2008 Reports

Simply click on the race that you wish to read about - or scroll through the whole lot! Nab Tower Hayling Bay Cowes to Yarmouth Yarmouth to Cowes Round the Island Race RSYC Island Double Nab Double Autumn Solent Double HRSC Autumn Championships - 31.7 Class Nab Tower

Regular readers of these pages will remember that the Skipper’s 2007 summer sabbatical was rudely interrupted by his return to the world of work. This necessary unpleasantness is still making itself felt (rather like root canal work at the dentist, but that’s another story), curtailing his season and had so severely interfered with planning and preparation that Whistler’s antifouling was surely still wet when she slipped back into the water before her opening outing of the season. The crew was a bit of a mix and match with the team succumbing to trips down under, babies, work and visits to Buddhist photographic retreats (don’t even ask…) – the shortage of able bodies was so severe that Tim and the Skipper had thought about doing it double handed…

As we approached the start and exchanged the gentle breeze of the Eastern Solent for something slightly brisker, it seemed that the Skipper had been unusually prescient in ignoring the Stig’s weather forecast and opting to prepare the No:3 and put in a reefing line.

Scurrying around to find the SIs in response to the blue flag on the JOG box, combined with some sail faffing meant that we missed the start sequence and had to rely on watching our fellow competitors to work out when to go. We had opted for the outer end of the line and steered down under whites until we passed Prince Consort where we (eventually) hoisted the Heavy Reacher for a nice sail down the northern side of the deep water channel, reeling in Alchemist as we passed North Sturbridge, gaining a little on a bunch who had started under kites but watching Strumpet disappear into the distance.

The drop at the Forts was the right call but not well executed and we seemed to lack a little “oomph” on the reach up to the Nab. Alchemist passed us initially holding onto their kite but then dropping away downwind. We shook out the reef that we had started with in search of a few more horsepower and closed the Tower with three boats including Heritage and Papillon nipping just in front of us – but as they rounded they left the door wide open and we managed to get inside all three before tacking onto the leg back with them behind us. Nothing much changed on the way back to the Forts except that Clarionet came past us very gracefully - which was a nice sight and that we put the reef back in as we came past Bembridge. We hardened up round the Forts and headed for the ominous black clouds building around the finish, deciding not to play to closely with Ryde Sands – a decision vindicated when Clarionet parked there… ouch!

The Stig made the call not to duck in past Ryde as he felt that there wasn’t a lot of benefit to justify the extra distance, a strategy that paid in buckets when we were lifted nicely on port as the first squall approached. We took a knock and tacked over which at least had the benefit that the Skipper (who was driving) could present his back to the wind, rain, hail, sleet, ice, whatever… not so sure that the crew on the rail felt the same way! Even so it was MISERABLE and the Skipper realised that for early season racing an oilskin jacket with a proper hood is far more sensible than a posy spray top…

We powered through the unpleasantness and as it cleared were well chuffed to see that we had taken out a number of boats and importantly were right on the tail of Mr Phelps in Strumpet.

From then on it was trying to pick our way through wind that varied between 7 and 30 knots, with the reef shaken out and then put back in off Cowes as the next squall came through, and traffic building as Class 3 and 4 boats caught up.

Hard work for the first outing of the year; somewhat bedraggled and cold, it was nice to finish and turn back downwind to enjoy our first post-race beer of the year!

Final result - 7th out of 21

Hayling Bay

One of the nice things about the days getting longer is that it isn’t so much of a chore to be up and about at 5.30 in the morning – even when the final glass of last nights final bottle of Rioja is something more than a distant memory…

A pleasant motor up to Cowes, the usual friendly exchanges of pleasantries with the race officers and other competitors, blue skies – the day had everything… …except wind. This prompted the usual start tactics of motoring up tide until the 5 minute gun and trying to control the drift to the line.

As we neared the gate between Snowden and Prince Consort we opted to go to leeward of the Galatea, hoping to use the tide to shoot the wind shadow. All was going well until we got into the lee of the vessel and saw those to windward of her pick up and then Electron, who were outside us realised that they were not going to make Snowden and tacked over – this forced us to tack, right in the wind shadow where we lost all momentum and were stalled, leaving us drifting without any steerage… not in the plan! We explained the predicament to Electron, who reacted with the dignity of their Skipper’s exalted position; the situation was resolved in the gentlemanly JOG way and we continued on our respective paths.

There was only one minor, insignificant, niggling technicality in the whole thing – we were the wrong side of Snowden, watching Electron and the fleet sail/drift on their way!!!! We pointed in the right direction so at least we could pretend we were trying to get back and, as we gently drifted on the tide, I’m sure that individually everyone’s thoughts turned to what they were now going to do with the rest of the day. However, Team Whistler are made of stern stuff and I’m sure that this was one those situations were the old adage of “the whole being greater than the sum of the parts” holds true (or were we just frightened of The Stig’s reaction should we try to retire?)

The breeze teased us for ages before building and allowing us to overcome the tide and claw our way back up to Snowden for a correct rounding, some a long way behind the Fleet but thankfully still ahead of Class 4!

Putting all that behind us, we had a great sail down the Solent and up to Winner, favouring the southern side of the track in anticipation of the wind backing - and even managed to overtake a number of back markers.

Having rounded Warner and re-entered the Solent we spotted the wind heading boats past Ryde and changed back to the genoa in good time, which left us slightly better placed than some who delayed their changes.

The usual frustration at Norris and an “uneven” final beat to the line – something to work on for next time – but we were pleased to have stuck at it after what would have been curtains in previous seasons, and even overtaken a few people after such a disastrous start!

Final result 11th out of 14

Cowes to Yarmouth

Our plans were nearly derailed when the Skipper received an email from Tim the Helm/Main/Rail advising that he was being taken away for a weekend of unbridled excess to celebrate his 50^th birthday (at that age probably a cream tea and a peak at a couple of saucy postcards…) As ever, the Whistler recruitment network went into overtime and we bought on board some new blood, freshly back from Antigua (although we were surprised to find out for one of them it was via the Munro County Detention Centre - but that, as they say, is another story.)

After a couple of “welcome on board” pints at the new bar at Gosport Marina, the crew decamped to the (in)famous Great Wall “All you can eat” Restaurant but were foiled by the rest of the population of Gosport who had arrived before us… was this a portent of the weekend to come?

We made a decent start and enjoyed a good sail down the Solent trying to find the best tide and all seemed to be going well until we noticed the boats, including Aviva and Alchemist, that had stayed on the mainland side coming through, probably on better breeze.

Through Hurst we had the first of several “wonky bits” as wind died (at least on the tide) and swell increased and we all bunched up before Needles Fairway. This presented something of a challenge as the Skipper lost all orientation during the drop and we went from running downwind to hard on it in an attempt to get round (which we managed more successfully than with Snowden last time out!)

We set off toward North Head and the tactical team made a great call to start heading into the Shingles which gave us a huge jump up the fleet – which we seemed to lose in the second half of the leg as the Skipper contrived to tack off lifts and into headers (although at the time he of course blamed everyone else on board)

Seems that sailing is getting like Snakes and Ladders!

Nothing to be gained on the leg up to Hurst but we somehow carried our way nicely into the car park off Hurst, right back in the mix of things again, now we didn’t want to throw it away…

… by deciding to head over to the Island shore and trying to short tack up the shallows in light wind… it seemed a good idea at the time, honest.

Well done to the crew for good humour and physical resilience as we made some 26 tacks on the way into the finish and a well-earned couple of bottles of red. One for experience!

Final result - 17th out of 18 (ouch!)

Yarmouth to Cowes

Scene One: The opening credits of “The Simpsons”, only instead of Bart, it’s the Skipper standing chalking on a blackboard “When I’m up with the leaders I must not bang the corner”… we’ll leave the rest to your imagination.

Now a 9.00M start is jolly civilised but it does have the downside of fewer hours of favourable tide, doesn’t it!

The No:3 and a reefed main seemed a good idea in the gusty conditions at the start and, despite the Skippers ranting, we made a good start powered up along the line on starboard – we even ducked our illustrious club Captain, even though he was on port, as we knew he was feeling a little poorly.

Whistler was enjoying the conditions and we were cracking along out in front with Aviva, Xarifa and Alchemist all the way to North East Gurnard, thanks to a couple of good calls from the tac/nav team (and of course excellent helming and motivational powers from the Skipper).

It was here that we cocked up with style. Watching our co-leaders head North we opted to head straight for East Bramble; the result - less wind, more tide and unplanned diversion into the deep water channel and a lot of frustration. It was somewhat disheartening to see the leaders heading home and hear their radio calls to the finish team as we struggled up to East Bramble.

We stuck at it and plugged on despite almost getting swept downtide of South Ryde Middle and having to hang on to the kite on a very shy reach up to Snowden.

To compound matters even the last few bottles of beer on board were off!!!

Closing Scene: The Skipper still standing there chalking “When I’m up with the leaders I must not bang the corner” … will he ever learn?

Final result - 9th out of 18

Round the Island Race

It would be somewhat erroneous to start this report with “The day of the Round the Island Race dawned…” because at the ungodly hour at which we rose, dawn would still have been snuggled under the duvet, maybe opening a bleary eye to check the alarm clock…

In anticipation of the early start we’d had a relatively gentle evening – a trip over to the Water Margin in Gunwharf Quays which proved to be quicker and cheaper than finding a meal in pre-RTIR Gosport – and a lot more entertaining thanks to the belles of the Gosport/Portsmouth conurbation who whole-heartedly subscribed to the maxim “more is less” in the dress department - and something like “less is more (than enough)” in the brains department.

The motor up to Cowes left the Skipper wondering if he should have been a little more thorough in checking the forecast – taking all the warm clothing out of his kit-bag and simply bringing shorts did not seem a very good idea at 0530!

Knowing that 90% of the fleet would have read up on all the articles about this race and would be aiming for the golden start spot 30% up the line, we decided to go for a run in from the pin and start about half way up in clear air. We were almost snookered by a moron who considered that the normal rules about windward/leeward boats didn’t apply if it meant we would push him over the line but we ignored his ignorance and pressed on. The first tack was fun – we had no sooner made it than we were bounced back by a descending pack of starboard tackers – however after this it never really got too hairy as the fleet spread out. We opted for long legs on port and to stay on the windward side of the pack as we exchanged a few tacks with Manaru (including one in which they executed a very nice headsail change) down the Solent, a strategy which seemed to be working as we were making good ground and passed numbers of the previous class to start before Hurst.

We rounded the Needles and the Varvassi relatively tightly considering the conditions but still with a healthy margin (checking a day later of over 100m) and eventually settled for a boisterous kite run to St Catherine’s, pretty much down the rhumb line and occasionally surfing at speeds of up to 13.6 knots which was rather fun. A blue 31.7 (we think it was Silver Gull) came through from behind us and pulled smoothly away. There was a fair bit of carnage going on and eventually as the seas built we were spun into a big broach and the kite wrapped round the forestay. After untangling everything we went back to whites and settled down - but did end up going rather wide after the headland which cost a bit. We saw Kurketrekker ahead also under whites although they followed a better, inshore, line than us and crept away. As we passed Dunnose the sea eased a little and, spurred by the sight of Manaru’s yellow spinnaker closing in, we rehoisted the kite for the leg to Bembridge.

The mark is always fun as it is one of the places were everyone concentrates for the rounding and on Whistler it was just like old days with the sound of Slippery’s voice echoing in our ears – only this time from 50 feet away as she was on Manaru's foredeck!

With the wind holding up we had opted for the No:3 which was working well as we reached for the Forts, slightly high to hold off a couple of larger boats. As we hardened up and tacked in to Ryde the boat was not going on all cylinders, struggling to power up and get in a groove, which allowed Manaru to pull well away which was frustrating to say the least. We swapped things around a bit and managed to get Whistler settled down and had a good run from Ryde to Norris, opting to stay on the edge of the shelf in good wind rather than tacking into the shore. This pulled back some of the ground we had lost by Ryde but there was still the “Norris Nadgers” to contend with and then the usual flukiness and confusion approaching the line. On reflection we should have tacked closer in to Cowes but we didn’t and stood on into the deep water in the last quarter of a mile but, then again, hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn’t it…

All in all eight hours pretty enjoyable racing and with a new boat speed record… and far fewer repairs to make than many boats!

22nd out of 60 in IRC Class 3A; 105th out of 215 in Group; 252nd out of 631 Overall
4th out of 13 31.7s

RSYC Island Double

Having largely mastered the complex navigation required for a race round the Isle of Wight (it’s much like driving in Johnnie Foreigner Land – keep your left elbow to the island), the Stig and the Skipper decided to do the RSYC Island Double.

After a couple of pints and a romantic supper “a deux”, getting up for the start at 0800 was more civilised than for its big brother (we had also realised that with the tide under us we didn’t need to get up quite so early!)

We managed to get all the requisite sails up and started at the West Bramble end of the line, taking the pain of a slightly longer leg and less initial tide for the benefit of a better wind angle – something we thought no one had spotted until most of the fleet joined us at the 10 minute gun.

Not much to report really – the Skipper realised that wearing a good set of layers to keep out the early morning chill was great at 0700 but at 1000 when the sun is climbing and he is doing the combined jobs of bowman, mast, pit and both trimmers it gets a little warm… we had some fun and games round the back of the Island with an out of control big J, which managed to ruffle even the normally taciturn Stig…

The big win of the day was the Skipper’s cunning division of the helming responsibilities, ensuring that he had the stick for the endless short tacks past Ryde, leaving the Stig pulling the string… he, he!!!

Tiring, but great fun, so we’ll be doing the Nab Double next!

28th out of 45

Nab Double

Despite the relatively late start (1000 off Hill Head) neither the Skipper nor the Stig were feeling too full of beans (or indeed anything else) after the side effects of the (in)famous “All you can eat for £15” buffet at the Great Wall…

After the usual gilling around, a decision to nip down to the CV end of the line so we could hear the sound signals, combined with a bit of headsail-hoisting faffing, saw us start about half way up the line rather than at the pin end as planned. However we did have clear air and good speed, which saw us power into the top third of the fleet as we headed down the Solent.

The good folk at the RSYC had settled for the simple “out to the Nab, round it and back” course, which took all the complexity of navigation out of the equation and, more importantly, all but one of the corners and potential sail changes! This did not, however, prevent our heroes almost making a blinding error and going between the forts rather than cutting the corner inside No Man's Land – luckily we re-read the instructions and didn’t really drop much…

The conditions were bang on for Whistler – just off the wind and the 15 knots of breeze powering up the No:3 nicely. We left our fellow 31.7s Black Jack and Milou III well behind on the first leg and were pacing nicely with the J92s and a classic-looking Spirit.

It was a little lumpy on the way out and around the Nab itself but we tacked cleanly round despite an idiot from Class One in a Dehler having apoplexy because we wouldn’t tack when he wanted to… easily ignored!

We’d noticed that the leaders who had hoisted kites were sagging down a long way and it was touch and go whether we would follow suit or stick with whites but the wind backed a touch and we decided to drag the asymmetric from its bag (otherwise known as the old cruising chute). We thought it might allow us to fly it a little closer than the symmetrical Reacher – and it involved a lot less string…

It worked a treat – although there was a time when the wind was back to an angle of 150^o True when it struggled. It was tight round Ryde but the Stig helmed down the rhumb line to the finish with such accuracy that the Skipper assumed that he must have been continually resetting the GPS. We managed to fly the asymmetric all the way home, where its other big advantage was that it came down easily!

A really enjoyable sail… what next?

7th out of 24

Autumn Solent DoubleNice day but no wind; got to within 3 minutes of the gun before the AP went up for the final time and eventually the race was abandoned... nice day for motoring around the Solent though!HRSC Autumn Championships - 31.7 Class

On paper a storming result, albeit in reality a slightly flattering one due to the limited entries (everyone was guaranteed a podium place!)

Short, sharp races that required a good start (which we got except in Race 1) and didn't allow too much time to recover from mistakes (although we did recover from a massive, rolling leeward broach to keep in front on Race 4).

Particularly pleasing was the final race where, despite having the series sown up, we sailed an aggressive final couple of legs to pull past Touraine and pip them on the line by a couple of seconds - well done Stig!

Overall - 1st!