Just read a really exciting story on the swedish blog Blur.se. Thought I'd share:
http://www.blur.se/2008/03/09/fastnet-1979-ombord-pa-condor/
Especially like it when they get the kite up in 45 knots, oh what a surprise...
Friday, 4 November 2011
Monday, 24 October 2011
autumn series race 4 - surf's up
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| Library photo. I wasn't getting my phone out in those conditions! |
When we left the mooring we could already see that it was rough out there so we had the number 4 on the deck and screwed a reef in as we hoisted the mainsail. You could see the wind coming over the stone pier and we were ready for it as RWH and then Draig were clattered by big gusts.
Sailing around pre-start was hard work in itself and there were more boats out there than actually made it to the start line. The Corby 29 Foxed 2 went back in with set-up issues, Draig ripped their mainsail taking a reef amongst others.
One that made the line was the X99 Excalibur and with no reefing points in the main, they didn't have that option. Up by the windward mark (F) they were knocked down by a big wave and it was incredible to see their keel right out of the water. After this I think the gybes down wind might have been a little too much and they headed back in.
FarrOut was loving it though and we surfed downwind (12.7 knots top speed). I'd had the forethought to de-rig the spinnaker gear so it didn't get in the way and so we wouldn't be tempted....only a fool would have hoisted in those conditions ;)
We were short this week, just Steve, Adam, Alice and I so we got Alice to do mainsheet which I think was an experience for her.
Our last beat was dreadful and I was whinging at Steve who was driving, we didn't realise until near the end that the port side rub rail was hanging off in the water, a proper sea anchor! By the end of the race it was completely detached and lashed to the side.
So a couple of things to fix but an exhilirating ride and well done to Andy Gaunt and his team for setting an achievable course in a southerly gale and staying out there on the commitee boat!
We were fourth... Rattler was joint second with Scoline. I loved see Rattler surfing off after Crystal Voyager and overtaking at speed, brilliant.
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Autumn Series Race 3
The forecast was for very light airs for this race so we went with five crew rather than our usual six. As it happened the breeze wasn't as bad as we thought and although light in places we were able to sail quite well.
Another "on the money" start for FarrOut. That's two consecutive weeks of good starts in a fleet where as the slowest boat that should be more difficult, this week with only Draig threatening us to leeward.
The RO had set a triangle sausage course with a laid wing mark. Unfortunately the shifted breeze in between laying this mark and us getting to the windward mark made it too deep for the asymmetric kite choice meaning that we had to sail angles to get there. This probably lost us places in the end, however on the "by the lee" sausage leg we were gaining ground quite nicely on the two Sigma 33s Scoline and Snowgoose.
Again an acceptable performance from FarrOut in this Autumn series IRC fleet. Kind of weird that there's some really fast boats sailing in the PY fleet due to a lack of IRC certs. Hopefully this will be amended for the spring series.
Another "on the money" start for FarrOut. That's two consecutive weeks of good starts in a fleet where as the slowest boat that should be more difficult, this week with only Draig threatening us to leeward.
The RO had set a triangle sausage course with a laid wing mark. Unfortunately the shifted breeze in between laying this mark and us getting to the windward mark made it too deep for the asymmetric kite choice meaning that we had to sail angles to get there. This probably lost us places in the end, however on the "by the lee" sausage leg we were gaining ground quite nicely on the two Sigma 33s Scoline and Snowgoose.
Again an acceptable performance from FarrOut in this Autumn series IRC fleet. Kind of weird that there's some really fast boats sailing in the PY fleet due to a lack of IRC certs. Hopefully this will be amended for the spring series.
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Autumn Series Race 2 - Plenty of wind
Really enjoyed the race on sunday, especially the 10.1 knots of boat speed as we planed our way to Overcombe. FarrOut was fifth but they were well sailed boats (and a lot of money!) in front of us. You can only do what you can do....one of the best starts of the season, we were off the line in front - it didn't last long though.
Nice to have Darren back after his back injury, only to have Adam damage his back and not be able to make the race.
Nice to have Darren back after his back injury, only to have Adam damage his back and not be able to make the race.
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Frustratingly No Wind
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| Alice, Stephen and Adam in the sunshine |
But that was sunday's start to the YCW autumn series, no wind accompanied by a searing sun. Our start was pretty good and we knew which way to go but the lack of a genoa in our sail inventory as well as going hunting for wind that didn't appear was the death knell for the short, fat laser 28. All the boat trim, not using the rudder and twisted sails couldn't make up for the malaise both physically and spititually that we were in as we watched all the faster boats in the IRC fleet and even the PY fleet sail away from us.
You could say that we should concentrate harder on our light airs performance.....I say go fishing or water skiing on a day like sunday, that was no weather for sailors!.....yeah we were last.
Monday, 19 September 2011
3rd of the Sunday Series - another 2nd place
Just back in from a lovely week on holiday in southern Brittany, it was a short sleep and down to the boat for the 3rd race of the WSC sunday series. It was raining off and on and blowing quite hard so it was disappointing that there were only three of us, Stephen, Adam and myself. I elected to do the middle of the boat bit with Adam up front hopefully being able to stand up more due to the new "Kiwi Grip" which Stephen has applied.
The course was three rounds of a triangular course with only one leg spinnakerable with a a white sail reaching leg. Bit of a dodgy course maybe but suited us as we could sail the kite leg at about 120 degrees apparent wind with the asymmetric kite which was stable and powerful in the breezy (25 kts+) and gusty conditions under the raining clouds. Our first beat was pretty dreadful but the sailplan that always seems to be fast for us these days (No. 4 and a reef) plus the powerful kite legs gave us a second place on handicap. There's no catching Draig in this series with straight bullets. We'll try and be better opposition next week with more crew, Scoline were double handed this week and Rocket were struggling with getting their ayso to fly..
The course was three rounds of a triangular course with only one leg spinnakerable with a a white sail reaching leg. Bit of a dodgy course maybe but suited us as we could sail the kite leg at about 120 degrees apparent wind with the asymmetric kite which was stable and powerful in the breezy (25 kts+) and gusty conditions under the raining clouds. Our first beat was pretty dreadful but the sailplan that always seems to be fast for us these days (No. 4 and a reef) plus the powerful kite legs gave us a second place on handicap. There's no catching Draig in this series with straight bullets. We'll try and be better opposition next week with more crew, Scoline were double handed this week and Rocket were struggling with getting their ayso to fly..
Friday, 2 September 2011
3 Lasers in Weymouth
Hopefully Moondog won't mind me nicking their photo from the JOG Weymouth in July...
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| Moondog, Blazer and FarrOut the other side of the harbour. |
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Melges 24 Spi on a Laser 28 / Autumn Long Distance.
The bank holiday monday finally gave us the opportunity to get down to the boat and mess around with bits of timber. We had been given an old Melges asymmetric at the start of the summer which is bigger than our current SB3 kite. A bit of pythagoras told us that we needed a bowsprit of around 1.25m to fly it.
I searched the yard and found an old bit of mahogany off the marina pontoons and Darren got to work with his saw and drill. We removed all of our constructions before the Autumn long distance race but had some time afterwards to play.
So the result was that the kite flew beautifully in the gentle 10 or so knots, we were really fast. We carried out a series of gybes which were really easy. The prod we made was actually 1m long but 1.25m would be better I think. Eventually it snapped.
Great stuff, but after the test we concluded the following:
Autumn Long Distance
We were late over the line for this race, mostly due to titting around with bits of wood. We selected right hand side of the beat which was the lifting tack. By the second mark we'd overtaken Rocket and were chasing Draig. A disastrous kite call from me saw us lose some ground, however at W mark at Hamm beach Darren pulled off a lovely bow launch whilst holding all the kite in his arms.
A shifty beat back over to B saw us do quite well, one big shift putting us right on the money. We didn't see any results, definately not a win but I'd hope we were up there.
I searched the yard and found an old bit of mahogany off the marina pontoons and Darren got to work with his saw and drill. We removed all of our constructions before the Autumn long distance race but had some time afterwards to play.
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| Can you hear banjos? The 1m long sprit |
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| Flying like a dream! |
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| This is the life |
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| The inevitable. |
Great stuff, but after the test we concluded the following:
- In a lot of breeze we wouldn't have enough keel or rudder to hold it.
- The permanent bowsprit would probably need to be about 75mm diameter to take the load.
- It would never be worth the rating hit.
- If you want to fly a big ayso. Sell the Laser and buy a J!
Autumn Long Distance
We were late over the line for this race, mostly due to titting around with bits of wood. We selected right hand side of the beat which was the lifting tack. By the second mark we'd overtaken Rocket and were chasing Draig. A disastrous kite call from me saw us lose some ground, however at W mark at Hamm beach Darren pulled off a lovely bow launch whilst holding all the kite in his arms.
A shifty beat back over to B saw us do quite well, one big shift putting us right on the money. We didn't see any results, definately not a win but I'd hope we were up there.
Friday, 26 August 2011
The Last Thursday
Well that's it, the last thursday night race of the season, how quickly it comes around. We can now concentrate on Sunday mornings until lift out time.
Stephen drove for this one which was the last of the August series scored under PY. We had a blustery southerly that backed during the starts giving a pin end bias that we quite rightly port tacked. The good thing was that we were a few seconds late over the line meaning that we could take the transoms of all the boats coming in on starboard. If we'd have been on time it would have been a mess.
This same shift made the offwind legs unbalanced and it was far too shy for our ayso at 60 degrees apparent wind angle. Never mind it was up and putting someone on the foredeck to enable the drop would have resulted in a massive broach and anyway we needed it after the gybe! Stephen did a magnificient job of gaining the height everytime we rounded up and then driving down a little wave with the kite full. We squeaked the gybe mark, it was slow but we made it and really good experience for everyone.
Not an oustanding performance from team FarrOut but we weren't bad either.
931 handicap on a First 31.7? 913 more like........
Stephen drove for this one which was the last of the August series scored under PY. We had a blustery southerly that backed during the starts giving a pin end bias that we quite rightly port tacked. The good thing was that we were a few seconds late over the line meaning that we could take the transoms of all the boats coming in on starboard. If we'd have been on time it would have been a mess.
This same shift made the offwind legs unbalanced and it was far too shy for our ayso at 60 degrees apparent wind angle. Never mind it was up and putting someone on the foredeck to enable the drop would have resulted in a massive broach and anyway we needed it after the gybe! Stephen did a magnificient job of gaining the height everytime we rounded up and then driving down a little wave with the kite full. We squeaked the gybe mark, it was slow but we made it and really good experience for everyone.
Not an oustanding performance from team FarrOut but we weren't bad either.
Friday, 19 August 2011
Thursday 18th in the Snake Pit
We were back in the groove for the August series at Weymouth Sailing Club. A guest appearance from Stuart back from Australia meant I was back in the pit.
A shifty 15 knot northerly under overcast skies saw the RO set a triangle sausage course, the shiftyness pre-start causing an unequal angle on the kite reaches making the starboard gybe leg pretty shy on the second time around.
It was quite short legs but everyone was on their game for the boat handling, though it was kind of hectic for me in the pit with no time to get cleared up. Resulting in the snake pit that we were left with at the end of the race:
The first three places were seperated by one second each on corrected time (Scoline, Crazeology, Phoebe) and we were 30 seconds off on corrected time and in forth place. This is encouraging because we lost more than this when the spinnaker halyard released from the top of the kite and we had to trawl it back in, the clip then was caught on the mainsail and we had to carefully gybe to release it and not rip the sail. Without that it was a win I'm sure.
For a sleep deprived new father it was a real workout! Team was:
Stuart Riches - Helm
Stephen HB - Main
Jez Rees - Pit/trim
Darren Aston - Spi Trim / tactics
Adam Greaves - Mast
Jack Baker - Bow
Well done to Draig O'r Mor for their 23rd placing in IRC4 in the Fastnet which they finished this morning. Probably still in the RORC bar now!
A shifty 15 knot northerly under overcast skies saw the RO set a triangle sausage course, the shiftyness pre-start causing an unequal angle on the kite reaches making the starboard gybe leg pretty shy on the second time around.
It was quite short legs but everyone was on their game for the boat handling, though it was kind of hectic for me in the pit with no time to get cleared up. Resulting in the snake pit that we were left with at the end of the race:
For a sleep deprived new father it was a real workout! Team was:
Stuart Riches - Helm
Stephen HB - Main
Jez Rees - Pit/trim
Darren Aston - Spi Trim / tactics
Adam Greaves - Mast
Jack Baker - Bow
Well done to Draig O'r Mor for their 23rd placing in IRC4 in the Fastnet which they finished this morning. Probably still in the RORC bar now!
Friday, 29 July 2011
Still Waiting
We didn't go out racing this Thursday as people are away and I'm waiting for child No. 2 to arrive. Rattler weren't there either as they're down at Falmouth for JOG week.
Darren went dinghy sailing in the club 420 "Milo". I've been hanging around all week expecting the baby to come at anytime so decided that I'd pop down to the club anyway. It was such a nice evening with around a 10 knot breeze that I thought it would be fun to take FarrOut for a sail single handed.
A great night for it as it's Lifeboat week so there was the big orange boat in the bay as well as the ILB and the WSC safety rib etc.. Plenty of people to pick me up / stop the boat if I went over the side!
No spinnaker work this time, we'll have a go at that next time. I'm getting used to sailing her under the tiller pilot. You just think that you want to sail off into the distance though. Coming back onto the mooring is the hardest and where you have the potential to get into the most trouble, I got away with it but it wasn't pretty!
Darren went dinghy sailing in the club 420 "Milo". I've been hanging around all week expecting the baby to come at anytime so decided that I'd pop down to the club anyway. It was such a nice evening with around a 10 knot breeze that I thought it would be fun to take FarrOut for a sail single handed.
A great night for it as it's Lifeboat week so there was the big orange boat in the bay as well as the ILB and the WSC safety rib etc.. Plenty of people to pick me up / stop the boat if I went over the side!
No spinnaker work this time, we'll have a go at that next time. I'm getting used to sailing her under the tiller pilot. You just think that you want to sail off into the distance though. Coming back onto the mooring is the hardest and where you have the potential to get into the most trouble, I got away with it but it wasn't pretty!
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Friday, 15 July 2011
Thursday 2, Race 4
Following last weekends regatta, I got to the boat early to see if we could do anything about the rig settings. We now have more of a banana mast and it seems to have improved our upwind angles.
It was a lovely night for sailing with a 10-15 knot breeze and warm sunshine. Jack had brought along Adam and Ben so we had six on board FarrOut. The start was great with all boats positioned well but in the kind of way that 6 inches either way would have meant collisions. I'm pleased to say that with the new rig settings and the weight on the rail we were fast off the line.
We managed to stay pretty much up with the fleet all the way around but once again, much to our annoyance, Scoline were on top form and comfortably winning all the way round.
A nice triangle sausage course was set by Bill Barker meaning two ayso legs with a slick outside gybe, followed by a deep symmetrical kite run with a gybe in the middle there.
Fourth on corrected time for this race - we beat Rattler though!
10 Years Ago......
I found a post on the net mentioning FarrOut in the Oban regatta in 2001. Good to see that she once went at 14.4 knots:
http://www.petestack.com/sailing/reports/2001/oban.html
It was a lovely night for sailing with a 10-15 knot breeze and warm sunshine. Jack had brought along Adam and Ben so we had six on board FarrOut. The start was great with all boats positioned well but in the kind of way that 6 inches either way would have meant collisions. I'm pleased to say that with the new rig settings and the weight on the rail we were fast off the line.
We managed to stay pretty much up with the fleet all the way around but once again, much to our annoyance, Scoline were on top form and comfortably winning all the way round.
A nice triangle sausage course was set by Bill Barker meaning two ayso legs with a slick outside gybe, followed by a deep symmetrical kite run with a gybe in the middle there.
Fourth on corrected time for this race - we beat Rattler though!
10 Years Ago......
I found a post on the net mentioning FarrOut in the Oban regatta in 2001. Good to see that she once went at 14.4 knots:
http://www.petestack.com/sailing/reports/2001/oban.html
Monday, 11 July 2011
Weymouth Regatta 2011 - I'm exhausted!
It was a hard regatta on FarrOut, try as we might we were really struggling for crew especially in lots of wind on friday (upto 35 knots) and just a little bit less on saturday. Sunday started a little light and then developed into a lovely breeze and we had the correct five on board. It was the kind of breeze where Stephen on main trim could rest his arm muscles and concentrate more on the shape of the sail.
Sunday afternoon gave us our best result in IRC3 with a second to Scoline, it was fun to do a windward/leeward course and we didn't really make any mistakes.
I think after the weekend we need to check our rig tensions because we don't seem to be as fast upwind as we used to be.
Friday's long distance race was especially tough for Stephen and I double handed. The "death or glory" spinnaker hoist in that kind of wind made us lay down for a while...generally with the size of the seas and the screaming wind it was survival mode on the little lake racer!
Disaster of the weekend was ripping the clew out of the "Touareg" spinnaker. Not terminal, it will be back.
By the way... 2011 Quarter Ton Cup starts today, if they can find any wind. Check it out at http://quartertonners.wordpress.com/
Sunday afternoon gave us our best result in IRC3 with a second to Scoline, it was fun to do a windward/leeward course and we didn't really make any mistakes.
I think after the weekend we need to check our rig tensions because we don't seem to be as fast upwind as we used to be.
Friday's long distance race was especially tough for Stephen and I double handed. The "death or glory" spinnaker hoist in that kind of wind made us lay down for a while...generally with the size of the seas and the screaming wind it was survival mode on the little lake racer!
Disaster of the weekend was ripping the clew out of the "Touareg" spinnaker. Not terminal, it will be back.
By the way... 2011 Quarter Ton Cup starts today, if they can find any wind. Check it out at http://quartertonners.wordpress.com/
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Henri Lloyd Weymouth Regatta
This weekend brings our annual town regatta. Entries are down this year with only four boats entered in IRC3. Such a shame as it's always enjoyable and a well run regatta.
We'll always enter, but I wonder if it's the entry prices that put people off. We have so much "free" racing in the borough with the various club races and under the YCW banner that it comes hard for people to pay for a good weekend - something that is usual in the Solent and elsewhere. But, it's only because people volunteer that the "free" racing is available. For the keelboat regatta to survive whilst the dinghy regatta thrives it needs people to consider it their duty to enter.
It's only by offering large fleet racing that we can encourage visiting boats to take part. We have the best sailing waters in Northern Europe, we can't keep it all to ourselves can we?
We'll always enter, but I wonder if it's the entry prices that put people off. We have so much "free" racing in the borough with the various club races and under the YCW banner that it comes hard for people to pay for a good weekend - something that is usual in the Solent and elsewhere. But, it's only because people volunteer that the "free" racing is available. For the keelboat regatta to survive whilst the dinghy regatta thrives it needs people to consider it their duty to enter.
It's only by offering large fleet racing that we can encourage visiting boats to take part. We have the best sailing waters in Northern Europe, we can't keep it all to ourselves can we?
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