2010 Parhelion Spring Series
One More Knot wins the 2010 Portsmouth Parhelion Spring 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!
Spring Parhelion 2010 dates are:
- Saturday 20st March
- Saturday 27th March
- Saturday 10th April
- Saturday 17th April
- Saturday 24th April, last weekend and presentations
2010 Spring Parhelion Series - Club Fleet Standings
Official results table from the PSC
| Rank | Boat Name | Class | Sail No | Helm | TCF | R1 20 Mar |
R2 27 Mar |
R3 27 Mar |
R4 10 Apr |
R5 10 Apr |
R6 17 Apr |
R7 17 Apr |
R8 24 Apr |
R9 24 Apr |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club Fleet - Sailed: 7 Discards: 2 | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | One More Knot | Elan 333 | 7563T | Phil Duff | 0.970 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |||
| 2 | Symphony | Elan 340 | 1456L | Roy Pearce | 0.980 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | |||
| 3 | Stargift | Westerly Fulmar | 1230 | 0.920 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 17 | ||||
| 4 | Just In Time | Omega 36 | 4230T | Tony Barnett | 0.965 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 17 | |||
| 5 | Elissa | Beneteau 411 | 1115L | Eric Whitelaw | 0.970 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 22 | |||
| 6 | Scallywag | GK 24 | 215 | Andy Taylor + Jeremy Miles | 0.845 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 32 | |||
| 7 | Easy Tiger II | Beneteau First 33.7 | 6655 | Chris Fife-Shaw | 0.975 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 33 | |||
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 | 20/3/10 | 2 | 6 | 0.970 | 2:07:09 | +0:01:28 | +0:0:10 | Phil, Glenn, Kevan, Andy G, Jane, Drew, Andy S |
| Parhelion race 2 | 27/3/10 | 3 | 7 | 0.970 | 0:46:35 | +0:03:03 | +0:02:31 | Phil, Glenn, Kevan, Drew, Darrell, Bob |
| Parhelion race 3 | 27/3/10 | 1 | 7 | 0.970 | 0:24:02 | -0:04:38 | -0:03:03 | Phil, Glenn, Kevan, Drew, Darrell, Bob |
| Parhelion race 4 | 10/4/10 | 1 | 7 | 0.970 | 1:20:07 | -0:05:07 | -0:00:28 | Phil, Darrell, Glenn, Drew, Andy G, Andy S |
| Parhelion race 5 | 10/4/10 | 1 | 7 | 0.970 | 0:51:34 | -0:00:19 | -0:00:54 | Phil, Darrell, Glenn, Drew, Andy G, Andy S |
| Parhelion race 6 | 17/4/10 | 2 | 5 | 0.970 | 1:53:25 | +0:06:17: | +0:05:02 | Phil, Glenn, Drew, Andy G, Phil B, Joe |
| Parhelion race 7 | 17/4/10 | 1 | 5 | 0.970 | 0:45:07 | -0:00:57 | -0:01:23 | Phil, Glenn, Drew, Andy G, Phil B, Joe |
| Parhelion race 8 | 24/4/10 | 3 | 7 | 0.970 | 1:05:34 | +0:02:34 | +0:01:52 | Phil, Glenn, Drew, Andy G, Jane, Kevan, Joe, Phil B |
| Parhelion race 9 | 24/4/10 | 1 | 7 | 0.970 | 0:41:58 | -0:03:45 | -0:01:19 | Phil, Glenn, Drew, Andy G, Jane, Kevan, Joe, Phil B |
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
Spring Race 1
Crew: Phil, Glenn, Kevan, Andy, Jane, Drew, Andy S
At the beginning of February, Phil had been down to check the boat out and put the main back on and do all those other little things. We had also done a bit of sail TLC to keep the sails in decent nick. On running the engine, the noise we had chosen to ignore in the autumn sounded much worse without the racing focus. Subsequently the boat was dived on, only to discover that the propshaft had 2mm of play. A quick chat with the boat yard and OMK was lifted and the cutlass bearing replaced. Apparently, the one that came with the new P-bracket wasn't up to the job. Any pre-race complications were now out of the way and One More Knot was set to go.
The crew met up for brekky in the "Crews Mess"; including new bowman Drew, stolen from Total Obsession Too! We'd been looking at the weather forecast all week. The latest forecast was for 20-30 knots SW. It was already blowing this up at Bramble Bank according to Bramble net.
After breakfast, it was back to OMK for final pre-race checks. We spotted a naughty mainsail slide that had escaped the groove, this was rapidly replaced. After leaving the berth, shortly after 9am, Drew was having trouble hoisting the main. The problem was diagnosed to the reefing lines being plumbed into the 2nd and 3rd, instead of the 1st and 2nd reefing points. Fortunately, we had plenty of time, so the main was dropped and this was fixed too.
Race 1
The committee settled in on board Mary Shibhaun near KB boatpark. Once again, the race course seemed like an essay, which usually means varied racing angles. It was tricky to note it down in the F5-F6 and rain. Rain made everything 10 times more complicated. It was further complicated by a course change from the IRC class, which as usual was only announced after the IRC class had started. The course was the start at KB Boatpark, with a beat to North Sturbridge, a long reach to Browndown, a beat to SE Ryde Middle, a broad reach to Burgess Salmon, a beat to S Ryde Middle, a reach to NE Ryde middle, a fetch to Motherbank and finally a beat to Craft Insure, phew, did you get that?
Despite the 20 -25 knots of breeze, One More Knot had the full main and the #3. We were the only boat in the fleet to persevere with the full main, everyone else had at least one reef, several had 2 reefs in the main.
Pre-start, we were struggling to hear the radio, keep the boat co-ordinated and miss all of the other boats. In the melee, we messed up our count down timer, but had a rough idea of when the start was going to be. With a minute to go, we reached parallel to the line on port. The plan was to tack onto starboard and come up to the line near the pin end. In front, we could see Ellisa, who tacked with about 50 seconds to go. We were aware that if we got too close we would be pinned under her, so we tacked too. We had to sail quite high to stay inside the pin end of the line. However, it was apparent that we would be over unless we slowed down, so we luffed. As we did so, Ellisa came over the top of us. With only 15 seconds to go, we daren't put the power back on, but the tide was washing us east, past the pin. Ellisa had gone over the top, surely she must be over. At the gun, we were only 3 feet from the pin but with very little speed. We threw in a tack with the bouy just under the port bow and crossed behind a good number of the fleet who had judged it better. To our surprise, we saw a very late Symphony approaching on starboard. Ellisa had continued on her way, only to be called back to restart.
This left the Symphony and One More Knot duelling, whilst the leaders had set off on their beat to North Sturbridge. One More Knot had tacked back onto starboard but Symphony was already carrying better speed and overhauled OMK. OMK was initially caught in Symphony's dirty air, so we dropped off slightly and started to tune the VMG. We managed to match Symphony's speed to neutralise the gap and maybe get marginally in front. The two Elan's were comfortably out pointing the rest of the fleet. The two yachts tacked in unison, but on the new tack OMK was the stronger boat. Symphony elected to put another tack in on the way up to the mark. She crossed 40 seconds behind One More Knot. At North Sturbridge, we needed some serious tidally assisted pinching to get around. Once again, we had lost our speed and Symphony gained as she made a better job of the rounding. The Elans had overhauled the rest of the fleet and had considerable margin at the end of the first leg.
The next leg was a long reach to Browndown. In the strong wind it was tricky finding the balance to keep OMK on her feet. The two boats drag raced, it was nip and tuck but Symphony did manage to close the gap to about 30 seconds at Browndown.
Another beat followed, this time to SE Ryde Middle. One More Knot was just able to hold the higher line, several boat lengths in front. At times, Symphony must have been in our dirty air. OMK tacked first, Symphony continued, probably glad to have clear air for a while before tacking too. On the approach to the mark, OMK needed a double tack to get around, whilst Symphony once again managed to lay the mark. Symphony had closed the gap to just a boat length.
The next leg was a short but very broad reach to Burgess Salmon. The wind had eased for a moment, down to 18 knots, but we hadn't prepared a kite. Neither boat hoisted. On One More Knot, the jib wouldn't fill properly so Phil went for the goosewinged approach. This meant a change of course, which didn't really work and the lead was handed to Symphony on a plate. Now OMK was chasing Symphony. Symphony was slightly to windward which allowed One More Knot a better approach at the mark. Symphony rounded with One More Knot just a boat length behind.
Whilst becoming close hauled for the next beat to South Ryde Middle, Symphony was knocked down by a gust. One More Knot came very close to her transom but was too close to overtake. We couldn't get far enough to windward to clear Symphony's dirty air. In the end we dropped off to leeward as Symphony's crew struggled to regain control. It was neck and neck, but eventually Symphony's postion to windward paid off. Meanwhile, there was confusion and a debate on board about the course. To cut a long story short, we had confused N Ryde Middle with NE Ryde Middle, being either a northerly or easterly leg respectively. The correct course was to NE Ryde Middle, i.e. easterly. The debate lasted for most of the leg and included some failed attempts to raise the Committee on the VHF. Eventually, we understood our error and carried on much happier ... although now some 1 minute 20 seconds behind. The rest of the fleet were a long way back. We could see Ellisa had just started the leg we had completed.
It was another drag racing reach to NE Ryde Middle. We were visibly closing the gap, and Symphony was struggling for control at times. The GPS showed that we only closed the gap by 15 seconds, but it all helps.
The penultimate leg was a fetch to Motherbank. The yachts were well matched, Symphony holding onto her established lead.
The final leg was to the finish at Craft Insure. Symphony seemed to set off on a slighty low course. OMK held a higher line, hoping to pinch the line, which was looking good. Symphony put in a tack and came across OMK's bows and seemed to carry on for ages, probably overstanding. We thought that if she overstood enough she would give us a chance to close the gap to a workable distance. Our final chance was to be able to pinch onto the line. However, as we got closer to the mark and the island, the wind both eased and headed us. Our pinching became ever more severe and eventually we put a single tack in near the mark to finally cross the line. Symphony had taken line honours by 1:26, which meant that they won by a mere 10 seconds on corrected time after over 2 hours of racing. A close one, well done Symphony!
All, up a good windy days racing. Shame about the rain. Nice lunch in the Royal Victoria.
"The View from Symphony"
Today is the first race of the new season. Symphony spent the winter out of the water at Port Solent. This was the first time she had been lifted out since being launched in June 2008. Freshly anti-fouled and with a nice clean bottom we are hoping to get better boat speed than we had during the Autumn Series. We have lost Richard, our usual foredeck man, for a few months as he is shortly having a hip operation but we have a new recruit along, Hollie is joining us for two races in this series. The forecast was for around 19 knots from the SSW with higher gusts. We decided to put one reef in the main as we hoisted the sail just after leaving Haslar Marina and that proved a good choice. It does not look a like a day for getting the spinnakers out of their bags!! The committee boat was out by KB Boat Park and we made our way there. Our course was slightly shorter than that for the IRC boats but still comprised 8 legs with the finish at Craft Insure, off the entrance to Wooton Creek.
Race 1 (Passage race to the RVYC at Wooton Creek)
We made a bad start as when making our final tack round for the run in to the line we finished up "in irons" This took some time to recover from and so we eventually got a starboard tack start at the committee boat end of the line, crossing about a minute after the start signal. However we did see that OMK also must have had a problem as they were down to leeward and not that far ahead. We soon settled down for the beat to N Sturbridge, the windward mark. We gradually overhauled OMK and found ourselves leading the race, However after both boats tacked on to port we found that we were not going as well as OMK and they passed us to retake the lead. We soon found ourselves in their dirty air and had to tack away behind them, this cost us some distance as they made the mark without further tacks. After rounding in second place we settled down for the reach to Browndown, during this leg we closed the gap quite considerably. After rounding it was a beat to the next mark, SE Ryde Middle, during which OMK did not seem to increase the gap. We had better boat speed on the port tack now, we had made a minor adjustment to the car position and that seemed to have done the trick. After we had both tacked onto starboard, they later tacked for the mark but we went on a little further which proved good as OMK had to put in another two short tacks right at the mark, this closed the gap a little. The next leg was a broad reach down to Burgess Salmon during which we passed OMK and rounded the mark about a boat length in front. We sailed high at the start of the next beat and prevented OMK passing to windward. Seeing them tack behind us we put in a covering tack and approaching the next mark S Ryde Middle, we both tacked for it simultaneously. We rounded with a nice lead and sailed the reach to NE Ryde Middle, there we hardened up for the leg to Mother bank, this we sailed closehauled but did not have to put in a tack before reaching it. From there it was a beat to the finish at Craft Insure. We still had our lead over OMK but then we tacked for the finish way too early and for some reason did not point very well either. This meant that OMK narrowed the gap somewhat but after we had put in two more tacks we still crossed the line about a minute and a half in front of OMK.
After the Race
We dropped the sails and made our way in to Wooton Creek and the RVYC pontoon where much to our surprise we found that we were the first boat there. We were soon joined by OMK who came alongside us and then by Elissa who reversed into the pontoon. After a little panic on Eric's part - when he thought he wasn't going to get Elissa to stop before he hit Symphony's stern - they too safely moored up. Shedding our very damp waterproofs we made our way into the nice warm bar of the RVYC and soon were enjoying a very welcome hot lunch. We were also joined by the crew of Easy Tiger making a total of 4 club class crews who enjoyed a good time talking about the race. We are still waiting for official results but hopeful of a good placing. We sailed back to Haslar in company of OMK both deciding that just a jib would be the sailplan to use. Quite right, as we hit a top speed of about 8 knots on the way in the now increased wind which was gusting to over 30 knots.
Spring Races 2 & 3
Crew: Phil, Glenn, Kevan, Drew, Darrell, Bob
Sitting in the Crew's mess scoffing our "winning rolls", we wondered if there would be any racing at all today. We had a quick discussion about who would be doing what, but decided to finalise things out on the water with a bit of pre-race practice. We had already swapped the headsail to the #2 before breakfast.
We untied the strings at about 9:05 and tootled out without the main. Outside the harbour there was a light breeze of about 4 knots, but only in the gusts. We set the full main and beat to windward. Big blue was hoisted to christen Drew's bow work on OMK. After a scrappy first gybe, we put in 3 more and things looked reasonably slick. The wind was building, but was cyclic and dropped off every 15 minutes or so. We took the kite down uneventfully in about 8 knots of W breeze. Then we made our way out towards Gleeds where the committee boat, Mary Shibhaun, was on station.
There was a good turnout, with about 15 yachts bobbing about waiting for conditions to improve. The lulls had been down to 2, then 3 knots, but eventually at 11:30 racing began.
Race 2
The course was to RNCRAYC, just east of Gilkicker, then KB Boat Park half way along the Haslar wall, then to the newly renamed Vail Williams (the old Naomi House) mark which is near Spitsand Fort and the Portsmouth Harbour channel. The breeze was just south of west, about 260 but very light.
The warning was sounded at 11:20, with both classes starting together, 15 boats in total. The tide was more or less on the turn in the main channel, but was charging out of Portsmouth Harbour. With 6 minutes to go, OMK was on the line and Phil was convinced that we might get pushed over it. So we sailed away, for about 4 minutes, too long! With the light airs and being covered by other sails, the gun went and we were still some way off the line, but we weren't alone. 3 minutes later, we crossed the start line, doh!
Some boats had been much closer to the line and got a few minutes head start including Ellisa. We could see lots of glassy patches on the water and Phil on the helm called for help in spotting them and the breeze. After a couple of minutes, we were approaching our first mirror. We could see Ellisa well ahead, but stuck. We tacked, meanwhile Symphony who also had a poor start crossed behind us and continued into the millpond. However, those further out in the main channel had some help from the last part of the tide.
Fortunately for everyone, the wind filled in. On One More Knot, we made another pair of tacks to get up onto the layline. It became clear that Ellisa and Symphony had seriously overstood the mark. However, by virtue of Ellisa's decent start Ellisa rounded ahead of One More Knot and then Symphony.
On One More Knot, we had a slick kite hoist, as did Symphony, Ellisa didn't! One More Knot easily overtook Ellisa. And Symphony easily overtook One More Knot.
The course to KB boat parks was very deep and an awkward angle. This split the fleet. Some boats went straight for the mark, other played a more tactical game. The 2 Elans went more tactical, playing a higher wind angle but also being aware of the tide sport to come.
On One More Knot we went for the lazy gybe approach and our course shows a long open arc. Symphony's gybe and track was more pronounced. On OMK, we wanted to pick-up the tide ebbing from the harbour entrance. We knew it would be strong at the leeward mark. We did observe that Ellisa did eventually manage to hoist their kite.
At the leeward mark, Vail Williams, Symphony was about 6 boat lengths ahead of OMK. OMK was to leeward. As Symphony approached the mark, she obscured our view of the tide on the mark. Symphony suddenly slewed to port, almost gybing. This allowed us to close the gap to just 3 boat lenghts. Symphony spun around her keel and out into view popped the mark, with about 2 or 3 knots of tide washing us straight onto it. Not a pretty sight with hardly any wind to sort out the predicament. One More Knot mirrored Symphony's manoevure to miss the mark by about a foot.
During all of this we had arrived with the kite still up, the pole well forward for the drop and the jib out and tight for the beat. We tripped the spinnaker and Phil rounded up at the mark. The spinnaker flipped back down the leeward (port) side of the boat and the drop commenced. Apart from the part where the head of the sail came down from the top of the mast. The starboard spinnaker halyard had now pulled tight over the top of the forestay and wouldn't release until Phil ran back off downwind. In the frenzy, there was much agitation and some choice words. However, the sail came back down unharmed and Symphony beat us to the line by 3 minutes.
Between races, there was a post mortem. The start had been horrbile, as had the spinnaker drop. Everything else had actually been pretty good. We understood what went wrong and vowed to drop a little earlier next time.
Race 3
Time was short, so a short race was set. This time a triangle, which was substantially the same as the first course except that the windward mark was omitted. So this time KB Boat Parks was the windward mark, then down to Vail Williams and back to Gleeds.
At 12:40, the warning signal was sounded for both club and IRC classes to start together again. The wind had picked up a bit and was now blowing 8 knots. The tide had turned and was now flowing east in the main channel.
Just prior to the start, One More Knot was on port and to windward of the fleet approaching on starboard. Phil was looking for a gap. We found one behind Easy Tiger 2 and Stargift, but ahead of Symphony. There were an awful lot of IRC boats beating up harder, but they were against the tide. As we slotted into place Phil had called for a bit of speed to get us a leeward overlap (underlap?) underneath Stargift.
At the gun, Easy Tiger II and Stargift were ideally placed. On One More Knot, we had sheeted everything in hard 15 seconds before the GO. We hit the line fast, but slightly after the other boats that we were watching. The line was quite crowded and most had a decent start. The first leg was very biased to port and at least one boat tried to sail through on port. There was a LOT of shouting going on. Fortuntely for OMK, we were able to concentrate on our own game. Our boat speed pushed us marginally ahead.
We wanted to tack but were pinned by Stargift, who was pinned by Easy Tiger II. We sheeted in hard and tried to sail high to put pressure onto the other boats. Easy Tiger tacked, but Stargift held onto her course. We were being pushed out into the adverse tide and possibly being forced to overstand the mark too. Eventually Stargift tacked. We gave it another 10 seconds and tacked too.
The wind was building and some much stronger gusts were coming through. We had overstood and were easily able to fetch the mark. We had to drop the jib cars back to keep OMK on her feet as we eased the sheets.
At the windward mark, we followed Wild Blue, IRC Elan 333. Ahead, but having some trouble were Xtrovert and White Cloud. As we closed the windward mark we could see the strong tide was now washing the yachts back onto the mark as they rounded. Phil called for the sheets to be hardened again on the approach and we were able to point up soon enough, avoiding a mishap. It appeared the Xtrovert had had theirs, and then involved White Cloud.
On rounding, another slick hoist and we were away. With the kite up, we could see Symphony approaching the mark over 2 minutes behind. We sailed past Ellisa, still beating to windward. Our hoist had been very good and we were in close proximity to Wild Blue. This was an interesting test of the 2 Elan 333's. Unbeknown to us at the time Tinker T, another Elan 333 was somewhere in front of us. The wind had picked up and was now blowing about 16-18 knots. There was some decent boat speed, nearly 9 knots.
White Cloud had taken a while to get sorted and their spinnaker hoisted which had left them behind us. They took a slightly more direct line to the leeward mark, Vail Williams. Learning from the previous race and having a big lead over the next Club class yacht, we elected to get the jib out early, followed by a tidily executed spinnaker drop. Once we had dropped our kite, White Cloud had the speed advantage. Ahead, we could see one of the IRC boats flying an 70-80 sq metre kite from the masthead, spinnaker sheets and guys streaming in the wind. Spectacular. As One More Knot and White Cloud approached the mark, beam to beam White Cloud was to windward, with the inside line, but still to drop their kite. Phil was fearing the worst, getting pinned underneath them, unable to start the beat until they dropped the kite. We are eternally grateful that they held the kite to the mark and overshot it (thanks John). Phil didn't need a 2nd invitation to round up very close to the mark to shoot through the gap.
We had a clean beat, following Wild Blue to the finish. During the leg, we had observed that we had a very considerable gap over the rest of the Club class. We had also enjoyed the excitement offered by crews flying their spinnakers from the masthead. We think we saw 3 yachts practice the manouvere. Maybe we should give them points for style next time. One More Knot eventually managed to finish about a minute behind the IRC Wild Blue. Tinker T finished 1 minute 36 seconds in front of Wild Blue. This meant an Elan 1 2 3 on the water. A fantastic result for the Elans.
"The View from Symphony"
Today we are back to the usual format of two races; the forecast is for a light westerly wind increasing during the morning. If it remains very light we will be suffering from our headsail size, Symphony only carries a 110% jib. The crew is down to five, as Mick our pit man is unavailable. The committee boat was anchored by Gleeds and soon decided on a postponement because of lack of wind.
Race 2
Eventually the start sequence began with the tide running strongly to the west with the consequent possibility of being swept over the line in the light airs. We made sure we were well up tide at the pin end but were soon baffled by the inconsistencies in the signals from the committee boat. As a result we started quite late and tacked onto port to get clear air at the line. We soon tacked back onto starboard and headed out to get some stronger tide carrying us towards the windward mark, RNC. When we tacked back onto port to lay the mark it was very apparent that we had overstood it by a considerable margin and were now at the back of the club class fleet. Freeing off a little gave us very good boat speed and as we neared RNC we got past Scallywag and prepared for a bear away set of the spinnaker. We rounded behind One More Knot and both boats hoisted immediately. We soon passed One More Knot and then were soon passing to leeward of Just in Time. They then hoisted their kite and slowed us down as their spinnaker blanketed ours. We managed to sail a bit lower and get clear air again, we then passed them and the remaining boats in the club class fleet to be the first past the next mark, KB Boat Park. A gybe soon after and we were heading to Vail Williams where we would commence a beat back to the start line. Approaching Vail we unfurled the jib and dropped the spinnaker. It was at this point that we saw how much tide was pushing us onto the buoy and a fairly drastic heading alteration to port became necessary. This only just kept us clear - we don't know by how much, as the buoy was so close to our starboard quarter it couldn't be seen from the helm position. This problem had enabled One More Knot to close right up to us but as they rounded the mark we could see they now had a problem with their spinnaker drop. This led to us opening out a good lead on the beat to the finish of a shortened course. We crossed the line to take line honours in the club class fleet and now started timing the other boats as they finished. After they had all crossed the line, a quick mental calculation determined that we were still in first place after the application of the handicap.
Race 3
This time it was a shorter triangular course. Again we had a poor start being mixed up with a great crowd of boats and confused by a Sigma that sailed straight through everyone while on port tack! Eventually we neared Gleeds, the ODM and tacked onto port to cross the line. A short tack about halfway to the windward mark, KB Boat Park, enabled us to lay it. Coming in on port we saw Easy Tiger approaching on starboard, we decided to duck behind them as we thought we would still make the mark and so it proved - just. Having rounded the mark we hoisted the spinnaker, this was delayed somewhat by foredeck problems. We eventually needed to gybe to set a course for Vail Williams. After the gybe it was apparent that it was quite tight for our large masthead spinnaker, especially as the wind had now picked up to around 16 knots. Several other boats were having problems; there were spinnakers in the water and one flying like a pennant from its masthead. We dropped the spinnaker around two thirds of the way to Vail. We rounded that mark shortly after Just in Time and maintained that position to cross the line a minute or so behind them. Third place on the water and probably 5th on handicap as both Scallywag and Stargift were close enough to us to beat us on corrected time. Looking at the GPS plot subsequent to the race, we should have gybed much earlier to give us a more downwind and direct course to Vail, as it was we had gybed through an angle of 100 degrees. After the Race We were picked up by the PSC RIB and taken across to the club for a much anticipated beer. There we met up with some of the other crews and the race committee. We saw some provisional results and pointed out some inconsistencies in the timings and placings and along with Phil of One More Knot, did our best to help resolve the problems.
Races 4 and 5
Crew: Phil, Darrell, Glenn, Drew, Andy G, Andy S
The chit chat in the "Crew's Mess" was all about how long we would have to drift around for before racing began, if indeed it ever did! After munching our "winning baps", we meandered back to the pontoon to find Symphony and White Cloud getting ready to depart. There was a bit of banter about how could drift the fastest.
On board OMK, we undertook our final preparations and were the first to leave as usual. We motored out of the harbour to find the Mary Siobhan, our commitiee boat anchored near KB boat parks. The light breeze was a 3 to 4 knot NE and veering to the south quickly. As the fleet arrived, there was a lot of bobbing about and not much sailing.
Race 4
Unbelievable, the first race was not postponed. Both classes started together. The start line as KB Boat Park ODM and a laid IDM. A beat to Vail Williams followed, then what looked like a spinnaker run to Gleeds, with a gybe before going off to RNCRAYC this side of Gilkicker. At Gilkicker is would be a reach to Naomi House, behind the committee boat before a beat to Vail Williams again, followed by a run back thorugh the gate to finish.
With only a few knot of breeze, Phil was keen to ensure that we didn't get too far from the line before the start. The tatic appear to pay off as One More Knot and Black Diamond were the only boats near the line at the gun. In the light conditions, it would give us a big advantage. The rest of the fleet were already behind.
At the line Black Diamond (black hull) and One More Knot (white hull) lead the way
A good lead developed while there was mayhem at the pin end!
The first beat was a delicate effort, playing the gusts and lulls. A number of the fleet were further to windward so we elected to try to point as high as we could without killing all of our speed. We managed to climb over Symphony's track. As we approach Vail Williams, we discussed hoisting the kite but on seeing the leads IRC boats continue under white sails, we heldoff. The wind was veering south. We rounded the first mark in the midst of the IRC competitors, but well ahead of the rest of the club fleet.
At Gleeds we rounded nearly 3 minutes ahead of Symphony. A slick hoist and we were away towards RNCRAYC. We were in the company of Black Diamond (Figaro, black hull) and Gauntlet of Tamar (Sigma 38).
Black Diamond, (Figaro) alongside
There was a discussion on the way into the mark about whether we could carry the kite along the wall. The leading IRCs boats had split the decision, one was and one wasn't. As we already had a good lead we elected to play safe and dropped the kite before the mark.
We rounded the mark just behind Gauntlet of Tamar. Our drop had been better and we held the windward line out of the rounding. We had some good boat speed and started to roll over the top of them. They luffed in an attempt to defend their position, but they hadn't got any decent boat speed. One More Knot easily rolled over the top and soon there was clear water between the boats.
We approached Naomi House (half way down the Haslar wall) ready to come hard onto the wind. We did this tidily and came around the back of the committee boat. Partway up the beat we tried easing the main outhaul and halyard. This turned out to be not such a good idea and allowed Symphony to close the gap a bit. Our course took us to windward of the rhumb line to the next mark, Vail Williams, just in case the wind shifted against us. As we approached the mark we free'd off a little to keep the speed up.
There was a discussion about which spinnaker to use. The leading IRC boats had already rounded and were heading back to the finish. They were using the full spinnakers, but their poles were right on the forestay. We had a good lead over Symphony, the best of the the rest of our class. Using our lead as insurance, we elected to experiment with the asymmetric in the light airs. On the run back to the finish the apparent wind was only just forward of the beam. It was clear that we weren't as fast as the other boats using their full spinnakers.
On the way back to the finish, we needed to come up to go astern of the Isle of Wight ferry. As soon as we did so, our boat speed built dramatically. The asymmetric would have suited a more reachy course. Symphony was chasing us down. Minute by minute she was closing the gap.
One More Knot (pink spinnaker) leading the Club class, Symphony (blue and yellow) and Just In Time (red and white). IRC Elan 333 Tinker T (red and yellow) is alongside OMK
One More Knot took class line honours by 21 seconds from Symphony. In the Elan 333 racing, One More Knot pipped Tinker T by a mere 5 seconds on the water after 1 hour 20 minutes of racing. Once the handicap had been unwound, One More Knot claimed a win by 28 seconds from Stargift, then Just In Time, Symphony, Easy Tiger 2 and Scallywag. Poor Scallywag (GK24) had struggled against the tide on the beat in the light airs.
Race 5
The second race followed straight on from the first race, particularly for Scallywag, who hadn't finished the first race when the 10 minute warning for the second race was sounded. The committe boat had moved her position due to the wind shift. The course for this race was from the start at KB boat parks, with a beat to the Mary Rose. A run to RNCRAYC, the a reach to KB Boat Parks, followed by a beat to Gleeds and finally a run back through the line. The breeze had picked up to a scary 7 knots.
With the fleet gathering near the starboard end of the line, Phil looked for some options and clearer water. There were 14 yachts going for the line. With just over 2 minutes to go, One More Knot tacked onto starboard to leeward of most of the fleet. One More Knot approached the middle of the line in clear air, just. Those to windward were afraid of going over, we had rights over them. Black Diamond was at the committee boat end in a good position. At the pin end Scallywag and White Cloud were in the right place. To windward of OMK were Tinker T and then Spirit of Daedalus, but they were too close to the line and started to reach down the line. They had to keep the speed down in order to avoid being pushed over by OMK. With 15 seconds to go, OMK already with a decent turn of speed for the conditions came hard up onto the wind and hit the line flying. We were probably a boat length off the line at the gun, but we were already pointing an moving with speed. At the pin end, Scallywag with her smaller sails was getting swallowed by the fleet. Behind OMK, were Symphony and Ellisa.
A great start for One More Knot
It became apparent that our start was great, possibly our best yet. We had an early lead, but given the clear air we weren't opening a gap. Something wasn't right. We weren't pulling away. Xtrovert managed to sail over the top of us. We were pointing higher than most yachts, but that didn't explain it all. Just In Time was to windward and had also been doing well. Eventually, we remembered that we had eased the outhaul and halyards, so we managed to get a bit more tension which had a dramatic effect. Towards the end of the beat, Symphony had been sailing lower but faster. She tacked an crossed OMK's wake, about 15 seconds behind. Phil managed to call the layline well which gave Drew and the crew plenty of time to sort out the pole for a bare away set at Mary Rose. Symphony's tack was short and she needed to double tack to get around. But ahead, Just In Time rounded just a couple of boat lengths ahead.
As the boats bore away, there was a slick hoist on both with just seconds between them. Phil tried to position OMK to try to shadow Just In Time, which initially locked the two boats together. Behind us, Symphony had rounded and was a only few boats lengths behind.
We needed to overtake and get clear of the tactical battle, so OMK pointed higher by a few degrees. OMK accelerated and we rapidly overtook Just In Time with a nice burst of speed.
One More Knot overtakes Just In Time
This appears to throw Just In Time into a tweekeing frenzy which probalby didn't do them any good. Symphony's usual downwind speed was a bit of a problem. For most of the leg OMK was sufficiently clear, but towards the end of the leg we needed to be very tactically aware to avoid Symphony from covering us.
At RNCRAYC, the yachts uneventfully dropped their kites and reached back through the line at KB Boat Parks.
One More Knot leads the top of the club fleet from Symphony and the Just In Time
Symphony was only a couple of boat lengths behind. Both came hard onto the wind for the beat. However it soon became obvious to both that Symphony was struggling in OMK's dirty air .... shame! So, Symphony tacked off, she didn't really have much choice. On board OMK, we decided to cover Just In Time rather than Symphony even though they were a bit further back. This allowed us to stay on the current tack and just get on with the job.
Symphony got into clear air and then tacked back. Surprisingly, she sailed so low that she was soon in OMK's dirty air again. This time she persevered and for a bit before tacking off again. We watched her closely on OMK and were sure that she was overstanding the mark. At the mark One More Knot rounded 30 seconds ahead and hoisted "Big Blue" and legged it towards the line.
At the line, One More Knot claimed the 3rd win in this series, finishing 19 seconds ahead of Symphony on the water. When the handicaps were unwound, OMK, led from Symphony, Just In Time, Stargift, Ellisa, Scallwag and then Easy Tiger 2.
Back in the club, a plenty of beers were sunk and Darryl won the Grand National sweepstake. He kindly bought everyone a drink and had to put his hand in his pocket to top up the winnings!
"The View from Symphony"
The forecast was again for very light wind so we will probably suffer from our small headsail size. When we left the marina there was a better breeze than anticipated, around 5 knots from a SSE direction. The crew was back to six for the races. The committee boat was anchored by KB Boat Park had decided that the races would be combined starts of the IRC and Club class fleets.
Race 4
The line that was set had a decided bias favouring a starboard tack start at the pin end. With a combined fleet start and very light breeze it was difficult to judge where to position the boat. We decided to ensure we were to leeward of a mass of boats going for the pin end and it was very apparent that several of them would have no room. We were late and just astern of Tinker T as we neared the start line. Already several boats were being forced out and Tinker T was hailing Just in Time to keep clear. We followed suit and Just in Time was duly forced to pass the wrong side of the buoy. The first mark was Vail Williams and could almost be laid directly from the start. Our boat speed was not very good but we kept up with Tinker T and in fact passed them to leeward, only to have them pass us later in the leg. Ahead we could see that One More Knot had a good lead over the rest of the club class fleet. We were just ahead of Scallywag but quickly increased our lead over them. Way behind us we could see Ellisa and Just in Time. We needed to put in a short tack as we approached the windward mark which we rounded about 2 1/2 minutes after One More Knot. The next leg down to Gleeds was a fetch and One More Knot maintained their lead and we kept our 2nd place on the water. At Gleeds a bear away set saw the spinnaker raised and we set off after One More Knot towards the next mark, RNC. We could see that the boats ahead, including One More Knot, had to free off considerably as they neared RNC - there was obviously a lot of tide there. We kept a good eye on the GPS to ensure we did not have to do the same. At the mark One More Knot still had a good lead but we had gained about 30 seconds on this leg. A fetch to Naomi was followed by a long close hauled leg against the tide back to Vail where One More Knot had now increased the lead to 3 minutes. During this leg we were also passed by Just in Time who was going very well - a big headsail making all the difference. We had a discussion about whether we should use our asymmetric spinnaker for the final leg to the finish as it was going to be a beam reach but the wind was still very light and we decided to stick with the larger all purpose spinnaker. Ahead we saw that One More Knot had decided on their asymmetric - had we made the wrong decision? Rounding the mark behind Just in Time and 3 minutes or so behind One More Knot we hoisted the spinnaker and realised what a good choice we had made as we soon passed Just in Time and had considerably more boat speed than One More Knot. We narrowed the gap steadily and crossed the line just 21 seconds behind them and just over a minute ahead of Just in Time. Finishing around 5 minutes later was Stargift who we have to allow around 4 minutes an hour to on handicap. So we reckoned we could be 2nd, 3rd or 4th on handicap.
Race 5
The committee boat had moved and set a line that was not so biased as that for the first race. The breeze had picked up a bit and had shifted more to the south. The course was windward to Mary Rose, downwind to RNC then back through the start line, then windward to Gleeds followed by a downwind leg to the finish. Again both fleets started together and this time we had a better start. We held our starboard tack until we had passed Spit Sand Fort then tacked for the buoy, we needed another short tack as we approached it and rounded in second place in the club fleet about 30 seconds behind One More Knot. We both hoisted spinnakers and we closed on One More Knot narrowing the gap to about 10 seconds as we rounded RNC. We stayed just behind for the leg to the line and rounded KB Boat Park with the same time gap. Now right behind One More Knot we had to put in a short tack to get clear air and another to get to round Gleeds. One More Knot certainly was going better than Symphony on this leg, probably the headsail size again! We rounded in second place with a gap now at around 20 seconds. The final leg was another spinnaker chase during which we took only a few seconds out of One More Knot, crossing the line just 19 seconds behind them. The remaining boats in the club class fleet were far enough back for us to be confident of getting 2nd place on handicap.
After the Race
We were picked up by the PSC RIB and taken across to the club. There we thanked Ricky, the race officer for a super day's racing and chatted over the day with Phil and the crew of One More Knot, both agreeing that we had enjoyed our close racing. No results were available but subsequently we found we had been paced 4th in race 4 being beaten by Just in Time by only 2 seconds after the handicaps were applied. As expected we came second in race 5.
Races 6 and 7
Phil, Glenn, Drew, Andy G, Phil B and Joe This weeks racing had another light forecast, 1 knot at points during the week, Fortunately the forecast had filled into a heady 4 (knots, not force).
One the Friday evening, Phil and Glenn were being led astray by the crew of Ellisa. Whilst waiting for munchies in the lightship, the fire alarm went off and we were obliged to drink beer on the pontoon for half an hour. Fortunately, this meant no access to a refill, which probably saved our bacon.
In the morning we met up with the crew in the crews mess. Phil B and Joe making a welcome return after running away because they've just become proud owners of a cat .... 2 hull variety. We did notice an underweight order of "winning baps" as the majority of the crew went for a more lardy type of brekky.
On the pontoon, there was banter between the crews of Symphony and One More Knot. The table currently had One More Knot leading, with Symphony second after 5 races. However, if the series ran to the planned 9 races (this weekend and next) then there would be 3 discards. with 4 races to go, a number of other boats were still in with a shout of the series title. The only way One More Knot could seal the series this weekend (without relying on the others to mess it up) was by winning both races.
Wandering along the pontoon, we noticed the anemometer on OMK was not turning. On most of the other yachts, the paddles were rotating slowly. Hhhmmm, trouble maybe? .... hopefully it would free up when we got going.
Race 6
Out on the water, the first race of the day was set with a course from Gleeds, a beat to Saddle into the easterly light breeze (0-5 knots) with the tide, then a long long run against the tide to North Sturbridge. A reach to KB boat parks before beating back to the finish at Gleeds. The course was set for 2 laps, but it was never going to happen unless the breeze filled in. It seemed like a long and ambitious course given the lack of breeze. The tide would eventually change direction, but that was over an hour away. Both fleets started together.
Before the race, OMK had set off on a beat (with the tide) to check the set up. After beating for about 8 minutes, we suddenly realised we were up wind and downtide. We attempted to run back towards the line. On the way, the 10 minute warning was sounded. We were still a considerable distance away. The GPS told us that if we maintained progress we would get to the line about 3 to 4 minutes before the start. As it happened, we managed to gybe at the committee boat 3 minutes before the off. We only relaxed a bit when we had other boats to windward of us .... phew.
Then it was straight into finding a decent start. The majority of the yachts were near the starboard end of the line. We found ourselves 3/4 towards pin end with about 45 seconds to go, very conscious of being pushed over by the tide. We tacked just ahead of Ellisa and Symphony who sailed over the top of us. As we got going, we called for some speed control from the main before going for it, initally on a reach down the line. Above us, Ellisa was being pushed up by Symphony and they both loked very close to the line. Phil deliberately hung back fearing being over.
At the gun, OMK hardened up in clear air. Within seconds the VHF crackled into life ... 3 boats over .... ooppss was that us? Ellisa and Syphony were immediately confirmed over. Just In Time radio'd in for confirmation of their situation. The message was corrected to 2 boats over.
On the beat the fleet set off towards Saddle. Most of the fleet tacked early onto port trying to pick up the better tide in the main channel. However, to get the full effect would probably have meant going too far and overstanding the layline. Tactics time already. At the time on One More Knot, we were largely oblivious to this. We had observed Ellisa and Symphony being over. Given how long it took us to get back to the line before the race, we though that their race was toast already. So where was Just In Time? She had got a good start near the pin end. However, half way up the beat we had a lead over her, but was it enough .... keep racing. We sailed a simple beat, out to the layline, a single tack and then aim at Saddle. As it turned out, we obviously had overstood slightly and were able to free off a bit on the final approach. The security of knowing that we would lay the mark allowed us to get the kite and pole setup in preparation for the hoist well before the corner.
Ahead of us, Tinker T (Elan 333) rounded at the top of the fleet. She elected to gybe immediately and sail along a course that looked like it was back into Portsmouth harbour!
One More Knot had completed the beat just behind Black Diamond (Figaro). Both yachts elected to perform a bare away set. Behind us the other yachts rounded the mark, Just In Time and then 2 minutes behind OMK was Symphony and Ellisa. Closer than we thought thay would have been.
After about 5 minutes on the run, Black Diamond gybed. We had been keeping with her so we elected to follow suit. At least having another quick boat in the vicinity would allow us to tune our performance in the difficult conditions. As feared, our anemometer had decided there was no breeze, to any instrument based calculation on true wind was now out of the window. It was back to ears and cheeks mode.
The fleet split. One More Knot and Black Diamond down the middle. The majority of the fleet went across towards the island side, near the edge of Ryde Sands. And Tinker T went on a road trip, back over the Hamilton bank and up towards Gilkicker before coming back out to North Sturbrdge, very much the long way round. Looking across, we could see that our club fleet competitors were Symphony, with a decent lead over Just In Time and Ellisa. There was barely any wind, and were into the tide, we were doing a mere 2 knots over the ground at best! Had we done the right thing ... how was it going to turn out at the mark when the fleet re-converged? Our patience was being severly challenged on this very long and tortious leg.
At North Sturbrige, first boat around was Tinker T followed by Xtrovert (both IRC). We could see on that Symphony had a nice angle and rounded about 5 minutes before us, so we had lost 7 minutes in the 55 minute run. But at least we we had a good margin on Just In Time and Ellisa.
We had seen the the leading boats had rounded the mark, dropped their poles forward and were just about able to reach on the next leg. We followed suit. It was very tight to keep the spinnaker working, but at last the log was showing over 5 knots. It felt like we were sailing again, but not much chance of catching Symphony. Had the course been a bit higher, Symphony would have had to go back to white sails, and would have been disadvantaged with her #3 in the light airs. Instead, we watched them streak away and at KB Boat Parks they had extended their lead to 6 1/2 minutes.
The final beat was relatively short and straight forward. Symphony won after 1 3/4 hours of racing, by 6 minutes 17 seconds ( 5 minutes 2 seconds corrected) from One More Knot. Just In Time was 3rd, some 4 minutes further back, then Ellisa and Easy Tiger 2.
Post race, we tidied the boat up. Drew had noticed our startboard spinnaker halyard didn't look right at the top of the mast. After some tweeking and pulling, we got the binoculars out. This didn't help much. The final boats were approaching the finish line, so fearing that we'd be under orders soon, Phil elected to go up the mast. After some heaving and puffing by the crew, the skipper was hoisted to the top of the mast. The spinnaker halyard had got trapped behind a pin holding the forestay on! A quick pull and it was sorted (for now). Obviously we are exposed to this problem when we drop on a reach, this might have been what happened in race 2. Some further TLC is required, which might mean another trip to the top of the mast and an opportunity for some TLC on the anemometer.
Race 7
The committee boat elected to change position and the fleet followed her pied piper style to RNCRAYC, near Gilkicker Point. The new course, a triangle was laid with a beat to Mary Rose, a run to Naomi House (half way along the Haslar wall) and a reach back to line at RNCRAYC. There was more breeze this time, probably 5-7 knots.
There wasn't much room behind the line, so the fleet was automatically compressed. Once again, One More Knot attempted to stay out of the melee. The starboard pin end of the line was biased upwind, but down tide, in the now westerly flowwing tide. One More Knot started near the committee boat, up tide, whilst most of the fleet went for the other upwind pin end. Our start was good and clean, straight into clear air and onto our own race.
In the early stages of the first leg, Ellisa looked as though she had seriously raised her game and weren't far behind. Symphony was on a windward track, but soon about a minute behind. Once again, Symphony sailed lower but only about the same speed as OMK, presumably hampered by her smaller headsail.
We started thinking about the rounding tactics 3/4 of the way up the beat. The fleet were still in touch enough to keep us honest, especially with the mix of IRC boats. On OMK we tacked and sailed across Ellisa bows (she had already double tacked). We got to the lay line and tacked to go into the mark. Symphony had made their intial tack later and then came up to tack exactly on our track. Phil lost sight of the mark and thought it was behind Happy Apple for a while. This led to us not pointing quite as high as we should have been. When we realised the error we knew we would need another set of tacks to get around. We tacked early enough to give Drew a bit of time on to set up the pole on the bow. Symphony was tracking us, 1 minute behind.
One More Knot led the club fleet around the mark, clear by about 1 minute. A gaggle of club class boats followed. Everyone performed a bare away set, except Tinker T in IRC who performed a gybe set and headed off for Gilkicker. The rest of the fleet ran on starboard and then gybe. One More Knot was the last to gybe, watching the other go early. We knew we were ahead and had a better angle to the mark.
Symphony gybed again and we could see her closing the gap. She was only 40 seconds behind when she crossed OMKs track and gybed to follow us again.
At the leeward mark, both yachts dropped their kites and started to reach along the wall, OMK 45 seconds ahead. There was quite a lot of other traffic about. We raced towards the finish, aiming at the committee boat. When we got closer, we realised that the committee boat had repositioned itself, and the RNCRAYC was the closer part of the line. Our lead of Symphony was going to be enough, but Just In Time and Ellisa were charging along the Haslar wall too.
After we had claimed line honours for our class, we waited to see Just In Time finish. We gave her time, but the gap was big enough, so One More Knot claimed another win. Symphony was in second place. The corrected result gave Ellisa and Just In Time the same time, equal third.
So once the results were in, One More Knot was still leading the series by a mere point from Symphony. So next week these two will do battle to decide first and second places in the series. Just In Time, Stargift and Ellisa still have to decide who will take third place.
Afterwards, it was back to the club for a beer and a chat about the what ifs and if onlys.
The View from Symphony
The forecast was yet again for very light wind. When we arrived at the committee boat, stationed near Gleeds, we found a breeze of around 5 knots. We had a crew of six for the races, including Richard, making his final appearance on the foredeck before his postponed hip operation. The committee boat had set a course and decided that the races would be combined starts of the IRC and Club class fleets.
Race 6 (How we recovered from disaster!)
We decided that we would try and avoid the expected scrum near Gleeds, the outer distance mark, by aiming to start around half way down the line. Our timing was a bit off and we were going to be early unless we slowed the boat down. Ellisa had had the same idea and was down to leeward of us and slightly ahead. It was obviously going to be difficult to keep up tide of the line before the start signal. We both ran out of line and crossed near the committee boat. As it turned out both Ellisa and Symphony were over when the start signal sounded; we were told later that in Symphony's case by about half a boat length. Ellisa circled round the committee boat whereas we managed to turn and sail back through the line - it was slow going! We eventually re-crossed just after Ellisa, three minutes after the start signal.
We held the port tack until we could lay the windward mark, Saddle. We then tacked onto starboard and prepared the spinnaker for a bear away set once we had put in our final tack onto port to round the mark. About 2 minutes ahead One More Knot had already rounded, they had been followed by Just in Time and only just ahead we had Easy Tiger, close behind was Ellisa. The hoist went well and we managed to get past Easy Tiger who had a problem with their spinnaker hoist. This leg was a long one against the tide to North Sturbridge and was our opportunity to take advantage of Symphony's downwind speed to recover the situation. We passed Just in Time and in the club class fleet now only had One More Knot ahead. They gybed onto port and started heading back towards the harbour entrance. We had to decide - do we follow them or stick with the rest of the club class fleet? Following would mean we probably lost any chance of beating them and also meant that we would give Just in Time the chance to come out ahead if gybing proved the wrong move. So we elected to stick with our current heading. Any attempt to head directly towards N Sturbridge resulted in severe reduction in boat speed so we maintained a course that took us towards the Ryde Sands Beacon. A gybe near there and then two more saw us approaching N Sturbridge. We could now see One More Knot and we had a big lead over them. We went round just behind two boats from the IRC fleet and had a fast very tight and fast spinnaker reach towards the next mark, KB Boat Park.. Behind us we saw One More Knot go round N Sturbridge about 5 minutes after we had. During this leg we increased our lead by another 2 minutes. Dropping the spinnaker as we approached KB Boat Park, we were now ahead of the two IRC boats that started this leg ahead of us. We now had only the final beat to the finish at Gleeds to do. This we completed, finishing around 6 minutes ahead of One More Knot.
Race 7
Having secured 1st place in the first race of the day, we needed another good result if we were to narrow the gap to One More Knot and extend the gap to Just in Time in the series points table. The committee boat had moved and was now by RNC. A short course was set, windward to Mary Rose, downwind to Naomi and then a beat or fetch to the finish back at RNC. This time the start was better, we weren't over the line! However we were to leeward of easy Tiger and Ellisa. Ellisa had good boat speed and sailed over both the smaller boats leaving us struggling in their dirty air. When they tacked away we had clear air but Easy Tiger was right alongside to windward. Just managing to keep our nose in front we very slowly drew clear of them. Ahead we could see that once again One More Knot had got a really good start and a considerable lead. Also ahead were Ellisa and going well Just in Time. One More Knot rounded the mark at the head of the club class fleet followed by Ellisa. Having tacked for the mark we realised as we neared it we were not going to make it without further tacks, we had Just in Time to windward so had to tack and immediately bear away to pass astern of them. Just in Time continued together with a Sigma from the IRC fleet and as we tacked for the mark we realised that they were both struggling to make the mark and were having to point higher and higher and consequently were going slower and slower. This allowed us to pass them both at the mark. We hoisted the spinnaker and were soon alongside Ellisa and both gybed somewhere near Gleeds. As in the first race to achieve a reasonable boat speed it was necessary to sail more of a reach and put in a couple more gybes to maintain the angles. Of the club class fleet we now only had One More Knot ahead of us; they had round the windward mark with a lead of about 90 seconds. By the time we rounded Naomi for the final leg to the finish we had narrowed the gap to about 45 seconds but we had a sufficient lead over the remaining boats in the fleet not to have to worry too much. The final leg was uneventful and as expected One More Knot maintained the same sort of gap to take line honours.
After the Race
At the club we thanked the race officer for a super day's racing and chatted over the day with Phil and the crew of One More Knot and Eric from Ellisa, Results were handed out and as expected we were placed 1st in race 1 and 2nd in race 2, with One More Knot taking 2nd in race 1 and 1st in race 2. Just in Time was placed 3rd in both races whilst Ellisa was placed 4th in race 1 and equal 3rd with Just in Time in race 2. Some extended mental arithmetic revealed that we need to win both of next week's final races to take the series, any other result means that One More Knot will win. No pressure then!
Races 8 and 9
Crew: Phil, Glenn, Drew, Andy G, Phil B, Joe, Jane, Kevan
For a change, there was a breeze, already 10 knots or so. It was the last day of the series. 1st and 2nd places would be fought out between One More Knot and Symphony. For One More Knot to retain the trophy, we would need to beat Symphony in one of the 2 scheduled races. Of course, this put pressure on Symphony as she would need to beat OMK in both races. We discussed our tactics, do our own thing or cover Symphony. We came to the conclusion that there wasn't much we could do until the races were underway.
Back on the pontoon, Phil was hoisted up the mast again to give the anemometer some TLC and a blast of silicon lube. While up there, we also tied a rope to the top of the forestay to block the slot where our halyard had kept getting jammed. All of this meant that we were 10 minutes later leaving the berth than normal, but we still left before the other boats.
Out on the water, we found the Committee boat anchored by KB Boat parks, in a SE F3/4.
Race 8
The course had the start at KB Boatparks on a very biased line (towards the port pin end). The windward mark was Saddle followed by a long run to North Sturbridge. This was to be followed by a reach to Naomi House mid way along the Halsar wall before a short fetch to the finish. Both classes were to start together. We were on the last of the west flowing tide, but the tide was ebbing strongly out of Portsmouth harbour.
The line was very biased. On starboard, there was only one or two boat widths that would allow passing behind the committee boat and then crossing the line. A port tack start would have been easy, apart from all the other boats! We approached the line on port, 2/3 of the way towards the pin and tacked 40 seconds before the gun. The IRC boats were bearing down on us and we struggled to keep our speed as we came out of the tack. We really could have done with avoiding a stall now! Tinker T sailed over the top of us as our speed gradually built. Then Xtrovert sailed over the top as it became clear that we were struggling to get through the line. Despite the last remnants of the westerly flowing tide helping us by being on the lee bow, we couldn't climb above the pin. Fortunately, a small gap had opened up and we tacked onto port with the pin only a few feet to spare. After a short tack through the line, we tacked again to start our drag race to the main Portsmouth channel, where the tide would help us.
At last we got our heads out of the boat and looked around for Symphony. We could see her on the far side of the fleet. Tactically, we were happy that we were in the right place. We were pointing higher than Tinker T, White Cloud and Xtrovert who were ahead. Black Diamond was on our starboard (windward) beam. The rest of the fleet had obviously spent longer on the port tack and were on a windward line but were well behind.
Sailing into the main Portsmouth channel the fleet tacked to fetch to Saddle. We now had 1.5 knots of SE tide helping us. We crossed Symphony's bows. Symphony tacked onto our track, a minute behind. We were able to ease the sheets a touch and drag race towards the mark. Symphony was closing the gap, not helped by our occasional broach in the now 16 knots of breeze. We tweaked the strings and found another half a knot, but it wasn't enough to stop Symphony from overhauling us just before the mark.
Symphony going well .... too well!
Both boats had a very slick hoist and were only a boat length apart. We were well aware of Symphony's downwind advantage so we quickly positioned One More Knot upwind of Symphony in an attempt to spoil her air and stop her getting away. We were both along side Black Diamond who carried on minding her own business, as the 2 Elans had a right royal battle. Symphony defended by reaching more. One More Knot responded.
The hunter and the hunted
Symphony went onto a deeper run directly towards the mark, once again One More Knot followed. Symphony changed the angles again and One More Knot covered her. Ahead, we could see the leading IRC boats continuing on the following leg with their spinnakers. Towards the mark, Symphony went back to a dead run. One More Knot elected to maintain the angles and gybe in preparation for the next leg. As we dropped the pole forward, we saw that both Black Diamond and Symphony were dropping their kites. Too late ... we were on different tactics now, but still only 10 seconds apart. Ahead, the lead IRC boats couldn't make the mark directly, so we hoped that we could continue for a bit with the spinnaker and better speed, before returning to white sails.
As we left North Sturbridge behind us, it became apparent that we had made a poor choice. Black Diamond and Symphony were getting away. Eventually, we dropped the kite, a nice clean drop before giving chase. The rest of the Club fleet were well behind.
It was a sprint to the finish via Naomi. Symphony finished about 2 1/2 minutes in front of us on the water, in a race that lasted just over an hour. A good margin for them. At the finish, we hung around eyeballing the others. Ellisa behind us and on the same handicap so no problem there. Then Just in Time, 2 1/2 minutes down, so were still ok. Next was Stargift, nearly 3 minutes behind, hhmmmmm, would her handicap would help her to split the 2 Elans? It turned out to be the case with Symphony taking the win to square the series, followed by Stargift, One More Knot, Ellisa, Just In Time, Easy Tiger 2 and Scallywag.
Race 9
On to the last race in the series. The two Elans had dominated club class. With 6 races to count in the series, both already had 4 wins each and 2 second places. Unless both boats had a complete disaster, it was a race on the water. This really was a race for the series. All we had to do was to get it right.
The course was another triangle, this time a beat to Gleeds, then a run to Darling Associates, a fetch back around the Gilkicker headland to Naomi House before another fetch to the line. Simple.
Except that we missed the 10 minute gun, which was the IRCs start signal. Actually, Drew had got it right, but in the VHF chit chat Phil hadn't heard anything about the Club fleet. We thought the 5 minute gun was the 10. At the 1 minute gun we suddenly realised in horror what was going on. Fortunately we weren't miles away, but it wasn't the great start that we were looking for. Worse, Symphony had a good start. We crossed the line about a minute and a half after the gun.
So, all we could do was our best. We set to work, just looking for good boat speed and VMG. The whole fleet switched to port trying to get into the deeper water as soon as possible to pick up the now east flowing tide.
The early trip to the masthead was paying dividends. The instruments were working well and our performance was good.
Symphony was that first to tack. We crossed her track just 20 seconds behind her. Ellisa was coming at us on starboard. Phil B called that we could stick with it, but Ellisa weren't giving an inch. A very late tack under Ellisa's bows same OMK come onto starboard, now lying 2nd on the water. Ellisa speed allowed her to draw alongside, but as One More Knot picked up speed we were able to keep our bows just far enough in front to have clear air. The backwash was starting to make it difficult for Ellisa. Once fully up to speed we managed to get clear ahead of Ellisa and were able to choose our own course. Symphony were 20 seconds ahead of One More Knot, but on the leeward track. They would need to tack onto port to get around the mark. If we could get close enough, we could stop them.
Approaching the mark, we could see Symphony appear to slow, her headsail was flogging. We were close and if she tacked immediately it would have been touch and go. As we closed the gap, Phil asked to slow the boat down. We had Symphony pinned. We managed to stay in the way for a few more seconds while Ellisa closed the gap on us. At the last second we tacked for the mark leaving Ellisa pinning Symphony. Somehow, we had recovered from our poor start to round the windward mark at the head of the fleet, followed by Ellisa.
Once again, the kit went up with trouble and we started the downwind leg. Behind, was Ellisa and then Symphony. It took Symphony a while to get their kite out, so we had a decent lead over them, just over a minute. Symphony would need to pass Ellisa on the run before they could get a sniff of OMK!
Playing the angles a bit, we kept the speed high. Symphony elected to try to go straight for the leeward mark.
We gybed and ran deep into the mark. We had a bit of a lead, so the genoa was unfurled early followed by a safe drop. Symphony and Ellisa both arrived at the mark at the same time, still a minute behind OMK. We could hear raised voices at the mark.
On One More Knot we set off to clip the Gilkicker headland. It was an hour before low water and it became apparent that we were unlikely to get round without a tack into deeper water. Symphony had taken a higher line from the mark to stay deeper. Phil briefed the crew, we might need to tack quickly ... but not yet. The signal would be the depth alarm.
Eventually, the inevitable occurred and the alarm squawked into life. OMK executed a swift tack. All eyes were on Symphony, now only 40 seconds behind when se crossed our track. They continued without tacking ... would they get away with it? We tacked back with our nose still just in front. Symphony still hadn't tacked.
But only a few seconds later they too had to go for deeper water. With that One More Knot could easily fetch the mark, subject to the depth. Had we gone out far enough, we had a metre under the keel, but then it got shallower again, 0.6, 0.5 and the alarm went off again. Phil said to everyone to stick with it, we were running parallel to the shore. Then the depth went to 0.4 and then 0.3 metres under the keel, the alarm singing all the way. We hardened up slightly in search of deeper water. It was quite tense, but Symphony were over a minute behind again.
Eventually, the depth alarm became silent as we approached Naomi House. A final tack and a fetch across the line raised the spirits of the crew and a cheer when we got the gun. That was a hard way to win a race and the series. One More Knot won the 2010 Portsmouth Parhelion Spring Series.
Symphony crossed the line in second place, it subsequently transpired that they had a story to tell.
"The View from Symphony"
This is the last day's racing of the Spring Series and we need to win both races to take 1st place from One More Knot. We have not got to worry about any other boats in the club fleet as we cannot now finish worse than second in the series with the results we have already achieved. The forecast was yet again for light wind, around 9 knots. When we arrived at the committee boat, stationed at KB Boat Park we found a breeze of just over 10 knots. This would mean that we should be faster upwind with our 110% headsail than we had been for the previous few weeks. We had a crew of six for the races, including Richard, yet again making his "final appearance on the foredeck" before his postponed hip operation, now scheduled for Monday. Alan, who would have been on the foredeck, is still on his way back from the USA, having been stuck there for the last week. We also have George, a new member of the crew, who will be in charge of the mainsheet for today's races. The committee boat had set a course and decided that the race would have a combined start of the IRC and Club class fleets.
Race 8
The course set was same as the first race last week, windward to Saddle, downwind to N Sturbridge, reach to Naomi and then closehauled back to finish at KB Boat Park. The line had quite a large bias to the pin end, favouring a port tack start. We found a space in the middle of the line, started on starboard and almost immediately saw a gap and tacked onto port and get clear air. This we held for a while and when able to we tacked back onto starboard to follow One More Knot over towards the Southsea shore, where we expected to pick up the tide ebbing from the harbour in the main ship channel. During this leg we slowly overhauled Just in Time who then had to tack away to get clear air. Upon reaching the ship channel we tacked and were now immediately astern of One More Knot but about 1 minute back. It was now a fetch to Saddle during which we very slowly caught and then passed One More Knot just before the mark. The spinnaker was prepared and then hoisted with a bear away set as we rounded Saddle; One More Knot did the same and was now right on our tail, about 10 seconds behind. During the leg to N Sturbridge we kept a close eye astern and several times had to reach up to prevent One More Knot blanketing our sails. We eventually headed more directly down wind and gybed for the mark when about a quarter of a mile off. Ahead we watched the IRC boats which had already rounded and saw that those which had decided to carry their spinnakers were sailing too low to head directly for the next mark. The decision was taken to drop our spinnaker and use white sails only for the reach to Naomi. We rounded the mark still only 12 seconds ahead of One More Knot who had decided to keep flying their spinnaker. We sailed directly to Naomi, making 7 knots over the ground while behind One More Knot eventually dropped their kite and then were able to sail the direct course. This had enabled us to build a race winning lead and by the time we rounded Naomi we were 2 and a half minutes ahead. This we maintained on the final fetch to the finish. Timing the finishes of the rest of the fleet we were fairly certain that we would take first place on handicap.
Race 9 (If Only!!!)
Having secured 1st place in the first race of the day, we needed to win this race to take the series. This time we had a club class only start as the IRC fleet were sent off first. We reached in and hardened up round the committee boat as the start signal sounded. We then immediately tack onto port and started the beat to the windward mark which was Gleeds. For some reason One More Knot were late at the start and were some distance back. Things were looking good! We were now leading the club class fleet as we made the final tack onto starboard to lay Gleeds. However as the jib was winched in somehow it jammed between the car roller and the side plate so we could not sheet it in enough to point properly. Any attempt to sail towards the buoy led to the sail flogging and dramatic loss of speed. This enabled One More Knot to rapidly wipe out the 20 seconds or so lead that we had. Despite all best efforts by two of the crew we could not un-jam the sheet, we now realised we had an even bigger problem - we could not tack to round the mark as we could not let the sheet go! We had to cut the sheet in order to tack at the mark. One More Knot had already gone round and we tried to follow, unfortunately we were then faced with Ellisa and Stargift, both coming in on starboard so we had to bear away and finished up hove to. With no port side jib sheet attached this took some time to get out of.
Once sorted out and round the mark and with spinnaker hoisted, Richard and Norman managed to get the remaining bit of rope out by use of a screwdriver and big spanner acting as hammer! We then re-rigged the port side sheet. From then on it was playing catch up. We overtook Stargift and then at the leeward mark, Darling Associates, saw Ellisa coming in. We gave a quick shout to Eric to remind him that he had to give us water as we had a clear overlap. We dropped the spinnaker as we closed the mark and set off to try to catch One More Knot which was now just under a minute ahead. We skirted around Gilkicker with the depth alarm sounding continuously but eventually had to tack out. At Naomi we were a minute behind and realised that we were not going to win this race. We finished 2nd on the water, still about a minute behind One More Knot, who took first place on handicap and thus the series. On corrected time we were beaten into 4th place by Stargift and Ellisa but only lost to them by a few seconds.
After the Race
Back in Haslar Marina we gave our heartiest congratulations to Phil and crew of One More Knot. Then at the club we watched Phil collect first prize in club class and then we duly collected our mug for second place in the series. Third place went to Stargift. Much enjoyable banter took place between the various crews and some beer was consumed! What a fantastically close series it was with One More Knot taking 5 firsts out of 9 races and Symphony taking the remainder.
Prize Giving
Back in the club, there was a good turnout for the prize giving. The series had been one of the closest fought series for a while. It was also good for the Elans, Elan 333's won both the IRC (Tinker T) and Club (One More Knot) classes, with the Elan 340 (Symphony) claiming 2nd spot in Club.
It was a great series and it was good to start with the "grown-ups". It had certainly improved our starting technique, which was good all the way through, except on the last day! The competition was strong from Symphony throughout. Stargift could never be overlooked when the tide allowed her out to play. Just In Time were consistent throughout and Ellisa came on strong at the end when they stopped partying before the racing!!!
And to the Portsmouth Sailing Club, a big thank you,
