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!!
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