Race Report - 23 May

On the 25th Anniversary of the John Dibben Memorial Trophy, the wind was looking light and challenging for Jo and Peter Chugg and their team from RORC.

If the reader wonders why I have little recollection of the racing, it's because I found myself getting re-acquainted with the foredeck as Dauntless experimented with a more Etchells-like arrangement for stowing the pole upwind, more of which I may comment on at the end.

Saturday 23 May

Race 1

After a one-hour (and a bit) postponement to allow a SW wind to build to a steady F2-F3, the race officers set a box course with a run to West Ryde Middle; a fetch to Ben F Wood; a beat to Royal Thames; a fetch to Royal London; and a beat home to Snowden.

With a favourable tide for the first leg, and the line cant, the offshore end of the line was at a premium. It was just possible to make ground back over the line on Starboard pre-start, and this was the tactic that we implemented on Dauntless - to hover near the pin close-hauled on Starboard, executing a quick bearaway and gybe-set. Darling started nearby and a couple of boats were called OCS, possibly including Streak and Darius. This would have been costly in the spring flood tide.

The downwind, down-tide leg was fairly quick, although efforts were still made to retain clear air, and Dauntless made the mark first. Dynamite had initially looked good by taking a higher line than most, further offshore, but as she bore away to make the mark her speed dropped and she fell in astern.

Giles seemed to be challenging himself to get as close as possible to the mark - not half a foot was left between the boat and West Ryde Middle! Darling was second around, with Dreamer and Dancer in hot pursuit.

While the wind was backing to the SW throughout the race, and most noticeably on the beat, the subsequent legs of the race didn't bring much of significant recollection. Most boats opted to remain largely right, over the tidal shadow of the bank, on the beat from Ben F Wood to Royal Thames. Dreamer at some point made it through Darling to claim second, with Darling third.

Race 2

A similar course was set, with the marks on the Brambles Bank changed slightly to allow for a more SW beat. West Ryde Middle again, although slightly deeper than last time; Andy Cassell behind the bank; Williams Shipping (nr. West Bramble); followed by Royal London and home.

While Dauntless led again to the second mark, the beat SW over the bank was more interesting. The largest part of the beat was to be done on Port tack, and this is what Dauntless did to cover the boats closest behind. However, there was some tactical advantage to an early stint on Starboard. This would allow boats to capitalise on any remaining backing of the wind, and also avoid any foul tide as boats on the Starboard layline possibly exposed themselves to the Southampton shipping channel.

Dynamite did exactly that, and at periods held the breeze better than the boats further to the right. She was threatening to come from mid-fleet to first, until Dauntless found (by fortune) the right puff and wind angle to tack over onto Starboard, find her and put her about just short of the starboard layline.

At this point, Dynamite was sailing very well to weather, and threatening to come up under us on Dauntless. However, there wasn't enough difference to break free and both boats proceeded somewhat beyond the Port layline. Dauntless picked her moment to tack, headed back for the mark, and promptly rounded and left Dynamite behind.

Deciding that it was to be a fetch to Royal London, we started to take the spinnaker back from the foredeck to down below, reassured by the earlier lack of spinnaker seen on Dynamite. However, no sooner had we completely stowed it than the wind veered aft, she popped her large blue kite and bore down on us fast! Frantically re-clipping, we prepared to hoist but the wind backed again and we just stayed clear.

The beat back to Snowden, partly in the river breeze, paid to stay inshore as much as possible until the favoured ODM could be laid. Dynamite tried to do differently by going a little further offshore but no gains could be made there.

John Dibben Trophy 25th Anniversary

After a late finish to the racing, the Dibben family graciously invited the class back to RYS for drinks at 1830 to mark a quarter-century of the Trophy.

John was brother to George, a keen sailor on Streak, and died prematurely in 2000. He is remembered by his family and memorialised by beautiful silver model of Streak, one of the most beautiful trophies in the Darings' cabinet.

Sunday 24 May

With a particularly poor forecast, some boats remained optimistic of the wind building and the race officers gave AP over 2, followed by AP over 3. There was some hope of a start at 1515, but while boats were rigged and a course issued, the wind sadly never bore sufficient fruit to get the boats away and no racing occurred.

Reflections on Spinnaker Pole Stowage

We on Dauntless gave some thought over the winter to different ways of stowing the spinnaker pole, having seen several boats move to boom-mounted solutions. We experimented on Saturday with a different solution, and here are my initial (personal) reflections for anybody who might find them interesting.

While the jury is still out - under the jib on the foredeck is still very convenient, especially for gear spins and quick drops - the added friction of the 2:1 jib sheet and the need to consider the jib sheets in the gybe gets old eventually. Releasing the jib sheets so far in the gybe leads to a higher frequency of jib wraps if not paying attention.

For this race we experimented with mounting the pole on the side of the foredeck, with one end clipped to the shroud and the other end in the trestle on the bows. This is similar to a standard Etchells setup. At hoist, you move the foot from the shroud to the mast car and hoist away, not worrying about over-hauling the jib sheets.

It was clear that this caused issues given the standard forward-leading of the downhaul, which had to come back under the jib sheets and then back out and over them to where the pole was situated. If we were to make any long-term changes, we would feed the downhaul out from just in front of the mast collar. It would, in some cases, be a shame to lose the ability of the downhaul to act as a foreguy but in theory a block on a line could be fed through the old downhaul point to give the option to lead it forward.

This arrangement also needs practice, especially when spinning gear, to avoid getting uphaul and downhaul horribly tangled. This was a real risk at times and had we had to hoist at the end of Race 1 I fear we would have been in a mess! Gear spins are also slightly more tricky when the pole has to go out over the jib sheets.

The biggest issue with this arrangement, however, is that the pole seems more precarious and liable to fall in the water from the trestle. We may yet experiment with pole-on-boom, but this requires extra modifications to make it work so is more of an investment.