Solo Offshore Racing Club Poole and Back Races
by Deb Fish 19 Sep 2013 15:40 BST
14-15 September 2013
Solo Offshore Racing Club Poole and Back races © Kirsteen Donaldson
SORC's Poole and Back weekend provided the fleet of sixteen solo skippers with challenging racing and drama both on and off the water. Races seven and eight of the nine race single handed series attracted yachts from 28 ft to 40 ft. Steve Thomas sailing the HOD 35 Truant based in Shoreham was the well-deserved winner on the return race, flying his blue kite from the start at Poole to the finish at West Lepe in winds gusting to thirty knots.
Leg 1 - Cowes to Poole
The SORC fleet gathered in Cowes for the safety briefing on Friday in anticipation of an early start on the JOG line for the race to Poole. Race Director Simon Mitchell had asked for a challenging course, and certainly got his wish as Race Officer Kirsteen Donaldson sent the fleet off close hauled westward down the Solent to the Shingles then onto two windward-leeward legs in 15-20 kts north westerly's before the final reach to Poole.
Exocet (Sunfast 32) took the early lead in the Solent but was overhauled first by Jbellino (J122) then Juliette (J105). The wind freed at Hurst Castle with the chasing pack hoisting code zeros in a determined attempt to catch up. The windward-leeward legs in Christchurch Bay, each about four miles, tested all the skippers boat-handling skills with spinnaker hoists, gybes and drops, then re-packing the spinnaker whilst still making progress upwind, before doing it all again! Many, if not all, had their own dramas to report, including wrapping spinnakers, trawling them in the sea, and breaking spinnaker poles.
An unexpected challenge came when the fleet arrived at the second leeward mark only to find it missing. The lead boats raced around the wrong yellow buoy a mile to windward of the expected position while the chasing pack merrily sailed around the charted position. After much agonising and a quick phone call to an international judge, the Race Committee had no choice but to abandon the race with regret, as it was simply impossible to judge how much redress to give for the different courses sailed.
Leg 2 - Poole to Cowes
The return leg promised yet more drama with 30kt south westerly's forecast for Sunday afternoon, therefore the planned midday start was brought forward to 10.00 to universal approval. After a very enjoyable meal in Corkers on Saturday night, the fleet awoke to blue skies and flat calm in the Yacht Haven. In the time it took to motor to the start outside the harbour the wind had built to 15kts, gusting 20. The Class 40, Swish, had kindly offered to act as a start boat, and the fleet got away to a clean start. Ding Dong took the early lead, with skipper Chris Rustom one of the first to hoist his symmetric spinnaker. He was followed by a trio of blue spinnakers on Truant, Juliette and Penrod, with Maeva going well under her code zero.
Most of the other skippers opted for white sails which left them underpowered at first, but many were glad of their choice later in the race! Jbellino and Roxanne (Sunfast 32) led the charge for the coast to keep out of the foul tide, while the rest of the fleet continued on the making gybe towards Hurst. As forecast the wind built rapidly and by the Solent only Truant, Ding Dong and Penrod (Beneteau 30.7) were bold enough hold their kites. The leaders reached the Solent with the ebb tide still running against the 25kts plus winds producing some big waves. Truant reporting struggling to maintain control in the short
standing waves near Sconce buoy and Ding Dong spend time laid flat as the wind built to 30 knots but held on to take line honours closely followed by Truant.
Herve Dupriez skipper of Penrod reports on his spinnaker battle at Hurst, "This was the perfect downwind angle for Penrod; with a reef in the main and medium spinnaker the F31.7 was prepared for stronger winds; at 28-32 kts Penrod started raising her game chasing Ding Dong and Truant and leaving the rest of the fleet behind, flying over the waves and overtaking them on a few occasions, culminating with an amazing surf at 20+ kts on display for just a second. At Hurst with no more friendly waves to surf, boat speed dropped to a more regular 10-12 kts which, added to stronger adverse tide caused apparent wind to increase significantly; combined with the attempt to sail further downwind into the Solent Penrod became unstable and paid for it almost immediately with a broach. Suddenly the kite turned into a majestic blue flag, sadly the only thing that was left flying proudly! Tacking was the only option to avoid the Trap, giving time to hoist the jib; then another tack to unwrap the spinnaker from the around the masthead, then bear away and with a bit of speed the spinnaker started coming down gently behind the mainsail. The rest of the leg to West Lepe was boring in comparison."
When the results were calculated Truant took the victory overall and in IRC Class 2 with Ding Dong second overall and winning Class 1 while Penrod was a magnificent third overall and first in Class 3.
Taken overall it was a fantastic weekend, demonstrating yet again the close racing and the high standard of seamanship within the single-handed fleet. Congratulations to Steve, Chris and Herve and thanks to Simon and Kirsteen for laying on two superb races and to John Twiggs for organising the dinner in Poole. Special mention should also go to Frederic Waniart for sailing Maeva 150 miles from France just for this race (we don't envy him the trip home!), and to Kass Schmidt on completing her first solo races in the 35 footer Zest in the most challenging conditions SORC has experienced all season.
The SORC season closes with the Laying Up race starting from Cowes on Saturday 28th September and finishing off Gosport for the end of season dinner and prize giving at the Boat House Café, Gosport Marina.
Results and details on the SORC website at www.offshoresolo.com