de Guingand Bowl
| de Guingand Bowl 13 June 2009
Weather Skipper Navigator Watch Leaders Crew Results |
Report Afer a long haul in the Myth of Malham the last thing we relished was another light air challenge but we had to accept that the forecasts for the weekend ahead were not great. Close study of gribs and tidal streams continued into the early hours of Saturday morning. From no wind to some light breeze on Saturday morning we were early to scout the start line favouring the northern end to benefit from stronger tidal stream and slightly better wind direction. This had to be one of the gentlest starts on record as the fleet painfully edged its way eastwards. No problems for Tonnerre as she gently powered past us. We caught a wind hole off Gilkicker as the forward boats dropped their spinnakers to start their reach to NAB tower which we also eventually managed by midday. SpaceRace made good progress to NAB with only slight manoeuvering needed to round the tower at (??). By this time tidal streams started looking more favourable for the south side of the Island. Discussion was on staying close in or going out. We stayed fairly close in to keep the wind trying to identify any subtle changes to wind direction. With a SW breeze of a bout 8 knots, the leg down the SE side of IoW featured both some brilliant beating performance and also some not so brilliant. There was definitely a strong SE stream close to the shore, and this paid handsomely: when we tried prematurely to hit out for the main Channel current (E-W), we found it lacking, and paid the price. However, on passing the St Catherine’s Head lighthouse longitude, our fortunes changed. The tide was building (E-W); the apparent decision was one of hugging the SW IoW coast, with a view to picking up the strong current S of the Needles, or, tight reach/close hauled on the rhumb line just N of E Shambles. We elected the latter, even though most boats seemed to adopt the former. After a mile or two of rather slow progress in a reducing wind, our skipper suggested we try a variation, namely, bearing off 15 degrees and flying the kite. This we did: the change was amazing – boat speed jumped from 3.5-4 knots to 6-6.5 knots… whey..hey what a blast. We were charging now for St Albans Head/Anvil Point and leaving the rest of the fleet for dust (or spray should I say). Anyway, this hunch by our illustrious skipper helped us put several 10s of boats behind us, and this position was held pretty much til the end of the race. Through the evening the tide turned and the wind died, and by 2300 hrs approximately we just could not make any progress agin the tide; the watch on duty correctly sought to park-up and grab some well earned kip. By 0200 on Sunday, a zephyr or two had picked up, and more importantly the tide turned. The zephyrs became a light breeze building from the SW, which meant we had a beat to get around E Shambles. Making about 4 knots through patchy fog that had a definite ‘Hounds of the Baskerville’ feel about it: aahhhooooo, we could hear the dogs baying, or was that some light snoring coming from the saloon, we eventually rounded E Shambles at about 0530 hrs. Bearing 080 and with the wind abaft the beam, it didn’t take long to decide to hoist the kite and head off towards the next target, the North Head mark. From Anvil Point the winds dropped and we were facing a race for the tidal gate at St Alban’s Head closing at about 11pm. Some yachts had gone very close inshore at this point and we could cearly see them tacking to make slow progress along the coastline. Others were further out but neither groups seemed to make significantly better progress to ourselves about 1 mile offshore. Wind holes and low speeds saw our lay-line to the head diminish as we had to adopt the tactics of short tacking to near the point. As daylight finally faded it bacame increasingly obvious we would not make a rounding. Suddenly the other boats started to pile up, anchoring, anchored or still moving around all of which we managed to dodge in the light wind. We finally kedged at 23:30 about a quarter mile south-east of the Head to stem our backward drift listening to the breaking waves about 250 yards to starboard and watching shadows in the flickering of a bonfire somewhere in the cliffs. A couple of brews later and we were breaking the silence with our anchor chain alerting our competitors that SpaceRace was off again this time finding enough wind to pass the Head. Good progress was then made as with more favourable tide we arrived and rounded East Shambles Light at around 07:00. An increasing number of spinnakers appeared as more yachts rounded the mark to head back to St. Albans through yet another foul tide. Close in to the coast or stay out? Much discussion later saw us keeping a course to just south of the Head keeping a close eye on the yachts ahead of us and what their sails told us as they approached. This was a good section of the race for us as SpaceRace kept a steady 6/7 kts downwind. We were almost becalmed for 30mins south of Lulworth Cove which whilst frustrating enabled us to make some southwards giving us a better angle on the Head when the wind returned. The wind filled in with a steady 8kts+ from the north giving us good speed to the head. We changed to white sails just past the head as the wind strengthened and veered giving the whole fleet a fast reach up to and past Anvil Point. Plenty of sunshine now and the race seemed to be stepping up as we continued to discuss options for the return leg to Poole and home not noticing that we had yet to see a boat coming back towards us. Had RORC shortened the course? The final leg to North Channel Light saw our spinnaker out for its last appearance and the wind remained favourable to take us over the finish line at 12:35 just passing an IRC Class 1 boat close to the line. This race favoured those boats with asymmetric spinnakers and thus the J-Boat fleet did well. Others had little appetite for the light wind sailing and a significant number retired. Whilst the De Guingland Bowl had been a similar outing to the Eddystone Race it also had proven to be challenging with some significant obstacles to overcome. SpaceRace and crew again persevered and made some excellent calls finishing with a high degree of confidence and satisfaction. The results reflect this. |
