Round The Island Race 2011

2011-08-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

The last weekend of June saw the team from Broad Reach Sailing taking part in the 80th edition of the now famous "J P Morgan" round the island race. The usual race preparations saw us "practicing" on the Friday, and taking every bit of unwanted weight off the boat in the afternoon. The forecast for the race showed SW F5-6 with poor visibility in the morning, probably the most wind we had seen in years of competing in the RTIR.

At 4.30 on the day of the race we woke up to driving rain and wind howling through the rigging, with hot tea in hand we motored out of Portsmouth Harbour into the Solent along with several hundred other yachts making for the start line.

I was staggered to see so many crews un-prepared and so many examples of not just poor, but dangerous seamanship. We saw everything from yachts motor sailing with tri-colours and steaming lights, yachts with their anchors proudly still displayed on the bow roller. But probably the worst examples were crews attempting to hoist main sails in a very lumpy Solent!!! Why oh why do skippers do this? Why not hoist in the safety and flat water in Portsmouth Harbour? Or as we did in the Lee of the island in Osborne Bay.

As our start time of 7.10 approached we decided to avoid the start line meelah and crossed a few minutes after the starting signal, opting for a safe, clean air start instead of the chaos that went before us. We were amazed by the number of boats who were completely unaware of the predicted wind shift and gusts that can be experienced in the start area, and watched many boats attempting to reef on the start line!!!!

By 8.00 we were beating nicely down towards Hurst Point to be met by the dozens of retiring craft making their way back to their respective berths, some with broken masts and torn sails!!! We were down to the Needles by 9.30 and into some "lumpy" seas, and were nearly taken out by an out of control and completely overpowered charter yacht from a well know holiday firm based in Port Solent (I'm sure you can guess who).

As we reached down to St Kats opting for a slightly more inshore route than normal in an attempt to keep out of the foul tide that was still running, the VHF continued to be interrupted by a continuous steam of Maydays and Pan Pan calls. By the time we reached the mo

st southerly point of the island we saw the first of many upside down multi hulls!!!! We gybed our way towards Dunose point deciding this was a safer option than sailing dead downwind under Spinnaker, this actually lost us some ground, and on reflection I think we would have made bigger gains by sailing that leg under headsail alone in a straight line. Due to our fractional rig and swept spreaders we struggle to sail dead down wind with white sails.

At around 1.30pm we rounded Benbridge Ledge and started the beat for home, just off Sea View we came across yet another upturned multi hull!!!! We crossed the line just after 3.00pm with a finishing time of 8 hours 12 minutes.

We had a great days sailing, but I cannot help but reflect on the 75 coast guard calls that could have all been avoided. Yes their was some wind and waves, but nothing more than a F6 and some wind over tide "lumps" around the needles.

We spent the evening rafted up down at the Folly Inn and woke up the next morning to brilliant sunshine!!!!

looking forward to next year now!!!!

It's all about sailing

2011-03-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

This page is about all things sailing, we will cover everything from the RYA courses and what they involve, to top tips on making a brew at sea!!!!

What's it all about then

I thought I'd start by telling you about my journey through the RYA sylabus.

"Living the dream"

I first stepped on a yacht in while I was in the Army in Gibraltar about 12 years and was instantly hooked, from leaving the marina for the first time, dolphins playing in the wake, and the shadow of "The Rock". It was fantastic. On returning to UK I was invited to take part in a weeks sailing around the east coast, promptly followed by my Competent Crew course with Joint Services Adventure Sail Training Centre (JSASTC) Gosport. From then more trips followed on her majesties finest Victoria 34's, eventually gaining my Day Skipper.

The hatch opens!!

Once I was a Day Skipper I was forced to actually be a skipper!!!! Taking a crew and yacht out for the first time was more than nerve racking, I spent some time trying to find a reason not to go, but unfortunately the boat was fine, so was the weather and the tide, that's it I had to slip and go for it. Baptism of fire over with and we were still floating and no one died or was admitted to hospital the confidence grew. The great thing about sailing with Joint Services (other than I got paid for it) was that you were encouraged to push the boundaries a bit, giving you not just confidence in the boat but in your self too.

Nicholson 55 "Sabre" A few years ago!

I then progressed to Coastal Skipper, with the MCA exam, and still I think this was the biggest jump and the hardest test!! After a few more passages as skipper and a spell in the Canaries as mate on a Nicholson 55, I applied for my Yachtmaster Offshore Exam.

No prep week here!!!

On my Yachtmaster Exam there were 4 of us taking the exam over 7 days, doesn't take much working out that it was a minimum of 24 hours being "checked out". I was first up having drawn the short straw!! "Ouistram please Skip" was the request from the examiner, not just a passage plan, we acctually went there!!! Then we went to St Vast, then Alderney, then Weymouth and back to the Solent in time for tea and medals!! So yes a testing exam.

And then an instructor!!!!

After completing my yachtmaster exam I became a boat owner and encountered the next chalenge, single handed sailing!!! Far more daunting than my first outing as a skipper!! That conquered I statred out as a cruising instructor teacing at Joint Services and East Anglian Sea School on the East Coast. After 2 years of that I was "invited" to my Yachtmaster Instructor check out.

Job done

"Aurora" in Portsmouth Harbour

And here I am, the principle of my own school on the Solent, with a lovely new boat and some great instructors working with me. Over the last 2 years we have had some fantastic feed back from our students and pride ourselves on a high standard of tuition and seamanship.

Over the coming weeks and months I hope to talk more about my exploints at sea (and ashore) a hopfuly give everyone an insight on what Broad Reach Sailing and the team are up to.