simpson finished the test this week in Maine, and along with his local team, they have moved straight on to boat work. Ronnie Simpson has however sent us some impressions from the first 2.000 miles on Sparrow under power from Elvstrøm Sails.
- Very positive first impressions. I noticed right away that the sails are heavy, which is on purpose for this job. Normally it would not be good to have heavy sails on a racing boat, but given that the priority here is to build something that can go the distance on a non-stop around the world race, I think these will do the trick. They appear to be extremely robust, and that gives me good confidence here.
The spinnakers are yet to come, but the rest of the wardrobe is on and has been thoroughly tested over the last weeks - plus heading through a storm at +50 kts of wind along the way:
- I have tested the main, jib, staysail and the two Code Zeros so far. Our programme also includes two spinnakers which are yet to come, but the first test was very positive. The addition of the two new Code Zeros is a huge deal here - both of them are absolute weapons. One of them is a masthead Code Zero which may need small tweaks, but I can't wait to try combining them with the spinnakers. It should give me a nice and wide inventory that can go the distance, and I'm super happy about that, he says and adds:
- There was also a storm along the way, and I made it through +50 kts of wind without any damage, so I'm feeling confident about the whole setup now - confident in myself as well as the boat, the sails and the gear. It was a great test!
Next up for Sparrow and Ronnie Simpson is more rigging work - the boat is going out of the water this week, and provided everything goes to plan, it's back in by mid-July ahead of its departure for Europe around August 1st. The Global Solo Challenge starts in Spain on October 28th.
