Link to finals

Seven Club members took part in a Sunsail Regatta in October (37 ft yachts) and won the Regatta giving them entry into the final in November, we will let you know the results of this hopefully after next weekend, meanwhile Pete Walters takes up the story:

Nottinghamshire County Sailing Club, Sunsail Regatta Weekend 26th to 28th October 07

7 members of the sailing Club and one member of the Notts Police sailing section took part in the above weekend. Sunsail run 6 of these events during the year, 3 in the spring 3 in the autumn, with the first 1 or 2 boats in the 4 race series each weekend being promoted to the final in November, the top prize being a free charter for round the island race the following year.

The team arrived Friday night in the dark after checking the boat out we went for a meal and drink, problems with the meal go our spokes person Sarah on the case getting us a discount and a free round of drinks, positive start to the weekend.

Saturday am, up at 0630 as the briefing was at 0800. bacon butties all round, out through the lock at Port Solent for the 1hrs motoring to the start in outside Portsmouth. We arrived at 10am for the 10.30 start and had half an hour learning how to raise and lower the spinnaker and gybe it. A minimum of 5 persons to achieve the task. All went well.

First race about a force 4, we made a good start however another boat had jumped the gun and went up the beat in front of us for quite a time before working out how to get back and restart. First mark, 4th boat to round for a reach to the 2nd mark, leading boats put up their spinnakers but kept broaching getting us close and up to third place by the 2nd mark for a run, kite up for a 2 mile run, we caught up the two leaders overtaking one before the mark, the leader had gybed early for the mark but had misjudged it and came into the mark on the lee going slow, we rounded together with us on the outside for a two sail reach to the 4th mark. Appears they had lost direction as they were apparently heading for the wrong mark, this gave us a 100 yd lead which was maintained around the next mark and to the finish.

1st race 1st boat out of the 17 boats taking part. 2nd race. Start in the same place with us getting to the first mark in third place, going high and then putting the spinnaker up got us into the lead. A return to dinghy sailing by Simon H and Fiona H on the foredeck nearly cost us the spinnaker as the spinnaker pole was released from the mast and an attempt to bring the spinnaker down on the windward side resulted in it being ripped out of the crews hands and started to go over the bow, saved by Simon H. A 1 ½ mile beat was half completed with 4 members of the crew on the leeward side attempting to sort the spinnaker which had become tangled around almost every deck fitting possible. I anticipated the following team would overtake is as though we were standing still, however we pulled away and finished the race 200yds ahead of the next boat.

Saturday night in Cowes Yacht haven. Anchor pub for Grub, Pool and Beer. Followed by the Island sailing club to finish.

Sunday morning, forecast force 5-7 gusts poss. of 8. I rang the Race officer to ascertain if we would be racing, yes, same start area. We sailed back from Cowes with the GPS consistently stating we were doing 11 knots on a broad reach, not bad for a boat with design speed of about 8 knots. Started the race with one reef as the wind indicator was reading 25-30 knots of breeze. Third to the first mark but no spinnaker on the downwind leg due to the wind strength nobody flew a kite. Third to the 2nd mark for a beat, 3 boats neck and neck. We managed to lee bow one of the boats getting into 2nd place but the leader had just got away as we messed about taking the place, we caught up but they won by 5 boat lengths. Breeze now gusting 35 knots. We decided with 2 firsts and a 2nd we need not do the last race as it was three to count with no one anywhere near. We radioed the race officer to inform him we were not competing in the last race as he decided to abandon any further racing due to the weather conditions.

On our return to Port Solent we ended up towing the winner of race 3 as his engine had gone faulty. As we had finished racing early the Sunsail staff were not in at work so the prize giving and boat handover was delayed, we didn't stop for the prize giving as the trip back to Notts takes 3 hrs minimum. However I did confirm that we had won the event and had qualified for the final on the 24th November.

Crew.
Pete Walters Skipper/ Helm
Richard Mason. Main sheet trimmer/tactical
Sarah Mason. Foredeck/ Dogs body
Simon Hibbert Winches
Nick Shaw Winches
Rachel Walters Navigator / dogs body
Simon Hextall Foredeck
Fiona Hextall Foredeck, mast hand.

For those interested the costs. £675.00 for the boat charter. + a damage deposit of £2,000-00 returned with no damage. (an acceptance by all the crew that regardless of fault the cost of the damage deposit is shared between the team in the event of a claim) With all the crew paying £100.00 into the pot each this gave a food kitty and engine hrs kitty. Journey to and from Port Solent.

The final is a free charter from Sunsail with all the additional costs. (damage waiver, engine hrs etc.)

Good luck to the Notts County Team!

And now to the dfinals:

Sunsail Regatta Final
24/11/07

Having won our heat we were thro to the final up against the best of the best, we had lost one crew member so Matt Potter filled the place in the engine room, (Winches) a critical position on the boat has all sheets and halyards are controlled by the boys in the engine room, Simon Hibbert with his one weekends experience went thro the controls and showed Matt the ropes!

Myself and Rachel arrived on Friday afternoon checking the boat over at 1500 hrs before it got dark, but for the obvious marks of previous collisions the boat was intact. I learnt we were up against 16 other teams for the final of 3 races back to back all to count.

Simon, Fiona and Boggy arrived about 1700 hrs apparently a pit stop at Bicester took longer than expected and apparently the bank manager needs a low funds warning! Northern Rock again!!

It was freezing cold, the boat has no heating other than for the cooker, so we retired to the local pub for food and a couple of pints, the rest of the crew, Simon, Matt and Sarah had started out later and were expected about 9pm. A call about that time from Sarah to say they had been involved in a 4 car pile up on the M1 and although shook up were still able to continue the journey. Matt had stopped before hitting the car in front, the ones behind failed to do so. After their arrival at about 11.30 pm we had another drink on the boat and then hit the Pit for a very cold minus 3 night on board. I was up at 0650 the car was quoting -1.5 degrees. The boat was covered in ice as well as the pontoons, we took all the kit off the boat and started out for the Solent at 8am, start scheduled for 10am.

We had breakfast on the move and arrived at the start area by 0900. several hoist and drops of the spinnaker and a few tacks we were ready. Still very cold but the wind was about a force 2. First race a beat and run two laps. A good start from the pin on the 2nd start attempt due to a general recall got us to the first mark just first with 3 others close. We raised the kite and then to clear our wind gybed off across the foul tide, the 2nd boat followed us slightly later with the two following staying the Island side before crossing, it was then announced that the race was to be shortened at the next mark. We were looking good, plan was to get into the shallower water and then gybe and go for the finish. As it was the two boats who had stopped the island side for longer had a better angle into the finish both beating us into 3rd place, we beat the 2nd place boat at the windward mark by a couple of boat lengths.

Race 2, wind was strengthening, force 4. similar course windward leeward. Not the best start getting to the windward mark in the bottom half of the fleet but took numerous places down wind. About 7th at the 2nd mark for the beat, a slight error with a winch needed sorting but it didn't lose a place just distance. We maintained our position to the 3rd mark for the 2nd run, the wind was strengthening all the time with several boats broaching on the run down to the finish. We again were travelling fast and managed to get to 3rd place on the finish line, this after a broach ourselves as we attempted to take the kite down. The finish was very close to the shore at one point we had less than a metre under the keel with a leeward shore, could have been nasty.

The wind continued to increase with gusts of up to 28 knots showing on the instruments, I decided that as it was apparently continuing to build we should reef the main, we started the race with 3 boats ourselves included all with 6 points to count we needed to win, however the wind started to decrease, our main rivals had stayed with full main sails and had more power to get thro the very choppy water, a misjudgement at the first mark meant we had to turn and go back and round it, we were in 8 place with our rivals 1st and 2nd. We took the reef out before raising the spinnaker 2 boats overtook us. It was a short leg that I believed we would not need the spinnaker, I was wrong. However we then left the following pack and started to get up to the leading pack for the final spinnaker leg to the finish. A good hoist but with very little difference in boat speed and limited choices for the leg we just got closer without overtaking anybody finishing 10th in the race.

We made our way back to Port Solent, after getting the sails away, we sent Simon Hextall to the top of the mast to retrieve one of the spinnaker halyards that had become detached from the Spinnaker on one of the hoists and was pulled to the top before we realised, this was recovered on the move, apparently its quite high according to Simon. We were on spring tides low water, we had to lean the boat to get it into Port Solent as there was so little water, we finished with the engine on full power pushing the keel thro the mud, we did eventually make it. The boat was cleared and handed back to Sunsail.

A nice warm shower then the prize giving.

Overall a 4th place, not bad for a inexperienced big boat team, we were certainly slicker than in the qualifying races with Simon and Matt working very well together, all the team had specific jobs which made things far better. We were not far from the winning teams. It appears most of the crew enjoyed the experience and appear to want to have another go next year.

Pete Walters