Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race - Day 1

Moonraker retires, Solune takes lead

At 2039 hrs on Monday 7th August, just two and a half hours into the race, the Ker 11.3 MoonraKer was forced to retire from the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race due to a complete failure of her steering gear as she rounded the turning point of Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. In a phone call to race control last night after the crew of MoonraKer had successfully limped back to Cowes unassisted, crew member Andrew Mills commented: “We had roared off to Bembridge from the start line and were undergoing a series of spinnaker gybes when we first realised that something was wrong with the steering gear as we just couldn’t bring the boat up into the wind following the gybe. It was only blowing about 15 knots at the time and when we went down below to inspect the steering gear which is attached to the inside of the hull we found that it had come free and we had no option but to retire. At least it happened in the Solent and not 200 miles off Muckle Flugga! We managed to drop the kite and set up the jury rig steering tiller that connects to the top of the stock of the rudder and made it back to Cowes in time for a beer. The crew are disappointed not to take any further part in the race but we would like to send good luck and good speed to everyone else taking part!”

It was always going to be a tough race for the MoonraKer crew who launched the boat just hours before the start of the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race and were frantically trying to sort out teething problems throughout the afternoon before the race. This team of Royal Engineers had done a fantastic job to get on the start line and were well in contention when their troubles started. We wish them well for the future and hope to see them compete in many more RORC races in the future.

Meanwhile at the front of the fleet this morning, Jean-Philippe Chomette’s Nacira 60 Solune had edged into the lead by the slenderest of margins from the Open 60 Artemis Ocean Racing skippered by Jonny Malbon as the two yachts made good progress down to Plymouth. Both boats are touching around 12 knots under asymmetric spinnaker as they fly down the South Coast of England enjoying a very tight personal battle for overall line honours, clear ahead of the fleet.

Overnight, some of the crews had the chance to email race control with updates and here is a selection from around the yachts:

Mostly Harmless (Prima 38) – Bob Clitherow
We are off! Good start up at the S Bramble end of the line in 10kts NE. Puma Logic ahead (they looked close to being over!) and Magnum behind. First right call was to go north of Raid Bank for better wind and tide. Only Puma stayed with us. At the end of the Bank, as the boats merged, we were alongside Minnie the Moocher. Clearly Kerr 11.3s go slowly with all that food on board. Next call was to go inside Nomansland Fort. Very few boats did and we gained masses on those that didn't as we could just hold a kite down to Bembridge. We rounded Bembridge Ledge at 19:22pm ahead of Puma, Magnum and comfortably ahead of the other two Prima’s. A perfect peel to the runner and a gybe. We are now coming out of the tide into Sandown Bay. The watch system kicked in a while ago and the cabin is gently reverberating to Neal, Chris and Mark's slumbering. Someone is talking about supper. Chicken slices. Hmm, maybe I should have had a bigger lunch! Actually, joking apart, I am really impressed by all the effort that has gone into getting us to the start line. The piles of food that Helen has bagged up into daily rations is testament. I can praise them here now, as they won't read it until we finish. We even have our course drawn out on a map by Neal's daughter. I may have to rely on that at some point.

Magnum 2 (IMX40) – Andrew Pearce
It’s now coming up to 10pm. 4 hours into the race. Winds have been low in the 10kn range from the NE and so an 'a' sail leg down the Eastern Solent. Not our usual clean start, we were held up by one of the big Super Zero boats. So we had Puma and Most Harmless just ahead as we got to the Forts. With the turn round the corner to go west we have gybed a good many times and now have Mostly Harmless and Puma behind us. It’s all very light at the moment but I've just heard the Coastgurad report for the following 48 hours and more wind is promised! We are presently off Ventnor on starboard tack with the kite up on a reach. We have 8kn of wind and 6kn of boat speed but are still against the tide so have come in close to the headland to cheat the tide. We have just gone into our watch pattern so I'm off watch now until Midnight (the dog watch) and then on till 3am.

Winsome (S&S One-Off) – Harry Heijst
So far all is okay on board and our corrected position taken from the really beautiful webpage/scoreboard at this very moment is giving us confidence that we are doing things alright. We started with a light breeze of 7 knots which increased by 2300 to 16 knots. Right after the forts we set our Sevenstar spinnaker which was sufficiently tested already in Skandia Cowes Week. The sun is shining and we are still sailing under our spinnaker plus our Daisy since an hour or so.

Aquis Granus (Lutra 52) – Robert Rohde
Aquis Granus GER1375, IRC Z: Position Report: Portland Bill passed 0153 UTC Yacht and Crew are still in marvellous condition. The Berlin part of the crew is really enthusiastic. We are enjoying nice downwind sailing at 10 knots. Perfect. Alexander’s noodles with fresh ingredients for supper have made the day. Tomorrow we will start with our adventure food. A little bit worrying...We will keep you informed.

Over the coming two weeks the RORC will continue to bring daily updates and position reports from the boats highlighting the highs and lows of this premier coastal yacht race. All yachts competing in the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race have been fitted with a tracking device developed by the RORC in conjunction with OC Technology. Yacht positions will be updated hourly and can be followed on the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s dedicated micro site accessed via www.rorc.org

Update from Minnie the Moocher:

After a bit of a shocking start we managed to wake ourselves up and get the boat going for the beat out of the Solent. It was really good to have another Ker 11.3, Moonraker, to measure ourselves up against but unfortunately we see that she has retired. I hope their problems are just the usual teething sort that occur with a new boat.

Round the back of the island yesterday evening with a 9 knot north-easterly breeze we elected to go offshore at Ventnor and take the hit of the foul tide rather than suffer light winds in less tide under the cliffs. We quite quickly found ouselves in 20 knots of breeze, with 10 knots boatspeed. This hitch out looked pretty ugly to start with so we were very pleased when we found ouselves being overtaken by Aquis Granis, the Lutra 52, as we approached Portland Bill. We eventually passed Portland Bill at about 3am.

Another large boat also overtook us, which turned out to be Jeu D'Esprit, a J160, a boat in our class which gives us time. Last night we expected the wind to die as we made our way west and this has been the case, but in these lighter conditions we have been able to overtake Jeu D'Esprit again.

We are approaching Start Point, south of Dartmouth, and have gybed offshore again to avoid the light winds under the cliffs.

It is really warming up today and the guys have stripped of their intermediates, to shorts and tees. Rob Larke is working on his tan - apparently a week in Palma at the Coppa del Rey was not enough! I dont expect a sea breeze to develop, but if it does it should be weak due to the rain yesterday morning and the boats inshore will have a problem. Another reason to stay offshore!

Update from Kingspan Chieftain:

Kingspan Chieftain well placed after first night.

On Monday at six o’clock on a fine summer’s evening Kingspan Chieftain started the SevenStar Round Britain and Ireland Race. 1760 miles of challenging racing that will test the wits and endurance of all the crews.

The race could be described as eight races in one with a myriad of different conditions on the way round the course. The first race is simply one of leaving The Solent; tidal issues are huge and there is the matter of avoiding running aground as there are many hazards in this area.

Ger O’Rourke spoke to journalist Louay Habib by satellite phone this morning and explained the situation;

“Kingspan Chieftain had a great start and after 3 hours of racing we were just off St.Catherine’s Point and in the lead on corrected time. However overnight Solune and Artemis, seemed to get into favourable wind quicker than us and we found ourselves in third place this morning just off Plymouth.

However Kingspan Chieftain has now reached the new wind and we are making good progress again, this is only the start of a race that is sure to have plenty of twists and turns, the race to The Lizard is on for today, with headwinds predicted this will favour Kingspan Chieftain over the beamier rivals up ahead. Tuesday night will see the lead yachts leave land for the first time and head across the Celtic Sea for a new chapter in the SevenStar Round Britain and Ireland Race.”

Tactical weather expert Mike Broughton gave an incite into what may lay ahead for the leading yachts;

“The light easterlies in the Channel could well veer north east and increase as the lead boats clear the Cornish Coast but there are also two complex frontal systems that will be crossing the race course late Tuesday or early Wednesday which make things difficult to predict, we may see the breeze back to the north west at some stage, at the moment it looks as though this is a big boat race, in these early stages.”

Follow Kingspan Chieftain at www.chieftainracing.com

Update from Unlimited Sailing / John Merricks:

Getting into the swing of things

With just over 15 hours of racing on the clock the crew on board Unlimited Sailing/ John Merricks are well on their way after a positive start in the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race. Currently in eigth place on corrected time out of 28 boats, Helmsman Connor Myant tells us what they have been up to so far.

“We had a cracking start yesterday. We started on the north side of the line and fetched to the first mark. We were ban even with Far 45 Alice 2 for the first hours of the race and being neck in neck we had our own little match race until just after dark when split off from each other. Alice opted for the offshore path, while we’ve stuck inshore for the time being.

“We’ve had a busy night with the wind starting to build and then dying off. We’ve done a few spinnaker peels and Rob Hoey our bowman was up and down most the night looking after the pole but did a great job keeping us moving.

“The watch system seems to be working well. We’ve now done a full cycle of three hours on, three hours off and three hours down below getting some proper kip. No complaints about it just yet!

“We’ve had a little trouble with our internet connection on the boat and haven’t been able to keep consistent track of where we are in relation to the fleet, so it was great when the sun came up this morning and we could take a look at what had happened overnight. We’ve got a lot of boats around us, just off Dart Point and we’ll all be hoping for a bit of a sea breeze today.

“Plan for the next 24 hours is to keep moving, pray for a bit more wind and get this internet connection sorted.”