Reports - April and May 2008

	24 - 26 May [Solent]		17 - 18 May [Red Funnel]
	10 - 11 May [Solent]		3 - 5 May [Solent]

24-26 May 2008, Island Sailing Club - John Dibben Memorial Trophy

Video report from Cowes Online: Mixed weather for Bank Holiday racing Racing over the Bank Holiday weekend included JOG and RORC events plus Etchells and Cowes Keelboat racing.

Photos from Lightwave Images: view the gallery of the weekend's racing

Results: Audax, Dauntless, Darling.

Saturday: West Ryde Middle (P), AAA Marine (P), Trinity (P) twice round; West Ryde Middle (P)

It was difficult to imagine any place other than the pin to start given the mere force 5 gusting 6 from the North East given that it was a quarter-mile closer to the first mark than the inshore end. Dauntless did that very efficiently with only Dashing and Audax nearby: the latter a little safe (read late) on the hard-to-see Island Sailing Club line. The beat to West Ryde Middle left no doubt that the Island shore was already in a counter-current that slowed the other boats down quite a lot.

There were a few anxious seconds after Dauntless led around West Ryde Middle as the foredeck crew on all the following Darings waited to see if a spinnaker was going to go up and a collective groan was discernable as the blue 'chute with the lighting bolt showed itself. Dashing opted to try picking up the counter down the Island shore while Audax struck out with the smallest and most bullet-proof spinnaker on board strapped down tight. The acceleration from a couple of waves moved Audax ahead of Dashing, but no closer to Dauntless. Fortunately for Audax, Dauntless confused Kingston Marine Services (south of Gurnard buoy off Egypt Point - symbol backwards-'K') with AAA Marine (off the middle of the Green - symbol '<') letting Audax through with what I would call (if it were not Dauntless) a comfortable lead.

After another round in ever-increasing winds, Dauntless had climbed back into second place and pressing Audax hard on the last beat when Audax struck out into the now foul tide earlier than Dauntless and picked up a new band of wind force 6 gusting 7 to extend their lead over Dauntless to about three minutes with Division Belle about a minute behind them. Audax's crew decided that the noises about a spinnaker from the back of the boat could be ignored on the run to the line allowing Dauntless to catch up a little, but not enough: Audax in first, Dauntless second and Division Belle third. By now, the contest was turned to seeing who could pick up their mooring ball in the near gale.

The end of the race was celebrated on some boats with a diving contest which Destroyer won by virtue of two excellent one-and-a-half somersault pikes beating a single back-flip tuck from Darius. Ashore, the ISC provided the requisite beers to recover from a hard race.

Sunday - Kingston Marine Services (S), South Bramble (S), Gales HSB (S), Trinity (S) three times!

The forecast for Sunday was dire - gale force winds and rain of biblical proportions. So it was little surprise when the flat calm made the committee postpone for about fifteen minutes waiting for some wind to materialise. What came along was a mysterious South Westerly (remember when the wind used to come from the West?) in the midst of a North Easterly gradient and so off the 11 Darings went tacking up the Green: this time trying to find the elusive Uffa's eddy that would sweep them up against the foul tide. Dauntless, not surprisingly, did this with apparent ease while Dynamite pressed hard for second place followed by Devius.

Reaching across the flood tide to South Bramble was a difficult affair with Dynamite and Devius flying a shy spinnaker about as tight as was imaginable while Darling and Audax came in on white sail rounding in second and third as Dynamite and Devius dropped their spinnakers to beat back to the mark. Gybing through 90 degrees from a reach, you might have thought that the next leg would be a run, but with the strength of the tide, the only boat to truly gain under a big sail was Defender who swept past Audax and into third behind Darling.

Beating back through Cowes, Audax closed a bit on Defender off the Squadron, but by now Dauntless was over the horizon (and through the tide gates) and Darling was getting distinctly hard to see. And then the entirely expected happened. Remember the mysterious South Westerly? That's what we all said as we floated aimlessly for the next twenty minutes. As Brian Hardy carried out some routine boat maintenance on Defender (are you allowed to change your traveller car mid-race?) Darling, Defender and Audax drifted serenely toward the East.

By the time the new breeze started to fill form the East, Dauntless were home and dry in the shortened race leaving the rest to struggle around Gales HSB to make the 30-minute time limit. In the end only Darling, Defender and Audax did, leaving the rest with a frustrating DNF.

Monday - Gales HSB (P), AAA Marine (P), Gales HSB (P)

With filthy weather in the morning, most Darings seem to have stayed in bed as only two boats came out to race - Derring do and Audax. By the start, the weather had in fact moderated to a comfortable force 5 and in a direction that gave good protection from the waves under the Island shore. Derring Do started further out in the favourable tide while Audax took the soft option inshore. By the first weather mark, there was nothing in it and both boats ran without spinnaker where they arrived abreast at the leeward mark.

Beating back, Derring Do sailed higher to open up a gap that Audax was unable to close in the short run back to the finish. A great little match race ending in a nice force 4 under blue skies giving Derring Do first and Audax second.

back to top

17-18 May 2008, Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club - Red Funnel

Video report from Cowes Online: includes the start of RORC's de Guingand Bowl race, JOG's Cowes to Yarmouth race, The Manches Cup, and the first round of the Red Funnel Cowes Keelboat Championship.

Results: Decoy, Defender, Dynamite.

Saturday: The Solent was so busy this weekend with fleets all converging on the Bramble Bank that the committee from the CCYC had little choice but to set our course near the mainland side off Leigh-on-Solent. This made the first start a little unusual in that only 3 boats were in the vicinity for the actual start, the other eight arriving anywhere from two to twenty minutes late. The first five had a reasonably close first beat due to the light and very shifty winds, with Dynamite making up nearly four minutes by taking the right hand side. The agonising run saw the next four catch up with the leaders through hole after hole as we drifted down toward the now-shortened course. Decoy held onto her lead to the end with Dolphin second and Defender third.

The second race was delayed for nearly an hour as the committee waited for a breeze to fill. Just as some Darings were on there way back to Cowes, the breeze filled in and the committee pounced on the opportunity setting the Six-Metres off immediately and skipping the Etchells class to set the Darings off next. This left a couple of boats late again as they struggled back to the start. Dauntless, sailing two-up produced a fine performance in the shifty winds against the always well-sailed Decoy with Dauntless taking first, Decoy second and Defender third.

Sunday: The Daring fleet set off earlier on Sunday hopeful that a more stable breeze and a few extra minutes would get them there before the start. Sadly, the breeze that was so solid in Cowes and over the near Bramble Bank became fickle and light as the boats approached the committee boat. Again, about half the boats were late enough arriving that the start was not nearly as lively as it might have been given the irregular 35-degree shifts. Decoy struck out straight to the far left while Audax, Defender and Dolphin held more to the centre of the beat. Decoy found herself enormously overstood on the final shift, reaching into the mark behind Audax and Defender. On the run, Dynamite struck out to the right, finding more breeze while the other drifted down the left to join the leading group ahead of Decoy while Defender slipped ahead of Audax to take the lead. The remaining beat and run were more conservatively played, and the gap between the leading three remained solid giving Defender a first, Audax second and Dynamite third.

With all the boats finally at the race area at the same time before a start, a full start line might have been expected. But the committee was keen to get through the schedule before the wind went light and so sounded the warning for the Daring class while the Dragons were still finishing leaving a few boats unaware until the one-minute gun that a start was imminent. Decoy explored the far left and found exactly what she was looking for: a veered breeze that took her around the rest of the fleet and into the arms of a header taking her straight to the top mark while the other Darings flailed around in the middle. The run mixed the middle places a little with a decent breeze down the left bringing Defender, Dyanmite and Defiant down to the bottom past Audax and Derring Do.

The last long beat saw ever more wild shifts that saw Audax drop to last from third while Dynamite swept past Defender into second. At the top mark a series of three 30 degree shifts in about two minutes made approaching the mark a tricky task, but Decoy, Dynamite and Defender made the mark in the first three places and held onto those positions through the equally shifty run and short beat to the finish.

back to top

10-11 May 2008, Royal Yacht Squadron - Solent Series

Video report from Cowes Online: no video report this week.

Results: Dynamite, Defiant, Derring Do.

Saturday: North Ryde Middle, Gales HSB, Sunsail

I am greatly indebted to David Gower for this lively commentary.

Not all Darings had followed the postponement sequence which lead to a rather straggly start to the east from the RYS line in a NW breeze of 3 - 4 knots.

The fleet set off with spinnakers set to find the last of the flood tide north of Prince Consort. Dolphin made a clean start just ahead of Finesse and Defiant with Dynamite sailing high and fast a little behind.

Defiant and Dynamite sailed over to the Bramble Bank whilst Dolphin sailed lower and more directly to the mark North Ryde Middle. Both strategies were sound as at the mark Dolphin rounded a little ahead of Defiant followed by Finesse and Dynamite With Diamond and a small bunch of others in contention.

There was no debate as to the route for the beat back to Gales HSB as by now the tide was ebbing strongly on the Island shore with up to two knots on Gales HSB by the time the leading boats arrived.

The fleet bunched at the mark as the leading boats found it difficult to get over the tide and out to the bank to find some remaining slack water. By now the race had become a tide gate event as within the hour the tide would be setting strongly to the west and any boats not around the leeward mark would face an ever stronger adverse tide.

Defiant and Dolphin were now overlapped for some time with Defiant to windward in the controlling position. Salvation for Dolphin was provided by a fleet of two X One Designs on starboard. Dolphin managed to slip ahead of the second X but Defiant was forced to go higher to pass astern. Presenting her beam to the tide for just those few seconds was enough to allow Dolphin to break free of the wind shadow. Defiant the repeated the strategy of the first leg to sail higher and faster to the north whilst Dolphin sailed a more direct course to the mark stemming the tide. On this occasion, as the tide was now building to the west, there was a greater benefit to the more direct course and when Defiant arrived on the lay line on starboard she was about four lengths behind Dolphin.

Dolphin rounded the mark and once away on the west tide was able to open a lead that ensured her the first gun at the finish line.

Saturday: Royal Thames (S), Prince Consort (S), Royal Thames (S), Snowdon (S)

After a now-routine (but this time very brief) indefinite postponement, Eleven Darings took to the start line for a short-ish race in a comfortable force 3. The pin end of the line was very favoured, and several boats showed their intention of starting there, but in the end Audax pushed Defender out at the pin to take the shortest course with Finesse just to leeward and Defiant just behind. Dynamite started mid-line with a better angle, but was only able to gain about half of what they needed before rounding at Royal Thames behind Audax, Finesse, and Defiant.

The beat turned out to be more of a fetch, and Derring Do spotted this first cracking off to leeward of the leaders and making up some ground before the leaders realised that staying hard on the wind would result in overstanding the mark by about a mile. With sheets eased, Audax held her lead while Finesse and Defiant rounded overlapped - or at least that's what I could hear being shouted.

Audax, Finesse and Defiant gybed to hoist their spinnakers leaving them to drive deep against the tide and with the prospect of a gybe at the bottom of the leg, whiel Dynamite bore away to set their spinnaker on port before gybing back to starboard again with an angle to the mark that allowed them to avoid the gybe in the lighter breeze at the leeward mark. Audax got the gybe a little early and lost a little to Dynamite while Finesse and Defiant possibly gybed a little late allowing Audax a clear rounding while Finesse, Defiant and Dyanmite rounded together.

The fetch back to Snowdon was a bit of a replay of the first windward leg except that everyone seemed to overstand even worse. Audax ended up beam-reaching into the mark while Dynamite closed up quite a bit of distance to round just behind and ahead of Finesse and Defiant.

The short reach/run to the line was mostly a matter of getting into the faint counter-current off the squadron breakwater, and despite the growing pressure from Dynamite, Audax took the gun about 10 seconds ahead of Dynamite with Finesse third.

back to top

3-5 May 2008, Royal London YC - Solent Series

Video report from Cowes Online: offshore racing from JOG and RORC plus the South Coast Championships for both the Etchells and Laser SB3 classes. The Cowes dayboat fleets also delivered some photogenic sailing in the Cowes Keelboat Solent Series, while a mystery object appeared at the Royal Yacht Squadron on Saturday..

Results: Division Belle, Darius, Dolphin.

Saturday: Daks (P), Norris (S), Peel Bank (P), South Ryde Middle (S), Motherbank (P)

Darius started well from the middle of the line while the rest jostled for space near the inner end dodging the ferry as well. Finesse called the layline into Daks nearly perfectly while Darius, Audax, Division Belle and Destroyer overstood it to a greater or lesser degree but Darius rounded first with a pack of four close together following. By the leeward mark, little had changed and by tacking earlier back toward the island shore, Darius, Finesse, Audax, Dynamite, Destroyer and Division Belle fought a tight battle,. As the fleet reached the windward end of the leg, differences of opinion onboard Audax about the position of Peel Bank seemed reflected in the general fleet. Most were heading straight for Peel Wreck beyond and inshore from Peel Bank. Finesse confidently sailed for the nearer Peel Bank to take up a comfortable lead. With general confusion about the course, Audax tacked short of Peel Wreck taking up a position to leeward and just ahead of the first two boats to round Peel Wreck: Darius and Dynamite and with Dolphin now snapping at her heels having spotted the mistake even earlier.

At the final leeward mark, Finesse took the course up Ryde Middle Bank while Dynamite, Division Belle, Dolphin and Audax tacked back to the Island shore for the final beat. Finesse dropped a little by the top mark, but still held a comfortable lead when they rounded the mark to starboard. Unfortunately, the course demanded a rounding to port and the following boats suddenly realised that first place was within striking distance. Next to round was Dynamite who rounded the wrong way as well followed by Darius who rounded correctly. By now, even fourth to round was looking good, and that was Audax followed by Division Belle about five lengths behind.

Darius held their lead (with two boats in front of them) all the way back to Cowes to take first while Division Belle overtook Audax off Castle Point to take second leaving Audax in third.

Sunday - Race 1: Daks (P), Gales HSB (S), Daks (P)

Most of the 12 starters started from the inner end of the line, while Audax started mid-line and early: slightly too early in fact. Up the Shrape, Daring I gained a lead with Audax, Division Belle, Darius and Diamond still short-tacking up the island shore. Beyond Castle Point, Audax got ahead of Daring I on a succession of lifted tacks up the shore and looked to be in a solid position until driving into a hole near Norris. After a set of futile tacks that left both Audax and Daring I stationary, Finesse crept up the offshore side to take the lead when the breeze started to fill again.

On the second beat, Finesse held on port a little after the mark while Daring I, Division Belle and Audax tacked back inshore immediately. Up the beat, Audax started to pull back a bit on Daring I and by the layline was able to tack in front. Darius had tacked too early under the layline, and Finesse was approaching from the left on the port layline. Daring I had to tack away while Audax crossed just ahead of Darius and Finesse to round first. You can imagine what happened next: Audax hoisted a chute that had not been flown before this season and found a lovely twist - like a speciality bread roll - about half-way up. By now, four boats were line abreast heading for the finish line.

Division Belle, who rounded toward the back of the four-boat pack, quickly pulled ahead by sailing a higher angle eventually gybing back near the layline to the finish pin to take a nice win followed by Finesse in second and Daring I in third. Audax was OCS.

Sunday - Race 2: Norris (P), Snowden (P), Gales HSB (S)

Diamond led from start to finish. A well deserved first for the only boat with the stamina to take on the first second race of the year! I'm interested to know why most boats did what we did: head for the mooring. Answers on an email please.

Monday: Lunch

In keeping with the long-standing tradition of losing one day every Bank Holiday, Monday saw no breeze to speak of and by 1300 it was obvious that nothing was going to form. The committee acted early and they were right. There was no wind all afternoon.

Postscript ----------

The forecast for this weekend looks like Cowes Week! 20° and more. So far this year, the turnout has been up on the last two years, and most welcome of all are the boats that have not been so much in evidence the past few seasons. Keep coming and try to convince even more to sail too!

back to top