Heading for the finish on the Squadron Line on Sunday 1st August, Mostly Harmless in middle of shot. (Paul Wyeth – pwpictures.com)
After three years running a double handed class without securing much interest, the organisers of Cowes Week have given up on offering a separate start for double handed IRC boats. I can’t blame them and, although it allowed us to win the class, racing in a small fleet is nothing like as much fun as racing in a large one.
Consequently we hadn’t planned to race at Cowes this year. Our decision to pull out of the Fastnet helped change that, particularly after we offered to lend our storm trysail to Rum N Cork’s crew for their Fastnet campaign and then forgot to dig it out for them after our most recent outing. This meant we needed to make an extra trip to HYS for the purpose which seemed a waste of petrol if we didn’t go sailing as well. So, at the last minute, we decided to enter the first three days of the regatta, basing ourselves at Hamble Yacht Services rather than Cowes. We rustled up crew by the day, reaching out to old friends from Prima 38 and Sigma 33 days (frighteningly realising that these were fifteen and twenty years ago respectively) and newer friends without big boat experience whom we’d offered to take sailing.
We were joined for Saturday and Sunday by Andy Bowman the bowman from the Sigma, on Saturday by Ian who was part of the original Sigma crew and the Prima crew, on Sunday by Sue who joined the Sigma crew after a few seasons and stayed with us to race the Prima, and Bob the Navigator who had been with us for some big offshore adventures in the Prima and the Class 40 and joined us on Monday to race three-up (exhausting for a crew with an average age of 63). Completing the six person crew for Saturday’s race were Amiria from Ranelagh SC and her boyfriend Philip. For Sunday’s race we were joined Fiona and Neil, dinghy instructors from Datchet Water SC with loads of experience in dinghies but new to big boats.
Conditions were mixed throughout. There was virtually no wind at the start of Saturday’s race but 27 knots was recorded later on at the Bramblemet weather station. Monday’s race, in contrast to the forecast light airs, started with enough breeze for us to benefit from sailing the first beat with a reef, then shake it out and hoist the masthead A2 kite on the two downwind legs, but then complete the final leg surrounded by boats broaching under spinnaker.
It was not a great series for starting – on Saturday we were five minutes late as a result of miscommunication between Tom and Natalie, and on Monday a couple of minutes late as a consequence of inadequate communication of an amended start time (brought forward by forty minutes) by the race organisers. Nonetheless, we worked our way back into the fleet on each day, finishing 13th, 15th and 14th in the 22 boat fleet, with a good time had by all.
Ben Rogers spotted us from the shore on Saturday and took a few photos.
