Cowes Poole

Report from Jeopardy 2

The entry list sent out by Peter was impressive with nearly 80 boats joining in.

The Jeopardy 2 crew went through a small number of updates with Zippy joining us and then having to drop out to sell his house in Morocco. The final crew list was complemented by Ruth and Fiona, Orphan Hill’s angels. Because Ruth and Fiona are better looking than us and know what they are doing when it comes to sailing, Oli, Bob, Don and I spent 48hrs trying to persuade them to defect permanently to Jeopardy 2. Apparently what may clinch the deal is the cooker, with oven and the fridge that Jeopardy 2 sports, unfortunately not our youthful good looks (Oli being the exception to this rule) .www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUnTB8KPfX0&feature=youtu.be

The start line was rather busy with Class 6 boats dominating the Solent sailing scene. Once the Class 6 boats were away it was our turn. The beat to the forts kept everyone on their toes as we tried in vain to get the numbers up. Once at the Forts we opted to change to the Jib Top for the reach to Bembridge, which kept us in the game. Once round Bembridge, Oli and Fiona prepared the big kite for the Hoist. Like true professionals the Kite Shot up the mast in double quick time and appeared to set. The Jib came down and Oli tried to sweat the last couple of foot of halyard up the mast Oops the Tack and Clew had been reversed and we had to drop the kite super quick. To be fair the drop swap, the check for twists and the re-hoist was done in such quick order the problem did not cost us too many minutes.

The tide was against us so the best place to be was in Sandown Bay, which is where we went. The fun and games of Asymetric sailing is that to keep some forward momentum you have to Gybe more often when sailing downwind. Having Ruth and Fiona with us boosted our Asymetric sailing experience by a good 100% and soon we found ourselves gybing for the fun of it (keeping out of the tide). The stretch of water from Ventnor to St Cats was a bit of a challenge due to the increase in wind speed and the lumpy sea. It was interesting, as the Class 3 boats caught us, watching Tearaway 2 wriggle her way along the shore ripping yards out of every one less slick at Gybing out of the tide.

Once round St Cats the sea calmed and the wind started to drop. When the tide turned the trick was to keep going and manage our course so that we dropped in to the finish line without radical course changes. Just as we were within the last mile or so the wind shifted through 100 deg forcing a last Gybe to keep us on track for the line.

On arrival in Poole the Marina Staff managed mooring us all up in a very slick fashion allowing us all to congregate in one area for some serious pontoon parties before departing to various restaurants scattered around Poole.

We had a crew reduction in Poole because Fiona had to go and judge the/a horse of the year show. When we asked her what a judge looks for in one of these events she said that the horse had to be pretty, have a nice name and a good nature! Watch out for Fiona judging One man and his dog, next!