2010 Parhelion Autumn Series
One More Knot wins the 2010 Portsmouth Parhelion Autumn Series
The Parhelion yacht racing series is run by the Portsmouth Sailing Club, with races in the Eastern Solent, off Portsmouth and in Hayling bay.
One More Knot's skipper reports each race in the series, blow by blow. Some of the other crews and skippers contribute too ... just to give a balanced view!
Autumn Parhelion 2010 dates and reports:
- Saturday 2nd October
- Saturday 9th October, passage race
- Saturday 16th October
- Saturday 23th October
- Saturday 30th October
- Saturday 6th November, last weekend and presentations
2010 Autumn Parhelion Series - Club Fleet Standings
Official results table from the PSC
| Rank | Boat Name | Class | Sail No | Helm | TCF | R1 2 Oct |
R2 2 Oct |
R3 9 Oct |
R4 16 Oct |
R5 16 Oct |
R6 23 Oct |
R7 23 Oct |
R8 30 Oct |
R9 30 Oct |
R10 6 Nov |
R11 6 Nov |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club Fleet - Sailed: 10 Discards: 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | One More Knot | Elan 333 | 7563T | Phil Duff | 0.973 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | ||||
| 2 | Concerto | Contessa 32 | 640 | George Isted | 0.880 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 14 | ||||
| 3 | Just In Time | Omega 36 | 4230T | Tony Barnett | 0.965 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 20 | ||||
| 4 | Muscadet de Havalet | Contessa 32 | 5500 | 0.880 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | DNC | DNC | 30 | |||||
| 5 | Scallywag | GK 24 | 215 | Andy Taylor + Jeremy Miles | 0.845 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 30 | ||||
| 6 | Symphony | Elan 340 | 1456L | Roy Pearce | 0.980 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 32 | ||||
| 7 | Elissa | Beneteau 411 | 1115L | Eric Whitelaw | 0.970 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 35 | ||||
| 8 | Stargift | Westerly Fulmar | 1230 | 0.920 | 7 | 7 | DNC | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 42 | |||||
| 9 | Easy Tiger II | Beneteau First 33.7 | 6655 | Chris Fife-Shaw | 0.975 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 50 | ||||
Results courtesy of Portsmouth Sailing Club
Race Results
| Race | Date | Class Pos | No in Class | TCF | OTW Time | OTW gap to fastest other boat | Corrected gap to fastest other boat | Crew |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parhelion race 1 | 2/10/10 | 1 | 7 | 0.973 | 1:41:17 | -0:16:41 | -0:01:43 | Phil, Glenn, Kevan, Andy G, Andy S |
| Parhelion race 2 | 2/10/10 | 1 | 7 | 0.973 | 1:03:19 | -0:02:44 | -0:02:28 | Phil, Glenn, Kevan, Andy G, Andy S |
| Parhelion race 3 | 9/10/10 | 1 | 8 | 0.973 | 2:19:32 | -0:16:17 | -0:01:21 | Phil, Glenn, Kevan, Drew, Martin |
| Parhelion race 4 | 16/10/10 | 2 | 9 | 0.973 | 1:10:48 | -0:04:58 | +0:02:13 | Phil, Glenn, Drew, Andy G, Joe, Phil B |
| Parhelion race 5 | 16/10/10 | 1 | 9 | 0.973 | 0:47:53 | -0:07:19 | -0:02:00 | Phil, Glenn, Drew, Andy G, Joe, Phil B |
| Parhelion race 6 | 23/10/10 | 1 | 7 | 0.973 | 1:15:24 | -0:02:31 | +0:04:52 | Phil, Glenn, Drew, Andy G, Joe, Phil B, Darrell |
| Parhelion race 7 | 23/10/10 | Abandoned | 7 | 0.973 | Phil, Glenn, Drew, Andy G, Joe, Phil B, Darrell | |||
| Parhelion race 8 | 30/10/10 | 6 | 9 | 0.973 | 1:33:16 | +0:00:07 | +0:09:47 | Phil, Glenn, Darrell, Jon |
| Parhelion race 9 | 30/10/10 | 3 | 9 | 0.973 | 0:59:35 | -0:03:59 | +0:02:02 | Phil, Glenn, Darrell, Jon |
| Parhelion race 10 | 6/11/10 | 3 | 8 | 0.973 | 1:26:15 | +0:00:20 | +0:01:00 | Phil, Glenn, Jon, Andrew, Andy G, Kevan |
| Parhelion race 11 | 6/11/10 | 2 | 8 | 0.973 | 0:48:37 | +0:00:45 | +0:01:07 | Phil, Glenn, Jon, Andrew, Andy G, Kevan |
Race Reports
Appeal to skippers, crews and race officials, spectators, etc.
Please help me out with:
- your boats story
- any photos
- observations from the committee boat and RIBs
- your point of view .... let me know
- errors .... its difficult to remember everything blow by blow
Autumn Races 1 & 2
Crew: Phil, Glenn, Kevan, Andy, Andy S
The first day of the autumn series was met with some trepidation. Could we maintain our winning form to defend our 2009 Autumn and 2010 Spring series titles? Achieving 3 in a row would be very nice, but looking back at previous history some very good boats had failed to do it, so clearly the results are no respecter of previous form. A new series starts with a clean sheet and everyone starts out equal.
We got up at 7am, sorted ourselves out and the boat, before going to the crews mess for breakfast and our traditional "winning rolls". There was barely any wind but the forecast was for it to build to about 10 knots. At breakfast, we were expecting to see Drew who would rarely miss a chance of a fry up. A call and text elicited no reply, so we made contingency plans for racing without an experienced bowman. It turns out after a mix up that he didn't think he was needed. Andy S, now to be called Andrew, got the short straw!
Race 1
A simple 2 lap triangle, from Darling Associates (just west of Gillkicker point), to Mary Rose and Northsturbridge before crossing the line at Darling Associates to start the 2nd lap. The breeze was shifting quite heavily, an easterly to start with, but during the race swung to a southerly. The committee boat set a relatively short line that was made even shorter by the strong port end bias. Talking with the race officer later, he was obviously having trouble with the breeze too. With both fleets starting together, it was going to be interesting to have 12 boats fighting for space on the short heavily port tack biased line.
The line was screaming for a port tack start, but it was too short. There were bound to be boats on starboard at the port end of the line. We sailed along the line on port and tacked in front of the approaching fleet to be 1st in the queue. Initially, we were washed over the line by the east going tide (about 1 knot), so we had to run off to get the right side. Symphony and Tinker T chased us along the line. At the gun most of the fleet tacked onto port as soon as they had space. On OMK we managed to get across the line and over the committee boat, delaying by about few lengths before tacking onto port. Had we already made a tactical mistake?
We had our own space and clear air, so we could concentrate on what we were doing and get the boat going well. Only 2 boats went further out to the left, but the rest of the fleet were to the right, electing for deeper water and obvious early VMG to Mary Rose. Our start was good, but so were Symphony's and Elissa's. Ellisa had just managed to get past the starboard end of the line at the gun and had nobody to stop her from tacking. As we settled down, we saw Just In Time going the wrong way, obviously late for the start.
Watching Symphony and Ellisa we started our tuning and slowly started to roll over them. We were already 50m to windward of Symphony and even more on Elissa. We had our nose in front and to windward we had an early lead on our class. We were also hanging onto the IRC class contenders.
One More Knot had had the bottom scrubbed just 2 days ago, so with little drag underneath we were able to point higher than the rest of our class. It was good to see the other boats in class falling off to leeward and then eventually tacking inshore, crossing our line someway behind. Only Elissa didn't tack and stayed offshore in the stronger tide. On a wind shift we tacked, through an angle of only about 60 degrees (ok, so we had a bit of tide helping too). The wind dropped and we were concerned as our boat speed had dropped. Some of the boats around us we still going well and we spotted that we had inadvertently landed ourselves in a bit of a wind hole. Wild Blue (IRC Elan 333) came charging past us only 50m away. As the wind filled, we had a huge lift and then managed to fetch the mark. The rest of the fleet had tacked inshore and were stuggling in the lighter wind hole that we had suffered from. The wind shift had also hung them out to dry. The exception was Elissa who was offshore and had benefitted hugely from the shift, recovering strongly. She was following Wild Blue, also with good speed.
As we approach the mark, Elissa was closing fast. Her course wasn't quite as high as One More Knot's. As the two boats converged it was clear that Elissa wanted the inside line at the mark. Phil pointed higher than the mark to firmly shut the door before we got to the zone. Elissa didn't budge until only half a boat length behind OMK. She could see that One More Knot would be first around and went for a better exit line.
On rounding the "run" was now a reach. Only the leading IRC boat was carrying their spinnaker. Everyone else had stayed on white sails. We debated putting the asymetric up half way down the leg, but elected not to give the game away to the boats following behind. However, Andrew had prepared "Big Blue". Elissa had lost a lot of time after the rounding and were now some distance behind. After a short debate on board we elected to help Andrew's fitness campaign by asking him to swap to the asymetric. This was prepared and hoisted as we rounded North Sturbridge.
The lap was completed with Elissa the closest rival. On One More Knot, we conducted a safe and efficient spinnaker drop. Elissa weren't so fortunate and needed to run off to undo a spinnaker tangle. The 2nd beat was now a fetch and with a little bit of pinching we made it in one.
Once again we white sailed the leg to North Sturbridge before using the asymetric for the final leg to the finish. We crossed the line after about 100 minutes of racing and watched the clock as we saw the competition's target roll past before they arrived. Just In Time had sailed a good race to recover from their late start. Only the "slower" boats stood a chance of snatching a victory on corrected time. Concerto (Contessa 32) missed their target, some 10 minutes behind OMK. Only Scallywag (GK24) could steal a victory, their target was about 15 minutes behind OMK. The breeze picked up, helping Scally on the final run, stressing the nerves of One More Knot's crew. However One More Knot had done enough to win from Scallywag by a couple of minutes.
Race 2
The committee boat moved to RNCRAYC for the start of the next race. The course was a single lap out to North Sturbridge, Bob Kemp, Browndown, Darling Associates and back to RNCRAYC, Once again both classes started together.
We didn't really have a plan of how to get a good start, it was busy and the line had a strong port bias. So we sailed down the line on port before tacking and sailing back along the line. However, we failed to accelerate and the first few boats sailed over the top of us leaving us floundering in dirty air. It took a while before we could gain momentum. Concerto (Contessa 32) had sailed over the top of us and we had an overlap, Phil considered pushing up but elected not to as we would probably lose out. As it was, Concerto got too close to the end of the line before the gun and had to duck to committee boat. This gave OMK space to tack onto port and cross the line at just after the gun. At least we were at the windward end of the biased line.
Once again, we had a bit of space and clear air as we set off to North Sturbridge. With a small lift and a bit of help from the tide we were one of very few that could lay the mark from the start. We rounded the first mark with about a minute clear of the next in class. A few IRC boats were leading towards Bob Kemp, all under white sails, so we followed suit. We did debate trying with the asymetric, but elected to wait until we rounded Bob Kemp. Elissa was following but we had a margin.
On rounding Bob Kemp, the asymetric was once again hoisted. The run was very deep, but there was 18 knots for a short while. Elissa had an hour glass on the hoist and we could hear raised voices! Then Elissa was marginally closed the gap, so we thought we should try something different. We gybed the main onto starboard but left the asymetric out goosewinged. It worked very well and was stable. On the approach to Browndown we talked through the drop. It would be an intersting one, because the main was already on starboard, so we just had to harden up. We pulled the genoa out to starboard on the approach to the mark and set it tight ready for the next leg. At Browndown the crew executed a slick windward drop of the kite as we rounded the mark.
On the penultimate leg we found oursleves pinching a bit to try to make the mark without tacking. Everyone else seemed to put in substantial tacks. On One More Knot, we left it until the end of the leg to put in a very short double tack to leave Darling Associates to port. From there is was a straight drag race to the finish to claim line honours for our class.
Once the results were in, we saw that we had done enough to secure 2 wins out of two races on the first day of the series. It doesn't ge tmuch better!
"The Story from Symphony"
Today is the first race day of the Autumn Series. Our crew numbers are a bit down today as Richard, now recovered from his hip replacement earlier in the year, is not available. Our other foredeck man, Alan, is also unavailable, meaning that Norman has to take over on the foredeck. Hollie has had to withdraw at the last minute due to injury, meaning we are down to 5. The forecast is for light winds so being a bit short of crew should not present too much of a problem. The committee boat was out by Darling Associates and we made our way there. We were nearly late but managed to reach the committee boat about 5 minutes before the combined class start. The line had significant bias giving advantage to a port tack start but was too short to risk such a tactic.
Race 1
We made a good starboard tack start just to leeward of Tinker T and followed them by tacking on to port as soon as we cleared the line. We saw OMK inshore of us and it was clear they had better boat speed. The wind was very changeable and after a few tacks to follow the shifts we found ourselves inshore of the rest of the fleet and in a very light patch of wind. Even worse, the rest of the fleet further offshore had now a good breeze and large shift in wind direction meaning they were now sailing straight for the windward mark at good speed. Eventually the new breeze reached us along with Just in Time who we later heard had started 5 minutes late! We could now lay the mark and reached it just ahead of JIT. The spinnaker had been prepared for the expected downwind leg from Mary Rose to N Sturbridge but it was clear from the rest of the fleet, now well ahead, that it was too tight to use the kite. We rounded the mark and set off on the next leg.
At this point we were 5 minutes behind OMK the race leader and had JIT, Concerto and Scallywag behind us. JIT hoisted their spinnaker and slowly caught us. We deployed our spinnaker just as we reached N Sturbridge with JIT was alongside us. It was soon clear that something was wrong; the spinnaker was sitting very low and was nearly in the water. The halyard for our masthead spinnaker was trapped underneath the pole up-haul line! Norman with assistance from Martin eventually sorted things out by disconnecting the up-haul from the pole and taking it right around the spinnaker and then reattaching it.
We were now on the leg to Darling and about halfway down gybed onto starboard. Dropping the spinnaker as we approached we rounded the mark and started the second lap of the race. At this stage we were 4 minutes behind OMK. Due to the earlier wind shift we could lay the windward mark without any tacks. By the time we reached Mary Rose again we had Ellisa coming in on starboard but we were far enough ahead not to worry, JIT had established a good lead on us. We rounded Mary Rose now over 6 minutes behind OMK. The leg to N Sturbridge was uneventful and we readied the spinnaker for hoisting as we rounded the mark. We had problems with the gybe on the final leg and also had to take avoiding action for a coaster heading west across our path. The wind had now gone light as well. All this meant that we had to put in another gybe to cross the finish line behind Easy Tiger and over 8 minutes behind OMK the race winner. As soon as we crossed the line the wind increased thus helping the remaining boats behind us.
Race 2
The start was now at RNC and we had another quite good one, crossing the line only a few seconds after the signal and immediately tacking onto port for the windward leg to N Sturbridge. With our 100% headsail we were losing out to Ellisa, OMK and JIT all carrying larger sails. OMK had started at the other end of the line and managed to lay the mark whereas we had to put in a short tack as we approached. We saw we were around 2 minutes back from the race leaders, Ellisa and OMK and close to JIT, the rest of the club class fleet were behind us.
The next leg was a fetch down to Bob Kemp where we hoisted the spinnaker for the downwind leg to Browndown. A gybe onto starboard about halfway down the leg meant that as we approached the mark we had right of way over JIT who were still on port. This caused them a problem, as to keep clear they had to make an involuntary gybe which then complicated their drop. We unfurled the headsail and dropped our spinnaker and prepared to round the mark, however at that point the wind died and we had to gybe onto port to avoid the tide taking us onto the buoy. Looking at the GPS plots after the race showed that we were then 3 minutes behind OMK. The final part of the race was a beat to Darling Associates and then to the finish at RNC. Again we suffered from lack of boat speed in the light breeze. We crossed the line around 5 minutes after OMK.
After the Race
We went to the club and saw the results - not a pretty sight but more or less what we expected; 6th out of 7 in race 1 and 5th out of 7 in race 2.
Where did we go wrong? I should have kept a better eye on the rest of the fleet during the first leg of the first race. We suffered at times from lack of boat speed due to headsail size. Certainly our spinnaker handling could have been better but Norman was standing in and had never before performed on the foredeck under race conditions. It was apparent that we also had difficulties in the cockpit when handling the spinnaker with less than the normal crew size.
Well done to Phil and the crew of OMK for taking two 1st places - what a start to the series!
Autumn Race 3
We had a great start last week, 2 wins out of 2 so far in the series, could we keep it up? This weeks race was the passage race to the Royal Victoria Yacht Club in Wootton Creek on the Isle of Wight. The forecast was for an easterly F4/5. As usual on the passage race, it was spring tides so the race would start with last of the east going tide before turning to become a strong west going tide. The crew met for the usual "winning baps" in the "Crew's Mess" before going back to ready the boat. We were 5 up. Following chats from the previous night in Landers with a rather merry crew from Elissa, we thought that a couple of their number may have jumped ship. It didn't happen so we departed with 5 of our regulars.
Crew : Phil, Glenn, Kevan, Drew and Martin.
Out on the water, it was very hazy. We could see that there weren't any clouds, but would the mist burn off to give us a delightful sunny autumn day in which to race? Once out of the harbour, we looked around for the committee boat in the gloom. After looking for a bit, we resorted to the VHF and after a short discussion we discovered that they were hiding around Gilkicker for a start at Darling Associates. On the way up, we took the opportunity to contour around Gilkicker to give us some idea of how far in we could go should we need to.
With a firm F4 breeze, it was quite a sight as the fleet assembled prior to the start. Everyone was zipping about. The OOD had announced that both classes would be starting together.
The course was a start at Darling Associates (just west of Gilkicker point), a beat to Gleeds, a run and Gybe at North Sturbridge before another long run to Browndown. From Browndown is was another beat, this time to RNCRAYC (just east of Gilkicker point) before a run to Motherbank on the Isle of Wight side of the channel. At Motherbank it was a short beat (against the strong tide) before the final leg which was a run to Crew Insure. It looked like the bowman was going to be busy!
The line had a port bias and was longer than last weeks. Arguably the starboard end of the line had the stronger favourable remnant of the west going tide. Once again, One More Knot didn't join the melee fighting to be at the starboard pin end. Instead, we found some space near the middle of the line. With 20 seconds to go, we sheeted in and went for the line. We had managed a great start on starboard in clear air We could hear plenty of raised voices near the pin. Apparently several boats were squeezed out and needed to go around again.
We sailed in quite close to the beach as we watched the rest of the fleet tack onto port. Once we had tacked, we had a good view of the others as we settled down to trim the boat for a long beat. We could see the others had gone for a bit more tide. We were pointing nicely and were benefitting from an increase in windspeed around the headland. Our start had obviously been quite good as we were well in front of Tinker T (IRC Elan 333, sporting brand new racing sails and a very experienced crew), although she did eventually overhaul us and pass to windward.
After a while the yachts out in the deeper water started to tack and we were pleased to see they crossed our track well behind our current position. We were then headed slightly but we didn't really notice at the time. We hung on and tacked when we could lay the mark. We would arrive on starboard, needing to tack before hoisting the kite. We talked things through as usual before getting there. Drew had the kite and the strings all sorted on the approach, but we couldn't hoist the pole until we had tacked. Our tactics were to get sailing safely under whites and then sort the kite out. We rounded well ahead of our class, with Symphony next about 1 minute 30 behind.
Drew was operating like a man possessed. Once tacked and bearing away around the mark, the pole was hoisted and Drew went straight onto the halyard at the mast. Glenn was still setting the pole angles when the spinnaker hoist was complete. With only 5 on board, we were slightly short handed and the kite started to fill. Phil at the helm spotted the unattended spinnaker sheet shooting out through the block so he stood on it! The kite popped open and we were off. Glenn took over on the sheet. Martin set the main for the run while Kev and Phil started to think about the wind angles on the next leg. We were able to look back to see the kites popping open one by one behind. During the leg we overtook Happy Apple (IRC Sigma 33).
At North Sturbridge, we conducted a safe and steady gybe before aiming at Browndown. During the leg, several gusts reached well into the 20 knots territory. Some of the IRC boats ahead appeared to have one or two moments. Strangely, all was calm on OMK and by anticipating the biggest gusts and bearing away a bit we kept everything in order. We were rewarded with one long 10.8 knot surf which was quite exhilirating. We were sure that no one could close on us at that speed!
By the time we approached Browndown, our lead was still strong. We elected to play safe, deployed the jib and dropped a little early just in case. At the mark we elected to round and tack immediately. The leading IRC boats in front had mostly elected to go inshore, into Stokes Bay.
At first One More Knots progress seemed good, but we became increasing frustrated as choppy water kept stopping the boat. The wind had picked up a bit, and probably an extra couple of crew on the rail would have been helpful. Meanwhile, Drew had repacked the spinnaker and was busy readying it for the next downwind leg. Kevan lent a hand in order to gain some foredeck experience. Drew then spotted that the pin had dropped out of the base of the kicker. Kev took the wheel while Phil rummaged around to supply bits for Drew to implement a running repair. As the fleet closed on RNCRAYC we could see that we had lost quite a bit of our advantage. We were still in front, no need to panic, but we needed to keep up the good work.
We deliberately overstood slightly to ensure that we would lay the mark despite the adverse tide. This allowed the crew to ready the pole, before the turn, in anticipation of the hoist. Once rounded, the kite was hoisted and full barely 1 boat length from the bouy. Very impressive, we didn't know what Drew was on ... but it was working! The crew in the cockpit had been zooming around to keep up. Looking back, we could see the rest of the fleet rounding and following. Just like F1 cars accelerating from a hairpin the gap stretched as we now had the tide helping us.
One More Knot continued to lead to Motherbank. For the drop at Motherbank, we unfurled the genoa and hauled it tight in anticipation of the next beat. At the mark we would simply harden up and lean on the headsail. We left the drop until the last possible moment and down came the kite. Slightly short handed we were unable to sheet the main immediately and lost a few metres but we were soon back underway beating into both wind and tide.
At the final mark, we once again hoisted the kite very quickly to complete the race finishing minutes ahead of Symphony, who herself was minutes ahead of Just In Time. We knew we had beaten our handicap peer group, but we weren't sure about the slower boats in the class. Our race time was about 2 hours 20 minutes, meaning that we gave the Contessa 32's about 15 minutes and the GK 24 about 20 minutes. With lunch and a pint beckoning in the Royal Victoria Yacht Club we didn't hang around to find out! The results placed One More Knot (Elan 333) as the winner, followed by Concerto (Contessa 32), Symphony (Elan 340), Muscadet de Havelet (Contessa 32), Just In Time (Omega 36), Elissa (Beneteau 411), Easy Tiger 2 and finally Scallywag (GK24).
Looking back, we had a great race and performed well. Possibly our two mistakes were not going into Stokes Bay to get out of the tide after rounding Browndown and not getting the main in early enough on rounding Motherbank. However, the rest of the race was very slick and we were well pleased with the performance and the result.
The club class fleet provided a good attendance in the Royal Victoria, shame none of the IRC class were able to visit. There was a warm welcome, good food and a nice pint. Once the usual speaches and warmly felt thank you's were out of the way the crews finished their pints and suddenly disappeared to head home in glorious sunshine.
This was the last race for Roy (Symphony's skipper) before his operation. On behalf of all of those associated with the Portsmouth Parhelion, we wish him a full and a speedy recovery. We will be looking forward to seeing him afloat again, hopefully in the Spring series. In the meantime, his crew have been given permission to continue the good work on board Symphony.
"From Concerto"
For once the forecasters seemed to get the weather just about correct, with only 4 crew on Concerto for this Saturday we were pleased to be sailing in 12-18kts of breeze. Concerto's start was not one of her best as the skippers timing was rather off and we crossed the line last probably around 70-80 seconds after the gun, this did at least give us clear air and the ability to start our beat to windward at the right hand side of the line, this was quite a benefit giving the proximity to the mainland shore.
Concerto felt fast with her freshly cleaned bottom, we also seemed to be pointing very well and soon clawed back some places at the first mark where we rounded with Muscadet just ahead. With only 4 onboard we were not as quick as normal to get the kite up and opted to make life easier for ourselves by using the small spinnaker. The rest of the race was rather a blur but we seemed to have good boat speed throughout although the Solent chop was doing it's best to slow us upwind and when the wind when light and we had to work hard to keep the boat going.
Our final run to the line off Wootton Creek was great fun with Elissa doing their best to get past, this she did but then sat in our wind shadow causing us to have a photo finish as Concerto surged passed. In the end Elissa beat us to the line by one second.
Lunch at the Royal Vic was perfect for the hungry sailor and we were treated to a very warm welcome. Unfortunately on the way out Concerto’s engine suddenly stopped and steering became very stiff, the main was raised quickly but Muscadet came to the rescue and towed us out to the Solent. Once out of the way of the I.o.W ferry route a look over the side found a large piece of fishing net around the prop. Having given up the tow we sailed over to and anchored in Stokes bay. Skipper donned the wetsuit and goggles and went for a swim with a sharp knife, a few minutes later all was well and we made out way home to Gosport.
Looking forward to next weekend when we will have a full crew for once and a dedicated foredeck.
Races 4 & 5
Crew: Phil, Glenn, Drew, Andy G, Joe and Phil B.
The team met in the "Crews Mess" for breakfast and the usual "winning baps". With 3 wins from 3 races, the discussion was about whether we could keep up the winning streak. "Oh no ... don't say things like that", no complacency allowed!
During the week, Martin had been back to fix the rig. So sporting a repaired kicker, replaced flicker, and new spacers in the gooseneck we were ready for action again.
The forecast was for a northery F4, gusting F5.
Back on board, we motored out of the harbour in good time to find the committee boat on station a few hundered metres from the Mary Rose buoy. Sails were hoisted, the full main and #2 headsail for full power!
Race 4
The course was a laid startline, with an offset beat to RNCRAYC (just east of Gilkicker point), then a run to North Sturbridge. Another beat, this time to Darling Associates (just west of Gilkicker point) before a run to the Outer Distance Marker (ODM). The penultimate leg was another beat, this time to KB Boat Parks, mid way along the Haslar wall before the final run back over the line. An interesting course to keep the navs busy working out wind angles and options for the kites.
On the water the wind was blowing from 340 and was indeed F4 gusting F5. Neap tides meant that there was the usual major concern over their effect.
The start line was very long and we tacked onto our approach below and in front of the fleet with 1 minute to go. As we pointed towards the line, Concerto overtook to windward. We slotted in just below her transom. We were early so we headed off along the line, pushing us away from the committee boat at the starboard end. With 10 seconds to go, we sheeted in and rounded up missing Concerto transom by nearly a foot!
Ellisa started closest to the committee boat. Symphony, with Norman at the helm in Roy's absence, was a bit late on the start. The rest of the fleet seemed to be level as we left the line. On board One More Knot, we settled down to get the boat going well. It was proving difficult to overtake Concerto, but eventually we were able to point a bit higher to increase the separation between the two yachts. We were able to get OMK going, but it was obvious those who started at the starboard end of the line had an advantage. A few lifts in the breeze helped us, but not enough. We needed to tack to make the mark and had to duck under both Elissa and Just In Time who had both managed to fetch the mark. Once we were certain we could lay the mark we started to deploy the pole ready for the run. At the windward mark, One More Knot had failed to be the first around for the first time in the series! Elissa led from Just In Time with One More Knot right behind, only about half a boat lengths gap between each of the boats. One More Knot took a slightly wider entry line for a tighter exit. Drew flew into action and in no time the kite was full and we were off downwind. We were then able to watch the other crews still hoisting their kites.
Still behind Just In Time initially we went for an overtaking move to windward, but they started to defend. Not wanting to get into a luffing battle, we elected to go for the dead run approach instead, crossing back behind Just In Time. Slowly we managed to overtake her and pulled out a few boat lengths at the head of the fleet.
Some of the crew on deck had spotted a huge container shipping coming out of the solent. It was difficult to be sure if the huge black beast would cross in front or right over us! The wind became fickle and progress for the fleet slowed. Just In Time and the fleet started to close back on One More Knot. To our relief, the black beast changed course and passed 200m ahead of us. This left us a clear run to North Sturbridge with a better wind angle and we managed to round 1 minute ahead of Just In Time. The drop wasn't the sweetest. Phil B was gathering, but not easy with one arm threaded through the mainsheet, which was being hauled in at the time for the beat!
A few of the crew had spotted another ship approaching, this time from the east. She was a long way off but coming at speed. As we beat towards Darling Associates, the crew's eagle eyes studied her progress. "Could be a race winner" was one comment, if we could get in front.
As it turned out, One More Knot, Elissa and Symphony (having recovered well after her start) all made it in front. Just In Time had tacked early and went behined without her progress being impeeded.
On the approach to the mark, fishing boats seemed to be anchored everywhere! One More Knot led the fleet around and another slick hoist saw the us lead the procession all the way to the ODM.
On the final beat, we came across a cruising boat broad reaching on starboard. We waited until we were almost ahead before tacking and coming hard on the wind. The helm on the cruising boat spluttered into her tea and hardened up. She had completely under estimated our pointing ability, we were now on a collision course. The gap which was initally over 100m had closed rapidly and we performed an involuntary tack as we had tried to pinch our way out. What a mess, a quick tack back and we passed behind the cruiser, if only she had stood on all would have been fine.
We still had a good lead and the final spinnaker run was uneventful. We crossed the line after about 71 minutes of racing. We watched as the rest of the fleet crossed the line. Just In Time was second over the line, but not quite close enough. We watched the rest, but when Muscdet de Havalet crossed the line only 5 minutes behind we realised our winning streak had been broken. We needed about 7 minutes to beat the Contessa 32's.
During the race, we had heard Concerto retire via the VHF. It transpired that their spinnaker sheave had broken, so George had to climb to the masthead in order to lower their kite.
TBC: The results showed that Muscadet de Havalet won, with One More Knot Second followed by Just In Time, Elissa and then Symphony.
Race 5
The breeze had now swund around to 010-015, so the start line was adjusted by moving the ODM. The course set was a beat to KB Boat Parks, a run to North Sturbridge, another beat to RNCRAYC and then a broad reach to cross the line.
The fleet converged on the committee boat for the gun. One More Knot found a bit of space further down the line with a brisk start in clear air and no other boats in her immediate proximity. This allowed us to settle down quickly and pull out a lead on the fleet. We needed to get higher, the lifts in the gusts helped. As we approached the mark we tacked in front of Concerto, the best of the rest, but then overstood over estimating the tide. This allowed Concerto to round at the head of the fleet, chased very closely by One More Knot. One More Knot cut inside on the exit and hoisted very quickly again.
Downwind, the Contessa didn't stand any chance against the Elan and we rapidly zipped off into the distance. We could see Just In Time and Symphony tustling for position behind.
We rounded North Sturbridge slickly with a late drop and started the beat to RNCRAYC. Symphony was now doing much better and had decided to follow OMK. There had been a debate about the wind angles for the final leg to the line. We elected to rig the asymetric, but waited until settled on the new leg before deciding whether to use it.
On the final leg, with 120 TWA and the apparent on or just in front of the beam we thought we'd give it a go. Maybe we could spoof the others into having a go too. It wasn't without some trauma, with gusts over 20 knots. Initially we kept the jib out to cover some of the "angry pink" kite. As we settled down we furled more and more of the jib away until it was all gone.
Symphony had gone for their asymetric too. Elissa went for their kite, but something happened and they demonstrated what happens if you let go of the sheets. Quite spectacular.
We crossed the line after about 48 minutes. Clock watching, we thought we had won, with some of the fleet crossing the line over 15 minutes later. A great race and it felt like a much more polished effort than the beginning of the previous race.
TBC: One More Knot won from Muscadet de Havalet, Concerto, Symphony.
Back in the berth it took nearly an hour to get across to the club. It was quite frustrating to have been calling on 72; only to discover the RIB only had one radio, tuned to 11 for QHM. Symphony's crew gave up and went to Landers instead. Once in the club, we discovered that there had been a good turnout with plenty of crews recounting the days events.
Once again, interesting courses had kept the crews on their toes with plenty of foredeck work to keep the bowmen warm on a cold day.
After 5 races, 4 count towards the series. One More Knot leads with the perfect "4" (discarding todays 2nd) and has a 10 point lead over 2nd place Concerto.
"From Concerto"
With a full crew of 6 and a wind forecast that would suit Concerto we headed out with a great deal of expectation, it was time to give OMK come competition so that they don't walk away with the series (again). We were pleased to see that the committee boat had returned to individual starts for IRC and "Club" class.
For race one we were a little early to the start and had to run down the line a little but with the start out to the way we had good boat speed and a reasonable position. After a couple of tacks we were rounding the first mark and the spinnaker was hoisted quickly and without fuss. It was as the next mark that our problems started as we tried to unfurl the Genoa, it wouldn't go because the Spinnaker halyard was not fully up and catching (or so we thought), we tried winching the Spinnaker halyard up but it would not go up so we decided to drop the kite behind the main but it then would not come down. We tried everything but there was clearly a problem at the masthead and there was only one thing for it, the main was dropped and the skipper took a quick trip up to the top of the mast. The problem was clear once up and the spinnaker was released by tripping the snap-shackle from the masthead. By this time we had lost a lot of time and decided to retire, collect our thoughts (it was somewhat stressful) and regroup for the second race.
For the second race we had a great start with the whole fleet either behind or to leeward. Elissa was the closest boat and they were directly behind after the start, they opted for height at the expense of speed and slowly clawed their way to windward of us but without overtaking. Concerto sailed as high as we dared but without sacrificing too much speed and we made the first mark without having to tack and in first place on the water. Without a spinnaker halyard that was operational we knew that it would not take long to be overtaken, pulling out the Genoa kept Muscadet behind us but many others passed. The second beat was fast and fun, we matched Muscadet tack for tack to keep ourselves between them and the next buoy and it worked with just the final reach to the finish. We did all we could to trim the sails but with Muscadet creaming along under spinnaker it was going to be very close. In the end Muscadet crossed just a second or two in front of Concerto.
With a boat to fix we were not able to make it to the club for a beer but the skipper did have two more trips up the mast to ensure that we are fighting-fit for the next weekends racing when we have a full crew again. Watch out OMK here comes Concerto.
Pic of our masthead spinnaker block, even if I could get the rope out it has wrecked the bearings and bent the stainless cheeks of the block.
Autumn Races 6 & 7
Crew: Phil, Glenn, Drew, Andy G, Joe, Phil B, Darrell
After a windy night the crew met over breakfast to discuss the plans for the day. A pair of wins on the day would claim the series, but both the Contessas looked like they were stepping up to the mark to provide some serious competition. Just In Time had also been getting closer. The weather forecast had been for an occluded front to push through by breakfast, with the wind easing and backing from NW to SW. We had a bit of a wait for our "winning baps" before going back to the marina for final setups. We had taken the #2 off late on Friday night to leave ourselves an unbiased choice. We left the berth with no headsail and went out to have a look for ourselves.
Race 6
A quick check of BrambleMet suggested it was still blowing 20 knots. Just outside the harbour the wind was blowing 10-15 knots, but as we went further out towards the committee boat near Gleeds, the wind built to 20 plus. We dipped back in under the wall to hoist the #3 for the first time this series. We might lose our pointing advantage over the other boats, but at least we should have some control if it blew up.
The fleet gathered near the startline. The course was a beat to Darling Associates (just beyond Gilkicker), a run to Mary Rose not far from the start, a beat up to North Sturbridge. A beam reach across to RNCRAYC before a final broad reach to the line. The wind was blowing about 240, just south of west. Just when we thought it was easing, it would build again.
Keeping ourselves near the start line, we tacked under the fleet to make our approach in the last minute. Concerto hooked up on our transom and followed us into the line. Looking like we were a few seconds early we edged down the line before coming hard on the wind with 10 seconds to go. Scallywag had hoped for a port tack start, but were forced to tack as the fleet closed on the port end of the line. Our timing was spot on and we were away on the first beat.
The fleet soon split, those at the starboard end of the line tacking early going for the Haslar wall. One More Knot, Concerto and Scallywag continued out into the deeper water. Concerto was pointing higher, but OMK sailing lower and faster. One More Knot tacked onto port and we could see that crossing Concerto was going to be tight. As the yachts converged, it remained tense on board. One More Knot passed in front of Concerto with only a few feet to spare, phew. The wind was from the west and as we started to come into the lee of Gilkicker, the wind was easing. Probably the best tide was inshore, however the stronger breeze was out. We elected to tack back out. When the fleet reconverged at Gilkicker, One More Knot led from Concerto. Not far behind was Just In Time leading the 'wall' contingent, and then Symphony. The track shows we had 30 seconds over Symphony.
At the mark, One More Knot had a fast hoist of the asymmetric, chosen to manage the risk from the stronger gusts. Just In Time remained under white sails but surprising didn't lose too much ground. Symphony hadn't had a great first leg, but once their kite was up we could see her charging back through the fleet. We sailed a bit high of Mary Rose, the next mark, to keep the sail full. Some of the fleet followed. Half way down the leg we gybed the main to run goosewinged with the asymmetric. This proved faster and more direct, allowing us to round Mary Rose over a minute ahead of Just In Time, then Concerto and 3mins 30 in front of Symphony.
One More Knot led the fleet up to North Sturbridge. Annoyingly (for us) Concerto was still too much in touch, sailing a great race. After North Sturbridge, One More Knot headed the fleet north back towards Gilkicker point. We headed up a bit with a view to finding enough of an angle to get the asymmetric up again. Half way we bore away, hoisted "angry pink" in the hope of increasing the gap but then had trouble keeping it flying. It was faster, but Just In Time, staying under whites was close enough to be a concern. I think we were the only boat to try a kite on this leg.
Rounding RNCRAYC ahead, we gybed for the line. Only 20 degrees off a true run it once again proved difficult to keep the asymmetric flying. Arguably it was the wrong choice, "big blue" would have been better.
Coming higher than the desired course we could keep the boat speed up. Half way, Glenn suggested gybing the main again. Once again, it proved more effective and we were able to sail by the lee to sneak over the line.
Clock watching, we watch Just In Time finish just over a minute behind, so we had done enough to stay in front of JIT. Counting the others in we knew we were in the clear, until Concerto. She crossed the line only 2:31 after us, but that would put her 4:52 in front on corrected. So, a 2nd place for One More Knot, Concerto claimed the win, Just In Time 3rd, followed by Elissa, then Symphony.
From Concerto: Race 6
The forecast looked good for Concerto as a decent breeze favours the Contessa over our lighter weight competitors. We had the dream-team of Mark and Ben back onboard who along with Geoff and Andy gave us a strong crew to race in the conditions. An extra pair of hands to make us 6 would have been handy, especially with weight on the rail, but we were feeling confident as we headed out of the harbour. Below is my rough recollection of the day but as always there are some big gaps...
At the start of the first race we were positioned at the middle of the line with good boat speed, Elissa just behind and windward and OMK to leeward. Elissa had better speed but could not match our ability to point and we soon forced them to luff (the windward boat having to keep clear) and they fell backwards, with clear air to windward we were then able to sail for speed and did our best to keep in touch with OMK as all boats tacked off toward Haslar wall. At the first windward mark I recall us being third on the water, OMK executed a very fast spinnaker hoist, JIT stayed with white-sails and we flew the smaller of our two kites. OMK made some ground while we caught JIT a little although we lost out a few boat lengths by being to cautions and dropping the kite early (some fears from last weekends problems perhaps still in my mind). The rest of the race was quite processional but great fun as we did our best to keep in touch tack-for-tack with OMK and we finished approximately 2 minutes behind them . The conditions of the day were perfect for us, we had great speed and pointing upwind and this showed in the calculated results.
Race 7
The course was from the start at Gleeds, to Darling Associates (beyond Gilkicker), a tight reach to Bob Kemp, a run to Mary Rose followed by a beat to RNCRAYC and a run back to Gleeds for the finish. Between races, we had debated sail choice, in the lulls the #3 was under powered, however there were still some 20 knot gusts so we stuck with the #3.
The fleet hit the line right on the gun. Elissa was called over. We knew we were close and confirmed on the VHF that it was only Elissa who had to return. The tide had turned, so we went for the deeper water straight away, leading the fleet. Sitting on our quarter again was Concerto and once again we crossed just in front by a couple of boat lengths, the gap being a bit more comfortable this time, but still not the 10% in front that we needed. We realised that we had pretty much called the tack to perfection for the layline. Leading the fleet, we were keen to try to stretch the advantage however this possibly led to our error. Looking behind to see how the others were doing plus overtaking a couple of cruising boats created distractions and Phil at the helm had eyeballed the wrong mark, blindsided by his own crew on the rail. We sailed straight past Darling Associates!!!
There obviously was a discussion going on on the rail, but the helm carried on oblivious! Some 250m further, we recognised what had happened and quickly tacked. It was a fetch to Bob Kemp and we now had a slightly freer line. However, Just In Time, Symphony, Elissa, and Concerto had now just sneaked in front of us. Our lead had gone completely and we were now mixing it with the pack. As we dropped into the pack we were faster, mainly due to our marginally better angle. Somewhat annoyed and in catch up mode, we managed to "undertake" Concerto, but in doing so dropped some height. The wind was easing, now less than 15 knots, so we swapped from the planned asymmetric to "big blue". Elissa was then gaining as we closed on the mark. We were prepared for a quick hoist but Elissa managed an inside overlap and we delayed the hoist until she had turned. Our bare away set allowed us to get the kite up much faster than the rest of the fleet that performed a gybe set. Being on a different gybe, One More Knot separated from the fleet and ran down past North Sturbridge. The rest of the fleet sailed a more direct path. Looking across, we could see the fleet silhouetted against the black skies of some weather coming through. It was frustrating progress, the wind had dropped to 10 knots and we were fighting the tide.
Photo from White Cloud (IRC fleet)
We considered a gybe, but as we started our preparations, we saw Elissa get apparently into a bit of trouble with her kite. Speaking afterwards, they had seen the weather and had elected to take it down. It didn't look too wild to us. Then Symphony had a big broach. Undecided, we deferred our gybe decision. Now we could see the water turn black and start to boil, and the wind really came up fast ... really really fast. The wind instruments showed 32 knots. George from Concerto estimated that it went over 40 knots for a while.
Wind from Bramblemet
We bore away to try to take the sting out of and we felt One More Knot accelerate. We managed to keep her on her feet but then all hell broke loose. It all happened very quickly and we've tried to piece together the events that occured and why.
2 men overboard
Apparently the bow dug in, the boat stopped and we broached very rapidly onto the starboard (pole) side. Darrell (mainsheet) and Andy (guys) were literally flicked into the sea. One More Knot was knocked down completely, the mast was in the water, the windex was broken and the spinnaker shredded. Drew (foredeck) was in water lying in the shrouds, Phil (helm) was thrown into the pushpit and was now sitting waist deep and hanging on, Glenn (sheets) managed to hang onto the guard rails. Joe was hanging onto the high side and Phil (nav) was in the companion way. One More Knot lay on her side pinned by the mainsail, presumably the breeze had folded the roach back over the shrouds and was creating downforce.
The boat was still being pushed through the water at probably a couple of knots. Until the boat came back up, it was very difficult to even move, everyone was hanging on. Darrell later reported that the bulb of the keel was 2 feet clear of the water.
Phil at the helm: One minute we were accelerating and the next thing I remember is calling broach. In an instant I was thrown and crashed into the pushpit and ended up sitting waist deep in the sea. I realised that there was a good flow of water so hung on. The handheld VHF fell and bounced off my head. One More Knot was sitting completely on her side with the mast in the water. Disorientated, I realised Andy was swimming a few feet away and tried to grab him, but couldn't quite stretch the last 3 inches.
Joe was on the port side, hanging on 8ft above the water. Phil B was in the companion way. Glenn was in the water on the starboard side but hanging onto the guard rails. Drew was the water caught by the shrouds. Darrell was in the water, even further away than Andy.
We were helpless while the boat was pinned. There was no down flooding, the water line lying level with the genoa winches. It was an exercise in hanging on. After a minute or so, Phil B in the companion way realised that the main would gybe, the boom was pointing vertically upwards. He called out several warnings and then the boom crashed violently down into the water.
Soon afterwards, One More Knot righted herself. It was very disorientating. Looking up, I could see the remnants of the spinnaker. We had a quick head count which confirmed we had 2 men overboard. It was very comforting (under the circumstances) to see them visible and together. All I wanted to do was to get the remains of the kite down to reduce the heeling and try to get some control back. Not knowing which halyard the kite had been hoisted on, I threw both clutches. The halyards bowed out in the wind and the bits of the spinnaker that were still flying started to come down.
Phil B suggested a Mayday and after a moment of consideration I agreed. Good call. I started the engine but didn't put it into gear. The boat looked like she was trapped in a fishing net, with the spinnaker, its sheets, guys, halyards surrounding the boat. The crew went to work and cleared most of them quickly. The kite was still in the water, but we engaged the prop and went to recover our crew. The wind instruments weren't working (presumably the masthead sender was full of water). The windex had the tail broken off (I didn't know at the time), so it added to the disorientation when looking up the arrow was pointing the wrong way.
Towing the dead spinnaker in over 30 knots of breeze was hard work. Our prop is a bit small and it seemed to take an age to cover the 150m or so to the Men Over Board. Approaching head to wind, I attempted to protect the guys by putting them in the lee of the hull. Conscious of the prop, I was careful to make sure I could see the crew. By rounding to windward we trailed the spinnaker and remaining sheets near enough for the guys to grab hold. It was difficult to stop the boat, presumably sailing on the windage from the hull (or possibly the main). Drew and Phil B and I managed to haul the guys back to the transom. It seemed like the easiest place to recover them. Ironically, the water was still quite flat, no swell, just a short boiling chop. Behind the boat, in the lee, it was quite calm. With some assistance, Darrell clambered back on board using the bathing ladder. Andy however is a big guy. In his floatation suit there was nothing to grab hold of. It wasn't until we made a loop from the spinnaker sheet (the nearest rope) and got it under his arms that the 3 guys on the back could haul him back on board.
Everybody was safe back on board, the boat was upright so the main trauma was over. Most of the crew were wet through. We started the tidy up and then the inshore lifeboat arrived. After a conversation with them that established that we had picked everyone up and there were no injuries we were able to tidyup enough and head back to the marina. The lifeboat escorted us, until Crime Pays the PSC RIB took over escort duties. Once along side, it appeared that the coast guard were having a busy time along the Solent. It took a while to radio through to confirm that we were back in the berth. A couple of Coastguard guys came wandering along the pontoon within minutes to collect a bunch of details and make sure that everyone was ok. It was very reassuring to know that we got our crew back under our own steam. It was also very reassuring to know that the lifeboat and coastguard system was so effective and would have been able to step in if we had been just 1 minute slower.
Looking through the GPS plots, it looks like we were pinned down for about a minute and a half. We then popped upright and got back to our crew in the water in another minute and a half. It then took another 3 minutes to get the guys back on board. We were on the way back to the marina just 9 minutes after we were knocked down.
A bit too much adrenalin for one day! We subsequently discovered that the race had been abandoned, presumably due to the weather. There was plenty to talk about back in the club.
Back on One More Knot, there were a few minor breakages but all the big stuff looks fine. Down below was a bit of a mess (imagine turning your room on its side). We tidyed up the obvious stuff, I'm sure we'll find a bit more later when we look harder. We didn't take on board any water other than that brought in with the crew and the spinnaker.
Phil Bailey's onboard account of race 7
Race 2 was underway, we were leading to the first mark, Darling Associates, following some mis-communication however we stood on past the mark. Now the race was on and we reached off to try and overall the fleet again.
As we approached Bob Kemp, first the asymmetric was set up, then a change of mind, the wind was clearly dropping, it would be almost a dead run, time for Big Blue to come out of the bag. Following a rapid re-rigging, we rounded North Sturbridge, avoiding the other racing fleet who were suing the same mark for an opposite rounding, quick set and we were off down to Mary Rose, quite pleased with our recovery.
As we ran down towards North Sturbridge the wind was easing but behind us we could see a change in the weather. We enthusiastically debated the weather and the best course. The weather arrived with those on the left of the course first, Symphony and then Ellisa seemed to be having a difficult time. Concerto however, whilst clearly experiencing the increasing winds appeared to have a strategy in progress and was coping well.
With our wind still down around 10 knots we decided to gybe and give ourselves a better course. With everyone set Andy observed the rising wind speed, 15 knots ..........18 knots.............."wait everyone"...............waiting.................waiting
From my position by the port winch I saw the bow disappear beneath the surface, in no time 3 or 4 feet was under (this had to be bad!). As an experienced crew we know we stretch the envelope occasionally, we had just ripped it wide open. As the bow dipped, the boat stopped but the rig did not, seconds later One More Knot lay on her side. Just in front of me I could see Joe (my son) we were both hanging now on the high side but the rest of the crew were below us, all now in the water but as far as I could see still in the boat.
I had a slow realisation that we had achieved a dingy style Chinese gybe, the boom now vertical with the full force of 30 + knots pressing hard and were slowly inverting! With my legs gradually swinging away from the boat a new set of questions ran through my head. Normally in a broach it is only a matter of time before the keel takes over and the boat rights but this felt different. If we inverted where did I want to be, if I stayed put I would be under the boat but if I was going to get off or away I would have to make sure Joe was with me. I never got to the end of the permutations, invisibly and by degrees the wind had also been pressing on the broad aft section of the capsized boat and little by little she had been swinging head to wind, the main went soft "boom coming down" I screamed for those below.
Within seconds One More Knot was upright, a bizarre change, the silence created by our temporary shelter was gone, the wind was back driving through the now chaotic scene in the cockpit.
Still on board (or back on board in some cases) Phil Duff, Phil Bailey, Joe Bailey, Drew and Glen. There was a brief engagement between Phil and myself, we knew there was a lot to achieve and quickly, I dived down below to issue a mayday call whilst Phil took control on deck.
Down below looked like an explosion had gone off, charts and books, sail bags and clothes, food wrappers and bottles, even the floor from the heads was in the saloon along with halyards which had been hanging reasonably tidily down the companion way only moments earlier.
"Mayday, mayday, mayday this one more knot one more knot one more knot we have broached and have two persons overboard over" and yes for all the well educated people that is a pretty incomplete mayday message. The chart plotter was just booting to give me a position and the rest of the standard message, who knows, briefly shocked, mushy brain I could not answer but within seconds a calm reassuring response came "one more knot this is Solent Coastguard can you confirm your position please" by now the chart plotter had booted and found some satellites so I read back the position "can you confirm that would place you to the west of the forts" "yes" I replied "west of the forts and due south of Gilkicker" "what is the condition of the craft please" I was lifted moments earlier by the sound of the engine and could feel the course changing so replied that the One more knot appeared sound and that we were now under engine looking to recover the two from the water. Nevertheless I was advised that "the lifeboat had been deployed and a helicopter scrambled" If we had doubted the necessity for a mayday even briefly, the authorities had not and "India Juliet" was on the way.
Leaving the radio on standby for a moment I put my head out through the companion way, once again the transformation between worlds was extreme, I had settled to the relative calm of a reassuring conversation with the rescue services. I was now greated by bundles of tapes attached to the blue sail cloth of big blue our largest spinnaker heading my way in armfuls. Only about fifteen metres away both Andy and Darrell in the water, close to each other and better still only a stretch away from the remaining spinnaker, shouts of "GRAB IT" they did, we were now connected again. Lines were thrown better still.
Many hands now went into the pull. Quickly we had Darrell at the back of the boat on the spinnaker remains, Andy a little further away on a sheet which had been thrown. Complete with inflated lifejacket it was a real struggle to get Darrell on board but up he came. Andy however by now was tiring quickly, although both said they were surprised the water was not colder, it had clearly taken it's toll and he was tiring. We also became conscious about now that the boat was sailing again, and although not making much speed Andy complete with foul weather gear was trying to work against this. I climbed over the safety rail onto the bathing platform and reaching down managed to get a firm hold on his hand. Pulling as hard as I could I guided his hand to the top step of the bathing ladder in the hope he could get a firm hold and work his way up. No chance, Andy was tiring and at the best of times most of us need to put our knees in our mouth to climb a swimming ladder. From behind me Phil produced the end of a sheet, then withdrew it again and returned it with a long loop and a bowline tied in. With Drew opposite we looped this first under one arm then the other, one each side heaving and a final effort from Andy and he was back through the transom and into the cockpit.
I left the cockpit and the casualties and headed back to the radio, as I picked up the mic to provide an update to the coastguard I heard the life boat on channel 16 calling to say they were on station. My next call was to the PSC committee boat to advise we had retired. The race was abandoned; I passed the news on deck, all that and no points dropped.
Yet more lines to recover from the water, but all crew accounted for and an escort back to Haslar!
I would like to say there are a lot of lessons learnt but on reflection this has polarised some of the questions for me.
I am now convinced that you cannot "get it" until you have been "through it" so keep thinking about how you would. We were potentially either arrogant or complacent in the build up
On our boat we often discuss what would you do if? How does that work? What would I do if that broke? On this occasion we had seven experienced crew and with very little discussion at the time we knew what was needed.
Lifejackets - The debate goes on. Clearly those in the water were helped immensely possibly saved by their life jackets and floatation devices, however it is also notable that all those not wearing lifejackets stayed with the boat (in one case having been off the boat during the capsize but never letting go) Any one hit by the boom when it dropped would inevitably have been unconscious as a result therefore their life may have depended on floatation, but conversely any one trapped under the mainsail (or under the boat had we actually inverted) could have ironically drowned as a result of wearing one. General guidance is in favour but this experience has done nothing to change my personal view that the individual must be able to decide in all but the most extreme conditions when the skippers view must be upheld.
WET PEOPLE ARE HEAVY - It is in every safety MOB article you read. Know how you will recover people and have options. We had five physically fit, active men on board and it was hard. Three of us are boat owners and all are now reconsidering safety and recovery, big question, how would your partner cope if it was you in the water?
From Concerto: Race 7
For the second race we again had a good start and this time had a luffing match with Symphony who were trying to get past to windward something that would have given us a huge wind shadow. We got the boat pointing as high as we dare without losing too much speed, Symphony struggles to respond and ended up dropping back and ducked under our stern. In lighter conditions we would not have got away with it but when the boat is flying you have to make the most of it. This time the tide was such that it paid to stay out in the deep water and we covered OMK, Phil tacked first and we carried on to see it we could make them duck us. Phil judged it perfectly and passed ahead and we then tacked onto port to cover them, however OMKs superior speed to windward soon gave them some breathing room. Both OMK and Concerto managed to sail directly you the mark (in our case this was through luck rather than judgement).
On what proved to be the final run there seemed to be a lull in the breeze so we opted to put the large lightweight kite up and took the reef out of the main as we only had 10kts of apparent wind (so maybe 16kts true). Once settled we noted the very black clouds that were creeping up from the west with heavy rain that blotted out all the land behind. It was clear that we were in for some stronger winds as this blew through but I thought the most we would get is 25kts so was happy to continue as we were. As predicted the wind did rise and at 25kts apparent we were bowling along and doing our best to keep out of the way of Symphony where were "enjoying" a long broach into our path that they finally sorted by dumping the kite halyard. The wind then rose further and we decided that the lightweight kite would not take much more and would have to come down. While getting ready and then dropping the kite we saw a sustained 35+kts apparent and we were shooting downwind at quite some speed. The drop was not an easy one in the conditions and at one point we were flying the spinnaker horizontally from the masthead with the sheets and guys flowing behind, fortunately by heading dead downwind and in a brief lull we managed to grab the guy and get the kite onboard without mishap. While all this was going on we noticed that OMK had shredded their spinnaker comprehensively and also noted at least one of the IRC boats (Xtrovert??) was having a tough time beating to windward with too much sail on. Once sorted we started looking out for the next mark (Mary Rose) and were feeling pleased that we had handled the conditions well when the call was made from the committee boat that the race had been abandoned.
The decision of the committee boat to abandon the race, I feel, is a rather controversial one. It clearly states in the PSC documentation that it is the skippers responsibility to decide it the weather conditions are suitable to race in for the boat and crew, this is the case for all the racing that I have done over the years. While the standard ISAF race rules do allow for a race to be abandoned "legally" in 20 years of racing I have never known an occasion when this had taken place, although it is perhaps more common with dinghies and small keelboats that would be in greater danger in strong wind conditions. I have raced more times than I recall with winds consistently around 30kts and on occasion up to 40kts. Having abandoned the race the committee boat has set a precedent and put itself in the difficult position of saying when it is safe or not safe to race, a position they do not wish to be in should there be an accident on another occasion when there is strong winds and they decide to continue. By all means postpone or abandon a race before it is started but to do so during a race, in my experience, is extremely unusual and contrary to the norm. I do hope this is taken as constructive feedback and not sour grapes.
Regarding abandoning after the start, I have found 3 documented examples of races abandoned after starting: Maxi's in Sardinia, 2010, Vancouver, Southern Straights Race, 2010 and Bugle Hamble Big Boat Series, in the same squall that hit us. It does indeed appear to be rare, but it obviously does happen on occasion. And yes, in reality, those races were restarted if conditions subsequently allowed.
I'd like to thank those who have sent us messages wishing us well and congratulating us on our seamanship, a demonstrated by recovering our own crew. However, while I think credit is due to the whole crew, we just got on with the job doing that needed to be done, I'm sure it would have been the same story on any of the other boats. A few days after the event, a few more details have come to light, including from Andy who initially became trapped in the guard rails below the water line. Thankfully, he managed to free himself. A number of the crew reported bruising after the event, testimony to the severity of the event. I suspect we'll be taking the kite down earlier if we see a big black cloud! Too much experience gained in one day. Glenn's threatened to bring his snorkel next week and I suspect we'll all be wearing lifejackets. Thanks again.
Phil and Joe Bailey are fundraising for the RNLI by participating in the 2011 Great North Swim
Support them and the RNLI here
Races 8 & 9
Crew: Phil, Darrell, Glenn and Jon
Very definitely a weekend for getting back on the bike after a big crash. Last weekend, we had done enough adrenalin for a year. This weekend, our crew were down to 4. Some might think it had something to do with last weekend ... but everyone had very plausible excuses. So this weekend, we had Phil for the helm, Glenn on Jibs & Sheets, Darrell (one of OMK expert swimmers) on main and newcomer Jon on the bow. Glenn recognised that last weekend's mishap was due to a poor ratio of winning baps vs lardy breakfasts. The ratio this week looked much better.
The plan was discussed in the the crews mess, it was a simple one. Asymmetric only, 2 strings for the kite and keep it simple and tidy. Darrell would look after the main and the halyards for the hoists and the drops. Phil would help out with a hand to hold a sheet or furling line. Glenn would do a lot of pulling and winching. Jon would look after the foredeck and mast.
Race 8
We found the committee boat at Gleeds in the early morning mist. There was a good turnout, 9 boats in each class. The course was a bit unusual, with the start at Gleeds, a beat / fetch to North Sturbridge, broad reach to Darling Associates, beat to Bob Kemp, do a U-turn and go back to Darling Associates before leaving RNC to port and then returning to the line.
Phil listened to the course and queried "RNC to port?". The committee confirmed. In effect, this meant that it was a straight line from Darling Associates to the line, or was it? More on this later.
The line had a strong port bias and the fleet gathered at the port end pin. Most of the fleet were aleady on port. The breeze was very light, less than 4 knots at times. With 40 seconds to go, One More Knot tacked onto port to go for the line. On coming out of the tack, Just In Time arrived on starboard and hollered. We had virtually no speed and we pointed out that the wheel was hard over to tack and asked for them to give us room, which they did. They then barrelled into the rest of the fleet (JIT did have rights) causing carnage before tacking themselves for the line. Eventually, One More Knot tacked and gybed to aim at the line. Rats .... our first bad start of the series. We were late and below the fleet.
Symphony was leading the way by a good margin. However the double hoot on the line had told a story. The VHF confirmed the same story, "Symphony was over". They carried on oblivious for a while, before returning to restart.
Just ahead of OMK was Elissa, however she was on a higher line. For a brief moment we considered tacking behind her and then the rest of the fleet. We didn't, mistake #2. We got stuck in Elissa's dirty air. Phil could tell things weren't right, the tell tales were misbehaving! Evenuatually, we figured it out. Elissa was sailing at least 20 degrees below our expectation. With some severe pinching we climbed and crossed astern. Shortly afterwards, Elissa performed a "noisy" tack. There were raised voices!
At last, some clear air. But we had a lot of ground to catch up. We had lost loads of time. Symphony had recovered to get more or less even with us. Muscadet was leading the fleet which was already quite spread out.
At North Sturbridge the kites went up. The breeze was still fickle. One More Knot was well down, looking at the transoms of most of the fleet. We were level with Scallywag, with Elissa and Easy Tiger behind.
As the fleet approached Darling Associates they were caught out by the tide. We needed to round the mark into the 2 knots of tide, tricky in 4 knots of breeze. On One More Knot, we spotted the leaders changing to white sails and adjusted our heading to avoid being washed downtide. At the mark, the whole fleet had reconverged. We arrived still flying the asymmetric and going about double the speed of everyone else. Some how, we found a gap having overtaken about 4 boats in as many boat lengths, tidily dropped the kite onto the deck and joined the queue. We were now half way back up the fleet.
On the way out, the fleet lined up and we were picking up dirty air. The fleet split, Just In Time ahead of Symphony and One More Knot all tacked onto port. The rest of the fleet continued onto starboard.
We continued and then split away from Just In Time and Symphony. At last, we had our own space in light airs with the #2 up. We could do our own thing and get One More Knot going upwind properly.
At Bob Kemp, One More Knot was 2nd on the water, behind Muscadet. We hoisted the kite again and setoff for Darling Associates. On the leg, we started 2:30 in front of Symphony who closed to just over 1 minute behind. The wind had swung from a south westerly to a near westerly. At Darling Associates, we headed for the line and crossed 7 seconds behind winners Muscadet. However, Muscadet de Havelet is a Contessa 32, we are not. Once the time were corrected, we were demoted to 6th.
As we had a rubbish result, maybe we should have argued that the result should be void. Rule 28.1(b) states that the track when drawn taught should touch each mark. So by the letter of the rules, no boat looped around the RNCRAYC mark and therefore no-one finished! However, no-one protested in the time limit and the result will probably stand, so 6th place it is.
Roy (Symphony's owner, currently recovering from his op and never far from the racing scene) has educated me. Apparently, there are "rounding marks", which are distinct from "marks". So the string touching the marks only applies to "rounding marks".
From Graham: I'm one of Electra's crew. Have been reading your race reports - particularly Race 7 where you certainly got your money's worth! Fortunately our wily skipper had seen that one coming so we'd binned the kite and were white sailing - at 14.5 kts at one point in a true wind of 45 kts (momentarily) - there was a lot more in that gust than Bramblemet had. My boring point today is about Race 9 and as you correctly spotted whether anyone actually sailed the course. In my view they didn't. The PSC sailing instructions clearly state that all marks are to be rounded (not passed) in the order they are displayed on the course boards. Therefore, to win the race in the IRC fleet, we should have hooked round RAYC, having watched everyone else head straight for the line, and then protested the lot of them! Unfortunately, coming from the Gosport side, that would have severely messed up Saturday's drinking time - so we didn't! Good luck this Saturday.
Race 9
In the first race, we had noticed that the top batten looked poorly, so we had dropped the main to discover that last weeks incident had broken 3 inches off it. We tried a fix but after the main was hoisted, it stayed fixed for nearly 30 seconds!
Onto the race. The wind had picked up and was now gusting 20+ but dropping to below 10 knots. The breeze had shifted to the south and there were some big black clouds ... oh not again!! The committee boat had moved to reset the line. The start was at Gleeds, with a beat to Key Yachting, near No-Mans Land Fort. A broad reach to North Sturbridge and then a run to KB Boat Parks before a beat to the line.
The start this time was much better. Soon Concerto and One More Knot pushed out in front. Concerto leading and OMK struggling to get out of her dirty air. Eventually we lifted ourselved across their transom at the cost of some speed. Then a small chink of light. Had Concerto gone too far? One More Knot tacked towards the mark expecting to have to put another couple of short tacks in when we got closer. However, it looked like we might be able to lay the mark if we were careful and had a bit of luck. We started making our own luck. It was quite breezy and we had everything up. By pinching a smidge, we kept her on her feet making the mark. Eventually Concerto tacked and started to chase us down. They were able to ease the sheets slightly and the Contessa stood up to the breeze nicely. Their speed was good and they just managed to sneak around the mark in front.
Broad reach time in 20+ knots. Ha, now we were standing on the other foot. One More Knots massive main was eased out, the jib trimmed. Jon added a new dimension, calling the gusts. We could dynamically trim before the gusts hit us. Concerto had stayed high to ensure clear air and by staying closer to Ryde Sand possibly benefitted from marginally less tide. One More Knot easily overtook to leeward to blast along and lead the fleet around North Sturbridge by a good margin.
Once rounded and the sails eased for the run, we looked back at gathering storm clouds over Ryde. To hoist the kite or not? Mmmmm ? We waited a couple of minutes and when the fleet rounded the mark behind us we elected to fly the asymmetric (its all we've got left!). The other boats could give us early warning of impending doom. Many of the others elected to continue under white sails.
As we approached the leeward mark, KB Boat Parks, the breeze started filling in from the side of the course. We considered it bad form to be beaten up by the wind on consecutive weekends, so down came the kite. The wind filled in hard again.
After the final beat into the stiff breeze, we hung around to see where we had placed. Just In Time was second on the water, over 3 minutes behind, Concerto was about 4 minutes behind OMK. Concerto won the race, followed by Muscadet, One More Knot was 3rd, then Stargift, Just In Time, Elissa, Symphony, Scallywag and Easy Tiger 2.
After racing, there was a good turn out in the club from the club class. The Contessa 32's, Muscadet de Havelet and Concerto had shared the 1st and 2nd places, One More Knot had salvaged a 3rd place.
With 1 week to go, One More Knot leads the series by 4 points from Concerto.
"From Concerto"
Another fantastic day of sailing although the wind was a little on the low side at times for Concerto especially for the first half of the first race. As the day went on the wind did build and ended up with perfect conditions for us with it just going a little light again at the end of the second race. As always I struggle to remember all the details of who is doing what and when, probably due to concentration on my own job, but below is an overview of our day on the water...
The start line for the first race had a huge amount of port bias, this was confirmed by all the IRC boats starting at the far end of the line with a lot of late minute jostling for position. All the boats in the club fleet opted to do the same but Concerto was a little late having misjudged the knot or so of tide that was running to the east. As it turns out there where a few other stragglers who had misjudged the start also and we were at least able to cross the line within inches of Gleeds and had clean air. From memory Easy Tiger and OMK were behind us at the start. I can not recall the full details of the next couple of marks in terms of our position but the second to last leg was a run dead down wind. We initially launched our large spinnaker but the halyard was twisted around the forestay near the top and it would not allow us to furl the headsail. We dropped the large kite, jibed and then launched the small one that was bagged and ready to go. Having jibed onto starboard all we had to do was fit the jockey pole and harden up at the final mark for a high speed reach to the finish. With the breeze picking up we were pleased to have the smaller and heavier-weight spinnaker up and took off to the finish. In the frequent gusts the main was being dumped to stop us from broaching but we were powered-up most of the time. Symphony, who were just in front of us, were struggling with their asymmetric and ended up dropping it and finishing under white sails. Muscadet led Concerto throughout the race and had a deserved first place, we guessed we were second as we finished only a few minutes after OMK. Scallywag were not far behind and came in a credible 3rd.
The line for the second race was far better laid and we were not going to let the tide catch us out a second time. Concerto had a cracking start with good speed and pointing in the fresher breeze. The first beat to windward had OMK below Concerto trying to creep past while Easy Tiger were to windward doing the same. We just held onto the clean air in front of the Easy Tiger wind-shadow and she seemed to be sailing for height at the expense of speed. I was more concerned about OMK getting past as the longer I could hold them up with my dirty air the better. Concerto, OMK and Easy Tiger made it around the mark pretty close to each other. Once past the windward mark we knew that on a white-sail reach we did not start a chance against OMK, we stayed high to protect our wind and Phil overtook us with ease to leeward. Having just passed the next mark (North Sturbridge) we were trying to sort our spinnaker when Ellisa touched us (Ellisa being the windward boat) but it was the lightest of kisses with no damage done so we let it slip. I suspect the big Beneteau couldn't resist giving our beautiful Contessa a little peck on the cheek. Again, my memory fails me but I recall our final spinnaker drop being a rather rushed affair with Muscadet breathing down our neck, we got ourselves sorted and did a great mark rounding. With less crew on Muscadet they took a little longer to settle back into the beat and lost some height to windward. Beating to the finish on one tack was looking possible but tight and ended up just out of our reach. We did a last minute tack, the bow missing Gleeds buoy by about a foot, before tacking back (almost collecting some yellow paint on the way past) to get across the line as fast as possible.
Autumn Races 10 & 11
Crew: Phil, Glenn, Andrew, Andy G, Kevan, Jon
Last day of the series, still in the lead by a good margin and the only realistic threat could come from Concerto. If Concerto won twice, we needed a 3rd place or better and a finish to win the series. Fortunately for us, the heavy wind forecast had subsided to quite a light one as the week developed. On the day, mainly less than 10 knots. Our main problem would be managing the downwind legs without the deceased big spinnaker. We had a lead in the series, but it was still plausible that Concerto could win back to back races. Last week had also shown us how important the start was.
Race 10
The course was a start at Gleeds, with the first beat to RNCRAYC, the near side of Gilkicker point, then a run to Vail Williams via a gybe mark at KB Boat Parks. A final beat back to RNCRAYC before a run back across the line at Gleeds.
We started well down the line towards starboard end of the line, making sure we had clear air. It looked like the majority of the fleet hit the line on the gun. Seems like everyone was trying hard.
We were out on the starboard end of the line, which put us in deeper water earlier to pick up more of the favourable tide earlier. However, at some point we would need to tack, potentially across the front of the fleet. Some high pointing allowed us to cross the bows of a number of boats. including Just In Time and Concerto, who were going well. The GPS tracks showed Symphony crossing our track 50 seconds behind midway up the first leg. nder estimating the strength of the tide, we overstood the layline, tacking late. This allowed Just In Time so sneak around the windward mark first, followed closely by One More Knot.
We had a rapid hoist of the asymmetric, but running against the tide was a slow and painful process. Just In Time were struggling too. Behind, Ellisa and Concerto were having a right ding-dong, distracting Concerto from the more important job of getting a good result. One More Knot and Just In Time continued to jockey for position all the way around the track, down to the leeward mark and back to the final mark. Symphony had been closing fast on the last leg and we were keen to stay in front. Just in Time maintained their advantage to cross the line just 20 seconds of One More Knot, followed 30 seconds later by Symphony.
We hung around near the line checking out Concerto's progress. We thought that we had done enough to sneak in front of Concerto, effectively winning the series, although the results show that Phil's maths isn't quite what it used to be. Concerto had done enough to claim 2nd behind Just In Time. On corrected time, One More Knot was 9 seconds behind Concerto to claim 3rd place.
Race 11
For the final race in the series, after the start at Gleeds we needed to beat to KB Boat Parks, before a run to Vail Williams, where we needed to turn and retrace our steps via KB Boat Parks and then run back to the finish at Gleeds.
We knew the result from the previous race was close, so no time for complacency. We needed another decent result to be sure of the series. In the start, we lined up on the front row of the fleet again. With OMK underneath the others we had all the rights, but the risk of pointing might slow us and if we got into dirty air we would be swallowed by the fleet. We managed to stay in front towards the starboard end of the line. We needed to wait for the fleet to tack before we could tack onto port.
Once we had tacked, we found that with our pointing we could just about lay windward mark. All of the others needed to tack. Once again, Just In Time was having a good race, this time just behind at the windward mark. One More Knot defended her clean air by sailing higher than Just In Time on the run. Sailing high wasn't a problem with the asymmetric, getting downwind was. Whilst we were busy defending, Symphony had been taking advantage and sneaked back into the running. For a while, One More Knot, Just In Time and Symphony were 3 boats abreast, racing for Vail Williams. One More Knot gybed the main to approach goose winged. One the face of it, the toughest run in compared to the others. But as we approached, the tide running into the harbour became stronger. One More Knot was up tide and managed to get around first, tacking immediately. Symphony rounded second and then Just In Time, with only a few seconds between the 3 yachts.
Symphony struggled on the next beat, leaving Just In Time and One More Knot to battle out for the lead. Just In Time took line honour and the 2nd race win of the day. One More knot was 2nd, 45 seconds behind on the water. Symphony had dropped a couple of minutes to finish 5th on corrected time. Concerto claimed 3rd place, followed by Stargift.
Portsmouth Parhelion Autumn Series Result
After racing the boats back to their berths, for a quick tidy up and radio call for a RIB for a lift to the club. With 3 RIBs helping out, there was no problem ferrying a large number of competitors to the crowded clubhouse.
After some good food and the odd spot of ale it was time for the presentations. In the IRC class, Tinker T (Elan 333) took first place with 11 points, Electra (X-99) in 2nd on 14 points and White Cloud IX (HOD 35) in 3rd with 20 points. David Bunn (Tinker T) performed the honours, thanking the committee to much appluase for the appreciative competitors. In club class One More Knot (Elan 333) won the class with 10 points from Concerto (Contessa 32) on 14 points and Just In Time (Omega 36) in 3rd with 20 points.
Phil went up to claim the trophy for the 3rd series running, to shouts of "Oh not again" and to the lyrics of "We get knocked down". It had been quite a memorable series, a fantastic start winning 4 from the first 5 races, race 7 had the big knock down and we were unable to secure the series until the final day of racing. Emotions had been running high, we had suceeded. Duly, too much ale was consumed and the skipper was allowed to embarass himself. Portsmouth may never recover!