Mon 10 Aug
W F2, SW F3-5, W F3, NW F2

Tue 11 Aug
W F3, NW F3, W F3-4

Wed 12 Aug
W F4-5

Thu 13 Aug
NW F4, Becalmed, SW F2

Fri 14 Aug
SW F3-4

Skipper
Philip Sugarman
Cowes – Fastnet Rock

Richard Hammons
Fastnet Rock – Plymouth

Watch Leaders
Richard Hammons
John Priddle
Philip Sugarman

Crew
Deborah Chapman
Nanae Gendre-Miyazaki
Geoff Johns
Mark Prosper
Flavien Ries
Peter Tapping

Results
Elapsed time
5 days 03:01:20

Corrected time
5 days 09:54:41

Distance logged
695 Nm

IRC Overall 178/275
IRC2 49/81
IRC2A 15/30
All Beneteau First 40.7 9/13

Everyone else arrived on Saturday morning. Unfortunately the new clutches did not, so we would just have to keep main and genoa halyards on the winches (in spite of Geoff’s attempts to swap lines around to use less worn clutches for the halyards).

We left Ocean Village at about noon, heading for the RORC office in Cowes to get registered and get our flags and stickers. Phil had booked us a berth alongside Wild Spirit at East Cowes.

Dinner in the Red Duster was good, if a little slow, and the beer in the Anchor was tested and found to be more than adequate.

A 0900 start saw us out in plenty of time to set up some waypoints for the start line. This proved to be time well spent.

With mounting excitement we set ourselves up for the start, and got our best one of the year. A spinnaker run down the Solent, keeping in the deep water to maximise our advantage from the favourable tide, saw us 13th out of 30 in IRC class 2a at the Bridge buoy.
Then the wind dropped. Perhaps the most consistent feature of the whole race season, the inconsistent wind. Plenty more (or less) where that came from (or didn’t).

Sporadic progress along the south coast saw most of the fleet struggling with a foul tide at Portland Bill. By dint of several hours of struggle we heroically managed to stay in the same place (being unable, or at least reluctant, to anchor in 50m) overtaking a few boats in the process.
Eventually, in the small hours of Monday morning, wind and tide returned to our cause and progress was resumed, having overtaken 6 yachts in our class by this exercise in judicious drifting to go from 17th to 11th in IRC Class 2a.
I particularly enjoyed calling a cheery good morning to a French boat which we passed while they were struggling to weigh anchor in 49 metres. I don’t think they heard me, however, as they did not reply.

Unfortunately a fumbled sail change before Start Point a few hours later saw us drop to 26th (IRC2a).
That’ll teach me to be so smug.

By Monday lunchtime we were back in business again, however. With a decent wind we stayed in close to use a fair tide and were again climbing up through the fleet to 18th (IRC2a) by the afternoon.

The early hours of Tuesday saw us safely past the Lizard and into Mounts bay.
The plan here was to tack up to Longships and then cross the traffic separation scheme to Seven Stones on a comfortable beat. The trouble was that the winds seemed to be much lighter closer in to shore, so what we actually did was to cross to the south of the TSS and then tack to head north to the east of the Scillies. This piece of cunning gained us 5 places by the time we had got to the north east corner of the Scillies in 12th (IRC2a) by Tuesday lunchtime.

A few hours of westward progress saw us get onto a port tack that to take us all the way across the Celtic sea. Winds of force 4 to 5 and slight to moderate but sometimes steep enough to wake the light sleepers among us and to catch Geoff out resulting in a tumble from the companionway and some severely bruised (if not cracked) ribs which put him out of action for 24 hours or so.

We rounded the Rock at a little after 1600 on Wednesday almost close enough to touch it, opened our champagne (chilled in a bucket of Celtic Sea) and toasted the health of all Space Racers.
This was a definite high point, with spirits rising as we were headed home now, we were no longer close hauled after a 24 hour beat.
A fine display of gentlemanliness was given by yours truly and Mark. “You helm round the Rock old chap”. “No, after you. I insist!”. Well we compromised. Mark helmed to due North of the Rock and then handed over to me. Thanks again Mark. Thanks also to Watch C who should have taken over 20 minutes earlier. It is much appreciated.

So a quick reach to the Pantaneus Buoy, and up goes the Spinnaker. Ah the joy of sailing downwind in a decent breeze and gentle swell. A chance to regroup, dry some gear, and apart from some near wraps in the early hours of Wednesday, when the wind went cyclonic for a while and we changed to whites for a few hours, pure sailing enjoyment.

We dropped a couple of places taking the cautious route around the western edge of the Scillies and attendant TSS’s, passing Bishops Rock at around 2 am on Friday in 15th (again IRC2a).

Light winds, but mercifully steady direction, gave us a continuation of the Spinnakerathon all the way to the finish. Some boat on boat racing with Alchemiste added some spice, but they were always that bit faster in the conditions. Only a fraction of a knot, but it told. Our cunning plan of hardening right up just before the line and then using the momentum to head across the line perpendicular to it to try to sneak ahead of them didn’t quite work, but only by 2 seconds. It also had the added consolation of causing quite a fright to a boat load a fishermen anchored on the line as we swept past their bow with scant regard for control.

So 15th/30 in IRC 2a, 49th/81 IRC 2, 178th/275 overall. A bloody good result.

QED.

Well done all.