2008 Race Reports

Race 7 - The Hamble Estate Agency, Yarmouth-Cowes Race.

Report from Whistler, Class 5

Scene One: The opening credits of "The Simpsons", only instead of Bart, it's the Skipper standing chalking on a blackboard "When I'm up with the leaders I must not bang the corner"… we'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Now a 9.00am start is jolly civilised but it does have the downside of fewer hours of favourable tide, doesn't it!

The No:3 and a reefed main seemed a good idea in the gusty conditions at the start and, despite the Skippers ranting, we made a good start powered up along the line on starboard - we even ducked our illustrious club Captain, even though he was on port, as we knew he was feeling a little poorly.

Whistler was enjoying the conditions and we were cracking along out in front with Aviva, Xarifa and Alchemist all the way to North East Gurnard, thanks to a couple of good calls from the tac/nav team (and of course excellent helming and motivational powers from the Skipper).

It was here that we cocked up with style. Watching our co-leaders head North we opted to head straight for East Bramble; the result - less wind, more tide and unplanned diversion into the deep water channel and a lot of frustration. It was somewhat disheartening to see the leaders heading home and hear their radio calls to the finish team as we struggled up to East Bramble.

We stuck at it and plugged on despite almost getting swept downtide of South Ryde Middle and having to hang on to the kite on a very shy reach up to Snowden.

To compound matters even the last few bottles of beer on board were off!!!

Closing Scene: The Skipper still standing there chalking "When I'm up with the leaders I must not bang the corner" … will he ever learn?

Report from Rapscallion of Suburbia, Class 5

Sunday morning and the wind had got up to around F5, but at least the sun was making a bit of an effort. The start had been put back to 09:00, which on reflection did not help as we lost one hour of east going tide. Deciding on 2 reefs in the main and a No3, we again managed to get in with the pack at the start and we headed North in earnest, vowing to keep close tabs on Shadowfax which we did for some considerable time. The water was quite lumpy as we were still wind against tide.

Once the tide turned, the water flattened and the wind started to ease. Shook the reefs out and stuck the No2 up. We were back to the same situation we had the day before where the mark (NE Gurnard) was directly upwind, and progress towards was slow. Here we missed a trick by getting too focused on NE Gurnard (which we had to leave to stbd), instead of getting and staying North to pass the next mark to stbd (East Bramble). We correctly surmised that this was why all the boats were keeping close to the north shore and tacking frequently. Eventually rounding East Bramble, the wind went a little light again as we set off towards South Ryde Middle. Rounding this mark we got the kite up and had a nice fast run past Snowden and over the finish line. Two tactically challenging races that we enjoyed, and more importantly learnt a lot from.

Report from Electron, Class 5

The wind howled in the rigging all night and in the morning still seemed to be blowing strong. Skip and Vickie sat in the cockpit of Electron eating bacon rolls, drinking the last of the tea (they keep forgetting to buy teabags) looking at the wind speed with long faces. As Skip considered the course (whilst secretly thanking Peter for the 1 hour AP) he advised Vickie there could well be "another one of those gybey things around South Ryde". Vickie resigned herself to more work and started to religiously trace all the spinnaker gear to make sure the first hoist would be a good one.

Out on the start line Skips myopic eyes were so dimmed by his wind noise interrupted sleep he could not see any recognition from the start team on the distant shore. One radio call later and the whole fleet were made aware Skip is a blind as a bat! Is it me or does that start box look like its miles away???

A reasonable start had Electron at the front of the fleet chasing Alchemist - as always! Tacking to get out of the tide toward the mainland shore, a charter boat of popular Portsmouth origin with a skipper and crew who must still have had a combined IQ in single figures took the most appalling and stupid action: Whilst Electron was the right of way vessel the charter boat was clearly passing ahead. They however saw another boat of the JOG fleet on starboard behind Electron, and instead of ducking them panicked, tacked, stalled the boat so they lost way and fell away from the wind right into the path of Electron. Only quick action of Skip and Vickie saved any contact and the likely damage which would have been cause by contact at speed.

Toward East Bramble Skip commented that he had never seen so many Lawyers in one spot as Electron sailed through their annual regatta fleet. Rounding the mark it was a "hoist don't hoist" moment with the spinnaker and Skip wisely chose the latter - don't hoist. (Note from Vickie: "thank you Skip x"). Electron sailed under whites to South Ryde which, in hindsight was the right thing to do in the building tide and a slight wind shift as it would have been very tight.

Rounding the mark too close for Vickie's comfort (another "this season trend") the kite was hoisted and off Electron shot. Sometimes hitting 8 knots over the ground but still struggling to keep the kite filled as the tide robbed apparent wind.

"You're getting very close to Snowden" said Vickie as Skip jinked Electron's bottom around the mark. He then proceeded to explain why he and managed to lay the finish on the same gybe. (Another thank you from Vickie).

Another great race back. Both days courses were excellent and Electron did well in both races all things considered.

Report from Aviva, Class 5

Got up after the Saturday night festivities feeling decidedly shabby. Needed to get some fuel, so up O crack OO for some diesel before getting out to the start line just before 9.

The wind was clocking 20+ knots, but bramble bank was only 14, so we knew that it was going to be a trying day with the wind softening all the way. To start we put the No3 up and full main (a bit worrying when Whistler had a reef in and Electron looking like two, but surely only one!)

Our start was screwed up by Whistler having to bail out of a cracking start on starboard due to another boat stalling on the start line with only a main up. Whistler tacked off to port to avoid, meaning we had to duck big time and only just cleared the line on Starboard.

We went for pace big time to get out into deep water and more favourable tide. Kept sailing on Starboard till we started losing depth and tacked over, still behind Whistler. Half way to Cowes, we managed to get into good breeze and a good lift on the Island shore just when it looked softer on the Mainland shore. Here we made a big gain into second or third place and it started to look like we might get into the chocolates.

Wind then went soft, so we took a bit of a gamble and peeled to our No 1. This paid off big time as the wind went even lighter. Managed to round NE Gurnard, but decided to carry on into Southampton water trying for favourable tide even though the wind seemed lighter there (tide had switched direction by then). Our master tactician (not me ), managed to get us sailing bang in the centre of the bramble bank. Big gains again seeing off the X342 ahead of us.

Long two sail tight reach all the way to E Bramble dodging TP52s on the way. Then kite up and tightish reach over to island shore with Blazer in hot pursuit. After a nervous last run to the finish line with Blazer gaining all the time we managed to take line honours, hurraay, but beaten into second place on corrected, Humbug!.

Not a bad second race of the season...

Report from Tearaway too, Class 3

Unbelievable how the wind gods behave. It shrieked so much overnight we hardly slept (or was it the excesses from the night before?) Never mind, morning came with sun and a fair breeze and the promise of a good day's racing. We slipped our mooring in plenty of time and generally got ready in time to consider the start line. I don't know about anyone else but looking back over your shoulder for the transit is really difficult and the bow needs binoculars to see it so we just hoped that the ODM was on the line and went for it. Approaching on port and tacking on starboard would have worked if all the other boats were laying the line but they weren't so we found a gap and tacked back on port and made a half decent start considering.

The beat down the Solent just entailed trying to keep in the last of the favourable tide and making best use of the regular windshifts and lifts off the shore when we were in close enough to get them. Judging the exact moment to get over to the shallow water was a bit tricky but we timed it when we felt the tide was all foul right across the Solent which coincided with us being off the mouth of Beaulieu river. Going inside of the cardinal off Needs Ore point was a bit daunting so we came out and back in but lost a little ground to the braver ones who held on. Passing the point, we pushed right in and took the benefit of a 30 degree lift to sail almost along the beach, tacking out as we ran out of water and back in when we reached 12 metres. Sailing inside the power station outlet kept us out of the worst foul tide and we could lay a line to East Bramble, passing through a sportsboat racing fleet and their committee boat (well not through the boat, just close).

Rounding E Bramble we were not quite certain of the direction to the next mark as the skipper had pressed some keys on the instrument pad with his knee (by accident!) and they had gone into calibration mode. It seemed the wrong time to study the manual and no amount of prodding would get the COG so we turned them off and back on, re-set the next waypoint and finally found something like the right angle to cross over with a strong west going tide. Unfortunately, the kite was not quite all the way up and the view under it was a bit sparse so the navigator kept the skipper on the right line with the hand held. How did we do it all before instruments?

A rather slow jibe round the mark to make sure we didn't hit it and then a fast reach down to Snowden. Fast because we had 4 knots of tide under us and hit 10 knots speed over ground for a brief while but slow because the apparent wind was down to about 8 knots and a reach because of apparent wind bend! We got rolled by Njos and then Oz and played the JOG "nice card" to defend our wind by not being aggressive. As Njos had us on handicap anyway and Oz weren't far enough ahead to hold theirs' it felt more gentlemanly to just keep going in the right direction! Thanks for making it quick guys, the pain was bearable!

The final run in to the finish with a bit more breeze was great and after a drop and tidy up we opened the green things and lunchtime rolls as we headed back to Hamble, arriving with still enough water under us to get back on the mooring with no drama. Another great weekend then!

Report from Blazer, Class 5

We awoke on Sunday morning to lots of sunshine and lots of wind!! Fun and games getting off the marina pontoons, especially when the bow spring decides that it actually wants to stay and tangles itself when trying to be released!!

Big debate between a few tired peeps, No 3 and a reef or No 4 and full main...... With the forecast set to increase in wind, the No 4 and full main won, as it would be easier to reduce sail area as the wind increased. Interestingly enough Moondog went for a No 3 and a reef, so when the wind dropped they could increase sail area easier! With the last of the flood tide causing a lovely Solent chop we hacked up towards the first mark. Alchemist led the beat, and everyone else were pretty even with Blazer just ahead of Moondog, Mustengo and the Sigmas. The big Beneteaus started to sail through (far too fast for class 5!!) along with Xarifa who looked to be holding her sail area really well.

We felt we were better off in the flatter water and with the tide turning against us we headed towards the Lepe shore. Changing up to the No 3, and almost the No 1 until the wind filled back in. Tucking right into the shore picking up a nice shift which put us ahead of the fleet. Excluding Avivia who we could not make out amongst the many boats out enjoying the lovely weather. Heading up to E Bramble we were not sure whether the next leg would be a kite leg or whether it would be too shy due to the tidal influence of the strong ebbing tide. Aviva arrived first and popped there kite, ideal we'll do the same. Constantly monitoring the COG to ensure that we were not swept past South Ryde Middle, then a nice smooth gybe onto the home straight. 9 knots over the ground the fastest we had been all weekend and a joy not to be going against the tide! Down past Snowden with Full Pelt from class 4 sailing through us below - Nice mod to a 1720!

A cheeky little gybe at the end to make certain that we didn't get swept past the finish mark and over the line! An excellent sail, which started off not being a Laser 28's weather. Another fantastic JOG weekend and more than half way through the inshore series. Thank you to all the crew and competitors for coming out to play. Thanks to the Race officers for setting interesting courses.
Roll on Weymouth.

Report from Oz Privateer, Class 3

During the night the wind rattled the rigging (nothing to do with curry). When we awoke (an hour later than required for the start that had been published in the SI's, because Peter had been kind enough to issue an AP of one hour on the Saturday night) the sun was shining and a brisk 18kt breeze from the NE promised to give us a good days sailing.

A cup of tea a munch on boat bread and off we set towards the start. Our start was not too bad having found ourselves a bit boxed in at the committee end of the line. Under N3 and 1 reef in the main we kept good pace with the rest of the fleet. The big gains for this race seem to have been made by mud hopping on the Beaulieu shore just after the tide started to ebb. We traded tacks in a very gentlemanly fashion with Andy Hill and Tearaway off Lepe spit. The kite run towards the finish was exiting as we chased Njos and Tearaway towards the line.

All in all a great weekends sailing and our thanks to the race committee and all competitors over the weekend.

Report from Arcsine, Class 4.

We'd heard the wind howl all night, then got up at 7.30 to listen to the strong wind warning in the shipping forecast. Even leaving Yarmouth was going to be difficult enough double handed, but fortunately we were berthed behind Oz Privateer, and Nick kindly gave us a hand slipping our lines - thanks Nick! Hoisting the sails was the next challenge, with just half an hour to our start and a fresh ENE wind. The main went up fine, and I carefully prepped the jib so that it would hoist from the security of the sail bag, bursting the zip as it went up. I'd got the jib about halfway up when the luff pulled out of the tuff luff and within seconds the jib was flying to leeward, with the head doing a fine job as a sea anchor. Kathy and I wrestled it out of the sea before deciding that the only way to hoist it in time was to break the golden rule of sailing - never let the skipper forward of the mast. Kathy fed the sail into the luff, while I winched the sail up, and had just about got my breath back before it was time to pull the main sheet in as we came up onto the wind to cross the start line.

We enjoyed a lumpy beat up the Solent before the wind eased and we shook our reef out. As we neared the Bramble bank, we debated whether to go North or South of the Bramble bank, until the wind veered and decided for us - South. We fought the tide to East Bramble, surrounded by race yachts rounding Air Canada, and the wind became increasingly light and flukey. All this made prepping the assymetric "interesting" - attach sheets, come back to duck another boat, go forward to attach tack line, come back to retrim for a massive wind shirt, etc. The wind had freed us, so I attached the kite to the port side. Then it headed us, so I rerigged the kite to starboard. Then the leg to S Ryde Middle was too shy for a kite, so back it went to the port side. Then the wind died, forcing us deep to fight the tide, making painfully slow progress without the spinnaker which was, of course, on the wrong side.

Once round S Ryde Middle it was up with the kite, down with the jib, up with the snuffing sock and we were off for the pleasant, if short, leg around Snowden to the JOG finish line.