We had an extra training weekend on 23rd April and sailed round the South of the Island in glorious sunshine and rather more wind than was forecast.
After overnighting in Haslar with an excellent meal out we beat back down the Solent and had a quick MOB practice. In order to make it as realistic as posible I prepared the victim below came up top and immediately threw him over. One of the crew was drinking a cup of tea so I said ‘get rid of that we have a man overboard’. She immediately reacted by throwing the tea overboard, or rather towards the side of the yacht. It was of course the windward side and I was well and truly covered as it blew back.

For several years we have sailed between Boxing Day and New Years Eve and enjoyed comparatively mild weather plus lots of space to sail in. To end 2009 we had a combined Competent Crew and Day Skipper course but due to sickness and travel problems 2 of the participants dropped out at the last moment so there were only 4 of us setting off on the 27th as we left Lymington and headed east. We had looked at the forecast and decided to get the miles in early just in case it rained later in the week. The run up to Cowes was fast and easy, then after anchoring for lunch we set off to round Nab tower, knock off some night hours then head into Haslar for the night. The wind was cold but the rain held off and we covered 44 miles on the first day.
The rest of the course saw sufficient wind to sail for all but a couple of hours and the only real precipitation was at night. Phil, who is also a RYA Instructor and Karen were just sailing so with Andy as the only Day Skipper candidate we had plenty of time for pontoon bashing, MOB etc.
Most courses have a low point and for me this was when I saw the dismantling of the 3 marks in Southampton Water which were used to guide in Flying Boats. For years I have asked students what they were and received very few correct answers. The other low point was the amount charged by Ocean Village and this was made worse by the lack of Hot Water, quite a contrast to Hamble Point which is run by the same company where an overnight was less than half that charged by Ocean Village.
The high points included a splendid run down to the Nab at times over 9 Kts SOG in 25 kts of wind, a good meal out at Toninos in Cowes plus Andy passing with flying colours.

You know how they say when sailing that you are always sailing towards, never to, your destination – well sometimes even that isn’t true. We left Lymington late on a very hot Friday afternoon for the cruise to the Normandy beaches, only to find that due to a combination of wind (or lack of, in the right direction) and tide, if we wanted to sail rather than motor all night that Alderney was a better destination. By the end of the first night watch we actually had enough wind to turn off the engine, which also happened to be just before I retired to my bunk, so I could look forward to an undisturbed 6 hours. The wind did die down considerably during the skipper’s watch, but very kindly he decided we would sail on slowly rather than disturb the sleeping beauties with the iron tops’l. By this time the decision had also been made to head for Cherbourg, not Normandy, because due to a misunderstanding, lack of communication, or call it what you will, we weren’t heading as directly to Alderney as intended. But it had been a good night’s sailing, with clear skies and lots of stars, and we tied up very early Saturday at the start of another glorious day.

After a good French petit dejeuner (croissants, French bread, cheese etc), we left Paul and Graham doing boaty things, whilst Sue, Peter, Jim and I headed up to the Roule Fort; a very steep climb, but the taxi managed it OK. The Fort now houses a very interesting museum covering the D Day Landings, with spectacular views across Cherbourg and the bay. A splendid meal at our secret Cherbourg restaurant rounded off the day.

We made a leisurely start on Sunday, and favourable winds saw us heading off, this time in the right direction, for an excellent sail towards St Vaast. However we were enjoying ourselves so much we continued past St Vaast, had a quick look at the Isles de Marcouf, and continued to Grandcamp Maisy a little further east. Being 6^th June we were pleased to find the presence of some Americans in D Day style uniforms and vehicles, even though they were mostly far too young to have been there 66 years earlier.

A very early start Monday (5.35am!!!) and a brilliant spinnaker run east brought us to our anchorage off Arromanche just 4 hours later, where Paul ferried us ashore in the rib. The ladies set forth for a little retail therapy, leaving the men to tour another museum. Having managed to find a very rudimentary weather forecast, Paul decided that remaining at anchor overnight was probably not the most sensible idea, so a somewhat damper return in the rib to Wild Spirit was effected, and we made an excellent run, this time using the beautiful lightweight spinnaker, westwards to St Vaast.

Tuesday was declared a day of rest, and most of the crew took the amphibious bus across the oyster beds to Tatihou island. A visit to the top of the 17^th Century Vauban tower, which involves a climb up the steep spiral staircase, is worth the effort for the views alone, but does upset the seagulls with their young nesting on the roof. We also walked down to the islet fort which is now home to a colony of egrets, and visited the maritime museum and gardens. Planning to take the ‘bus’ back, we found that everything had shut down for lunch, so we braved the Rhun, or causeway, back through the oyster beds, which is only uncovered at low tide. The tide not being quite low enough yet, after a quick recce we managed the walk in only about 6 inches of water. After some more exhausting shopping in St Vaast, we are now going to put on our glad rags for another night on the town; or failing that a good meal in the Fuchsia restaurant will suffice.

Wednesday

A bit of a strong aroma on board now – both Paul and Jim bought two rounds of very ripe Camembert from Monsieur Gosselin’s delicatessen. It is excellent, and we are doing our best to consume it before it leaves of its own accord!

From the weather forecasts for today we expected the winds to be building during the day, so set off early for a good day’s sailing. Alas, we were thwarted by the wind Gods, and had little wind all day. We hoisted the flying pig (asymmetric spinnaker) around 11.30, but couldn’t get her to set properly, until the skipper noticed our deliberate error (we try to keep him on his toes) – the clew and tack were the wrong way around! In the light winds it was easy to rectify, and we managed to sail for abou t20 minutes until the wind headed us; engines back on before lunch. Undaunted, we did another hoist mid afternoon, which lasted for about 90 minutes. The brief respite from engine noise was very welcome.

We overnighted in Bembridge, and made use of the local watering hole. Local except for the Marina residents that is. A very brisk 30mins walk across paths and a narrow causeway worked up a good thirst. It was quiz night at the pub, but our joint lack of knowledge on soap operas, fashion designers and so on meant we were wise not to get involved.

Now on the final dash back to Lymington. We have wind, and now, for the first time this trip, a big wave crashing across the boat and water down the hatch! In true heroic fashion Paul tried to stop the ingress by taking the force of most of the water. Glad I’m down here as I would have been the only one without full foulies on up there. All calm up top now, sailing nicely downwind under whites, and the kettle’s on. What more do we need!   

Hopefully I speak for all when I say it’s been a great trip, with plenty of excellent sailing, good food and wine, and great company. A big vote of thanks to Paul from us all.

Now signing off,

Crew member Pam

© 2011 Wild Spirit

The race to La Trinite turned out to be classic. With 30 kts of wind on the nose for the start we had 3 reefs in and water coming over the top as we beat down the Solent. Whilst the forecasts had the direction correct the strength was higher than predicted and it only dropped a little as we hurtled down past the needles and out into the Channel.

Our tactics had been based on the forecast and like most other competitors we were aiming to get south of the Casquets traffic separation scheme before the wind dropped and tides swept us back up Channel. The wind dropped early and we decided to stay in mid Chanel instead; north of most of the shipping.

We progressed slowly down towards Ushant until in a complete absence of wind we were drifting backwards in 80 metres of water for several hours. As we were north of the main fleet we could not tell how they were doing and assumed they might have land breezes. Eventually the wind returned and we resumed progress beating down towards Ushant and out into the Atlantic swell before a long night of tacking in the company of 3 yachts that should,  judging by their handicap, have been well ahead of us.

Once past the notorious tidal race of the Rade de Sein on the outside we settled down for a long beam reach in 15 kts of wind and a large swell. After 50 miles of this the wind began to drop and the spinnakers came up. The wind continued to drop but the tide was with us, could we make the finish in time for a beer?

About 7 miles south of the finish there were marks to pass and a course change through a narrow channel limited by rocks, the tide would carry us there but could we make it round the marks. With only 2 kts of wind our ability to steer was limited and we used several sail plans including goose winged with the asymmetric spinnaker before finally creeping past the marks and on to the final run in.

By now two things had become clear, firstly we weren’t going to make it for the beer and secondly the tide would turn against us we could drift across the line. With about 3 knots behind us we flew our biggest spinnaker on a lightweight sheet and with Pam trimming developed 2 knots of boat speed as we continued to creep the last few miles.

No-one saw the squall coming and it hit with 20 kts of wind and heavy rain from the port bows. We bore away and hoisted the whites but the spinnaker sheet detached and the kite was now streaming from the masthead. As long as the wind kept up we could make it and for the 15 minutes the squall lasted we sped over the ground at 8 kts whilst recovering the spinnaker intact. We crossed the line as the rain stopped and the wind dropped then felt our way up the river to Camaret in the early hours before rafting up at the Marina.

Other than the storm/ heavy weather sails we used every sail on board at some stage in the race and managed to make progress between 2 and 30 kts of wind to achieve 6^th in class and beat our old rivals ‘No Fear’ in by several hours.

The hospitality in La Trinite exceeded the normally high JOG levels with a Mayoral reception (short speech lots of bubbly—vive le beaurocracy)  followed by another at the Yacht club and then some moules frite before a couple more drinks on board.

I was genuinely surprised at how perky the crew were the next morning at 0730 as we set off for Loctudy about 60 Nm north. Perhaps the forecast of WSW F4 had cheered them, do they really have more faith in French forecasters them than the Met office? NW to WNW and lots of tacking. Clearly we weren’t going to make it for a good meal out so with Andy skippering one of his YM qualifiers he decided to press on through the nigh a sound decision as the weather wind was due to go further N and increase the next day.

 About 0300 I was rudely awoken by the crew taking an emergency tack to avoid running aground, the chart showed 30 metres but the depth gauge less than one. The steering seemed heavy and the boat slowed, when we started the engine a worrying brown streak appeared. We turned around and the steering seemed better and the boat speed increased. Consulting the chart we were in an area where no trawling or anchoring was permitted and we concluded we had just hit a huge lump of kelp.

We tacked on through the night towards the Rade De Sein a notorious tidal race that requires careful timing, as we closed on it Yachts appeared from several directions and about 10 of us shot through as the tide turned but before the overfalls developed, immaculate timing after over 100 miles of tacking.

Our plan had been to continue up through the Chenal du Fourl but a weather forecast of NW 5 or 6 caused a rethink as this would make L’aberwrach our revised destination, uncomfortable even in the Marina. We turned east and soon arrived in Camaret where we ate well whilst being entertained by 3 bands including Breton pipes—like smaller bagpipes but more musical. The next morning we set off with a much more benign forecast and ran up the Chenal du Four under spinnaker. About 20 Nm later the wind dropped and we had to start motoring towards our revised destination of Weymouth.

For almost 12 hours we had little wind and then the fog closed and the Radar went on, this was the first time we had used it in conjunction with the AIS and the correlation was reassuringly accurate. This was Andy’s second qualifying passage as skipper for Yachtmaster and he was definitely experiencing different conditions. The fog burnt off and the wind picked up, we hoisted the lightweight spinnaker and sped towards Weymouth in up to 20 kts of wind arriving at 1700 on a splendid afternoon with the town packed with holiday makers drinking beer—when in Rome.

A 0600 departure after a heavy night is never the most popular but with a spring tide it had to be done and in glorious sunshine we sped back along the World Heritage site Jurassic coast and home to Lymington having sailed in everything short of a full gale and logging 859 miles.

A few days later I was back in Dartmouth working the mainsheet on Scarlet Jester in the Regatta. Our best position was 9th which was as much as we could really hope for with a lightweight crew and damage to 2 spinnakers and the pole. On the day it was too windy (no-one told us until we were out at the line) we went to Paighton on the Steam train–I recommend this–the train anyway.

RYA Day Skipper and Competent Crew over 5 days Evening of Sunday 25th October to Afternoon of Friday 30th (Half Term)£350 or just £300 each when 2 or more book togetherAll our courses are run in association with Hayling Sea School an RYA training centre.  Next course after this is between Boxing Day and new years eve. I have rejigged the autumn programme due to other work etc and reduced the price of the October course to £350 –2 places left.

Cherbourg Report

The mid week gales had left a large swell in the Channel and the winds were forecast around 18 kts from the West which suggested a quick but lumpy race. Most of the crew were new to wild spirit and the spinnaker practice on the way to the start line was interrupted by gusts of over 25 kts.

We got off to a reasonable start on whites and then went for a spinnaker hoist. The results were mixed—the spinnaker went up but without the sheet attached. After recovery and relaunch we did get the kite flying but the gusts were worrying and several other yachts had big broaches. Given the relative inexperience of the crew we dropped the kite and proceeded on whites arriving off Bembridge after about an hour and a half. We now turned and for a while had a fast run in moderate seas.

When we left the shelter of the island the swell grew and by the time we were 10 miles south of it the sea was not only large but with a secondary wave pattern which was hard to read at times despite the glorious light of the full moon. The wind was now always over 20 kts and we reached towards Cherbourg at more than 7 knots through the water. Some crew members also retched but considering the conditions this was quite understandable.

As we neared France our speed over the ground often exceeded 9 kts and we crossed the line in Cherbourg harbour having averaged over 7.5 to come 5^th in class 3 which advanced us to 42nd overall out of 443 in the Royal Ocean Racing Club for 2009.

After a good meal out in the Café De Paris (it really is worthwhile just for the ‘Chef’s special Tart’) we had another good run back in lighter winds and flatter seas. 

 Bareboat charter will be available through Lymington Yacht Charter–see link.

Gear—I have trade accounts with Gill and Ocean Safety and extend very good rates to regulars.

2009 Programme
24 th to 27th Sept Meet Fri midday for evening start Race–JOG Cherbourg £225*  One place 
       
        
25th to 30th Oct Meet Sunday evening RYA Course Local reduced to £350  3 Places
Boxing day evening to afternoon New Years Eve  Competent crew and Day Skipper or just sailing Local   2 places 

When comparing us with other schools/ sailing companies please remember we do it properly. Others don’t always mention extra costs and very basic food plus kittys for marina fees. We run in association with Hayling Sea School, an RYA training centre, and our price includes good food and plenty of it, all fees, use of Oilies, fuel etc. We also sailout of Lymington Yacht Haven which has secure free parking and good rail access. The only extras are drinks ashore and a meal ashore if the crew decide to do this.If you want to know more just give us a call on 01823 433813 preferably between 0830 and 2000 seven days a week.

We crossed the line just after the gun and hoisted a spinnaker to set off east towards Selsey Bill. The line I had chosen reflected the relative inexperience of the foredeck crew rather than the best for tide etc so it was a surprise when we realised we about 6th in the class as we neared the Forts.

In varied winds we ran past Nab tower and then Jibed down to the mark off Selsey before settling down for a run across the channel on winds that were much stronger than had been forecast. Had these winds lasted we would have made excellent time but instead breakfast found us in company with several other competitors off Cap Barfleur and struggling with little wind against an increasing foul tide.

With 60 metres of depth anchoring was not an attractive option and we worked hard to reduce the speed at which we going backwards. The tide eventually turned and we made progress again in very light wind.

Approaching Cherbourg the wind dropped below 2 knots and it was clear that we would struggle to finish before the tide turned. Determined sail trimming and no unnecessary movement of crew kept us going and we just managed to work our position on the eddies of tide to arrive at the Western entrance with a few minutes to spare. 

As we rounded the end of the harbour breakwater the tide drew us in and we lost all wind. Along with 3 other yachts we were now drifting backwards towards the finishing line.

We readied the anchor to drop it at the stern and immediately recover but the redistribution of weight alone allowed us to turn and we were able to regain steerage and make a fraction of a knot to cross the line some 26 hours after the start.

This was one of the most exciting finishes we have experienced and we were all tired. There was however more to come.

We set off back to Lymington as it was too late to eat out in Cherbourg. A watch system started and I was fast asleep until 0400 when the engine suddenly stopped. My initial thought was that perhaps we had at last been blessed with wind but it was in fact 25 metres of fishing net round the prop and rudder.

We were in the middle of the channel and at the limit of VHF range. I considered the options and decided against Andrea kind offer to go over the side. There was fog about but we were in a clear patch and between the 2 main flows of shipping.

I spoke with Solent Coast Guard and commenced half hourly Securitee broadcasts while we waited for some wind.

The wind did not come but instead Scarlet Jester a smaller competitor came to us and offered a tow which we accepted. We were now making less than 2 knots north towards the Isle of Wight but there was a possibility of some wind and we had reasonable visibility.

I had not issued a Pan Pan so was surprised when the Coast Guard called us to say the Yarmouth lifeboat was on its way. An hour and a half later we slipped our line from Scarlet Jester and accepted one from the Yarmouth lifeboat. Then we were off at over 8 knots across a flat sea.

Just off Yarmouth we went into a close coupled tow and were put carefully alongside in Yarmouth by the lifeboat. This is an interesting experience as one slip by them and we would be well and truly squashed.

Seastart had a diver waiting and in a quarter of an hour he had cut all the net away and we had ceremonially carried it to the skip. A quick check of the prop and a visit to thank the lifeboat crew and we were on our way.

76th out of 111 entrants so not brilliant but at least we finished.

Our thanks to scarlet Jester, her skipper Jamie Muir and crew.
The cruise to Sark, Alderney and Cherbourg was a much more relaxed trip with some superb weather and for most of the time enough wind to sail by. We had a few regulars plus Carl on board and he proved himself to be an excellent cook and affable team member. On the crossing back he was skipper and completed a Qualifying Passage towards his YM

The Round the Island race was a more laid back affair than the last few years and most of the crew had not used a spinnaker before our practice day. After tacking down the needles passage we went further out than most competitors to give us a simple spinnaker run. With wind against tide off St Catts things got a bit exciting at times and several other yachts tore their spinnakers. We rounded the East end and tacked up the north of the island in very close quarters with shouts of starboard all around.  At 494th out of 1771 far from  our best result but quite commendable for a novice crew flying a spinnaker for the first time.

We came 37th out of 79 in the Royal Ocean Racing Club Channel race last weekend and have now qualified for the Fastnet. Not a fast race due to lack of wind at times but good fun and we improved our light wind sailing skills.

The Eddystone race saw us of to a flying start and we made good time until just before the light house when the wind died. It took us and about 30 other Yachts some 3 hours to inch our way past against the tide but we were entertained by Basking Sharks one of whom circled us in a good impression from Jaws. (I know they only eat plankton but this one was 30 foot long and had a mouth as big as a dustbin). On the way back the wind died completely and the forecast was for very little so with a heavy heart we decided that we would not make the finish in time for the international flights that had to be caught on monday and likely many others retired

The Competent Crew and day Skipper Course run over 2 long weekends was a more lively affair and on the second one we ran down to Weymouth on a spinnaker with the promise of a South or Southwesterly to speed us back. Yet again the weather forecast was wrong and on the Saturday we had to beat back aginst between 20 and 28 knots of Easterly.

Andrew our Day Skipper navigated well and we passed over St Albans ledge shortly before the tide turned to run with us, but against the wind. After a short choppy little section of Anvil point we sailed into the bay and back to the Solent logging 59 miles in just under 10 hours.

All 4 students passed successfully and we had a great time.

The RYA require 100 miles minimum and we did 165 including visiting, Cowes, Haslar, Portsmouth, Southampton and Yarmouth. Excellent company made a for really enjoyable course. All 4 students have indicated they want to sail on WS again and 2 have already booked to do so.

We had just come through the overfalls off St Albans Head in 20 Kts of SW with the tide when we heard Mayday Polly. We were informally racing against Turning Point a Bavaria 38 which had been berthed alongside us in Yarmouth and were now comfortably a mile a head.

Hearing the MAYDAY I immediately put the crew on close watch with a quarter each and then heard the Coast Guard respond.

The conversation was along these lines.

CG—What is your position?

P-We don’t know

CG-Where have you come from.

P-Poole.

CG—Several questions about speed, course etc with the only useful bit of information elicited that Polly had passed 2 light houses.

P—I can see a yacht.

At this stage Turning Point suggested that the Yacht Polly could see was Wild Spirit and I spoke to the CG reporting the crew had been on close watch but we could not see any vessel other than Turning Point.

CG—Polly do you have any flares on board—Polly found One and fired it then reported it had failed. But for a second or 2 there had been a red light which Rob had seen and was sure about. Based on Rob’s observation I then moved the Cursor of the GPS onto Polly’s position and both us and TP turned around and beat back towards it and the now rather white looking Race.

Polly confirmed she could see both of us heading towards her and we spotted her with Binoculars. Shortly after we had turned and confirmed the flare fix visually the Swanage lifeboat came round the Headland and would clearly arrive before us. I spoke to Portland CG and we were released to continue our passage to Cowes.

Apparently Polly was a 7 metre fishing boat with engine failure, she had been purchased the day before—I make no comment about the wisdom of trying to take such a vessel against tide and wind through a renowned tidal race at Springs.

The bank holiday traffic meant that 2 of the crew decided to go direct to Cowes and we would go up the evening before the race on the tide. Unfortunately 2 other crew plus enough provisions to ensure Waitrose makes a profit this year were delayed on the M3 for a couple of hours. This meant that we did not reach Cowes until around 2330 and by the time we had tied up etc the pubs were closing. We did however recover the 2 crew who had been forced to eat a huge Tandoori washed down by copious quantities while they waited.

This was our first Royal Ocean Racing Club race of the Fastnet campaign and we would be content with finishing safely/ acquiring the qualifying miles. Also in the race was Space Race a first 40.7 crewed mainly by former Wild Spirit team members and we were keen to beat them as well.

After a good start we beat down to the needles then turned on to a spinnaker run which was to last most of the way to le Havre. The wind was better than the light ones forecast and we cracked on with the Asymmetric ‘Flying Pig’ at first, changing to the Radial Spinnaker later.

Some confusion arose at the Finish line and we, plus some other yachts, passed the wrong side of the committee boat, fortunately a few minutes later I realised this and we sailed back on whites rounded it and finished correctly but almost half an hour later. Despite this we just beat Phil and his team on Space Race by 6 minutes and came 81^st out of 106.

Our next RORC race is the Eddystone on the Bank holiday weekend.

We crossed the line about 10 seconds late, whilst others suffered recalls, and we were soon doing 11 kts SOG. With the wind gusting to 30 kts I decided against a spinnaker as we surged down the Eastern Solent. Just over half of our class went for spinnakers so we saw some impressive broaches and a few wraps. About half way down the leg we noticed a batten coming loose on the main and we had to drop the sail, refix it and hoist again—this cost us afew minutes but was well executed by the crew.

We rounded Nab and began tacking back against gusts of up to 37 apparent and pulled back a few places. I joined the crew on the rail and a few minutes later suddenly found my feet in the water as the Helm was deceived by a gust and wave into heaving to. Calling out kind words of consolation I rejoined him in the cockpit and we tacked back onto course. (Do not try this trick on a less stable boat without prior consent of all the crew).

Once we had passed the Forts we we beat down the final leg in style except for 2 short tacks to round a mark before crossing the line at 11 kts SOG to come 18^th out of 25 in class.

Sunday saw us out in the Solent and the only yacht with a spinnaker up, with just 2 kts of true wind we flew the spinnaker on the lightweight sheet and then practised with the flying pig which responded well in light winds and even better as the breeze freshened to 15 kts.