2008 Race Reports

Race 4 - The Hayling Bay Race

Report from J Fever, Class 3

Well this was certainly more like it! Sunshine, light winds, good company, cheerful all round.

We shipped another debutante, a nearly debutant ( one days picnic sail aboard J-Fever previously) an irregular and 5 regulars, two of whom tried new jobs to add interest to the day.

Not a bad start, but then we had to squeeze past the Trinity House obstacle and then decided to go for speed with the Kite up. The orange monster definitely attracts the cameras, so we all smiled and waved. We crossed to the north of Ryde bank, just to make the race more challenging as the skipper then had to make up lost ground, but we went well and the spinnaker drop had gone OK with apprentices in their new positions, so we broke out the orange monster again and the sandwiches after Warner and did our best to catch up. We held on too long and inevitably the second drop wasn't as smooth just because we needed to be really slick, we could still see Tearaway Too and Oz Privateer, but failed to catch them.

We did enjoy it!! Sunshine, no reefs. Please can we have more like that? Lovely views and beer in the Island Sailing Club afterwards made the perfect end. (OK, skipper would have liked a better result but the rest of us had a lovely time)

Our thanks as always to the race committee.

Report from Alaris - Class 3

After a year's absence from Jogging due to a boat change Team Alaris ex Spellbinder are back! The Nab Tower was our shakedown enjoyed by all - especially the frozen rain - so what a joy to see a decent forecast.

I must admit though, I thought that the weather forecasters had got it wrong as we motored out to Cowes from Hamble in not much wind, what there was was coming from our speed through the water. But with about 15 minutes to go to our start at 1000 the wind picked up to the forecast 8 -10 knots from the South and very soon we were away.

Loads of tide at Gurnard made this a tricky start and although we thought we had it fairly well lined up with a minute to go we realised we were too far back - but so were most boats so we had a decent start right by the mark and helm Rich P maintained his record of good starts. As for sail choice, well there was only one really, I was busting to try the new asymmetric bought this winter and as yet untried, to see what it could do and here was the chance. So we scraped past the Trinity House ship on the windward side, so close we could smell the tea the crew were drinking on deck!

Never mind the plan which was to keep in the South channel in max tide, we just kept the big red thing up and kept going as close as it would allow, particularly in the gusts, when we probably should've dropped it. Anyway it did the job, with speeds of around 8 knots and 1 to 2 knots of tide we made good progress, with a great job by the sail trimmers Paul, Olly 1, Olly 2, James and Rob, who kept going, not letting the Prima and J120 who also went low over the bank getting too far away. We probably held on to the kite a bit too long though because coming up to the first fort, Horse Sands, we were virtually close hauled and down to just over 6 knots. Then we just managed to hold our own on the reach down to Winner.

The return legs were a different story, we made good gains up to Warner where many boats seemed to go too high with all the tide pushing SE. Here, we pulled away from two J109’s and Arcsine, then passed a Prima and 40.7 on our way down to No Mans Land Fort. The effort was maintained beating the tide and trimming hard all the way up to Snowden, including a text book kite drop changing to the #1 when we could see the boats ahead being headed and bearing away into more tide near Peel. Keeping high and in slack water we seemed to be holding lots of the faster boats including OMG (Old Mother Gun) who was tantalisingly close just ahead.

Not sure we got the final bit right as it wasn't as quick as we thought it would be. The tidal info was showing a counter flow up the Green, but when we went past the mooring buoys we still had tide against, so we may have been better staying out in more wind. Anyway, we had done enough to clock up our first win so well done team on our second outing of the year. A great days sailing - good close finish with Mostly Harmless on corrected - and our thanks to the JOG committee and helpers who once again laid on a great days sailing.

Report from Oz Privateer, Class 3

Having taken the hybrid drive sail back to Dr Dyer at North's for some extra surgery we were down to the final main sail in the Oz wardrobe. This sail being the original North main that was supplied with Oz when she was new left us hoping that the wind gods would be kind to us and waft us gently around the Solent on the Hayling Bay race.

On the Saturday morning it appeared that our prayers had been answered, so much so that there was no wind for the class 4 start. As luck would have it, the wind filled in enough to allow the last of the class 4 boats to start and for our race to set off to a cracking reach down towards the Forts. It was a close call whether to stay on whites or go for the reacher off the start line. We opted for the reacher whereas Mostly Harmless stayed on whites, which paid in the long run. The romp to the Forts was a sunny repeat of the Nab tower experience with two of the Oz crew opting to stay in shorts.

By the time we arrived at Winner the lead class 3 boats had very little clear water between them and it was obvious that it was going to be a hard fought race to the end. Ryde Sands became a magnet for Tim who was trying to keep up above Tearaway Too who was desperate to get past us. On two occasions I had to remind Tim that the J120 draws a bit less than Oz and Martin may try to push this advantage to the point where we could find ourselves stuck. As luck would have it Martin chickened out at the same time as we did. The race played out as nip and tuck between MH in the deeper channel and Oz, J Fever & Tearaway trying to gain ground on each other. As we all approached the finish it was the last few tacks that determined where each boat was placed. MH drove straight for the line where we tacked in out of the tide and finished just behind them both on the water and on handicap. However, the boat that beat us all on handicap was Alaris. (Well done)

The crews designated watering hole was the Island Sailing Club, who made us all very welcome, allowing us to spend a very pleasant afternoon - evening and night enjoying the usual post race chat.
Thank you to the race officers for a great day (& the sunshine)

Report from Rapscallion of Suburbia, Class 5

Determined this time to avoid arriving at the start line with only seconds to spare, we decided that we’d leave RCM on Friday evening. One could be forgiven for thinking this action a tad well, premature. It worked like a dream however allowing us a very decent night sail across to Cowes and of course not having to get up at silly o’clock. Always a bonus in my view. We did limit the Pusser’s Rum nightcap to just the one glass though.

It’s just as well the anemometer is crocked, because it wouldn’t have registered very much if at all at the start. Not wanting to turn east too early we decided to go with the ‘pack instinct’ and turn when most of the other boats turned. Not the greatest strategy admittedly, but it worked – sort of! We tacked to the north as soon as to catch a bit more tide, and to avoid ending up south of Snowden. Keeping to windward of Galatea paid dividends and allowed us to use what little wind there was.

Sooner than expected the wind started to build and we actually started to move rather than just generally drift. A very pleasant sail down to Horse Sand ensued (crew into sunbathing mode) but rounding Winner the wind started to go light and it was a slow build up of boat speed – very frustrating. We popped the ‘never flown before’ brand spanking new kite with a satisfying crack as we rounded Warner and off to No Mans Land fort. Sneaked downwind of Jaquann just prior to the fort and then heard three class 3 or class 4 boats all trying to get into the same bit of water only 30 yards behind us as we passed the fort. Keeping the kite up and heading inshore it was only a matter of time before we had to go to whites or be headed into deeper water. We left this a bit later than we ought to have done, and it undoubtedly cost us a few places.

Approaching Peel Bank with lots of dinghies in the water started to look a bit problematical, but somehow we managed to keep clear without any great loss of speed or course. Fluky winds around Norris reduced our speed to something like 2 knots, but we soon managed to get out of that wind hole and past Shrape. Feeling pretty pleased with ourselves for having escaped from the lee of the headland we soon realised that we were going to have to bear away to the north to leave Snowden on our port side. Still it’s the same for everybody isn’t it, and now desperately trying to claw our way to port after Snowden we were praying for a good gust to get us past Scarab and shore side of Gurnard. Just couldn’t get the gust and we had to tack leaving Scarab to beat us over the line. All in all a very enjoyable race indeed – another 10 miles and somebody would’ve wanted to break out the Pimms!

Thanks to all the shore side JOG troops and can we have a tad more wind for Friday please !

Report from Electron, Class 5

Having had a bit of a pasting by the Weather Gods in the Nab Tower race, Skip was rubbing his hands with glee. He had done his usual trick of surveying weather web sites and had settled on the site with the report he most liked: "Sunny and a light Southerly - sounds perfect" he said to Vickie as they discussed plans for the race the next day. (Video footage available at www.electron.nildram.co.uk click on video button)

Now, followers of Electrons exploits will also be aware that Vickie had her beer head on the night before Nab. Skips "iron" will power meant he joined in and they were both a little jaded the next morning. Not this time! Skip sternly told Vickie they would be sensible and retire to their births at a sensible time. Vickie, tired from a hard week of corporate shenanigans was relieved. She did, however, fail to foresee that for Skip, early to bed means early to rise! So she was woken by Skip tiptoeing (stomping more like) around the boat a good hour before the agreed alarm call.

As the boat was readied for the day, the smell of bacon boat bread warming in the oven wafted out of the cabin. Vickie grinned and said: "Makes a change from stale pork pie left over from the previous race" and even volunteered to make tea. Skip did voice concern over her uncharacteristic display of willingness but also new not to push it too far - never look a gift horse in the mouth!! On the way to the start it was obvious to Skip that one of the other weather web sites he had viewed but not chosen had given a more accurate prediction! Two knots of breeze and the Solent absolutely glassy flat. The only bonus was that it was relatively warm and sunny!

As the other Class 5 boats appeared for the start Skip and Vickie discussed tactics and it went a bit like this:
Skip: "Now I want to make sure we actually start with the fleet this time and not 10 minutes late"
Vickie: "That'll be a good idea"
Skip: "So we'll get everything set for the off now and we can relax for a few minutes"
Vickie: "Great. Who's going to keep and eye on the time" (Last race each thought the other was keeping time!!)
Skip: "you do it with your nice new watch"
Vickie: "Ah, well I would if I had remembered to bring it"
Skip: "?*&%$?!!"
Vickie: "I tell you what; I'll remind you to look at your watch!"

And so the Electron team, obviously at the top of their game, strategised a good start! (Note from author: this video camera malarkey worked well this time!)

Skips first dilemma was which side of the Trinity House Vessel to go. It was parked slap bang between Prince Consort and Snowden. In the end, the decision was made for him and Electron slowly drifted Snowden side. As Electron drifted toward Snowden it became obvious the tide would put the boat the wrong side of Snowden. Calling for a tack Electron went onto starboard several boat lengths away from Whistler. One aggressive wind shift later saw Whistler struggling to Electrons starboard call. In true JOG fashion Mark from Whistler used his crew as organic fenders (cheaper to repair than fibre glass apparently) and Skip tacked back to port to avoid contact. A mere kiss of fibre glass and it was all over. Electron got through but poor Whistler did not. They struggled for a long time to get around the buoy. Mark and his crew on Whistler did a fantastic job of making up for lost time though and should be congratulated for finishing so well.

Snowdon done and dusted and Skip continued to do his "kite no kite" debate. Vickie kept wondering why she had signed up and the breeze gradually filled in for some good sailing to Winner. One good rounding later saw Vickie and Skip grinning from ear to ear because they had "got it right". Skip even managed to spin the spinnaker gear before Warner in preparation for the hoist.

Around Warner and up went the brand new kite for its first outing. Over the side went the bag!! One Class 5 boat even diverted to try and do a pick up! (Thank you for trying). Vickie just went very quiet, her thoughts clearly etched on her face. Skip looked at Vickie and said: "Did I clip it on, I'm sure I clipped it on". Vickie agreed that she thought Skip had clipped the bag on just to keep the peace and kept her doubt to herself. (Note from Author: later action replay of video footage shows Skip was a complete spanner and did not clip the kite bag onto the rail!)

As Electron approached No Mans Land Fort it became clear that, in Skip's words: "this is gonna be bloody close - we may need to gybe". Vickie looked like a startled rabbit caught in the headlights of a speeding car! Now, everyone knows when sailing double handed you have to plan well ahead and do everything slowly. You do all this the first few times with preferably "disposable" or old equipment to allow for error - not a brand spanking new kite straight out of the bag (which was by now probably somewhere off Nab Tower) - hence Vickie's startled look. A few "yes/no's" later and Electron snuck around on what seemed like a little back eddy of tide without the need to gybe. A smaller than usual wind shadow meant the boat powered quickly and shot off toward Ryde sands.

A great bit of sunny sailing towards the finished resulted in the usual fluky winds off East Cowes. An exciting finish with JOG boats every where in close proximity - fantastic! A mediocre result for Electron but it was not for the want of trying. Skip was interviewed by this Author briefly and we are pleased to report that Skip is just "pleased to be out on the water". That he has not "turned" with all this tasty bread on board and that he will try to be a proper bowman again soon (he cannot afford to lose another bag!!).

Thank you JOG and the Race Team for an excellent days racing. Thank you to all of the Competitors for behaving well and considering others - even when not in your racing Class and Thank you to the Island Sailing Club for hosting an excellent after race drinks party.

Report from Moondog, Class 5

For this race Robin Lawton, the previous owner of Moondog when the boat was named Lazy Bear, joined us. It was nice to see Robin back Jogging and helping us to sail the boat well. With the prospect of nil wind at the start we did a timed drift from a transit to the line which came out at exactly 5 minutes. Adding a bit for luck we drifted from the transit to the line and had to dip a bit to avoid starting early and got a pretty good start albeit a bit close to the shore. The tide induced wind enabled us to tack and make our way out to Snowden dicing with Alchemist and Xarifa on the way . Soon after passing Snowden the wind patches appeared on the water both ahead and inshore, no chance of heading for them so just had to wait for the increased breeze to arrive. Little bit of angst when we saw Blazer, further inshore, pick up the breeze nice and early however, we all came out pretty level in the new breeze. Sheets eased all the way to Winner with one decision on which side to pass the container ship coming up the Solent, we chose to the north and honours appeared even with those to the south once the ship had passed. Now reaching along in glorious sunshine reminded us of what fair weather yacht racing is all about, may it continue through many more races this year.

We were very pleased to stick close to Alchemist and hold our own with Blazer. Once round Warner it was kite time, first time for the new chute and a bit of a moment when the halyard freed itself from the head on the hoist, quickly attaching the spare genoa halyard and hoisting with that saved the day. Speed with the new kite was pleasingly good, pulling out a bit on Blazer and seemingly holding Alchemist to a respectable distance ahead. It felt like we were on for a good result until!!!! Wind headed soon after Ryde and we returned to white sails for the fetch back to the finish. After the comings and goings getting past Castle Point we were still well placed having retaken Mestengo, things started to go wrong on the approach to Snowden. A largeish cruiser came through ahead, making for Cowes entrance, forcing us to dip and take dirty air, then three boats from classes 3 and 4 came through to windward, slowing us again on the approach and rounding of Snowden. The beat to the finish seemed fraught with whenever we tacked we were headed making a very slow last half mile. Mestengo got by and finished 30 seconds ahead, just the time we needed to get first on handicap however, coming second to Alchemist by 22 seconds was a very pleasing result. Can't wait for next weekend's RSYC Double Handed race to Weymouth and back hoping for a very extended spinnaker run with the new kite and hopefully on the proper halyard!

Great race, great weather, great result.

Report from Whistler, Class 5

One of the nice things about the days getting longer is that it isn't so much of a chore to be up and about at 5.30 in the morning - even when the final glass of last nights final bottle of Rioja is something more than a distant memory…

A pleasant motor up to Cowes, the usual friendly exchanges of pleasantries with the race officers and other competitors, blue skies - the day had everything… …except wind. This prompted the usual start tactics of motoring up tide until the 5 minute gun and trying to control the drift to the line.

As we neared the gate between Snowden and Prince Consort we opted to go to leeward of the Galatea, hoping to use the tide to shoot the wind shadow. All was going well until we got into the lee of the vessel and saw those to windward of her pick up and then Electron, who were outside us realised that they were not going to make Snowden and tacked over - this forced us to tack, right in the wind shadow where we lost all momentum and were stalled, leaving us drifting without any steerage… not in the plan! We explained the predicament to Electron, who reacted with the dignity of their Skipper's exalted position; the situation was resolved in the gentlemanly JOG way and we continued on our respective paths.

There was only one minor, insignificant, niggling technicality in the whole thing - we were the wrong side of Snowden, watching Electron and the fleet sail/drift on their way!!!! We pointed in the right direction so at least we could pretend we were trying to get back and, as we gently drifted on the tide, I'm sure that individually everyone's thoughts turned to what they were now going to do with the rest of the day. However, Team Whistler are made of stern stuff and I'm sure that this was one those situations were the old adage of "the whole being greater than the sum of the parts" holds true (or were we just frightened of The Stig's reaction should we try to retire?)

The breeze teased us for ages before building and allowing us to overcome the tide and claw our way back up to Snowden for a correct rounding, some long way behind the Fleet but thankfully still ahead of Class 4!

Putting all that behind us, we had a great sail down the Solent and up to Winner, favouring the southern side of the track in anticipation of the wind backing - and even managed to overtake a number of back markers.

Having rounded Warner and re-entered the Solent we spotted the wind heading boats past Ryde and changed back to the genoa in good time, which left us slightly better placed than some who delayed their changes.

The usual frustration at Norris and an "uneven" final beat to the line - something to work on for next time - but we were pleased to have stuck at it after what would have been curtains in previous seasons, and even overtaken a few people after such a disastrous start!

Report from Mostly Harmless, Class 3

By the time that Class 3 was ready to start, the glassy conditions that the little boats had started in had turned into a pleasant 8 to 10 knots southerly, making for an interesting call on the kite. With three new crew members on board and relatively light overall, we decided on white sails and gloated on the outcome as we pulled away from most of those with kites and watched Oz Privateer and Tearaway Too head off for Gilkicker. Only NJOS, flying something that looked more like a Code 0 than a kite, caused any trouble, but even they were a bit greedy and finally lost out by trying to carry it almost to Horse Sand Fort.

The combination of an easy reach and the tide under us, we were at the Winner in no time, and began to tangle with Classes 4 and 5 on the fetch back to Warner. But Oz seemed to get in more of a tangle, allowing for more gloating. Another kite call had to be made at Warner – would we be able to carry the kite after No Mans Land Fort, in which case go with the reacher, or would it be white sails again, in which case the runner would do the job for the leg from Warner. We went for the runner, and gloated a bit more as Oz had a bit of trouble with their kite hoist. Finding our way, through the wind-shadow of the fort was less of a problem than anticipated, but it became clear as we hardened up that we’d made the wrong call with the kite. It looked like the reacher would have been the smart call after all, but with a crew on board who had not talked through, let alone practiced peeling we were stuck with the runner. Add to that, knowing how some of the little boats ahead were going to behave if we tried to squeeze to windward of them going up Ryde Sands we were condemned to an off-the-pace spell that also left us further to leeward and in more adverse tide than we would have liked. No gloating now!

Heading back past Wooton, the blue spinnaker of Oz and Tearaway’s bright orange asymmetric started to look a bit threatening. Spotting class 5 boats dropping kites, we dropped the runner early while Oz and Tearaway continued steaming on up to windward. Oz made a more timely drop than on the way out, but Tearaway briefly took a costly detour in the direction of Browndown before switching to white sails. With just a few more Class 4 and Class 5 boats to negotiate our way past, we took the cautious approach, making a nifty drop down to leeward of Longue Pierre as she made it clear that she would rather we didn’t pass to windward.

At Snowden, Oz was still uncomfortably close – although another Prima, we give her time. Oz tacked inshore, we gambled on keeping decent wind a bit further offshore and making the finish line without a tack. The wind continually lifted and headed, and lifted and headed, and we almost made it before throwing in a couple of short tacks at the end. A 48 second lead over Oz on the water converted into 4 seconds on handicap – a bit close for comfort! But once again we were watching the wrong boat and couldn’t see what was happening at the lower end of Class 3 – after Sanguma pipped us on handicap two weeks ago, congratulations to bottom rating Alaris who got the chocolates by 34 seconds.

Report from Tearaway too, Class 3

East going starts are always a bit nerve racking for us as we have to get off our mooring at low water which is not possible at Springs. Fortunately, ½ way between saw 0.2 meters under the keel so more than enough to float! This followed the stress of getting the main back on and putting a new jammer on the jib leach line. All done on Friday evening and then an early start! Tiring this racing!

A number of crew (nameless to protect their modesty) may have been a bit hung over. The bowsprit wasn't jammed off and the tackline jammer was open so our slightly conservative start (in case the wind went light again) became somewhat worse than expected. By the time we had the kite under control we were clear of Snowden and felt over pressed. At least the skipper remembered to keep clear of the mark with just a little reminding!

We dropped soon after and white sailed a little higher than the front runners who lost the advantage of carrying Kites when it came to their turn to drop. With a reasonable breeze we settled down towards Winner with a bit of catching up to do on the two Primas. We managed to get back on Oz and gave them a nice intimidating view of our bowsprit from close up, for the reaching leg across to Warner. The tide caught out a number of class 4 boats and we were able to pass comfortable inside them to the mark but had to stay higher than we would have liked to keep to windward of Oz. J Fever went through in the convenient gap as we continued to reach high to climb over Oz and then it was all nip and tuck back to Ryde. We gained an edge and then lost it with the fluky winds off Osborne Bay, gained a bit and dropped back after being forced to tack off round Snowden and then getting a painful header going in and coming back out, forcing an extra two tacks to lay the finish. Having been right on her transom, Oz pulled a comfortable lead in the last ½ mile of racing and left us floundering in her wake to take a fourth on handicap!

All in all, a lovely day's racing in sunshine and a pleasant breeze. Not at all what we are used to this year! The usual thanks to all the race officers for making it all happen and we are sorry we didn't join you in Cowes but dog calls!