2007 Parhelion Spring Series
The Parhelion spring yacht racing series is run by the Portsmouth Sailing Club, with races in the Eastern Solent, off Portsmouth and in Hayling bay.
Race 1 & 2 reports, from Saturday 24th March 2007
Crew : Phil, Phil B., Joe, Julian and Sean
Since the Autumn series, One More Knot has been out of the water at Port Solent for some extended maintenance, together with about half the fleet. OMK's mast has been down for a proper inspection. The rig has been reset, with significantly more tension.
On the day, in the light early morning breeze, the #2 was hoisted onto the furler for the first time this year. And then it was off for a hearty breakfast in Gosport.
This weeks racing was held just off the entrance to Langstone Harbour, east of the submarine barrier. The forecast had been for light winds all week. The skippers were expecting 6-8 knots. However, the wind built steadily to a F5-6, with gusts of over 30 knots. A strong northerly in March ... nice!
As this was the first racing of the series, it was also the first outing of the season for the crews. Given the conditions, todays racing would test the preseason preparations. In OMK's case, we had a faiure of our new traveller arrangement! Phil's whippings are not as strong as he had hoped. Fortunately this occurred about 20 minutes before the start. After 5 minutes with an allen key and and a couple of bowlines, things were fixed and we were ready to resume.
From Rhapsody
When we arrived at Haslar on Saturday morning the forecast looked as if it was going to be about right. So with thoughts of which head-sail we would use, we motored the long haul down to find Condor which was anchored somewhere the other side of the submarine barrier. Arriving at DERA 6 and Condor we abandoned the thought of using the number 2 and decided on the self tacking number 3. By the time we had sailed about a bit we opted for a reef in the main as well.
Race 1
Line honours in first race of series
Condor, the committee boat, set the a simple upwind downwind sausage course. With the committee boat just east of the "DERA 6" mark, the boats would race upwind to "DERA 2" then a long downwind leg to "Invincible", back up to "DERA 2" and finally a downwind finish.
With a small IRC fleet, it was decided that both the IRC and Club fleet would start together.
One More Knot's track in red
Rhapsody's track in yellow
There was a prestart discussion about changing down to the #3 with the wind gusting thorough at 25 knots. However, we justified staying with our largest sails on the basis of the lulls being about 16 knots.
With an easterly tide and a port end bias OMK elected to start at the pin end. Phil managed to get OMK where he wanted her, however his judgement of the distances and timing left a bit to be desired. We were 40 seconds late across the line, but we crossed right next to the pin. Only one boat was behind us at this stage!
One More Knot stayed on starboard for as long as possible (same tactics as the faster IRC yachts) and was the last boat to tack. Joe nipped down from the rail to release, to allow Sean to grind the jib winch on the new tack, before returning to the rail. At the top of the course, the fleet converged and OMK rounded, still in 2nd from last place, but now the gap was much smaller. We were back in contention on the water.
On rounding the windward mark, One More Knot immediately gybed the jib onto port to run goosewinged towards Invincible. Julian did a good human pole act! Sean took in some winter sun on the foredeck! The fleet opened up and appeared to be sailing side by side. Most of the other yachts were sailing to our east, apparently going via DERA 6! Our route was straighter and our speed seemed good at 7-8 knots despite not using the spinnaker.
Rhapsody provided the entertainment when they gybed the kite. With a 2 string gybe (no separate guys), the kite flew very high mid gybe. This developed into a spectacular broach with Rhapsody's mast only a few degrees from horizontal. We gave them the "Broach of the day" award. Well done guys.
As we converged on the downwind mark, One More Knot was the first in class to round. Rhapsody was 2 boat lengths off our starboard quarter. Their approach was complicated by the need to douse the kite. None the less, they made an excellent rounding and managed to cut inside OMK at the start of the beat.
On the next beat, the wind had picked up some more. We found that we were needing to dump the main at about 22 knots.
I think we rounded the top mark first followed by Arrow and Rhapsody. We sailed a mix of deep reaches and goosewinged down towards the finish. However Arrow managed to get close enough to start to cover our sails. As she gained, we wriggled to keep our speed and breeze! A very tactical leg was raced. At the time, we didn't know what this year's handicaps would be, but in the last series we shared the same handicap as Arrow. Hence, this really was an "on the water" race. The boats were seemingly neck and neck to the finish. "One More Knot's" crew were all sent to the bow in an attempt to get the transom out of the water, for a bonus 10th of a knot! As we approached the line, One More Knot was towards the pin end. Phil at the helm could still just about see the committee boat across the bows of Arrow when we finished to claim line honours for the 1st race of the series. It had been a really tense and exciting last leg. Phew!
From Rhapsody
We started on starboard in the middle of the line with Scallywag upwind of us. We eventually pulled clear enough to tack onto port when we saw we were being headed. We only tacked back onto starboard when we could lay DERA 2, the windward mark. Spinnaker is clipped on the starboard rail ready for a gybe set at the mark. We get there at the front of our class and after the kite is up we see that we will need two gybes to get to the leeward mark, Invincible. The first of these is full of incident, involving a broach which lays us over a very long way followed by the guy snap-shackle tripping. Richard and Norman manage to reattach it to the spinnaker- how they did it in that wind I've no idea! That cost us about 1 minute according to the GPS plot. The second gybe goes much better but is still not easy in the conditions. We drop the spinnaker as we approach Invincible and come hard on the wind as we round and start the long beat back to DERA 2. After rounding, we put the kite up for the final leg, downwind with no gybes to the finish. We finish behind OMK and Arrow and ahead of Scallywag on the water.
Race 2
With all the excitement of the close finish of the previous race, we forgot to consider the conditions until we were too close to the start of the second race. The upshot of this was that we started the second race with full sail, #2 plus full main, with the wind now 20 - 30 knots. However, we did pull on some more backstay, and flatten the main with both outhaul and cunningham.
The VHF crackled into life, and Total Obsession Too retired .... boat not ready for the wind! Reefing line trouble apparently.
The course was similar to the 1st race sausage, but not as long, the leeward mark was changed to the ODM, "DERA 6". The tide was still easterly at the start, but reducing to slack towards the end of the race. The sea state was increasing, there was now some more significant chop, compared to the previous race's flat water.
One More Knot's track in red
Rhapsody's track in yellow
This time the start was good. We were on the line at the gun and led our class from the outset. Once again we stuck to our guns and went up the right hand side of the course. We were doing quite well, although we were having to work hard with the main. Phil B. had taken over from Julian for some fresh muscles! All of the boats were starting to struggle in the breeze. Scallywag, GK24, retired.
Our position was looking good, with Rhapsody being the closest boat some way behind. And then we blew it with an involuntary tack. We got caught by a gust, the main overpowered the rudder, we slewed into wind and managed to back the jib. Then all hell broke loose. The crew were suddenly sent swimming. They thought they were safe on the high rail, but now things had switched and it was underwater! Julian hauled Sean back from slipping under the lower guard rail, Joe was hanging on. With only the 2 Phil's in the cockpit it took a little time to sort the mess out. We had to tack the jib, get some way on and tack back. The GPS log shows that we lost about 3 minutes. We had chucked our opportunity away!
Just to cheer us up and remind us how windy it was, the IRC boats gave a vivid demonstration of how to perform the "broach manoeuvre"!
On the downwind leg we used our broad reaching tactics, gybing our way toward the leeward mark.
We recall that on the second upwind leg, we had to feather the main a lot, but fortunately no big problems. As we approached the windward mark for the final time we converged with Rhapsody. Rhapsody were on starboard and the crew duly exercised their vocal chords and lungs hollering at OMK. OMK duck under the transom, tacked, made the mark and boats bore away more or less neck and neck. Up went Rhapsody's kite again .... are these guys slow learners?
However for some variation on the sprint to the finish, Rhapsody elected to throw in a double spinnaker wrap for bonus points. After sailing the last half of the leg with a very multicoloured forestay, Rhapsody crosed the finishing line behind One More Knot.
OMK turned for home, with a view to getting in the bar for a pint. Rhapsody was last seen heading to Cherbourg for Moules et Vin Rouge.
From Rhapsody
A shorter course this time but the wind has increased and we are seeing gusts of up to 30 knots apparent. We make a reasonable start, again somewhere in the middle of the line. We stay on starboard quite a while and get passed by Arrow, it looks very serene and smooth over there compared with the bumping and pitching we're getting on Rhapsody. It is days like today when I think there's something to be said for bigger heavier boats! We round the windward mark behind OMK and Arrow and decide to use the spinnaker - nothing ventured and all that! No problems on the fast downwind leg to DERA 6 but we decide to drop the kite early and then gybe for the mark rounding. Then it's a beat back to the windward mark at DERA 2. After about half a mile on starboard we tack onto port and see that OMK is having some trouble ahead and to windward of us. This enables us to get to the mark in front of them and as we approach the mark on starboard we have let them know that we are there! So once again it's up with the spinnaker for the run to the finish - if only it were that simple. Halfway down the leg the kite collapses and the sheet jams so that we can't stop it wrapping itself round the forestay! Still its not far to go but our hopes of finishing in front of OMK are gone. We complete the course in third place on the water hoping that no-one on the committee boat had a camera handy.
What happened next?
We carried on with the two sections of the kite pulling well and as Phil noted, we had a good course and speed for an excellent channel crossing. However lack of provisions and passports caused the abandonment of that idea. So we attempted to drop the kite. Much to our surprise and relief it wasn't so tightly wrapped that we couldn't get it to slide down the forestay. Then with a major unwrapping at the base of the forestay the kite was tamed and put safely below. So it was then up with jib and let's see where we are. Oh that far out! So the best course home is through the forts. What followed was a 5.5nm beat in bumpy sees and what seemed an ever decreasing temperature. With a tack when we got to the Haslar wall we were back in about an hour. No answer from PSC rib so we made do with a beer in Landers in the marina.
PS. Many thanks to Phil and the crew of OMK for the "Broach of the Day" award. It shows up very well on the GPS plot in the first downwind leg of the first race.