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 3 & 4 reports, from Saturday 31st March 2007
Crew : Phil, Julian, Gareth, Ange
Another windy day! The forecast was for NE F5/6 occasionally 7. It wasn't wrong! With the slap slap slap under the transom, skipper Phil couldn't sleep and gave in at 7am. He proceeded to start preparing the boat for the day, which included tramping around on deck. One by one, the rest of the crew appeared.
We elected to change the #2 for the #3 as the wind was already up. Waiting for a lull, we unfurled the sail and tripped the genoa halyard. Boy did is come down fast. Embarrasingly it was on the wrong side of the guard rails. Disaster was only avoided by the sail landing on the port mooring line and the pontoon! The #3 went up with no such trauma.
The mornings racing was held just off the Haslar wall. The yellow racing marks had been relaid, albiet with different names in many cases. Fortunately, the skips & the committee boat ignored the new names and just carried on regardless.
The same course was used for both races. The IRC class had a slightly longer version. The club class fleet started at the committe boat, who was using Mechelec (old name) as the pin end of the line. The course would sail upwind to VT (not saddle as the committee boat indicated, a small difference between the < and > symbols!). Then downwind along the Haslar wall to Hardway Marine (old name), back up to Vail Williams (old name), down to Hardway Marine again before a beat to the finish line.
From Rhapsody
The inshore waters forecast on Friday evening said NE 5-6, occasionally 7. So another windy day was in prospect. However, there was also a forecast of sunshine so not all bad news. We were pleased to hear over the VHF that we would be racing near Mechelec, so there would be no long haul to the other side of the submarine barrier. Leaving our berth at Haslar we hoisted the main with a reef and decided to use the self tacking number 3 jib.
Race 3
With a good stiff wind, Phil proceeded to use the full main and the #3. With Julian on the main, his biceps would be fully tested. Gareth and Ange managed the jib.
The tide was running with the wind, so we were cautious about being too far behind the line. Hence we adopted the upwind of the line tactic, broad reaching over the top of the comittee boat to dip the line and harden up. Jules did a good job of managing the speed to find a gap between the boats starting more conventionally. Meanwhile, Scallywag and Rhapsody got brave and went for a port tack start. As it happened, their decision was right as all of the yachts on starboard strruggled to get up to the line. OMK approach had been quite good, but we didn't turn our boat speed into a good start position. Maybe we dipped the line too far.
One More Knot's track
On the first leg of the first beat, Rhapsody (now on starboard) was upwind and in front of OMK. Total Obsession Too was chasing, off OMK's starboard quarter. As the fleet sailed towards the Haslar wall, Scallywag continued on port out towards the forts. On nearing the wall, Phil was getting twitchy, we would have to tack onto port soon, straight into the path of Total Obssession Too. In the end, Rhapsody tacked, followed by OMK. Fortunately Total Obsession Too also tacked immediately. Thanks.
The fleet converged at the windward mark. When Scallywag crossed in front of us, we knew we were in trouble. We were near the back of the fleet. So much for sailing to our handicap!
As we rounded the windward mark, the fleet ahead of us took the straight line approach to Hardway Marine. Rhapsody and Total Obsession Too flew their kites for a while. Their speed looked quite dramatic against the haslar wall backdrop.
However, OMK chose a different route downto Hardway Marine. Being undercrewed, we wimped out of using the kite. On rounding the windward mark, we couldn't run at the angles to keep the #3 flying, so we ran goosewinged away from the wall. This put us into the stronger, less sheltered breeze. When we gybed, we were able to broad reach into the mark with very good boat speed, overtaking the whole fleet!
As we reached Hardway Marine, we were first around, a lead that we sustained around all of the other marks.
However, on the last beat back to the committee boat we lost the plot. Total Obsession Too was chasing hard and managed to point higher. OMK needed to tack into the line, but there wasn't much of a gap between the boats. OMK tacked and dipped Total Obsession Too's transom. It was very close and had everyones attention. Total Obsession Too tacked and managed to keep her advantage to take the line honours. It seemed to take an age for OMK to get to the line. Rhapsody wasn't that far behind.
From Rhapsody
The course is set and it is a beat to VT, followed by a downwind leg to Hardway, a beat to Vail, a short run back to Hardway and a final beat back to the line at Mechelec, altogether around 4nm. The line is heavily biased, making it difficult to cross on starboard tack, so we elect for a port tack start near the ODM (Mechelec). We are not alone as Scallywag adopts the same tactics. We both easily clear the starboard tack starters. We decide on an early tack to head toward the Haslar shore but Scallywag carries on. They've got it right as they are round VT ahead of everyone. We follow Total Obsession and OMK around the mark and then hoist the spinnaker. We run parallel with the Haslar wall and note that of our fleet; only Total Obsession is also flying a spinnaker. We pull away from OMK and Scallywag and are not far behind Total Obsession as we drop the kite and gybe to round the leeward mark. The next leg is a beat to Vail, in which we do very well as we reach it in front of the fleet. Having rounded it's a short run under spinnaker back to Hardway, followed by a beat to the finish. We elect to stay to the right hand side of the course until we can lay the finish line before we tack onto starboard. OMK and Total Obsession, who have by now passed us, tack earlier and finish from the Haslar side. We finish around 1 minute behind Total Obsession and 10s behind OMK. This is close enough to beat them both on handicap. However we are only 2½ minutes ahead of Scallywag and so they take first place by 1 minute on corrected time and we are second.
Rhapsody's track
Race 4
Port tack flyer
Having checked the startline angles between races, Phil decided to go for a port tack start. He briefed the crew on what (he thought) a port tack flyer meant, like don't bottle it but if we have to tack off, there might not be much warning. It was a nervy time. Rhapsody also went for a port tack start, although surprisingly Scallywag did not. One More Knot managed to start at the pin on the gun. Phew. Rhapsody was already down the line a bit and had more sport with the other starters. We don't know what happened to them, we were too busy!
We got aways with it and sailed across the fleet. Yeeha.
One More Knot's track
The wind was picking up we were struggling to keep the main in check. Between the races we had thought about putting a reef in. However, the 5 minute gun had alreay gone, so we elected to get by as we were. Now we were paying the price.
This races seems to be a blur for us, other than we went much further south than the rest of the fleet on the upwind legs. We struggled around a at the back. The least said, the better.
"We were rubbish!" were Phil's first words on entering the clubhouse. We are still struggling to get upwind quickly in a blow. Maybe less sail is required and maybe we'll do better next time.
Following established maritime tradition, our sorrows were duly drowned in Portsmouth.
From Rhapsody
The course is the same but the wind has picked up and we are seeing very sudden gusts of over 30knots. We opt for the same starting tactics as the previous race but this time we are accompanied by OMK, whilst Scallywag opts for a starboard tack start from the committee boat end of the line. OMK has the ideal starting position so we have to be a bit ahead of them and further down the line from the ODM than we would have liked. However, we both again easily clear the starboard tack starters. This time we stay on port tack and head out to right hand side of the course before tacking. Two more tacks and we reach VT behind Total Obsession but ahead of the rest. Then it's a fast spinnaker run to Hardway, our speed over the ground registers 9 knots but we have some tidal assistance on this leg. Then it's a drop and gybe for the mark and a beat back to Vail. The wind is very gusty and we are flattened a couple of times and have an involuntary tack at one time which leaves the crew trying to climb over the now nearly vertical coach roof to get out of the water. Rounding the mark behind Total Obsession who have now increased their lead, we have to sail the short run without spinnaker, as the pole end fitting is broken. We put in three gybes on the way to ensure a decent wind angle and to keep our number three jib pulling. We round the leeward mark in second place on the water and start the final beat. We are being chased by OMK who closes to within 2 boat lengths before having to tack to get clear of our dirty air. OMK carries on towards the Haslar shore before tacking for the line whereas we go on, only tacking when we can make the finish line. This pays off, as we finish 2½ minutes ahead of OMK. However, we are too far behind Total Obsession which takes first place on handicap. We are placed 2nd, having finished far enough ahead of Scallywag to beat him into third place.
Rhapsody's track
Another enjoyable day's racing with sensible course setting. Thanks to Bill and the other race officials on the committee boat. Can we please get a chance to sail without a reef and preferably be able to use the number 1 Genoa and larger spinnaker before the series finishes!