Go West! Life is peaceful there, Go West In the open air!, Go West! Where the skies are blue
Go West! This is what we’re gonna do…
Well the sky wasn’t blue, at least not to start with…and peaceful…ha! There was however a lot of open air, most of it whistling past at 20 - 25 knots from the Southwest. Anyway we had all decided thats what we were gonna do, and so at an hour that your average Victory almost never sees, 6 boats departed the harbour, some even before 9am, and headed up the wall for Gilkicker and beyond on Wednesday morning.
Their destination, confirmed en route, was Solent Mark 4V , Hamble Yacht Services, well west of East Bramble, where Victorys rarely venture outside of Cowes Week. There ‘Cowes United’ and a team from the Royal London Yacht Club’s Cowes Classics Week were waiting, for a days racing as part of the CCW Regatta. It was clear as we rounded Gilkicker in 18-20 knots of SW breeze that it was going to be a damp day. A classic short Solent chop was already building, on 54 Heather at the front was soaked by the time we passed Stokes Bay SC on the close reach to the West. She retreated aft..
All 6 boats made it on time for the start of the sequence at HYS, where we joined rather a lot of Swallows and some Classic Day Boats, all with their own start. By 11:25 Z79, with class legend Kim Taylor at the helm as special guest, was making an enthusiastic start to lead the fleet off the line for the first race, closely followed by the other players for the day, Z54, Z48, Z70, Z73, and Z77. With the breeze still around 18 knots there was a classic ‘Bramble chop’ to sail through, with the race area open to the west all the way to Hurst, and a strong east going tide to fight. Hard to keep the boat moving upwind.
The immediate decision was whether to tack onto port and push north towards Southampton water, or South to get behind the Bramble bank on its SE corner. Z79 went North, with much of the fleet following while 54 held longest to the SE corner before tacking under the bank, At the end of the 1 mile beat Z79 rounded the laid windward and spreader mark first, closely followed by 54 and 48, and in the company of rather a lot of Swallows, to add a bit of Cowes Week style excitement to the day. The hoist and dead run were challenging in the sea state, the fleet spread a little but 79 held the lead. Up the beat again and 54 tried to eat into 79’s lead, but they held the advantage and Kim tacked firmly on top to make sure! Down the run and to the finish, Z79 by a dozen boat lengths. 54 second and 77 holding the third fighting it out with Z48. 79, 54, 77, 48, 70,73.
A short break between races saw Z73 head for home with a sick crew member. Well done to Helen, Gareth and Jim for sailing so far and fighting around the first race in really quite difficult conditions. We hope everyone has recovered today!
Race 2, on the same course. The sun was out, serving to highlight that the wind has increased 2 or 3 knots, and the view to windward was bright green water and white breaking waves! Z48 leading the charge off the line, 54, 77, 79 in the mix. Again the decision was how far to get behind the bank and again 54 went the furthest. Then disaster! Black marks are hard to spot against the Island shore, Z79 and Z77, far to the north on the right of the beat, overstanding the windward mark by some way. Z54 also lured too far, and only Z48 picking the line, while Z70 crosses early. Z54 just in time to roll over 48 as the mark approaches to round first, Z70 gaining rapidly on those over stood. Z54 leads down a frankly rather rock and roll run. Action behind, but I had too much to concentrate on to keep things afloat to get the details! A thrash up the beat in very short waves, covering the fleet, and another mind concentrating run and 54 had the win, with 79 second having passed 48, and 77 and 70 astern.
No time to rest, and anyway everyone was ready to head for home, but you had to passage race there! Race 3 had a simple course.. Mark 47 (Contessa 32 Class), some 1/2 mile upwind, to port, followed by Suffolk Sails, some 7 miles of downwind sailing to the east. Z70 had the start of the day, no week, no.. month! on the line, on the committee boat, shutting out Z79 and bang on the gun! The rest of the class also on the ball, just to show the RLYC what we do. A short sharp beat saw Z54 take the lead round the windward mark a few boat lengths ahead of Z79, with the rest of the fleet close behind. And then comes the long downhill. Broad reach, 20 - 25 knots, quartering sea. An exhilarating leg for everyone, unless you were the one hanging on to the kite sheet (well done Heather and Martyn on 54). Z54 extending from 79 and surfing waves, and the fleet generally extending as we reached down to the mainland shore to dodge the west going tide. Around Gilkicker and on to the run, much to the crews relief! At the line Z54 after 1 hour 16 mins, followed by 79, 77, 70 and 48.
Long day, long report! Thanks to everyone who supported the day, to the RLYC team and to Heather and Martin especially in ‘Zelia’ ! (And a special thanks to the Pet Shop Boys….)