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.
Final day of the series
It was the final day of the series, and unless there were some major upsets, there were battles for places between various pairs of yachts. Rhapsody needed to defend her position from Scallywag to take the series, Total Obsession Too was comfortable in third, only a complete diasaster could let One More Knot in. One More Knot needed a decent result to secure her 4th place from Concerto in 5th who has a reputation for good results.
Race 8 & 9 reports, from Saturday 28th April 2007
Crew : Phil, Phil B, Darrell, Barry, Joe, Martin, Richard
A glorious morning, with the wind towards the top of the forcecast F2-F4 and ENE. Racing took place south of the Haslar wall again. Condor set a start line near Gleeds.
Race 8
Red or Black ... your choice, but is it a winner?
The course was set, up to a windward laid mark, then a spinnaker broad reach to a gybe mark at Hardway Marine, with a shy spinnaker reach out across the tide to North Sturbridge. From N. Sturbridge, it was back to the windward mark and then a run back down across the line.
Having done a few practice starts on starboard, we had a look at the line and decided to have a go on port. With about 2.5 mins to go, we loitered on the line near the pin before setting off for about a minute and then turning back to the line. On the way in, Phil called to slow the boat a little, but in practice maybe we shouldn't have. With 15 seconds to go, we sheeted in hard to build some speed. The gun went and we crossed the line a few seconds later, two boat lengths behind Rhapsody.
One More Knot's track in red
Rhapsody's track in pink
As the speed came on, we hardened up and managed to point higher than the rest of the fleet. We overtook Rhapsody and maintained the same speed as Total Obsession Too, although we were much higher. We managed to point so high, that we fetched the mark. Meanwhile, TOT had sailed off towards the fort, and tacked to come back in.
With only 10 boat lengths to the mark, it was looking great, TOT was at least twice as far away. Surely, we must make it to the mark first.
We were still much closer to the mark than TOT, however, by now we can see the strength of the tide against the bouy. In the lighter winds (apparently the fort's windshadow) we struggle to make headway. TOT is approaching fast, apparently with some tidal assistance. What to do? Foolishly, we continued to drive forwards as we still couldn't believe how we had lost out. Total Obsession Too was looming large now.
Eventually we had to tack, and we knew it was just short of the mark. Some of the Total Obsession Too's crew claim to have luffed to avoid us, but we had completed our tack beforehand and they were clear astern. It was too hard for us to call if we were in the way, its a difficult one. With the tide running hard, all chances of making the bouy had gone, so One More Knot gybed away and does a small loop before having a second go. Meanwhile, Total Obsession Too drove straight over the mark and continued to hoist their kite! In the heat of the moment, Phil yelled protest .... blimey.
By the time we sorted ourselves out, we were third. Total Obsession Too, led the fleet with Concerto following. One More Knot rounded followed closely by Rhapsody who had needed to double tack to get around.
One More Knot spotted an opportunity as the others were heading to the wrong mark, Mechelec. Hehe. A quick conversation onboard between Phil and Martin confirms our view and we set off in a slightly different direction. It took a little while to get organised for the kite, but once it was up it was worth it. It was a good angle for OMK and we went well, 7 knots plus. Rhapsody followed our course, and Concerto spotting their error shifted direction. Eventually Total Obsession Too, reaches Mechelec and gybes, oblivious to their error!, It takes them somewhile before they realise before gybing back to Hardway Marine.
One More Knot rounded Hardway Marine at the head of the fleet. After a successful gybe, we reached down towards North Sturbridge. It was quite a shy reach and the OMK is being powered along nicely at 7-8 knots. The crew were working well, which left a few brain cells for some tactics. With the strong tide running with the wind, we made sure we arrived just uptide and upwind of the mark. This let us run more broadly to take the kite down.
As we approached the mark, the tide was even stronger and the reach ever more shy. After unfurling the headsail, the kite was quickly pulled down. We found ourselves heading higher and higher to stop us from being washed too far downtide of the mark. Looking back at the fleet, we saw the same effect on them too. Obviously our antics had given them some indication of what was to come.
After we rounded North Sturbridge, still ahead of the fleet, the next challange was to make headway against both the tide and the wind. At first we came right up onto the wind, but as soon as the bow came through the tide, it started to wash us back towards the mark. With the transom only 4 feet from the cardinal, we had to bear away again when we realised that we need quite a lot more room. So we piled on as much speed as we could muster. Eventually the speed over the ground came up to 2 knots, and then 3.
As we cleared the mark, we could hear raised voices as the following boats joined the parking lot. Each in turn discovered how easy it was to arrive, yelling for water or something, and then discovered how stuck they were. One by one they slowly escaped. One More Knots lead appeared to be cut to about 10 boat lengths, but it was uptide and upwind. Progress was soooo slow. What should we do? Keep plugging away against the strong tide, or tack and go for shallower water.
Rhapsody is the first to go for shallower water. One More Knot follows almost immediately. Scallywag goes for the same tactics. The remainder of the fleet continue to plug against the tide.
OMK and Rhapsody charge for shallower water. However, just like the previous weekend, both boats get stuck in the bumpy water and failing breeze off Gilkicker. The boats cross tack, each time the boat in closest to the beach came of best. One More Knot virtually walked along the Haslar wall, especially when we managed to get a bit of a lift as the breeze bent around one of the forts.
One More Knot's track in red
Rhapsody's track in pink
Total Obsession Too called us up on the radio, to do a deal about the protest flag. This resulted in them agreeing to do a 360 (touching a mark), yet we must do a 720 (port/starboard tacking). We had no idea how we were doing against the rest of the fleet.
After a short debate about whether we could leave our turns until the last leg, when the tide would continue to wash us in a helpful direction towards the finish, we decided on doing them on the beat, with adverse tide.
When we came up for air, we could see Total Obsession Too with her spinnaker up running for the line, just behind Concerto, who took line honours.
Eventually we made it to the windward mark and elected to run back to the line under white sails. There was the prospect of us crossing the line and then the 10 minute warning signal for the next race may have left us not quite organised. This race had already gone bad, we gambled wrong!
Concerto's line honours were also translated into a victory after the handicap did its stuff. Total Obsession Too was about a minute behind. Scallywag claimed 3rd place on handicap, but finished after the next two boats on the water. Rhapsody was next on the water, followed by One More Knot, about 18 minutes in behind Concerto.
From Rhapsody
The course is a beat to a laid windward mark, followed by a reaching leg to Rainbow and following a gybe there, another reach out to N Sturbridge. This is followed by a beat back to the laid windward mark and then a run back to the finish line.
We check the line; the tide is strong and we are starting against it and there is a definite advantage in starting at the pin end on port if possible. We sail down the line, gybe round, start on port and clear everyone else. OMK and Total Obsession reach the mark ahead of and exchange words while being swept towards it by the tide - Total Obsession touches the mark while rounding. We have to put in two quick short tacks at the last minute to avoid the same fate. Once round the spinnaker is ready to hoist but we wait as the wind is right on the beam. Shall we hoist it or not? Total Obsession and OMK are using kites and look well under control, so we hoist, but there is a tangle of twisted guy and sheet which proves impossible to free without dropping the spinnaker back to the foredeck. Once it is untangled it is re-hoisted and the Genoa is brought down. Meanwhile Concerto has passed us, Scallywag is right on our tail but we see Total Obsession is going for the wrong mark; it's definitely not their day! We reach Rainbow and gybe the spinnaker and head off for N Sturbridge. OMK has built a long lead and we are slowly catching Concerto. Total Obsession has now rounded the right mark and is behind. OMK is near the mark and we see clearly the effects of the strong tide on her as she tries to round it. We keep well up on the buoy and carry the spinnaker until the last moment. Concerto is to our right and coming in to the mark, they claim we "have no rights to water" and they are quite right. However, the strong tide pushes us both away from the buoy leaving a nice gap between Concerto and the mark for us to go through.
The tide is very strong and we are making only 2 knots over the ground by the buoy. We now elect to make our major tactical blunder by tacking onto starboard and heading in towards Gilkicker. The thinking was that would be less tide over there. After a while OMK did the same, while Concerto and Total Obsession carried on to the east. Looking back we see that Scallywag is still really struggling to round N Sturbridge. As we get nearer to Gilkicker the wind drops away and at one time our SOG reads 0.7 knots in the opposite direction to our heading. The wind does return but is very light. This is now a disaster as we are soon putting in 7 or 8 tacks just to keep in shallow water around Gilkicker point. We are also now fighting the tide coming along the Haslar wall; we are not alone as we have OMK for company. We are eventually in a position to lay the windward mark and set off. We are halfway along when we see the spinnakers of Total Obsession and Concerto already finishing the race. We carry on with OMK behind us, hoist the kite at the windward mark and then finish the course around 16 minutes behind the leading boats. But where is Scallywag? It turns out they followed our track and they finish 8 minutes behind, close enough to beat us on corrected time. This race could be our second discard of the series!
Race 9
At last, Line Honours, by a country mile
The course for this race was a bit of an essay, up to the laid windward mark, a run down to a gybe mark at Mechelec, and then onto a laid leeward mark. Back upwind to the windward mark via the startline gate. Then a run back down to the leeward mark and back to the finish line. Oh, and if we have time, do it all again.
It seemed a bit complicated, but Richard magically simplified it to a triangle and then a sausage, followed by a triangle and then a sausage! So easy.
We lined up for the start on the line and once again sailed away at 2 half minutes to go. We did our U turn and came back to the line. As we came back to the line we found ourselves overlapped with Callisto, the folk boat. We could have pushed her over, but elected to be nice, although what we did was probably worse. Instead, with 10 seconds to go, we came hard on the wind and crossed behind her. Both boats were on starboard, but now our sails completely blanketed her until we had accelerated past. We were very pleased with our start, on the line on the gun.
On the beat, OMK was to the left of the fleet, who were predominately on starboard. Total Obsession Too had put in an early tack and gone off on port before the rest. One More Knot hit the lay line and wanted to tack. However, the rest of the fleet were there, still on starboard. We tacked anyway, and elected very early to duck Concerto. We eased the sails an inch, which helped our boat speed as we scooted past Concerto's transom. As we winched them back in, we felt we were flying upwind, with good speed and pointing very high. Now, if only we could do that every day!
As it happened, we called the tack just about right. Total Obsession Too seemed to be sailing very low, off to to St Vaast for moules perhaps? Concerto and the rest of the fleet hung on to starboard for too long and overstood the mark. At the windward mark, One More Knot was very well established in the lead.
We rounded the mark safely, hoisted the kite without incident and set off at about 7 knots, down to the gybe mark at Mechelec. Looking back, we were miles in front. The next 3 boats seemed to be more or less side by side.
One More Knot's track in red
Rhapsody's track in yellow
On reaching Mechelec, the gybe was executed without too much fuss. We coaxed the boat into life on the leg by hardening up to get really good boat speed and then gently bearing off once the apparent wind came forward. An Isle of Wight ferry was looming large on a collision course. We held our nerve for a while, hoping to see the ferry make a change of course. Eventually, we elected to bear away a bit more in the hope that the ferry would overtake, but we are ever grateful that actually she slowed right down, almost to a standstill to let us come past. Thank you Mr Ferry Captain! As soon as we realised what was happening, we hardened up again to get back our boat speed. We safely crossed in front of the ferry, to watch her then split us from the rest of the fleet.
But this leg wasn't over yet. The hovercraft came zipping up and crossed only 3 boat lengths in front. Unsure what would happen, we readied ourselves for a potentially exciting moment. As it happened, we managed to pick up a good boost to the breeze for about 50m which allowed us to run a bit deeper.
At the leeward mark, we once again made a bit of room to allow us to run deeper to drop the kite, which came down sweetly. We were well out on our own at this stage.
The sails were hauled in hard and we headed upwind again. Our hearts were in our mouths as we approached the line. Go on ... shorten the race ..... But no, we had completed the first triangle. We followed it up with the sausage and eventually the race was shortened after one full lap.
We finished the race well ahead of the rest of the fleet. One More Knot crossed the in 55 minutes 34 seconds, 2 minutes 42 seconds ahead of Rhapsody. It made us feel good once again, we had been struggling this season for some decent perfomance. However, once again, the handicap did for us and this performance was only worth 4th. Rhapsody claimed 3rd, with Concerto in 2nd. But claiming the victory in the last race of the series was Callisto, the folkboat.
Back in the clubhouse, there were plenty of people and much discussion of the days events. Phil and Rick were seen to hug and make up! Allegedly drinks were exchanged. It had been a glorious day on the water and a lot of fun.
On behalf of all the skippers and crews, I would like to say a big thankyou to the organisers and people behind the scenes for making our spring series a lot of fun.
From Rhapsody
We know we need to beat Scallywag, to ensure first place in the series. The course is a beat to a laid windward mark, a reach to KB boat-park, gybe, then reach to a laid leeward mark, then beat back through gate to the windward mark then run to leeward mark then gate, then repeat. In fact the course was shortened after the first time round. After the frustrations of the previous race this one was fairly uneventful. No bias on the line so we go for committee boat end starboard tack start. We are late and have one of our worse starts of the series. Still we are in clear air and are soon making good progress. The breeze is much steadier than in the first race and OMK is racing ahead of the fleet. They lead the race from start to finish. We are soon up to second place on the water and it continues that way until the finish. Beats, spinnakers hoists, reaches, gybes and tacks all go well, making up for our blunders in race 8. We finish around 3 minutes behind OMK and 1½ minutes ahead of Concerto. Scallywag is well back so we think we are probably second behind Concerto. As it turned out we had all forgotten Callisto, the folkboat, who took first place on corrected time. A super race and the results show that the first 3 boats were separated only by around ½ minute on corrected time.
From Rhapsody
In the Club Much debate took place over the first race, our mark rounding with Concerto, Total Obsession's close encounter with OMK and many other things. We were placed 4th in race 8 and 3rd in race 9 and when the prizes were given out we were delighted to be placed 1st in club handicap class, having maintained our 2 point lead over Scallywag. Conclusion This was yet another excellent series with close results and a good spread of winners of the individual races. Out of the series of 9 races, four boats had two wins each and one had one win. Like previous series it was sailed in a competitive yet friendly spirit.