JOG normally runs a couple of races over a weekend at this time of year, the first outbound to Poole on the Saturday and the second back to Cowes on the Sunday. With Covid-19 restrictions in mind, JOG organised a race to Poole and back over the Saturday of the bank holiday weekend, followed by a race within the Solent on the Sunday.
It was breezy and cold when we left the Hamble, with a 20 knot northerly blowing as a consequence of a low sitting over the north sea. With gusts of 25 knots we elected to put in a reef, although the wind was forecast to moderate a bit later in the morning. Racing double handed against a fleet that was mostly fully crewed (or close to fully crewed, after allowing for Covid-19 restrictions), we took the start cautiously but were soon reeling the rest of Class 2, including another J105, Jacana, racing with a crew of 5. We lost Jacana while shaking out the reef and were never able to recover the ground, despite leaving the rest of Class 2 behind on a quick white sail reach to East Hook buoy off Sandbanks.
Some of the fleet hoisted spinnakers for a short leg from East Hook to the Ancient Wreck Buoy close to the end of the channel into Poole Harbour. We were double handed and the leg was very short so we elected not to risk it, so full marks to crew of Mzungo, a Sunfast 3200 sailing double handed for hoisting theirs. The decision was probably critical since, although we held second place on the water behind Jacana all the way back to the finish at Cowes, our lead over Mzungo was never enough to make up for the handicap penalty carried by a J105 compared to a Sunfast 3200 so we had to settle for third place overall.
Six hours of white sail reaching in Force 5, with the wind shifted backwards and forwards through about 25 degrees and requiring constant trimming of both main and jib was exhausting – with the result that we decided that we didn’t have enough energy for Sunday’s race and our muscles needed a rest!
Rick Tomlinson was out, both acting as safety boat for the JOG fleet and taking photos. Proofs of Rick’s photos of Mostly Harmless at Hurst above and below.
