2007 Race Reports

Race 6 - The Hamble Estate Agency, Cowes - Yarmouth Race

Report from Whistler, Class 5

A fairly low tide reaching it's nadir at the moment we planned to leave Gosport on Saturday morning meant that we had to stay out of the pub on Friday night to move Whistler to a deeper berth; well to be honest we went to the pub, then went to move the boat and then went back to the pub again!

Once again the starter menu at the Great Wall's "all you can eat buffet took a hammering but the only strange sight of the evening was Slippery, sent outside for a smoke, trying to commune with the youth of Gosport before demonstrating her pole dancing skills on the war memorial fountain…

The next morning wasn't too painful and we enjoyed a healthy breakfast as we motored out of Portsmouth, past an unfortunate who had misjudged the depth of water in the Swashway and was stranded at an alarming angle with the boom out and jib set.

With a building wind we opted for the No:3 pre-start with the thought that we'd go up to the No:2 when the wind eased…!!!

Not a great start a little late and on the windward side of the tail; it was looking as though we would struggle to get down to Snowden without a gybe onto port across the fleet which wasn't going to happen! The wind out of the Medina went forward and with a bit of a wiggle we managed to get across a few transoms and into a better position to head for Mother Bank.

Whistler was bounding along, with good boat speed when the shackle holding the spinnaker sheet to the clew popped open requiring a drop and re-hoist… and then did it again!!! It's never happened before and there was no obvious failure of the shackle, so we were slightly bemused as to the problem. As the wind was on the beam we went for the No:3 for the final few yards to the mark, rounded and set off back up the Solent, in close company with Aviva and Alchemist, and just behind Electra and Electron.

At Hill Head both we and Electra tacked off, whilst the others stood on, a move which paid for them as they seemed to get into the smoother waters off Calshot before us. Electron were sailing fast and well out in front but the rest of us exchanged tacks down and round Lepe before banging out towards the island shore. Electra went across first, then Alchemist and then us, with Aviva and Electron staying on the mainland side.

Despite the building wind we stuck with the full main and bladed it out (although the Skipper didn't look too happy as it flogged!) Despite crossing to cross the Solent at different times we remained in close company with the same boats and as we neared the finish careful timing as we crossed tacks gave us confidence that we had both Electra and Aviva on corrected time…

…it was not to be. We noticed that the 6" of the jib had pulled out of the Tuff Luff and were planning what to do when, with a bang the whole lot came out and slewed us sideways; the halyard was pulled so tight that the clutch wouldn't release and we were stopped dead in the water. We sorted the chaos out and hoisted the No:4 (it was only when talking about it over a glass of beer later that we realised that we should have simply re-hoisted the No:3… OK, being honest, it was the Skipper that had this astounding revelation - the rest of the crew had known it from the start!)

A frustrating end to a good race, but there was always tomorrow (oh, and tonight!)

Report from J-Fever, Class 3

The race began with Gurnard rushing toward the beam and passing close astern, a nice finely judged one there skipper to get us across the line. Lying just behind Bounty Hunter we went for the kite hoist, and up it rose with not a hint of trouble followed by a neat jib drop, was this to be a good smooth-running race?

A minor communications difficulty let Tearaway Too through us while we were delayed in shaking out a reef but we made some ground back and held the resulting position as far as Mother Bank. Coming up for that the bowman went forward to execute what he thought would be a perfectly timed kite drop, and that's where the day's challenges began! The #3 jib went gliding up, for about 2/3 its length, and then jammed solid, not going up or down or anywhere and to our dismay it seemed the luff rope was stuck in the track rather than there being the usual boot clamp on a halyard. We dropped the kite and turned the corner regardless and the bowman ascended the forestay to investigate the problem, while the skipper took over the battle by the pre-feeder. Since the bowman's legs around the sail seemed to be making its lowering easier he descended with it, well he did so until he slipped and let go! The spectacle of a man in a sunhat hanging from a halyard and skimming the surface of the Solent abeam of J-Fever was then available for the amusement of those in the vicinity. Having returned to the deck some time later he was gratified to find that the skipper had completed the recovery of the jib which was re-hoisted in the other groove.

From that point we had ground to make up and settled down to trying to do so, taking in first one reef and then another as we worked up the shallow water of the mainland shore. Most of the crew had by this stage ascertained the degree of waterproofing afforded or otherwise by their clothing, as a not insubstantial quantity of water continued to attack from all angles. Now acting as navigator the bowman decided to try the skipper's nerves by repeatedly telling him to 'stand on' as the beach loomed closer and closer; crew on deck, meanwhile, attempted to spot lobster pots, and watch the terns feeding inshore, while avoiding watery slaps in the face. We managed to put some more distance between ourselves and the boats astern but were not successful in catching those who had got away during our Mother Bank incident although the gap did appear to reduce. Our final tack across the Solent coincided with the tide turning in our favour and took us nicely to the final mark with only the slightest alteration of course; we stood on, tacked and concentrated on identifying the finishing line (East Fairway Buoy does not seem to be marked by name on our chart, but was thankfully evident from the sketch provided) after which hot drinks, sandwiches and flapjacks were available in Yarmouth prior to beer and a fine sunny afternoon.

Report from Tearaway Too, Class 3

Well this was our second time sailing the new (to us) boat so no excuses eh! We now know everything! Ha ha.

The start was a little cautious but thanks to Dehler Yachts we had the kicker un-seized, single line reefing re-done, various deck leaks fixed, numerous other problems sorted …….and a new anchor windlass! The sails are still…well…not so hot but at least we are beginning to learn some of the tricks we first learned with the J105. A very different learning curve than the last Tearaway. We also got a new cooker and loo which makes us so much faster!

The run down to Mother Bank at 11 knots was great and we were hanging on in there, keeping up with the front runners. We decided to undertake Swallow who were giving the crew an interesting dip in the sea from time to time. It was kind of them to leave us a bit of room and keep well up!

When we turned the corner the rather doubtful, somewhat stretched and baggy rags gave us lots of heel and not so much drive and the always well sailed Bounty Hunter steadily, but not that quickly, pulled away.

H, the great Solent navigator, kept us going in the right direction and we, at least, stayed in touch. We felt that we had gained a rather mean advantage on J Fever as they had a few problems at Mother bank getting a jib up but we watched them getting bigger in the rearview mirror as we short tacked up the mainland shore to keep out of the worst of the tide. We finally found a quicker way of tacking and held them off as we dashed for the Island shore in anticipation of a fair tide.

I don't know if it's just us but was it a bit windy and hard work? We felt for Domaine as her main split asunder and thanked our stars that it was'nt us. We also arrived a little wet and bedraggled. Just as well it was a Solent weekend and not an offshore. Arriving in Yarmouth was something of a relief.

Now the only problem with an early finish is the early arrival at watering holes but the footy kept the average intake down and so a restful nights sleep was enjoyed by all! (PS don't believe a word). The BBQ from the Royal Solent was great by the way. Loads of food and somewhere to sit!