JUNIOR OFFSHORE
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Report from Just So, J 109 Class 4.
We all gathered on the boat nice and early given the threat of bank holiday traffic. The skipper had promised a night of 10 knots downwind and a very clear starry sky. We got somewhat more wind, but no stars! The crew had changed slightly since Cherbourg and included a few new faces. One was Andrew, who had done the “try JOG” weekend and had then done a Spring Series race with us. This was a real baptism of fire for him as it was his first channel crossing and also his first night sailing.
We managed to get a nice clear start with Fastrak X below us and White Cloud in front. Fastrak managed to power through underneath us and seemed to be rapidly pulling away as we headed to the forts, whilst White Cloud unfortunately had to return to the start line.
As we approached the forts the debate on the boat was again whether we could hold the spinnaker to Bembridge. As the wind was in an almost identical direction to the Cherbourg race we decided that we could, but Will’s oscillation between spinnaker and code 0 gave the foredeck crew some practice at changing sails! This marked the start of 9 hours with the spinnaker up as once round Bembridge we bore away onto our angles. This kept us slightly high of St Vaast but we were happy going east.
As the night bore on we got headed and the wind stayed in the 15-20 knot range leading to some exciting moments. The fleet also stayed amazingly compact for the first few hours with the endless game of guessing which boat was which in the dark.
The main worry as we approached France was whether we would be able to hold high enough to clear the peninsula, thankfully we got a small lift and a drop in pressure as we headed in. The last few miles were made really challenging by a massive swell rolling past the shore, however, by catching a lucky wave we did manage to set our speed record for the race of 14 knots.
Coming into the finish it was obvious we couldn’t soak low enough to make it and ended up throwing a pair of gybes in. In the second one we managed to wrap the kite which thankfully cleared without too much hassle. In the end we crossed just behind J-Fever who we had been racing for the last hour or so, before heading into the harbour to anchor and see who had beaten us in.
Many thanks to the race team for getting up so early to finish us. Also to RS Divers and M. Gosselin for the party and prizes.
We left St Vaast in the early hours of Sunday morning and DID get the starry night on the way back. We also were treated to Skipper’s legendary hamburgers for lunch as we headed up the Needles channel.
For once the M25 / M3 behaved themselves and Friday afternoon saw yours truly, one of the Drs Hughes and Chris, a temporary casualty of the new reduced "Jeopardy 2", all aboard the 14:45 Red Jet set for Cowes. While the owner juggled ferry logistics and roadworks at Newport the boat was tidied up after it's trip back from Cherbourg on Monday, and made ready for a hopefully fast, if predictably bouncy, trip race to St Vaast. Somehow we were ready early so having waved the biscuit tin, sorry, flare pack, at the start line and found the right button to set the pre-race timer we were ready to go. Once over the line we headed straight up the Solent with the rest of the fleet, importantly staying ahead of Jeopardy 2 all the way (Chris made us promise to beat you, sorry).
There was a bit of a debate about how soon to hoist the kite, and as usual it clashed with dinner time, but the four of us hoisted nicely and set off into the distance. To say there was a confused sea is a little of an understatement at times and the helm did a fantastic job of keeping us on track through the early part of the evening and into a very dark night. At about 23:30 the sea and wind were conspiring against us too much so the call was made to drop the kite and go to 'white' for a while. The drop was good, although sorting out the string took a little while and with hindsight we probably should have repacked the thing there and then, but we didn't lose a lot a of speed and it gave the helm a change to have a well needed break.
The decision to re hoist was delayed until there was enough light to have some chance of getting it right first time and to give yours truly a change to re-rig and re pack (see previous comment); a call that with hindsight may or may not have been right. Whatever the post-mortem, methinks now it was the right decision at the time. We stayed on 'whites' through a fantastic sun rise and early morning, and after the only gybe of the entire race in order to make the line, finished at 07:33 - 12 hours and 13 minutes after we started. Woo hoo and well done all the crew. The hook was dropped, last nights abandoned dinner put back in the fridge for later and some very welcome bacon (and mushroom) rolls were consumed, along with some 'suitable' refreshments. Needless to say a sunny Saturday in St Vaast was enjoyed in the only way possible, with sleep slipping down the priority list more than once.
There is little to be said about the trip back; it was all under engine, in glorious sunshine, involved a little game of 'in front or behind' through the second shipping lane and culminated in whizzing up the Solent at 10 knots before tying up just in time to miss the last ferry back to the mainland, which in turn gave us the chance to empty the fridge for supper.
Thanks to the sponsors, RSDivers, to "La Marina" for hosting the prizegiving, to M. Gosselin for his vin rouge and especially to Peter, Sandie and the race committee for arranging the weather as well as the racing.
Having fitted a splendid new cooker that boasts an oven, our food shop included items that we could burn/cook in a nice new oven.
With it being Tom’s Birthday, Justina had made a very large rum and chocolate cake which had to be smuggled without Toms’ knowledge on to Jeopardy 2. Those who have been on board will also appreciate how hard it was for us to find a suitable hiding place for a very large cake. Safe to say we managed to achieve our objective without Tom’s knowledge.
With everyone on board we motored over to the start whilst tucking into a chicken casserole. We had plenty of time in hand prior to the start, which is when the cunning plan after Bembridge to keep high and East in anticipation of the dying wind was hatched. The plan prior to that was to sail slightly lower, which with 20:20 hindsight was the better option.
Finding ourselves inshore of class 5 at the start we were the only boat on Starboard at the 1 minute gun, sorry everyone! Finding a slot to tack into we managed to get across the line in a reasonable position and settled down to a bit of close hauled sailing until freeing off a little for the leg to the forts. At the forts we freed off some more towards Bembridge where we started to pursue our cunning plan to stay windward of the fleet. Needless to say the wind did not drop off as we had hoped and we arrived at a point 14 miles east of Barflour when we expected to be no more than 5 miles to the East. A gybe and a bit of sailing with the tide put us back in touch with some of the fleet when we were able to gybe again for a finish about an hour behind the leader.
The next challenge was to anchor whist waiting for the lock. Our Vetus anchor refused to dig in to the sea bed and has been relegated to a new role as garage door stop and a new anchor is currently on order. Whilst dragging for flounders we managed to break out the birthday cake and sing a few rounds of Happy Birthday and the Sto lat song (A Polish song).
Once in the harbour 50% of the crew decided to go for a run to Utah beach much to the amusement of past Captains and Presidents (something to do with the running kit I gather) 40% of the crew went sight-seeing and 10% embarked on Bar-robics. Needless to say the whole crew got back together at the Yacht club in time for a great party courtesy of RS divers.
It was fantastic to see crews from 40 boats at the party and given the nice weather, lots of smiling faces.
After a lovely meal in Hotel Fuchsia we had a few hours’ sleep before heading back to home shores and even more sunshine.
Thank you to everyone who took part and especially our hard working race officers.
We started from Weymouth on Thursday afternoon with a very enjoyable relaxing sail up to the Solent, a lovely place to sail with no other boats and a following 3 knot tide. Although still needed to be awake as a large Tanker and 3 tugs filled the Channel!
We had 2 new crew out of only 5 total crew so we did a bit of spinny practice, then set up for less than 12 knots upwind, but the wind had other ideas and we did a rapid switch down to No2 Genoa. We were on for a near perfect start near to Gurnard Buoy when we saw Hots Rats coming in very fast on a reach heading for a point very close to the Buoy. We called and jesticulated ‘No Water’ but they ploughed on and we had to bear away and the yacht beneath us did. This is such a dangerous manoeuvre by Hot Rats I felt we should protest so they and possibly others don’t try this. We displayed our Red and informed Hot Rats but they insisted They had done no wrong!
Anyway on with race, we sailed high, and sailed out from Hot Rats and gained on most boats to reach the Forts second behind Exhuberant. Once kites were raised Just So began to catch us!(nothing new there!) We were flying our Asymmetric(new to 3 of our small crew of 5) but going ok till we had to sail deeper, so prep for a drop and change to our Symmetric but then realised we could not get that completed before the tide would take us on to an anchored ship. A change back of the lazy sheet took a little time in the dark for new crew but just in time we gybed only to find some of the bits of string were in the wrong place and after gybing back we still couln’t work it out or raise the jib!!!....... Exuberant later remarked you were just behind us then a bit later we looked for you on AIS and you were 2 hours behind!!
We now had 2 crew quite sea sick so we white sailed till daybreak then had a lovely Asymm to the finish.
Now we just had the matter of a protest but after discussions with Peter Chartres, and he with Hot Rats, we settled for an apology. I would like to emphasise what a dangerous manoeuvre it is to barge a line by reaching in, especially with a distance mark like Gurnard.
Thanks to Peter, Sandie and team for excellent finishing and party organising and RS Divers for the refreshments-great party
As I hadn’t had any sleep in the race, we had slept rather than visited M. Gosselin’s-this could have been a disaster but fortunately he was open on Sunday morning-I will never tire of visiting that amazing place.
We had a cracking sail back, dropped the crew in Hamble Point at 01.30 and sailed on to Weymouth, reaching the entrance just after 8, but very, very tired-see you all in Deauville.