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Stokes Bay SC Open Meeting

6^th & 7^th September 2003

Only my second sail of the year, but also my first sail in the new boat. I had bought 1092, Silent Wings from Chris Doughty who has sadly decided to hang up his trapeze harness. It looked like a good entry, about 70 cats in all, split into three classes:

· Hurricanes, about 20 in class

· Asymmetrics, about 25 in class

· All the rest (Dart, Hobbie, Shearwater, A class and me), 25 in class

I was very disappointed to find that none of the Stokes Bay or south coast Unicorns had entered – I was the only Unicorn........However, I was pleased to meet Nigel Lovett and Clive Everett with their superb A class development cats. Nigel was complaining that his new boat was overweight at 75.4Kg!!!

Race 1 - light F2 winds (just F3 at times)

My first impressions of 1092 were that the sail was set alot flatter than I normally use and the boom seemed lower – I obviously don’t pull the ropes hard enough!! I made a decent start for a change and the wind was strong enough to trapeze up the first beat. I gave everthing a wide berth so was pleased to find I was third on the water and close to the two A class at the top mark. The wind gradually weakened throughout the race which was shortened to 2 laps.  The two A class gradually pulled away but I found that on handicap I had split them, getting a 2^nd place – one of my best ever results. This was a great way to start in the new boat!! We came ashore due to light winds.

Race 2 – fresh 16 to 18kt winds

The fresh breeze had raised a typical lumpy Solent chop which I find hard to deal with at the best of times. I made a rather poor start and found myself struggling to get the boat going well up the first beat. I think the main probelm was not sailing freely enough – I have always tended to pinch too much and the new hull shape really does not respond very well to this treatment. I had a near disaster with a large sailing boat – I decided to go the safe way (astern), only to see a couple of fishing lines trailing out the back. Some emergency  action resulted in a dunking, and as I scambled back aboard a gust took her onto one hull. I clawed my way up hill and after what felt like an eternity on kife edge, she eventually came back onto even keel. Final result was a very lowly 19^th place.

 

Race 3 – fresh F5

I made a better start and vowed to sail freer, but could not break the habit of pinching to make the windward mark. But the tide always won and having lost time pinching I lost even more putting in two more tacks. End result, another 19^th. It’s pretty clear I have alot of work to do to get the best out of the boat in good winds.

 

Sunday

After a very frustrating wait of 2.5 hours for winds, we finally set sail after lunch.

 

Race 4 – variable F 1 to 2

Having set the course, the wind shifted 90 deg – another 30 min wait. When we started I was delighted to hit it right on the button and at the end of lap 1 I was still close to the two A class with nothing else in sight. However, on lap 2 the 3 of us hit a hole at the leeward mark and were becalmed for 3 to 4 minutes. The wind finally came across to us with the rest of the fleet and we scampered around the remaining lap, Nigel and Clive taking 1^st and 2^nd while I ended up with a 5^th having lost out to two Hobie 16’s on H/C. Racing was then abandoned as a thunderstorm loomed over the Isle of Wight.

 

Final results:

Hobbie 16  14/1/2/4 =  7 1^st place

Clive A class  1/6/6/2= 9  2^nd place

Hobbie 16  7/4/3/3= 10 3^rd place

Nigel A class  3/7/10/1= 11  4^th place

John Unicorn 2/19/19/5= 26  8^th place

 

Overall this is an excellent, well run regatta and we ought to see more Unicorns from the south coast at this event. See you there in 2004??

 

 

John Wade

1092

Silent Wings

 

Stokes Bay Regatta 14-15 Sept 02

One of only three sessions of sailing for me in 2002, I travelled down to Stokes Bay on Saturday morning with fabulous weather, sunny and warm with a N to NE breeze, rather gusty and variable but in the range F3 to 5. I arrived to find a decent fleet (about 70 boats) split into H5.9's, F18's, asymmetrics and the rest. Format was pretty demanding, 3 races back to back each day, each an hour long. Course was triangle/sausage/triangle.

The Unicorn Fleet was slightly down, Phil being away and Chris being out on the big keel boats cruising through the Solent. However, it was great to see Richard out in his newly finished boat. We were also joined by Dan and Gary.

Saturday Race 1 - F3+

I tried to get a CB start and got heavily squeezed, just managed to avoid hitting anyone but managed to trip the rudder (must have been on the CB anchor chain!!). I won't do that again. In spite of stopping to put the rudder back down I seemed to be going well, I gradually caught and passed Gary Piper on the downwind leg of lap 2. Finished within sight of Dan, that's a first!! It was certainly a case of watching out really carefully for other Cats as there were over 65 boats in the fleet and some marks were very busy and potentially quite hazardous. Perhaps I was finally getting the new sail set up well (or was it just good fortune?)

Race 2 - F4

I tried to get a clear air start, but went in too early and ended up going down the line in front of a lot of boats (oh dear, must not do that again either!!). At least I started in clear air. I was initially chasing Dan, ahead of Gary, but this time Gary overhauled me and went passed on the 2^nd lap. They finished right up the front.

Race 3 - F4

I finally got in a perfect position, a clean start mid way down the line, and they put in a general recall, Murphy strikes again!! 2^nd start was very poor, I got stuffed by a brace of Shearwaters at the start. I then had a dismal race, everything I did was wrong, I totally misjudged some Hurricanes at the windward mark, having to tack about 6 times around various boats, lost shed loads of time, also got caught in irons etc and finished way down the fleet. Dan and Gary had some excellent results once again.

Got onto the water at 1215h and off the water at 1700h - hard going without having had any time to get 'sailing fit' this year. Richard had a good session, the usual teething troubles for a first outing but a good sail and back in one piece!!

Sunday Race 1 - F4+

Having thought I had learned the lessons from Saturday I completely blew the start, got stuffed behind a load of others, got caught in irons, caught by a very large wind shift etc. I eventually crossed the start line 4 mins after the start!! Otherwise sailed ok, but never got to race anyone, witnessed loads of incidents, fortunately from a distance (including collisions, capsizes, dismastings etc).

Race 2 - F4+

Great start and guess what, another general recall. A poor second start, so a good minute down. Had to take avoiding action when a 60ft cruising cat came through the fleet ignoring absolutely everybody regardless of the fact we were racing and on starboard. More carnage (saw a F18 dismasted trying to go through the fleet on stbd when everyone else was rounding the leeward mark on port.)

Race 3 - F4+

Start was ok, then had a relatively incident free race, but out of touch with Dan and Gary. Had some good sessions beating and downwind against the Shadow. It sailed slightly lower and faster than the Unicorn beating and was well quick downwind. An absolutely fabulous close reach at the top of the course, I was lucky to get away with it when I went in on one lap (didn't have my foot in the restraining loop). I was getting tired so sat on the hull and flew very high for the whole reach (great fun but not very fast!!).

Overall results were Dan 1^st, Gary 4^th, me 12^th, (unfortunately I can't remember Richard's position) out of a fleet of 33. A great weekend - this is a regatta well worth attending.

John 1086 C'est la vie