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2007 Race ReportsRace 4 - The North Sails Nab Tower Race(Photographs by sailingimages.co.uk) Report from Aelana, Class 5 Having spent the last 4 months refitting my newly purchased '72 S&S Swan 40 at HYS, it was good to finally put her back into the water last week and to participate in this year's JOG North Sails Nab Tower race. The boat had been stripped and been put back together, including new standing and running rigging. instruments, new sails and sail handling systems - we left the HYS dock for the first time just after 07:30am with a Class 5 warning signal scheduled for 08:50am on the JOG start line at Gurnard, adjusting vang and cunningham purchases on the way. With the tide threatening to push the fleet over the line, we were mistakenly far too conservative and found ourselves the last in Class 5 to start. We shrugged this off and settled down into the first beat, adjusting our sail trim and looking to improve our boat speed, ignoring the fact that the Tacktick instruments had failed. Progress and speed (SOG) were reported from a handheld GPS. Navigation and tactics played out and we began to reel in most of the fleet while keeping a close eye on the competition ahead. The leading pack split onto opposite sides of the race course on passing through the forts, some opting to tack down the Island side, others heading out to the East. We chose the Island side, crossing occasional tacks with neighbouring boats, ducking and accepting a few sterns, though found ourselves first around the Nab Tower. Our asymmetric chute quickly popped out for the first time and we kept a close eye ob the following boats astern rounding the Nab Tower. Downhill sailing in a heave displacement classic Swan with a smallish A-sail is not it's best point of sail and we expected the lighter boats to overhaul us on the way back to the forts. The fleet again separated onto opposite gybes and sides of the course though, having converged nearer to the forts, it was apparent that we'd held, if not extended, our lead. This lead was further extended on the run back to the finish and we were delighted to finish with line honours and with winning Class 5 on corrected time. Report from Tearaway, Class 4 This report should be how we competed with class 3! See, we have a new mooring on the Hamble. After declaring, with lifejackets/harnesses on, we did our 360, (more like a 540 cuz you have to go right round and then you're pointing the wrong way (we thought about that!)) and then we started. 27minutes late just before the class 3 start. Bet they thought we were OCS! B…er! Have a bit of sailing to do then! Our class will all get becalmed coming back when the sea breeze sets in and we'll catch up a bit eh! Well, we had a great days sailing. Nip and tuck with class 3 all the way out to the Nab. Just like the old days before the rating band change! Nice breeze (not quite enough or too much, depending on how you see it), sun shining, coffee on etc. Sadly, we only overtook one boat in our class and the hoped for flat spot never happened, but that's racing! Our own corrected calculation could have given us a sixth place in the wrong class or, perhaps, a better result in class 4. We'll never know. Coming home was not without its excitement. We obviously sucked up some muck and had no cooling water coming out so we sailed up the Hamble and alongside, where some kindly crew off Just More, helped us tie up, jeered and generally cheered us up. Cleared the heat exchanger of weed Sunday morning in the end. Flow of water restored, Flow happy. Thanks to the start and finishing teams who seemed to have their work cut out with a mass finish that looked more like a mass start. See you in St Vaast. P.S. Could someone speak to the J109's. If you must wiz about all over the place to get your angles right you could be a bit kinder and not aim directly amidships! Up or down a few degrees and less shouting please, We're JOG! Report from Moondog, Class 5 We left the mooring an hour early to avoid leaving at dead bottom of the tide and risk being aground, especially as we were on a new mooring and hadn't had a chance to suss out local depths.
We tacked to the east side of the gap between the Forts and continued to tack up the Nab Channel until around halfway to the Nab where we decided to continue on portgiven the more even tide spread and the prospect of an easterly tide lift once past Bembridge. This worked perfectly and we couldn't believe how well this tack worked out as we homed in on the Nab with no further tacks and only having to ease sheets in the last 50 yards. We clocked the leaders as being a mile ahead at the Nab converting to around 10 minutes max so thought we were in a reasonable position. The run back to the forts, a gybe there and the run to the finish was pretty uneventful and we were pleased to clock what we thought were the leaders, still only a mile ahead at Snowdon. Coming in on an increasing tidal stream, we were pleased we were likely to beat the top raters in the fleet. Alchemist we timed as nearly 7 minutes ahead so should just beat us, also we were A very enjoyable race in the sunshine, albeit still a bit chilly, and lots learnt for next time. Report from J-Dream, Class 4......... who would ever sail 2-handed?! A few things before I start: The alarm went off on Saturday morning at 0715, with the plan of getting the first ferry out to the boat. Unfortunately our sleeping bags were more inviting so we had another couple of snoozes, finally surfacing at 0730. The queue for breakfast and more importantly David's coffee left us a little late as we arrived for the ferry at 0815. We left the pontoon and headed off to the start line, rigging the boat on the way. Mainsail went up, but unfortunately one of the battens came out, a makeshift alternative was created, but the sail had to come down first! No problem when fully crewed or if we had autopilot, neither of which we had. Meanwhile Journeymaker 5, another J/105, passed us, also late, but rigged and organised from what we could tell. Turned out they had just been "flaffing"!
Finally arrived at Cowes, together with Journeymaker 5, got our acknowledgement and 'legged it' over to the startline, switched the engine off and performed our 360. Journeymaker 5 following our every manoeuvre, was slightly bemused by the pirouette and still not sure when we were starting. Some 15 minutes after the rest of our class we crossed the startline. A forgetful moment saw us having to put in two quick tacks to make it between Snowden and Prince Consort and then we settled down to sail the boat, with Journeymaker 5 for company. It was nice of them to wait for us, because otherwise it would have been a lonely beat to the Forts, which was where we saw another Class flag and thankfully it was not going the other way! 17 minutes from Nab Tower the spinnakers of the fully crewed J/105s in our class passed us. There was a strange groaning noise from the back of the boat, then the words "that makes them 34 mins in front roughly - you mucked that up - rig the spinnaker - the big one!" Being 2-handed I had hoped for an easy life, and to raise the small spinnaker - not to be. We rounded Nab Tower, hoisted the big one and set off to see if we could shorten the distance. David said catch our class! The journey back from the Tower was wonderful. The breeze filled in and the sun shone. Removal of oilies and sailing in shorts - perfect! Even better, we were catching the spinnakers of the leading boats and the spinnakers of the big boats behind were a fantastic sight. There seemed to be no pattern to whether Island or mainland side was paying, so we followed Winning Tides which kept saying there was tide under us, but not according to the GPS. Words muttered included, "it can't be that difficult to tell?" Checking the tide on the buoys we passed, the GPS was correct! There was not tide with us! The largest of the big boats passed us coming back through the Forts. The J/122 looked beautiful on the water. An added incentive to get back in time to buy a lottery ticket! A big thank you to the big boat who told us they were going to gybe, but subsequently didn't. It meant my sunbathing was not interrupted! Coming off Ryde Bank up towards Prince Consort saw the J/109s closing the distance, so we worked harder and held them off to the finish line. Unfortunately we did not catch the fully crewed J/105s in our class but finished some 5 minutes behind them. A wonderful day's sailing - thank you. Lessons learnt: Report from Whistler, Class 5 Team Whistler were eagerly anticipating the Nab Tower Race and, with 6 31.7's entered, the opportunity to renew rivalries on the water. They were anticipating it so eagerly that Whistler was bedded down in her usual pre-race berth in Cowes in time to walk all the way to the Island Sailing Club for a gentle beer. Here we had a very nice chat with the crew of Alchemist, then when everyone had arrived, sampled the new food offering at the Pier View (which we can report was tasty and very good value). Now the Island SC is a great venue but with one drawback - it's the opposite end of Cowes from the boat and there are plenty of watering holes in between - just ask "The Stig" and Paul "the man with no nickname - yet"!! The next morning saw those who can exercise discretion up bright and bouncy, and those who can't looking like the unattractive end of a badger… however after a light and healthy breakfast we were round to the start, where after a cheery exchange of waves with the start team, we even had time to think about the start and look at trim - obviously last night's discussion on PMT (or was it PMA?) had paid off. We opted for the same start tactics as everyone else - sail away from the line and then when we thought it was safe spin round and go for it… timing was a little out and we were down the pack as we crossed. Our initial thoughts had been to strike out toward the mainland side of Ryde Middle but having gone past Snowden we opted to hang in one the Island side - actually we were following time-honoured Whistler tactics - we'd seen Alchemist doing that and decided to follow! It paid off big time because by the time we were near North Sturbridge we were pretty much at the front of the pack. Much to the disgust of some of the crew, the Skipper decided not to play chicken with a small ship coming into the Solent and we tacked off, costing us a few places. Through the Forts we set off on the most direct line; Electra had headed in towards the Island and seemingly parked in an eddy just past the forts and Tai Pan was just behind and above us. We hung on out towards Bembridge anticipating a favourable push from the tide as we passed the ledge and then tacked in, which with hindsight was possibly a mistake as "the white boat" (which we now know is Aelana) carried on and came out in front of us. Our second mistake was not tacking away from an MTB and India Juliet who were out doing something - not sure what; it was very exciting but the resultant downwash and wake knocked us right off course, necessitating another couple of tacks to round the Nab. As we closed the tower we could see that the boats in front were all anticipating a hoist on the other side to us, so we decided to change everything at the last moment - and a bit of halyard confusion left us rounding with noises coming from the pointy end which suggested a mass-mating of particularly agitated howler monkeys! We followed Electra and Tai Pan toward Bembridge - and then decided that Aelana, Imperator and Alchemist looked like they had a better idea and followed them (you can tell that the Skipper was having a break from the helm and doing the tac/nav!) All this left us going through the forts about 6th or 7th… As soon as we were back into the Solent, it seemed more sensible to be heading for the finish than Portsmouth, so we gybed and with some disbelief, we watched Electra setting off as though they had decided to go shopping at Gunwharf Quays… Tai Pan initially followed them and then came back over to the middle but allowed us through because of their detour. With the Stig back on the tac/nav, we continued hopping from tidal arrow to arrow, along the Island side of the deep water, where we picked up some nice pressure and worked our way into a three-way fight for second place on the water with Imperator and Electron.With the crew rotating to keep people focused, and continued encouragement from the back of the boat to concentrate, it was the Skipper who got a rollicking for squawking when he saw Imperator get a wrap… Electron were using every trick in the book - a partially hoisted genoa to increase sail area - and Jim up on the coach roof in the most astounding pair of shorts this side of… well it doesn't bear thinking about! Whatever it was, it worked and they could sail a little deeper than us, sneaking through as we gybed to take second place on the water - so well done to them - but the next sunny day could see the resurrection of the Skipper's Speedos!!!! |
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We were afloat at 8.00 am when we were leaving for a nice early arrival on the line, but went firmly aground when trying to get past the boat in front. Tried going astern but had the same problem. Crew pull us in to the dock for a bit and then we try again….and again….and again. We finally ploughed out, probably with half the river mud on the keel, about 8.50 and then motored flat out towards the start but against the new flood. 
Having arrived in the start area we got a nice timing from Kingston Marine buoy to the line of 35 seconds. Approaching the start time got to the buoy at 30 seconds so hardened for full chat on starboard and crossed the line just a few seconds after the gun, not sure what the main fleet were doing a long way shy of the line. Alchemist was on our hip at the buoy but didn't wind up so quick as us so was a bit behind crossing the line. From there until well into the eastern Solent we were overpowered and going sideways so lost a lot as the bigger boats came through. We are learning different de-powering techniques for this boat as the mast is as stiff as a railway line compared to the auto de-powering rig we had before. We're getting there! Slowly. Once into the eastern Solent the tide induced strength of the wind decreased as the strength of the tide reduced and we gained much improved boat speed as we started to sail more upright and not losing out so much.
aware of a Sigma too far ahead for us to beat them. Apart from these two we were looking for a 3/4th place finish however, we were not sure how far behind the lower raters were and had forgotten about Aelana who obviously sailed a great race to beat us all, well done. Our final position came in at 6th. Still a lot to learn with this boat, especially about de-powering the rig however, we are very much enjoying being in the mix for high finishers compared to the last boat which was putting us last or next to last in virtually every race!! 
We heard Tearaway on the VHF declare that they were going to be 10 minutes late, and had a short discussion about whether we should let Peter know we considered that early! Decided better to finish getting to the startline asap. We watched our start from the middle of the Solent. 
