Notts Police, with crew from Nottinghamshire County Sailing Club.

The Police Team entered the Police Sport UK Offshore Championships 2008. Two of the crew are club members.

Pete Walters, Skipper and Helm of Team A.

Alex Piggott being the racing Helm of Boat B.

Boat A won the event overall with 5 race wins out of the 9 races completed scoring 11 points.

Boat B came 11^th overall worth 72 points to count. A good position considering the lack of experience on board the boat.

The team who were organising this year’s event wanted to give the 27 teams, 190 competitors, something different from the normal event and having competed in Cowes week for the past few years wanted to give all the teams an event based around the experience we had at Cowes Week.

Therefore we ensured all the teams had matched 37ft yachts and based the event at the Cowes Yacht Haven for the week. After the teams hit the Yacht Haven each day we ensured all the competitors had a can of beer, on two mornings we ensured the teams had a breakfast cob supplied.

Due to sponsorship from the Police Credit Union, Fortec Computers, Gill, and Boots we were able to supply all competitors, Gill products, suncream and bring two different aspects to the event by introducing the Buddy Scheme and 3 Fleet Racing as is now quite standard in dinghy national events.

 

Following is the diary of the skipper Pete Walters.

 

We arrived on Sunday afternoon and entered all the yachts and skippers giving the products as above with a briefing for the first race on Monday morning with 3 races scheduled.

 

7am up early and travelling out of Port Solent with the other teams quite early for the 10am start. Using the 6 miles to get the crew familiar with the boat and try some spinnaker gybing,  etc.

 

Race was delayed but got underway about 10.30 into wind, we got to the first mark first after 3 miles and put the spinnaker up with no problems, winning the first race by quite a margin. Appeared normal service resumed from previous years.

 

Race 2 was different, very biased line and was pushed out at the committee boat end, one boat trying to luff above head to wind in order to get us to do turns, the skipper was given a short reply to the request for turns. However we had some catching up to do, we were against the tide so we went up the shallows in less foul tide but with the wind shifts kept being lifted into the deeper water and more tide, the wind then died, those teams that had kept in less tide went ahead with the Notts A team stranded in the middle of the tide. Eventually getting to the first mark in 5^th place for the tight reach to mark 2. we had a luffing battle with another team before passing them to leeward and then started catching up with the 3 teams in front, the race officer shortened the race at the next mark we had however got to within 2 boat lengths of the 2^nd and 3^rd placed yachts. Finishing in 4^th place.

 

Race 3.

Good start at the pin end, the OD ensured all the lines were very port biased but made life difficult to get to windward of the fleet from this position.

We started at the pin and waited for the opportunity to get across which eventually occurred, our main competitors were the Met Team with Graham Cook on the helm, (ex, fireball world champion) and a team from the Northern Irish Police (PNSI) we managed to just round the first mark in the lead with the Met and Kent team very close, downwind to a buoy outside Cowes for another short beat, just holding both the above boats off along the run and then up the next beat, the wind was very shifty with gusts coming in, the combination of both brought the Met. boat close on the final run with us having to broad reach and then make a planned gybe to the finish line to try and keep our wind. However we had some issues with the spinnaker pole ring on the mast that was bent, the spinnaker pole jammed on the mast and stopped us gybing, we finished the race on port under main alone beating the Met who was flying everything by a foot. Very close, this was the 2^nd spinnaker pole end we had broken during the day and arranged for Sunsail to replace the spinnaker pole and mast fitting that evening. I was concerned that we were being caught from behind, which in the past years just does not happen.

That evening we used the first 3 races to split the fleet into 2 for the buddy scheme and 3 for the 3 fleet racing, issuing the skippers with flags to indicate which fleet they were in and drawing from the hat the buddy crews.

 

We ended up with the Warwickshire team as our buddies who were also in the 3^rd fleet. However we knew the crew well and on Tuesday morning I went to their boat and asked if they wanted any advice on how to make the boats go quicker. The crew were very happy to sit for 10 minutes whilst I went thro some techniques with them and we waited to see whether the advice worked.

 

The race on Tuesday started in a force 3-4 in a choppy sea, the PSNI reached the first mark first with a pack of 4 rounding together for the 2 mile downwind leg to the next mark, I however could not seem to get the boat to go into the wind or downwind. We rounded the next mark in 5^th position but were gradually being overtaken, I then heard a bang and the genoa dropped, the halyard had snapped. It took 10 minutes to get the genoa down attach a spare spinnaker halyard and get the genoa up again, during this time most of the fleet went past us. We continued but I could not get the boat to drive like I normally could, we rounded the next mark in 15^th position with our buddies from Warwickshire but overtook them on the reach to the next buoy. However  then overtook us up the next beat but we rounded the last windward mark just in front of them, we had been racing for about 6hrs by this time, we had a 13 mile run for the next mark. Again we held position but could not seem to catch up with the boats in front. Alex in the B team was ahead but I could not make any impression.  We lost 2 more places and finished in 13 place, we had completed 50 miles racing.

 

That night I tried to add up why I could not make the boat go, it felt like we had had a bucket tied to the boat as it just would not go.

Wednesday would be interesting.

Race 1 Wednesday we got to the first mark in about 12 place and continued to have boats go past us downwind. However on the next beat some very minor trim changes to the sail’s got the boat moving, we rounded the next mark in 6^th place and then overtook the Met team on the reach who made a better spinnaker gybe on the mark and overtook us, beating us over the line by ½ a boat length. The speed was back.

 

Race 2. we went the wrong way up the first beat getting to the first mark in 6^th place, close reach to mark 2 but catching up. A 2 mile beat into wind and the foul tide, the boats in front were lee bowing each other so we tacked to clear our wind but knew we had to get inshore so after 50 yrds tacked back and went for the shore this then allowed us to lee bow 2 other boats , Cleveland and Northumbria, who had been in front of us. We went inshore to the 3 metre line, comment from the crew “we tacked when we saw the whites of the ice cream sellers eyes” inside the swimming area off the beach inside the jet ski’s. This move allowed us to get to windward of 2 Met Boats and start catching up with the leader our buddies Warwickshire. We rounded the windward mark with Warwickshire rounding the mark with about a foot to spare, Warwickshire had a spinnaker problem on the final reach to the finish which allowed us to get into the lead and win the race quite easily. They also held off the 2 Met Police boats which helped us on the overall championship scores. We had overtaken 5 boats on the final beat, the boat speed was back, going close inshore and being very tactical helped but the confidence was back.

 

Thursday, 1 longer race with a shorter race planned for the afternoon as we had a BBQ planned for the evening.

1^st race we got a great start off the pin end and started to move ahead, now realising we could win the event again the pressure was on so when I judged we could clear the fleet by tacking onto port I called for a good tack as it would be close with the Met. Police of Graham Cook. I assume the rest of the crew felt the pressure as the lads on the winches decided at this point to swap roles, the genoa sheet was wound the wrong way and therefore would not come in, we stopped and then had to tack back onto Port as the starboard boats who we should have cleared called us to tack, we stopped, I blew my top as we tried to sort the mess out. My loosing it did not help as on the next tack one of the winch team again wound the winch the wrong way but I had spotted it and shouted to get it sorted before we had a similar issue. I thought that was the moment the championship was over, “one error that’s it”. However I calmed down and got back into the job, we rounded the windward mark in 7^th place.

Rather than going on a deep run for the next mark I went on a very broad reach keeping the boat moving and surfing it on the large waves, we appeared to be overtaking but going further than the boats going deep on the run, after ¾ of the run we gybed onto port and crossed the fleet in the lead getting to the first mark with about a 100 metre lead. We held this for the next beat and moved to 2 minutes ahead of the PSNI at the finish, out buddies Warwickshire managed to just beat the Met.boat as well which helped us on the overall position.

After the finish I apologised for blowing my top at the crew.

 

Race2.

The wind had gone light and with the foul tide getting over the start line was difficult, Warwickshire got the best start with the Met. next we were laying about 4^th at the start but by keeping in the shallower water and the boat moving we held position and started moving forward. The first mark was in the middle of the Solent and was a large deep water channel marker for the big shipping, timing when to tack for the mark was critical as you would be swept back by the tide, Warwickshire over stood the mark I kept tacking for it but my GPS kept indicating we would miss the mark but this encouraged the Met to go for it, I thought they had made a mistake but they managed to get there first as both Warwickshire and ourselves rounded together. We then had a tight reach to the next mark which was made worse by the tide sweeping us down to the mark so timing the spinnaker launch was again quite critical, we drove over the Warwickshire team and raised the spinnaker. We then saw the committee boat on station at the next mark who finished the Met. Police and then us with Warwickshire 3^rd. During the first beat I heard out B team radio up to retire from the race, before the start I had told Alex to go left up the beat but his skipper and navigator insisted he went right, apparently they had travelled about 70 metres in ½ hour in the foul tide and were near the back of the fleet.

 

We had the BBQ at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club where the OD announced that there would be only 1 race on the Friday, this made the Met Police and the PSNI check the results as they realised we had won the event, with two discards allowed we had won even if we did not start the last race, however they could still both come 2^nd dependant on the last race. The PSNI asked if we could mess the Met about on the Friday race but as we had won what would be the benefit to us.

 

Friday morning, 0930 start with the tide sweeping the fleet over the line ended up with a general recall and straight to a black flag, the Met Police and the PSNI ended up adjacent to each other on the start line, the Met calling windward boat allowed the tide to take them both over the line within the last minute of the start sequence to disqualify both, the Met had made sure they got 2^nd place in the event.

 

A comment from the crew as this occurred, “another race win for us then”

We made a good start but went up the beat the wrong way and got to the first mark in 4^th place with Cleveland, Warwickshire, Kent and ourselves, 3 miles downwind on the run against the tide. We caught up with Cleveland but were being slowed by the other boats so I went tactical, gibing across them to get them to slow as we crossed them on starboard, a few gybes saw us get into the lead to round the last mark with 20 metres to spare, we then had a 4 mile beat to the finish, we maintained our lead with the Kent police obviously happy with 2^nd place as they just followed our course tack for tack with us finishing in first, apparently the crew were right as they predicted the win.

 

We then motored to Port Solent to hand the boats over and arrange the prize giving.

We had won 5 races out of the 9 sailed, 2 discards with us scoring 11 points.

The Met (Graham Cook) came 2nd on 21 points.

PSNI who were apparently the team to beat came 3^rd on 24 points.

 

Kent won the fleet 2 prize on 37 points 5^th overall.

Warwickshire won the fleet 3 prize with 48 points and 8^th overall.

 

The buddy system worked for Warwickshire as it appears the 10 minute discussion on Tuesday morning had a significant impact on their results for the rest of the week. We won the buddy prize scoring less than half the points against the 2^nd buddy pairing.

 

It appears the competitors enjoyed the change of format to previous years with us based at one location and not loosing races due to having to be at a specific location on a specific day, the weather and wind strength for the week was ideal which we were very fortunate and helped the event enormously.

 

I was not expecting us to win the event again, as with organising it and assisting the race officer with scoring etc it was a difficult week to keep ones mind on the racing. The Skipper of the Met. Police boat in 2^nd commented on his thank you speech that “We thought that with the distraction of organising we would stand a chance this year but this was clearly not the case.”

 

5^th win in 5 years, 6^th wins in 7 years. 8^th time the team has won the event.

Alex and crew with their lack of experience did very well on placing 11^th overall beating some much more experienced teams.

 

Final results below.  Pete Walters.

 

 

 

Rank	Boat	SailNo	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Total	Nett
1st		28	Peter Walters	Notts A	1	4	1	-13	-6	1	1	2	1	30	11
2nd		10	Dean Ingledew	Met Police	2	-8	2	3	5	3	5	1	(28.0 BFD)	57	21
3rd		2	Garth Henry	PSNI	3	-10	4	2	1	7	2	5	(28.0 BFD)	62	24
4th	Ex 25	31	Stuart Jenkins	Met D	5	5	-11	5	2	4	4	-13	4	53	29
5th		35	David Lavender	Kent	-18	-19	3	4	4	8	8	8	2	74	37
6th		9	Tony Riordan	Clevland A	-9	9	5	1	7	9	-12	6	6	64	43
7th		5	Roger Glass	Met Police	4	-12	9	6	9	-12	6	9	3	70	46
8th		3	Henry Scutt	Warwickshire	-21	13	-20	14	8	2	3	3	5	89	48
9th		15	Nigel French	Met Police	-12	-11	8	8	3	5	10	4	11	72	49
10th		18	Ian Ingram	West Midlands A	10	-20	6	7	-11	10	9	11	10	94	63
11th		4	Mark Flavell	Notts B	-23	15	7	9	10	11	13	(28.0 DNF)	7	123	72
12th		24	Tim Douglass	Northumbria	8	6	16	15	13	14	-24	7	-20	123	79
13th	Ex 26	17	Chris Jellis	Devon and Cornwall	(28.0 DSQ)	16	10	11	-18	6	14	15	12	130	84
14th		11	David Old	Lancashire	11	3	-24	18	19	19	7	(28.0 DNS)	13	142	90
15th		23	Richard Maynard	City of London	13	-23	19	17	17	-24	11	14	8	146	99
16th		36	Ian Bedford	Clevland B	20	1	13	19	-23	22	-25	19	9	151	103
17th		37	Tony Onions	Leicestershire	-22	17	21	-22	14	16	15	10	14	151	107
18th		12	Steve Rigby	Sussex	17	-25	17	10	12	17	16	20	-22	156	109
19th	Ex 20	8	Paul Deakin	West Midlands C	-24	-18	15	16	15	15	18	16	18	155	113
20th	ex 6	22	Gerard Sharp	West Yorkshire	14	7	18	-24	16	(28.0 DNS)	22	21	16	166	114
21st		7	Alan Slater	Met Police	7	24	-26	23	-26	13	19	12	17	167	115
22nd	Ex 22	38	John Love	Strathclyde B	-25	2	22	12	21	21	21	-24	21	169	120
23rd		16	Jim Watson	Lothian and Borders	19	14	-25	-21	20	18	17	18	15	167	121
24th		27	David Hurd	Devon and Cornwall