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Cherbourg to CowesReport from Arcsine, Arcona 370, Class 4 Having repacked the soggy sails, as the midday start approach, the improving weather and the impending start lifted our spirits(the day before’s trials were forgotten) After the usual Cherbourg exciting start we were pleased to see the winds had freed and it looked like a straight drag to Bembridge. Having just moved to class 4 it’s interesting to see how we fair against a new set of boats. We had great problems shaking of the Sigmas! As we began to get some surfing we managed to pull away. Everyone had big smiles on their faces, Rocco hit the high of 13.2 knots. We saw Floating Voater, J Fever and Cerulean creep pass to windward. Then of course the inevitable wind drop as we hit the tide creeping passed the Fort, so we began tacking into the shallows. That was to be the name of the game till the finish. We were spurred on as we saw we were catching up 2 Class 3 boats! There was a bit of tension between navigator and skipper as to what was a safe depth under the keel! Perhaps 0.1 was a bit scary – but it did the trick(even if one crew member was heard to say hold on we’re going to hit the bottom!) Then a dip out into the tide to go around Snowden-always the thoughts of ‘ are we going to go backwards’. Finally, after some great team work onboard, the finish. We were so tired we forgot to illuminate the Mainsail-sorry. Many thanks to the shore team for staying up to see us in, it is always great to be able to ‘see’ a friendly face at the finish. Also thanks go to Peter and his prayer mat, which seemed to have worked for this fabulous race back. Report from Persephone, Sigma 38, Class 4 Starting at midday BST the fleet was cautious and for the most part carried reefs for the departure through the Eastern exit of Cherbourg Harbour. Class 5 started with us and Longue Pierre looked a picture of composure as she edged to windward of the fleet in the reaching start. We followed for clear air and seemed to track at a similar speed to WA who had elected for a reef and No 1 while we chose the No 2 but sheeted it on the main genoa track.
Outside the harbour the fleet diverged. Most seemed to opt to travel slightly down tide and went east. We stayed high in the 17 to 20 knot south westerly and soon shook out the reef. Marta were nearest to us with Wild Spirit, the Bavaria 42, the only boat to go higher than us. A cracking sail, in beautiful sunshine, though no warmth in it yet – the heater stayed on again for the way home. Beamy seas meant a few waves over the deck and gradually the crew crept in from the rail. Mrs Seasick was ill again quite soon, and safely tucked up in the port pilot cot under the rail.
When the easterly part of the fleet had gone out of sight, and Blighty was back in sight, we entered phase 2 of the return leg. Tim set up the heavy kite and as the tide turned to the east in earnest, we freed off to around 115 degrees apparent and up she went!
This was a calculation I had done before…if the breeze stayed on, we could plug the tide a bit with the kite and sail faster over the ground than those who had gone down and would now return with the tides. Marta saw the effect, having overtaken with the tide to lee of us, and started to ready their kite. With strong sustained surfs on the big waves south of the Island we were able to regain the initiative and overtook.
Coming in to Bembridge, we spotted WA coming across from the east with her white sails, and knew the rounding was going to be close. They put a kite up too as the pressure dropped in the lee of Wight and by the time we got to the buoy, all 3 Sigma 38’s were within a hundred yards of each other. WA rounded a couple of lengths before us and Marta very close behind. The gaps were the same as they had been leaving Cherbourg Harbour! Wild Spirit had gone with the kite too and rounded after the group of Sigmas.
The wind dropped off to around 6 knots or less and we ghosted towards the forts. Marta stayed right, in deeper water, and seemed to go faster while WA and Persephone stayed out of the deepest water and sailed a higher course. Brian later told me that he had a tidal eddy there which gave him better SOG than his boat speed, so was getting a tidal advantage. We all had to soak down to round the No Mans Land and still WA had the initiative, with Marta and Persephone rounding together 2 or 3 lengths behind.
We tacked inshore. Then again, and stopped on the sand. 4 minutes passed before we came off and got going. The fleet had sailed on.
Not able to trust the contour line we were more conservative in the dark as we worked our way west along the island shore, Across Osborne Bay we seemed to be going well. I was looking at AIS signals from boats further ahead and saw how their speeds were well down on ours. More tide out at Snowden. Was that a Sigma inshore of us as we approached the Shrape? Yes, I think so…concentrate….and we slid past to lee of them. Weaving up and down to stay in enough water and keep apparent wind speeds up, we nervously proceeded, knowing we had to bear away to get outside Snowden.
As soon as we had done so, we went almost close hauled again to get south and creep up the shore towards the finish at Egypt Point. In doing this, we seemed to catch the wind but stay out of the worst of the tide and passed several boats who were only a few lengths to the north, but almost stationary on the flood.
It was great to see the welcoming flash of headlights and talk to finish team on the radio – a fantastic commitment to welcome us all back home.
And the Sigma we passed was WA who finished a couple of minutes later. Marta had gambled for more wind further north and caught more tide as well to come in a few minutes after that.
A great, if tiring weekend and a fine shakedown for Persephone, whose string has all seemed to go back in the right place.
We’ll have to go back to Cherbourg as we never had a chance to enjoy the hospitality.
This time last year we did all this double handed! Report from With Alacrity, Sigma 38, Class 4 After the 24 hour postponement for the race out, we missed out on a lazy day in Cherbourg and by the time we were up on Sunday morning it was a rush to shower and finish breakfast for the midday start for the race home. With 20-25 knots forecast from the NW backing through the day we spent a good 30 minutes before the start gauging the exact wind direction and deciding on the sail plan. We decided it was going to be enough of a reach to go for the No 1 but cautiously decided on one reef until we could find out how much wind there was outside the Cherbourg entrance. We got a good start and were 2nd boat to clear the Cherbourg entrance just behind the faster Arcsine but just a few boat lengths ahead of Persephone with Marta close behind. Shortly after leaving Cherbourg we shook out the reef in the main and were making fine progress towards home. The crossing was quick, we reached Bembridge Ledge in a little over 8 hours fast reaching at just under 8 knots. Persephone and Marta had sailed high out of Cherbourg creating 4 or 5 miles of East-West separation whilst we sailed what we thought was the shorter more direct course. As the breeze backed Marta & Persephone were first to hoist spinnakers and came storming down from the West and it was not until we were within 3 miles of Bembridge that the wind was free enough for us to hoist the spinnaker. Amazingly we rounded Bembridge Ledge just 3 boat lengths ahead of Persephone with Marta just a hundred metres further back – after 8 hours of sailing quite different courses across the channel the 3 Sigma 38s were almost exactly the same distance apart as when we had left Cherbourg Harbour ! The evening breeze was down to just 5-6 knots now with the tide setting in against us – it was going to be a long and nail biting race to the finish. By the forts we had eked out a hundred metre lead and were in a position to loosely cover Persephone, Marta and I think Longue Pierre as we beat along Ryde Sands. It was hard to tell who was who in the dark but on the second tack into Ryde we think Persephone and maybe Marta grounded on the sand bank and stopped dead allowing us to stretch out to a half mile lead across Osborne Bay. As we approached Castle point the wind was down to 4 knots with a strong adverse current, Persephone gave us the most incredible demonstration of light air boat speed as they reeled in the deficit and sailed past 3 boat lengths to leeward to take the lead around Snowden. As we crept towards the finish off Gurnard they were not to be caught and finished 3 minutes ahead to record a fantastic race win, both in the Sigma 38s as well as on handicap in IRC class 4. It took us 4 hours to get from Bembridge to the finish and it was a relief to finally be able to put the engine on and head back to Hamble. It was a cold and tired crew who tumbled into bed at 2am, but what a great weekend of sailing ! Report from Cerulean, Farr 395, Class 3 The last 5 miles from the forts were mentally tough as the darkness, cold and tiredness made fluky breezes and cruel tides all the harder to deal with. We were so focused on trying to catch J-Fever in front that we missed the fleet coming up behind us closer into the Island (Winning Tides in hand no-doubt) until Arcsine was upon us and then quickly passed us. By the time we’d crabbed our way across the back eddy of Another YouTube video – this is Sigma 38 Marta filmed from Cerulean - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtQTD8xO1lo approx mid Channel. And a special thank you to the race committee for starting the race at noon so we got back to
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