Report from Substitute, Salona 37, Class 3 

The weather forecast at the beginning of the week made it look as though the race was going to be ideal for the asymmetric boats and a relatively quick ride for the rest of us. However, as has been the case throughout this season the last minute forecast was completely different and enabled the fleet to get a kite start off the Royal London line.

Our crew, which was down to 4, Oliver was at his summer ball and Zippy had suffered a family bereavement, decided to enjoy the evening meal of a savory minced steak with new potatoes and vegetables prior to setting off for the start line. We had our hands full pre-start with the German mainsheet system wrapping itself in knots around the helm, so glad we have opted not to have this on Red Zeppelin. Eventually when we had managed to extricate Tim from the carnage we headed off to the start line with a few minutes in hand. Our start under whites was a good one with the asymmetric going up a little later than usual but at least under control. The wind down the Solent was occasionally puffy giving crews a hard time with a number of boats broaching out. Substitute behaved impeccably giving us enough warning to bear away, ease the kicker and ease the sheet in the gusts. Interestingly enough Cougar’s crew who was alongside us had their kite locked off and were nonchalantly eating their lasagna whilst Steve bore away in the gusts thus avoiding spilling his food. (Must try the cool approach next time).  

At the forts the wind had piped up a bit and a number of boats had problems dropping their kites, some of them ended up trawling before retrieving the soggy remains from the water. Fortunately our drop went well and we settled down for the long beat to Deauville. During the first few hours the fleet split three ways, some boats went high to the West, some went low and fast and we opted for the middle. After a while we lost sight of most boats and with very few boats around us we wondered if other crews’ had heard a different forecast to the one we had. Through out the night we kept the boat moving as fast as we could trading tacks with what turned out to be SX Girl.

On the approach to Deauville we were headed causing us to tack into the adverse tide, SX Girl had gained an advantage over us in the previous hours allowing her the luxury of being able to tack in shallower water and increasing her lead significantly.   Eventually we crossed the finish line with enough time to get in through the Deauville lock. As we approached the Deauville Yacht Club we were hailed by Peter who kindly pointed out a vacant mooring underneath the Yacht Club balcony. Once moored up we made our way to the Club to find that we were the second British boat to arrive and that SX Girl had got in about 20mins before us.   We were made very welcome by the Deauville Yacht Club, and enjoyed talking to the crews, flag officers, etc from the Royal Southern, Royal London and Deauville clubs.

As usual it was great to meet up with fellow Jog crews and enjoy a drink (or two) with everyone. During the day and evening the wind rose as predicted and we were pleased to be tucked up in port. Sunday morning was grey to start but the sun made an appearance for the prize giving, which as usual was a grand affair with a nice spread of food for everyone after the speeches.   We opted to leave after the lunch to make the most of the daylight hours for our return. The conditions were quite boisterous with very lumpy seas. The wave pattern was such that we could not avoid the odd drop off the side of some of the larger waves with the ensuing crash testing the hull integrity of the Salona. We are please to say that she passed this test with flying colours, with nothing significant dropping off. Through out the next 18hours we saw winds of up to 35kts apparent on the nose all the way making the journey back a bit of a slog, to say the least. We eventually got back to our mooring by late morning where we spent a good couple of hours cleaning and drying the inside of Substitute.   Looking forward to a sunny, light down wind race to Alderney with a nice sunny, light down wind sail back from Alderney.  

Thank you to all of the race officers for a great weekend of racing and to every one who took part.

Report from Alchemist, Dubois Half Tonner, Class 5

We may only have started with one sail but at least we started. The nice calm run down through the Solent offered plenty to see, colourful spinnakers and the Queen Mary 2 which made the crew stop concentrating so they could all look at it. Rounding No Mans Land Fort gave us a gentle spinnaker drop and then a chance to cook dinner.

This is where the tough decision came in - do we go left or right? Plenty of thought went into this so after 30 seconds of talking between the crew we decided to go right. We knew this was right because everyone else was following us which we figured out was good. Then the biggest decision ever came in ,do we stick with the number 2 or drop and hoist the 1?  Nope, sticking with the number 2 was the wrong decision but we weren’t sure whether the wind was going to pick up. So we sailed for 9 hours with the wrong sail but, oh well, maybe next time we'll change it.

Quote of the race came from Robbie - 'Where are we?' Andrew -'Well you’re the navigator you tell me.' After the little hiccup in the navigation we all woke up bright and early just because Andrew wanted weight on the rail. So all the crew fully hiked out on the rail then we passed a huge group of jellyfish but at the same time we got knocked so our faces got closer and closer to the jellyfish. Just before the finish we had a constant breeze of 25 knots so instead of decreasing the jib size from the 2 to the 3 we went for a reef in the main because it was easier.  Now the race was on to get the other boats but more importantly the lock gate, so fully hiked out crew everybody trying their hardest but sadly we missed the gate so headed to Le Harve.

That night was very tense because we didn’t know any results so weren’t sure if we’d won, lost or even got disqualified. Was a lovely race though and can't wait until next year.  (Robbie Southwell-Navigator and tactics).