sunsail spring

Sunsail Spring Regatta NCSC entry

Sunsail Spring Regatta 3.

The 2nd place team from the final last year won a free charter for the spring series 09. The team selected to participate in the final spring regatta hoping it would be warm!

As a result of a clerical error by Simon Hextall both Simon and Fiona were unable to join the team on this occasion but were replaced as a temporary measure by Matt Potter and Nicola Ogden.

The majority of the team arrived a Port Solent during Friday evening 27th March. We were allocated Sunsail 18 and were told that we were competing against 19 other teams a few from different universities.

A cold night aboard the yacht after a curry at the local curry house at Port Solent saw the team up and ready to go by 0800. The skippers briefing at 0830 saw a change of sailing instructions from last year. The OD could decide and restrict the sail plan if he considered the conditions dictated a reduced sail plan. As it was the weather forecast a force 5-6 with gusts and showers.

We left Port Solent in the first batch out of the lock for the hours run to the starting area of Bob Kemp (Racing Mark) just off Ryde. IOW As a result of the crew change we had Nicola and Ed Barnes on the bow with limited spinnaker handling experience, we raised the spinnaker prior to the start with a few problems but nothing some practise would sort out.

At 1130 the OD was on station and announced that the yachts would not be able to use spinnakers and that they must have 1 reef in the main sail tied in. The news seemed to lighten the spirits of the Bow team as the spinnaker would stay in its bag for the first race. The wind conditions had increased to the force 6 with gusts. At 1140 we were off in clear wind mid line, we seemed to have the speed as we drew out in front of the majority of the fleet but had Sunsail 23 with similar speed. 23 had started nearer the pin end than us which was the favoured end of the line this got them into the first mark just ahead of us, however their navigator seemed to lose the way, we doubled checked our course and bore off for the very broad reach to buoy 2, they had gone off on a reach. Once they realised their mistake they were on a run as they bore off. With a better wind angle we undertook them and got into buoy 2 with a 3 boat length lead.

We maintained this for the shorter beat to the third mark. The next leg was a broad reach with the pair of us leaving the rest of the fleet the battle for the lead escalated with 23 having a great technique with the genoa and spinnaker pole they overtook us and got into the 4th mark with a 3 boat length lead. They rounded to Port and stayed on a port tack, we rounded and tacked immediately onto starboard they soon followed but the spinnaker pole technique let them down as they had the Genoa sheet around it, however they soon sorted it and we had a drag race on starboard. We tacked onto Port and crossed the stern of 23 behind by about a boat length they continued on starboard.

When we tacked on the lay line for the mark we had overtook 23 and had a 10 boat length lead. We rounded for the final broad reach to the finish. We changed our genoa sheeting angle which improved our reaching speed however 23 still had a slight advantage with their pole method. They kept taking us to windward which we had to follow to protect our wind as we approached the line they seemed to get a gust of wind which as they gybed onto starboard with the genoa now goose winging they overtook us and won the race by a foot or two as the finishing sound signal was almost one sound. Seemed we had the speed but we had our work cut for the win to be ours.

2nd race about 1 hour after we had finished, the conditions had moderated but we could see storm clouds approaching, this I believe made the OD announce that there would be no change to the sail plan restrictions to the first race.

I don’t know what the other teams saw but I saw a significant wind shift 5 minutes prior to the start which indicated a committee boat end start on Port, when I announced the plan, Tim Cripps main sheet trimmer with Simon Hibbert and Matt Potter thought I was joking however the plan was activated with one stern to dip for a superb port end flyer. 23 from the start was at least 50 yards behind with the nearest boat at the windward mark being about 45 seconds behind. As we rounded for the run to the 2nd mark the wind under the storm cloud hit us, I have never seen the bow dip on a Sunfast 37 and the forestay go slack as the gusts hit, must have been force 8 gusts. We gybed around the 2nd mark and reached to the third mark, Tim Cripps timed our lead to be 2 minutes on the 2nd placed boat at the third mark, another beat took us out to 3½ minute lead by the 4th mark, however as we reached to the 5th mark with a very healthy lead the wind dropped to almost zero. We round the 5th mark in reverse as we had almost stopped and allowed the tide to sweep us around the mark stern first. Our lead was being eroded by the following boats 23 now in 2nd place. The wind had done a 180 degree, the run was now a beat to the finish with patches of wind coming in and the tide changing taking us away from the finish line. We were now neck and neck with 23 and 26 going about 1.5 knots with 1 knot of tide against us, we tacked onto port and crossed 26’s stern as they were on starboard with 23 to leeward of us. 26 then joined us on port with us in a Sunsail 23 and 26 sandwich, timing the tack for the finish line was critical as you had to judge how much the tide would sweep you onto the committee boat, as it was we timed it correctly calling starboard on 26, we sailed over them and crossed the line a boat length ahead, 23 came in 4th as other boats came in on the breeze, the end of racing for the day saw us in pole position counting a 1st and 2nd place. After we had a Sunsail engineer aboard to sort the engine cooling system out we motored to Cowes for the evening with the wind increasing to a force 4-5 as we got into Cowes by 1730.

A great warm shower a Cowes Yacht Haven followed by a few pints and an Anchor Burger at the Anchor pub on Cowes High street warmed the team for the cold overnight on the boat. The loss of the hour as the clocks went forward for British Summer time almost went unnoticed as the team were in bed quite early after a tiring days sailing. Tim up at 0700 BST followed by myself at 0745 with the rest of the team up around 0800 for the 0900 departure for the start area, no wind at all.

We motored 2 ½ miles of the 5 miles and then drifted on the tide as the OD announced the postponement due to the lack of wind. Most of the crew caught some sleep as we drifted on the tide towards the start area. After 3 hrs we could see the breeze filling from the South so we raised the spinnaker and only managed to fly it by reversing the boat into the breeze, several gybes later and a drop had the practise completed.

At about 1345 we had moved to start outside Portsmouth Harbour as the breeze seemed more consistent in that area. A mid line start with us being over the line got us called back, fortunately we could dip the line quite easily and we were called all clear for the fifth row start for the 0.6 mile beat to the first mark. A few good tacks got us to the 1st mark in 7th place for the 0.5 mile run to mark 2. a large bear off and good spinnaker launch and a very deep line took us past 4 boats into 3rd place by the 2nd mark. However a poor spinnaker drop and a tie up with the spinnaker pole saw us stop and 1 boat pass us again. Another boat in front had a similar problem however we sorted ours more quickly and rounded the third mark with them. The wind then went very light and was coming from all directions.

A visit to the bow by myself finally sorted the spinnaker pole out as we saw the OD leave his post and motor to the windward mark. We also noticed the two leading boats leave the 4th mark to Port when it was to starboard, however we were not near enough to shout and believing the OD saw the wrong course being sailed concentrated on recovering our position. We should have radioed the OD but seeing the wind shift I called for the spinnaker to be raised for the final reach to the finish, we were the first to get the spinnaker pulling and crossed the line 4th believing we should have come 2nd. Sunsail 23 was well behind as they had also been over at the start but took longer in returning coming 10th in the race.

The OD then announced that racing was abandoned for the day, after 4 attempts and numerous offers of a tow we managed to get the engine cooling system working.

After mooring and handing the boat back we push started Simon Hibbert’s car as he had a left an internal light on as he arrived on Friday. 3 man push start saved the AA turning out.

I saw the OD and asked about the last race and the first 2 boats, he stated that was an issue for the competitors and those teams. They kept their positions. However we were counting a 1st 2nd and a 4th = 7 points. The 2nd placed boat being on 10 points. As a result of the final race both the 1st and 2nd positioned boats in the final race came 2nd and 3rd overall, seems that we will need to carry a protest flag and ensure the OD is aware of rule infringements etc.

It appears we are again looking at the final in November. Hopefully Simon will sort any clerical errors out and be onboard as the Bow team with Fiona.

Ed is back a university so Matt Potter will team up with Simon Hibbert on the winches.

Tim stated and I agree that it was the strangest sailing conditions he had sailed in with the changing conditions, the highlight according to the team was the port end flyer, Nicola’s comment, “I was busy on that start but I heard Simon Hibbert say he needed a change of underwear as we started”

The Team.

Bow -.Nicola Ogden – Ed Barnes

Mast- Hillary Wittington

Winches- Simon Hibbert and Matt Potter

Navigator and spinnaker - Rachel Walters

Mainsheet- Tim Cripps

Skipper/Helm- Pete Walters.

Another great Solent event in the Sunsail Fleet.