A Shakedown Race?
Conditions were looking to be very benign for our first offshore race, with a light-air forecast, wind swinging 180degrees halfway through and lots of sunshine. Perfect for our first shake-down race in preparation for the Big One – the Fastnet.
Chef Sarah served up a delightful porridge breakfast on the way out to the start, with lashings of golden syrup in silver Tupperware service. All we were missing was the champagne and strawberries. Next time…
The strong spring tide, a light wind with a port-reaching start we decided to start conservatively. In fact rather too conservatively as it turned out.
The pin end was clearly the place to be, which was at the very far end of the line right in the middle of the Solent. It was hard to pin-point the line, as the light-transit was just so far away. We didn’t want to be over and have the struggle of getting back. Well, no more excuses… we just started badly.
Starting 100yds down the line, we fell into the wind shadow very quickly of the fast boats, and then the slower boats following them…which all in turn made us struggle to get above Ryde Bank. So we continued our rather slow start with a slow first reach out towards the forts. Eventually all the upwind boats passed and we got some clean air. Now we could start to reel in the fleet!
As we made our way out of the Forts and towards Owers (near Rustington) we made use of every puff we could find, quickly pulling in the back few 40.7s. No sign of those canny sailors on Anticipation, they must be miles ahead. With the first 3hrs over, we swapped watches and Austen took the helm. As we closed on Owers, the wind started to go very light, in fact very, very, light, and with the tide under us we started to get concerned we might not get round the right side of the buoy. Austen however had it all under control, and in true dinghy fashion passed the mark with a few metres to spare. The wind then all but died, and we spent a few tricky moments as boats spun 180 degrees without steerage.
The forecast SW wind started to come in, and we quickly got the lightweight masthead kite up and made our way towards the shoreline. As is usually our habit, we went rather deeper than the other 40.7s and although other boats were earlier into the sea-breeze, we still came out having pulled up a few more places. Encore pulled up alongside us, but with our bigger kite we managed to pull ahead before they could cover us.
A text-book drop and brilliant rounding of the leeward mark by the Blue watch put us in good shape for the journey across to France. The wind fluctuated between 6-10kts, and we had to think very hard on the tactics. The leg across was a close fetch. Would the wind go light and we would need to be higher to allow for the tide? What if the wind stayed and we then ended up too far West, struggling to get down to Le Havre? Richard now had a hard call to make. Most of the fleet were opting for the more conservative approach of going high.
The Blue watch made their way downstairs for a well deserved rest. Green watch made the most of the evening breeze, and enjoyed the first round of Sarah’s excellent Shepherd’s Pie. Ehab decided to have a proper rest, dreaming of some real wind…
We first decided as the wind was light to go high. As the wind freshened a little after a couple of hours, we cracked off a little and drop down. This proved to work very well. As we dropped down, those boats upwind of us fell into very light wind, and we watched as they all started to fall behind. Light fell, and as successive Nav lights were turned on, we watched as more boats appeared first on the horizon ahead, and then dropped far behind. The wind started to drop off, and we decided to consolidate our position by climbing up to the rest of the fleet. Sailing a higher angle than the other boats meant we could sail faster, and we pulled through yet more boats. Wow! Finally, the wind freed and we set up the masthead kite once again. Tight, but could we hold it up to the finish? It would work out very quick if we could. Green Watch took over at 11:30pm, with Chef Sarah hastily learning a new skill – Navigation...
As we closed on A5 at around 2:30am, the rounding buoy 10miles out of Le Havre, we realised we had pulled up right through the fleet. Not many lights on ahead! 6kts on the log in just 8kts of wind, the pole low and the masthead tight in, the trimmers worked overtime searching for every ounce of speed. We were firing on all cylinders, and knew this would be a close finish. Had we caught all the other 40.7s, during the night? Everyone came up on deck to lend a hand for the last few hours of tense sailing.
Dawn arrived as we approached the line, and we were able for the first time to review who was around us. Ehab’s excellent trimming was relieved by Mike, to ensure those sailing were kept fresh. Some much faster Class 0 boats and no other 40.7s around. A good sign. 5 boats lined up just behind us, and a class 0 boat ahead unable to fly a kite. Would we be able to get through him before we were caught? Tender steering and careful trimming allowed us to squeeze under him before we were rolled, and we finished 15 secs ahead of the ensuing boats.
Finally, as we walked up to the Clubhouse, we were congratulated by boat crews coming down. We’d done it! We were first 40.7 home by a considerable margin, AND we’d finished 2nd overall in class 1!
Great teamwork and spirit had finally got us there:
Green Watch: Peter Robson, Ehab Abbas, Richard Franks, Chris Sandison, Bob Weare,
Blue Watch: Austen Scully, Simon Sparkes, Mike Green, Sarah Kafetz, Peter Stapleton,
PS: Getting a place in the prizes called for a Celebratory drink. Look out for Chapter 2 of this instalment, the return of Playing Around to Hamble in 30kts on Sunday night. No broken bones or boats, but the fish did get most of that Celebratory drink!
Peter Robson