Portishead Cruising Club - Winter Race 5

Sat 10th February 2007 - Winter Series #5 (last race)

Racing in my regular crew spot on board Aquila (Westerly GK29), Andy, Huw Chris and myself locked out at 1000 of Portishaed Marina with Gareths's Best Endeavour (Sunfast 32), Matt's Spring Fever (MG Spring 25) and Petes Drama Queen (Bavaria 38). Surprisingly the conditions were bright and sunny with a gentle South Westerly blowing around 10 knots, although the weather was expected to break in the afternoon. We all motored over to the start line by the Avonmouth signal station avoiding a contatiner ship under tow for Portbury. Race start was delayed by 7 mins to ensure our course didn't interfere with port operations, course #4 being selected which takes us from the start to Cockburn (port), West Dock Middle (starboard), Firefly (starboard) and finish giving us a distance of around 3.5nm. Dave (White Spirit) who was leading the series, joined us fom the PCC moorings with spinnaker ready to fly for the first downwind leg. We, on Aquila stayed close to the line with furled genoa, spinnaker and pole rigged to port and on the gun crossed the line within the first 10 secs of the race. Best Endeavour got an even better start and even though not flying a chute, got to Cockburn 10 boat lengths ahead of Aquila who was followed by Drama Queen, Spring Fever who also flew her chute and close behind White Spirit. Rounding the mark we had the chute doused and sails set for a beat for West dock middle, our dilemma being whether to follow Best Endeavour for portbury pier or stay on course past Cockburn heading down channel but in strong adverse tide. We decided to head for the pier but the tide was setting us back to the River Avon so we decided to tack which in actual fact gave us a good course for the next mark as the wind had increased slightly and backed South. before we got to the mark we had to tack to pass it to starboard so we headed for the back eddy to help us towards the marina and the next mark Firefly. Depending on the wind direction and particulalrly if the course includes Denny Island it sometimes pays to keep close to the shore to maximise the back eddy, but today we set a course that was the shortest distance to the mark allowing for the tide. Meanwhile Andy repacked the chute ready for the final leg to the finish. Approaching the mark, Best Endeavour passed us on the way back and flew her chute, now having increased her lead to about 3 minutes. Huw brought us close enough to read the serial number on Firefly! and then bore away closely followed by Drama Queen. We had the chute up again with the pole to staboard and almost touching the forestay and reached a few points to port off our preferred course but giving us good boat speed of around 4knots. SOG was about the same so the tide was starting to turn early possibly from the amount of rain run off we've had recently. We hung on to the chute as long as possible with Drama Queen keeping pace under genoa but on a shorter course until we felt with the wind shifting again we needed to get the genoa up. The drop wasnt one of our best totally engulfing Huw on the helm who for a short period had totally dissapeared under sail cloth! Deciding it was probably best if the helm could see where he was going, we stowed the chute below, however the delay had allowed Drama Queen to take us to windward and gain 5 boat lengths and continue to make ground all the way to the line. Best Endeavour crossed first followed by Drama Queen, Aquila, Spring Fever and White Spirit. On handicap, Best Endeavour won, followed by White Spirit, Spring Fever , Aquila and Drama Queen. In true Aquila fashion win or loose we hit the booze so arrived back in the marina lock to the musical accompaniment provided by empty beer bottles! A great mornings race in unusually spring like weather completed back at the club with White Spirit buying the port for winning the series. Next race Sat 24th Feb.

The Fastnet 2007 campaign begins

So one of my lifes ambitions has begun. I'm signed up to do the Rolex Fastnet 2007 and instead of taking a more contemporary charter on a Beneteau 40.7, I've opted for Windward Sailing's Volvo 60 'Venom' (formerlyTyco II) as my chosen mode of transport!!

To qualify for the Fastnet 50% of the crew in the racing calendar year have to complete 300 miles on the chosen boat and have participated in a sea survival course.

Venom has 12 paying crew members and 4 paid crew all of whom will sail and train together to achieve the entry qualification. To reach this we will have the following racing calendar:

21-22 April 2007 - Training weekend in Solent on Chernikeef 2
Weekend in April/May - Sea Survival Course
5-7 May 2007 - Cervantes race - Cowes to Le Havre on Chernikeef 2
15-17 June 2007 - Morgan Cup - Cowes St Helier on Venom
13-15 July 2007 - Cowes to St Malo
27-29 July 2007 - Channel Race

12th August 2007 - Rolex Fastnet 2007 begins

"Venom" the Volvo 60..

Venom (ex Tyco II) was built in 2001, comes with a Carbon fibre mast and boom and has over 30 sails to choose from!! On a downwind leg its possible to hoist 4490ft2 of sail so either I’ll look like popeye when this is all over or be crippled for life!! Compare this with a 30 ft yact which would typically fly around 1/10th of thisThese yachts have recorded speeds in excess of 35 knots aided by the use of two and a half tons of water ballast with a typical average of 20 knots. The Volvo 60 was first used in the 1993 Whitbread Round the World race and raced alongside the more conventional but larger Maxi Yachts to win the Volvo Trophy. The 60’s proved to be so much faster that the Maxi Yachts were never used again for this epic race.

‘Venom’ Stats:

• Length: 19.5m
• Beam: 5.2mDraft: 3.7m
• Displacement: 14000kg
• Upwind Sail Area: 200m
• Downwind Sail Area: 417m
• Water Ballast: 5000 ltr.
• Carbon Fibre Mast and Boom
• Twin wheel steering
• 2 Lewmar coffee grinder winches
• B&G instruments
• Yanmar diesel engine with folding propeller
• 18 full length bunks
• Galley and a heads!
• Furuno Radar and Weather fax
• Futuno SSB Radio
• Full RORC Safety spec

The RORC courses

21 April - Training Weekend - Solent Based - 100 miles - See write up in Blog
The first time we step aboard Venom. The objective is to get familiar with the boats systems, where everything is and how the rig works. In addition, everyone after having tried different positions will be assigned a primary activity (hope mines not climbing the mast in a Force 8!).

April / May – ISAF/RORC Sea survival Course - Shore based
Date TBD but teaches us in a pool the practical use of life rafts and life saving techniques. I’m guessing this will be a little bit more than picking up the builders bucket attached to a fender!!

5th May - Bank Holiday weekend - Cervantes Trophy - Cowes - Le Havre - 120 miles

1st RORC offshore Race proper. Cross the start line at Cowes avoid the IOW ferries and turn right eastwards to Rustington when passport in hand we head south for Le Havre. Depending on conditions we should cross the finish in around 7 hours ready for some Kronenbourg and Moules Frites. Full of ‘je ne sais quoid’, it’s a late start on Sunday for a night sail back to Cowes to train under night watch conditions. Expect to arrive back in the Solent for Monday lunchtime having gone over race tactics and sail handling including how to wrap the spinnaker round the forestay whilst broaching!!

26th May – Bank Holiday weekend - Myth of Malham - Cowes – St Quay Portrieux - 165 Miles - Deleted and replaced with race in July

Up bright and early on Saturday morning after Friday night race planning (OK beers) for the start of one of the longer RORC races. If you’ve seen a chart of the area you’ll see the route takes us through Brittanys ‘rock garden’ which will make night navigation particularly interesting especially with fog often adding to the fun. If the prevailing South Westerlies dominate we’ll be racing close hauled most of the way (not really what these Volvo 60’s excel at) so off watch you’ll see me perched in my chicken coop (pipe cot) strapped to the windward hull. After a short stop to watch the rest of the fleet arrive (theres confidence!!) its back out with the spinnakers for yet more training aiming to arrive back in Cowes Monday afternoon to join the holiday traffic on the M4.

16 June - Morgan Cup - Cowes – St Helier – Cowes - 125 miles

1 July - St Malo - Cowes - Dinard - St Malo – 150 miles

This will be all too familiar to me, a trip I do every 8 weeks on the ferry. Simply follow the Brittany Ferries ‘Bretagne’ as it leaves Portsmouth and use it as a shield against the odd oil tanker and container ship as we track at full speed across La Manche to St Malo (actually the ferry leaves at 2030 and as we’re supposed to start Friday afternoon this might not be the best race tactic!!). Heading West out of the Solent as soon as we clear Bembridge ledge its helm over to 230 degrees across the channel leaving the Casquets, Les Hanois buoy, and St Peter Port to port before heading towards the walled city of St Malo. The party starts when we lock into the inner harbour on Saturday, so the Sunday training sail back will be driven on top of copious cups of black coffee, Stugeron and Paracetomol!! We should be back in Cowes late Sunday early Monday morning

27-28 July - Channel race - 125 miles

The route used on previous races however it’s the race officers discretion on the day as to the where we’ll go. After bacon butties on Sat morning we’ll probably be the first group (sub zero fleet) to leave. The name of the game is 24 hour endurance involving clever race tactics, multiple sail changes and no sleep. Depending on how close the finish is likely to be, crew will be expected to sacrifice themselves overboard on the way to the finish line and swim from the Bramble bank to the Royal Yacht Squadron club house for tea and cake at the presentations!

12 August – Rolex Fastnet Race - Cowes – Fastnet – Plymouth - 608 Miles
Assuming all goes to plan, I haven’t been decapitated by a carbon boom or inadvertently hooked my harness onto the Genoa halliard rather than the Code Zero, I should be bobbing somewhere around the Bramble bank in the sunshine on Sunday afternoon with sweaty palms and butterflies in my stomach. And the last thing I’ll want hear is some old salt saying “I remember it was just like this in 1979…”. It’s then a mass start heading East for the Needles with hundreds of spectator boats and even more bystanders all the way down to the Hurst Point forts. I hope I’ll see some of you waving hankies (clean or Kleenex please!) on the way! The aim of the game is to maximise the tide and sling shot out of the Solent aiming for a cable off Start Point and the Lizard before we start heading North east for the Fastnet Rock. The theory is we beam reach to the rock rounding it to port when we do the same South of the Scillies before the final sprint for Plymouth. Typically taking 3-4 days in a Volvo 60 (in 2005 Venom did it in Xdays Y hours) we should be back on Terra Firma on the Barbican, Thursday with a pint in my hand telling anyone I earshot what an extreme race we had and how I know how Alex Thompson felt when he had to abandon Hugo Boss!! All being well Venom will have performed like an ocean sprinter rather than a Mirror Dinghy and we’ll have achieved a good result and have memories that will keep us in beer for the rest of our lives!!