We were back to a crew of 6 for this race.  Tanya had returned but hubby was unable to come due to work  (what’s that!) & was replaced by Spongebob Square Pants (aka Jim). 

Due to the fabulous weather we are currently having, there was absolutely no way we were going to get from Cowes to St Malo in this life time.  A huge high pressure system had parked its derrière over the UK with no intention of moving. What wind there was, was steadily moving south – unfortunately faster than the intrepid Javelin could carry us.

We had a gentle drift down wind against the tide at the start, while waiting for the sea breeze to kick in, which it duly did, giving us a cracking sail out of the Needles. Then, at St Alban’s Head, the sea breeze turned off & the wind had gone on its travels to France without us.  A night on anchor, followed by a brief sail Saturday morning when the tide turned, before we conceded defeat & retired from the race (along with most of the fleet in our class).   A pleasant motor back to the Solent with the afternoon spent practising the spinnaker.  Then an earlier finish than planned & I got to spend some time at home with my hubby (for the first time in AGES!!!).

Put the Kettle On.

With the forecast of little wind, we needed to top up on fuel to ensure we could get back to land if we ended up drifting aimlessly mid channel.  So we slipped our moorings at Shamrock & went aallll the way to the fuel pontoon on the river Itchen.  Clearly after such a strenuous sail, a cuppa tea was required to revive the crew.   Well we did have to wait for the fuel guy to come down & open up his wee hut.

Now it’s Getting Tight to Qualify….

We signed up to do 5 of the Fastnet qualifying races, which would give us significantly more than the required 300 miles.  It also gave us a buffer eg should we lose one of the races eg due to an incident or the weather.  Unfortunately we have lost 2 & both of them were the higher mileage races – the Myth of Malham where we had to retire due to the head vs spinnaker pole incident & now this latest race to St Malo due to lack of wind.

The good news is we have one race left in 2 weeks time that will give us the required mileage.  The bad news is that all the weather pundits are saying that this ‘good’ weather is going to hold for the next couple of weeks.  I don’t mean to be a spoil sport but I have to inform you that I am doing my wind dance on a daily basis now – with renewed vim & vigour.  So word to the wise – don’t plan any elaborate outdoor events that require good weather for 27th / 28th August – coz it’s going to be a little bit windy.

What No Pit Boss??

To everyone’s relief , Tanya, our pit boss, returned for this race & within no time at all had licked John & I back into shape as her pit crew.  Then the bombshell – unfortunately she was having to pull out from the rest of the campaign & would not be doing the last qualifying or the Fastnet race with us.  This is a HUGE loss to us.

But it got worse.  I’m the new pit ‘boss’ – OMG!  Hence the intensive spinnaker training  Saturday afternoon.  Not always pretty but with the superb training from Tanya – hopefully any major embarrassments can be avoided.  Forward :  In, Back : Out  (I think).

What About the Toasties?

In addition to being the pit boss, Tanya also victualled the boat.  As you will have read in previous blogs her toasties are legendary & the highlight of our race weekends.  So I know we have a toasted sandwich maker somewhere in the loft – the question is where on earth it is?

He’s Not Really Going to do That is He?

During our gentle drift down the western Solent, we found ourselves in the middle of the pack (a first for us!).  Alex, our First Mate, kindly pointed out to one boat that they were trailing a line (her killer instinct having temporarily gone AWOL!!!).  In return, the rather cultured gentleman generously shared his local sailing knowledge about where to get the best wind (yep – we were moving that slowly you could have an in-depth conversation with the boats next to you).  How nice.  Well not really, as the wombat, who was the windward boat (we were both on port tack) declared he was going to gybe, which would have had him turn into  us.

A brief & rather terse exchange followed that demonstrated a clear difference of opinion about the racing rules.  So what did he do?  Gybed right on top of us – forcing us to gybe to avoid a collision & causing us all sorts of grief as we weren’t ready.  At this point the FM killer instinct returned with a vengeance & from within the spinnaker (she does seem to spend a lot of time wrapped up in that sail)  could be herds shouting ‘Protest!!!  That is a despicable display of poor seaman ship’.  I think most of the Solent heard how she felt.  Unfortunately, in order to submit a protest we had to get to St Malo.  So while our red protest flag got its first outing, the wombat got off!

How Much Anchor Chain Do We Have?

Of course, you never run out of wind somewhere convenient.  We were off St Alban’s Head – in the overfalls, when the aimless drifting started.  After flopping about for a while the decision to anchor was made.  Now in theory, if you have all chain anchor cable, you should put down 4X the amount of chain as the depth of water that you are in.

We’d come to a stop in 30m of water.  Now we definitely had more than 30m of chain but nowhere near the recommended 120m.  Fortunately the sea was very calm & as I’ve mentioned in passing once or twice already, there was naff all wind.  So parking up in the overfalls was feasible. Comfortable?  Well a bit rolly.  Did the anchor hold?  Sort of – we didn’t go too far.

As each of us took it in turns to do the anchor watch, we were entertained by watching one of our fellow competitors who didn’t have a long enough anchor cable, slowly drift backwards – his track illuminated by his pretty green starboard nav light.

The Portland Coastguard Sweepstake.

I love the coastguard.  They are fantastic in helping out in a crisis, have the patience of saints in dealing with some of the calls they get & clearly have nothing better to do on a gorgeous summer’s weekend than manage the huge number of boats that retired from the race.  Race rules require retiring boats to contact the RORC boat on Channel 72 (only really feasible near the start & finish of the race) & if unable to raise RORC, to call the Coastguard.

So early Friday evening the calls started to go into Portland Coastguard.   Soon, when boats hailed them on Channel 16, they were asked ‘If it is routine traffic or if you are retiring from the race, to go to channel 73.’  Obviously being innately curious (ie nosey) we’d switch to 73 to hear what was going on.  As the evening wore on & more boats retired, the Coastguards, started to get a bit chattier.  On hearing the later boats declare they’re intentions were to go into Weymouth, the Coastguard wished them a great evening partying with the other race boats that were already in.

Night fell & all went quiet on the radio (apart from Lancelot towing in another race boat with engine problems – very gallant).  So picture the scene.  Early morning, the tide turns.  Anchors are raised as the optimistic souls who didn’t go into Weymouth, endeavour to find wind.  Optimum conditions for a sweepstake me thinks!  Who’s going to retire first?  What time will the last boat retire?  As most of the boats have AIS on them, the Coastguard could track the lack of progress being made.  Now clearly they are waaay too professional to run a sweepstake but it must have been soooo tempting.

Food Update

While the Toasties are by far the favourite food on-board Javelin, the spicy min-beef pasties come a close second.  Last race I missed having one as the pack was inhaled by 3 of the crew in the blink of an eye (well actually in the time it took me to make them all a cuppa tea).  This race, 2 packets were on-board & I got to try one – at 5am Saturday morning as we drifted off anchor.  I can see why they were popular but, although they are mini – you get to enjoy them repeatedly for quite a while afterwards.

To ensure a balanced diet, there are also yoghurts available.  This time some funky corner ones – with strawberry goop or chocolate balls.  The strawberry ones were much preferred after the skipper was heard to say ‘My balls don’t taste of anything’ – way more information than the rest of us needed thank you.

Deck Shoe Update

My funky new deck shoes – ROCK!!!  They don’t go with anything but what the heck.  They are bright & cheerful – just like me.  Happy days.

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