One More Knot's 2004 Round the Island race report
Saturday 26th June
CREW: Phil (Skipper), Kevin, Berit, Barry, Paul and Julian
| Portsmouth tide times | ||
|---|---|---|
| HW | 0531 BST | 4.0m |
| LW | 1114 BST | 1.5m |
Our start time will be 0650, ISC Handicap Group A.
We planned to leave the berth in Haslar at about 4:30am .... eeeekkk ... we actually managed 4:35
We motored down to Cowes, trying to wake up and prepare the boat. We put the kettle on and eventually had a bite to eat before we got into the start area. We arrived early enough to see the big yachts, Orange II, Leopard and Bear of Britain before they disappeared.
Start at Cowes
We investigated the start line and tried to get a rule on the plotter to help us out. The wind was a SSE, and it was obvious that the start itself would be a cavalry charge on port. With over 250 boats in our start, we wanted to get a decent one, hopefully in clean air and tide. As usual, the start line tactics went out the window because of the shear number of boats, and also the 2.5 to 3 knots of tide pushing everyone over the line. Having been near the line transit, we sailed away from the line on starboard, slightly more than stemming the tide. We we quite close to the line. We turned and started our drive to the line just as the gun went. We think we were about the 10th boat over the line, and in good tide. We were a bit nervous because the radio gurgled into life to announce an individual recall ....... fortunately it wasn't us!
Drag race to Needles
Kevin and Phil debated getting the kite out for the sprint to Egypt Point. A few boats did, and they did quite well. We decided that as we were doing over 8 knots anyway that it wasn't worth the time loss if we messed it up. At Egypt point, we stayed in the deep water on the upwind island side. This gave us good tide and air. Some of the boats could just hang on to their kites, but it was obviously difficult. Most of those ended up traversing across to the mainland side on the way down to Hurst castle. It was a cracking reach at a good 8.5 knots. We could see France 2 and France 3, the ex Americas cup boats, ahead. Seems unbelievable that they are in the same start as us. One the way down toward Hurst, Omega, an open 60?, overtook us easily. Fortunately we just managed to get her to sail downwind of us. Looking back, we could see most of our start fleet.
Onwards through the Hurst narrows. It appeared that the yachts were thinning out a bit. With over 11 knots over the ground the Needles we coming up fast. Once again, a quick debate about sails. We decided to round the needles in our current configuration (full main + full No 2) to have a look at the conditions before we changed.
Needles mayhem
On the way into the Needles, we were able to stay up tide and upwind of most of the boats, because a fortnight before we had done some homework on were the wreck was. We pretty much had the inside line at the Needles hairpin. We only saw one boat cut inside the wreck. We went outside, but tighter than everyone else around us. We hardened up onto a port beat, with everything up. Once clear of the land, the wind increased, and the direction had swung slightly to the east (probably due to the shape of the Island). With 24 knots over the deck, the boat was a bit pressed, so we put a reef in the main.
Beating in towards the Island was easy with a starboard advantage. However, the tradeoff of getting in close to avoid the tide had to be weighed against the pain of trying to get back out when we were forced to tack. The congestion was unbelievable! There was plenty of hollering. Occasionally, there wasn't room to sail back out on port, because of the line of yachts on starboard. With no room to dip behind a boat, sometimes we were forced back onto Starboard anyway. We heard of at least one collision from someone in the pub later.
The Freshwater beat
Having experienced the pain close in, we worked our way out into Freshwater bay. Out track shows that we tacked up with our inside tack at about 0.5 miles offshore, and our outside tack at about 1 mile offshore. We may not have cheated the tide like the boats very close to the island, but our port tack beats were much easier and we had clean wind. One of the problems with being a bit further out is that it is difficult to judge how you are doing. At one point, we discussed changing the headsail down to the No. 3. We tried it out by putting a couple of turns in the No 2. The boat became very much more manageable, slower and unfortunately comfortable. We stayed like this for too long, and when the speed dropped to less than 5 knots, we recognised it and unfurled the turns. Speed immediately increased to over 6, but steering was back to being entertaining.
At one point, we noticed Orange II again. We joked, on a 2nd lap .... and actually she was. She had tried for the round the island record and missed it by only 9 minutes, so she had decided to have another go!
St Catherines Point
As we closed on St Catherines, we went inshore to take advantage of the southerly tidal push. We seemed to be surrounded by what appear to be smaller boats, so we thought that maybe we had lost out on our offshore route. It was too late to change what we had done.
It was about 12:00 when we got to St Catherines. The smaller boats tacked out into the deeper water, either to avoid the overfalls, or make better advantage of the tide. We chose the shorter inshore route, straight through the overfalls, staying about 400 m offshore. As we rounded the southern tip of the island, we were able to free off and knew One More Knot could come into her element. We know we loose out upwind, but off the wind she can really go. By the time we got to Dunose, we shook out the reef and we were off!
Dunose to Bembrige Ledge and then No Mans Land Fort
A flat out drag race, and an easy point of sail for us. A few boats tried to fly the kite, but it was just a bit too close and the gave in. The smiles came back to the crews faces and there was time for some lunch time munchies.
With the tide helping us and going the like the clappers, Bembridge Ledge was getting closer fast, the kite was prepared. After rounding the buoy, the spinnaker was hoisted. A number of boats once again tried to cheat the tide by going inshore. However, with conditions being so fast we straight lined it for the fort.
As we approached the fort, the music was blaring our as usual. It seems the fort is now a hotel!
Eastern Solent drag race
From a sailing point of view, we played it safe and dropped the kite early, just before the fort, which allowed us to harden up on a reach easily to stay upwind and in clean air once again as soon as we were around. It seemed like an age to get through the fort's wind shadow. Some boats carried either a cruising chute or spinnaker much further into the Solent. However we seemed to be doing alright without the kite. At least it was easier to stay upwind and in a better position to cheat the tide. There were a few boats inside us, but most we much further offshore.
As we approached Osborne bay, the wind dropped .... that's why people go for lunch here! Discussion about the kite started again, but only after Berit had made a few rolls for the crew to munch on. Eventually, some of the food was discarded to persuade the spinnaker back into the sky!
We were quite close inshore as we approached Castle Point. We had managed to catch and overtake one of the big Gaffer's, which gybed as soon as we were clear. Only about 10% of the boats were flying their spinnaker at this point. Many of those that had carried them from the forts all the way down the Solent had to lower them to make it back across the course to the finish lines.
We drifted through the Castle point wind shadow, but the spinnaker helped maintain a significantly higher speed than a lot of the boats around us. As we rounded, we could see the wind filling in on the boats ahead. A tense moment as we hoped that the wind direction wouldn't get us into bother, but as it happened it was fine and One More Knot accelerated swiftly.
The finish
When boats are spread out, you can convince yourself that everything is going fine, however a few places in the course are a convergence point. The finish is one of them.
Ahead were a line of Sunsail boats, lying beam to beam and apparently not moving. Our speed carried us past a number of yachts and straight up to the end of the Sunsail raft. As we attempted to pass the boats, in a narrow gap, the gap was closed out on us by another yacht that was attempting to reach more across the course, to the finish than straight at it. This provided an awkward few moments, and my knowledge of racing rules isn't good enough. Fortunately, we avoided a collision, however it seems that there a number of relevant rules and issues, Over taking boat keep clear, Obligation to avoid collisions, sailing instructions indicating courtesy with the large number of yachts, common sense, insurance premiums, shiny fibreglass etc. On a very broad reach it is difficult to slow a boat down. Could the raft of Sunsail boats be deemed and obstruction? I'm pretty sure that the inside boat would have been in shallow water. Could I call for water? or room to tack / gybe? Even if I did, how could the other boats give me room? I'm not sure if boat that closed the gap changed course to do so, but the situation only became apparent to me once there was already an overlap. If you can help me understand the situation and what I could have or should have done then please email me at sailingrules@duffs.net.
After a bit of research, I think the other boats had rights of way, and we were the keep clear boat. However, the other boats (even with their rights) had an obligation to give us room to keep clear ....... which is exactly what eventually happened.
We crossed the line with the kite up, in a massive density of yachts. I think we could have walked from one end of the line to the other! Finishing 8 hours and 8 minutes after we started, it was by far and away our quickest time around the island yet.
The results
ISC handicap : 1.011
Finishing time : 8:08:00
Corrected time : 8:13:22
| Fleet | Class | Position | Finishers |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISC Class | D | 26 | 60 |
| ISC Handicap Start Group | A to D | 119 | 261 |
| ISC Overall | A to M | 357 | 678 |