Race Report - 19-20 July

This week's report comes from Dauntless, courtesy of Giles Peckham.

Saturday 19th July (Household Division YC, Chevrons Cup)

With no wind and AP flying, most of us were wondering how many cups of coffee we should drink before there would be enough wind to race. However, the HDYC race committee were on the ball and had spotted a light SW breeze filling in, which defied the forecast and was just enough to enable us to sail against the tide.  Suddenly we were off! 

Defender won the start and led Destroyer and Dauntless up the long, light, foul-tide beat to Gurnard Ledge.  Lots of rocks were hopped as it was shortly after low water.  Destroyer took the lead before handing it over to Dauntless in Gurnard Bay.  Behind them, Defender and Dynamite were limpet-bashing in the shallows and by the end of the race only 4 of the 11 starters seemed to have got away without a grounding or two.  Were those 4 trying hard enough?!

At one point the leaders were failing to make ground against the tide and anchors were prepared but soon the breeze built again and progress was made.  At this point the very long course looked highly optimistic and indeed, the HDYC were putting plans in place to finish the race at one of the windward marks.  Gurnard Ledge turned out to be incidental as the next mark, East Lepe, could not be laid on port tack from Gurnard Ledge, so the fleet carried on up the shore. 

Destroyer was the first to break away and go for the mark, as the breeze could be seen to be strengthening.  Dauntless quickly covered and was relieved that Destroyer didn’t make the mark and had to tack.  Meanwhile, Streak, who had passed Dreamer and Decoy on her way up the shore with boat-speed that even Malcolm couldn’t explain, closed on Destroyer. 

The two-sail reach to Lepe Spit was uneventful but the following beat up the Beaulieu shore was far from it.  Dauntless was first to find the bottom, just west of the river entrance.  After a minute or two she was off but had lost the lead to Destroyer and was sparring with Streak and Diamond. Behind them, Dynamite and Dreamer were next to park.  They had to wait for the tide to rise enough to get them off more than half an hour later.  That gave time for Tom (Dreamer) to have a pleasant swim and the Dynamite crew to settle down for leisurely lunch.

The windward mark was Salt Mead and the fleet chose different points to cross the channel but seemed to come together in similar order.  The short spinnaker run to Cowes Week 2025 was a brief respite before the windward work started again up the mainland shore to Craftinsure.  For some reason this is hard to find and many boats overstood the layline but Destroyer held her lead, with Dauntless 2^nd and Streak 3^rd. 

The fetch to Salt Mead and the run home didn’t change the order, so Destroyer, with Jamie Sheldon and James Gaggero on the helm, took the coveted Chevrons Cup. That was an epic.  Four hours of racing in superb conditions and great practice for Cowes Week.

Sunday 20th July (RYS)

In a very gusty SSW wind, the first leg was a short fetch to Gurnard, against the beginnings of a flood tide.  Darius stormed off to an early lead from the outer end of the line and rounded first.  The leg to Ancasta was a spinnaker run/reach with a rain squall to keep us on our toes and make navigation a tad challenging.  Streak, Dauntless and Diamond all broached in the squall.  Places were exchanged as boats wandered a bit trying to find the mark while, at the front, Darius just increased her lead. 

On the beat to West Ryde Middle, it seemed that staying right, probably with a bit less tide and mode stable wind was the way to go, although keeping the boat flat in the gusts was equally important.  The run to East Bramble was very deep, and with a building flood tide, most of the fleet just managed to hold starboard gybe.  Dauntless was the exception, with a cunning plan to hoist the spinnaker sideways, drop it, switch the gear and re-hoist on port gybe.  Needless to say, that didn’t work and she lost a hundred yards in the process.  Darius remained in the lead but Doublet was hot on her heels rounding the mark. 

The last beat, to Goodall Roofing, was followed by a fetch to the RYS finish line, all in shifty and gusty winds.  This gave rise to a few place changes as Doublet dropped from 2^nd to 5^th, while Dauntless found a nice shift on the right hand side of the beat to climb from 6^th to 2^nd.  Darling looked comfortable in 2^nd place approaching the finish but the wind failed her at just the wrong time and she ended up 3^rd.  After a day of big gusts and shifty fetches, it was time to buy the weary mainsheet trimmers a drink!