Champagne Sailing and a Washing Machine return…
I arrived at The Hamble on Saturday morning mulling over a few thoughts:
• Could I make the porridge this week without creating a new type of “No More Nails”
• When would the low pressure that had formed off the West of Ireland sweep across the channel?
• Are we racing against the IRC1’s to St Quay and 40kts Northerly winds on the return?
Breakfast worked well so I guessed the rest would fall into place. We were lucky enough to be joined by the experienced Steph Merry (Navigating) and Neal Brewster (looking forward to his 10th Fastnet).
At 160 miles this was a long race, past Alderney and around Casquete off Guernsey before the bear-away towards the St Quay-Portrieux on the French Coast.
We made our way to Cowes with a firm plan to race hard and beat the other 40.7s, but at the same time review the weather conditions as we reached Guernsey. If it looked dangerous we would return home or to another safe port. Whatever happened we would not rest in St Quay but return immediately North to outrun the low-pressure cell rapidly coming in from the West. Then onto the Solent where we would hope to only have 2-4 hours of wind on the bow.
Fine, sunny conditions at our 8.40 a.m. start time (only 20 minutes after high water). We made a fantastic start from RYS Cowes (to the West) using a good position off the line, closer to the shore than the pack. Slick bow work by Chris and Sarah, and good trimming by Ehab & Bob meant we pulled out ahead of the much faster and larger Farr45s and the Farr52 ‘Bear of Britain’. We remained ahead of these for the first 45mins until past Lymington.
We headed out past the Needles with winds of 10-15kts. Bob and Mike doing their usual good job on the kite. We watched as one or two others struggled with their kites and this worked in our favour. We passed the Trinity House ship as it sand blasted buoys but fortunately showed us no interest.
The wind was averaging 10-15kts, and with a favourable tide we were making 8 kts over the water, and an amazing 9-10kts over ground. We soon passed Alderney and Sarah’s fancy salami sandwiched went down well. At this stage we were in 2nd position in our IRC1 class and well ahead of some of those in IRC Zero, but still a long way to go. Estimates from the hand held GPS suggested home by 10pm Sunday. Maybe even catch last orders?
When we sighted Guernsey, it was through a haze but the conditions were fine and belied what was to come. We made our plan to continue to the finish and return quickly. We could beat the weather passed Guernsey on the return and jus have a few uncomfortable hours (Le Harve again) when we reached the solent.
We passed the Casquets and were comfortably into our watch patterns. We headed south south west on a course of 185 degrees with just over half of the race gone. Wind speed was around 10kts and we were in the top 15 overall at this point as far as we could tell.
These were some uncharted waters certainly as far as some of the rocks were concerned and Steph and Peter did a great job of keeping a fast pace whilst avoiding any obstacles.
Kirstie’s great beef stew was a distant memory as we raced through the night making good speed and VMG. As I looked out it seemed that nearly all the mast lights were behind us and not many in front. It had been much like this from the start.
As we neared the finish the forecasted wind shift to the SE arrived as expected. With all hands on deck we tacked towards the finsh. The finish line was close to shore and we went by so close to the finish boat that we could call out our numbers (even though they were easy to read, if you were positioned on the correct side!!).
We had heard a few others radio in as they were 2 miles from the finish and knew we were possibly top 10 overall and had done well in class with or without handicaps. A quick cheer and we turned around and headed for home…full speed ahead. (and the engine running at almost 3000 rpm).
I don’t plan to dwell on the return journey as it is not part of the race but it is important to say something about a team as well disciplined and professional as the one taking “Playing Around” home.. We headed back under the engine and put in two reefs in the main and switched to no4 Jib. It was dark but condition were good. We returned past Guernsey, then headed on towards Alderney.
The clouds were gathering to our port side as we headed Northeast but we had outrun the bad weather (well at least the rain) at Guernsey and things were looking positive. After a discussion we decided to head for the Solent and home to the Hamble.
Myself, Sarah and Kirstie were just taking down the No4 jib sail to raise the storm jib as the rain and winds took hold. It was so fast and I was amazed. Chris dived in to help and we soon had the engine off, storm jib up and no main sail.
The next 6 hours we travelled up and down the English Channel, as the wind increased to 40kts. It was a rough ride and everyone did well despite the severe sea sickness. My watch went below and returned after no rest to find the storm raging and the wheel in danger of coming loose due to a threaded screw.
Mike asked me to take over from Neal sitting behind the wheel holding onto the backstay with one foot on the centre of the wheel. I couldn’t do it, I hadn’t the confidence and Mike spent the next hour or so doing it himself. I did take over next but felt I’d let people down. As always, all I received was support form Mike, Neal Bob, Chris and Steph (on deck at the time) and I thank them for that. There’s no shame in being scared of the sea and weather in those conditions but it’s amazing what anyone can do with the support of a team such as this.
By 2am the storm had reached its peak. There was no safe way to enter the Solent, so we decided to wait it out in the Channel, making slow progress North. Winds were averaging 45kts, with gusts in excess of 50. The waves came right over the boat, drenching everyone on deck. Ehab considered a new tactic of how to increase sales of kitchens, and thoughtfully decided to remove the door to the forecabin & forward locker to show some new customers.
With the wheel damaged and only moving forward 1nm in 6 hours (I don’t know how Steph managed to go forward) we decided to head for the safety of Weymouth and alerted the coastguard of our intentions. We kept them informed every 30 minutes and under our own steam (and the watchful eye of the teenage harbourmaster) we moored in Weymouth harbour.
Breakfast was great but Playing Around will miss the Round Eddystone race starting on Friday to make some minor repairs.
Results 1st 40.7, 2nd IRC1 and 6th (of 50) overall. 5 did not finish.
Overall leader of IRC1 at this point.
Green watch; Pete Robson, Mike Green, Neal Brewster, Kirstie Johnson and Ehab Abbas.
Blue Watch: Chris Sanderson , Steph Merry, Bob Weare, Sarah Kafetz and Simon Sparkes.
Report by Simon Sparkes