A R T I C L E S

Black Rock Race
by Ian White

A first taste of double-handed racing on the inaugrial Solent-Falmouth-Solent race

As a beginner in this 2 handed thing, I said that I would write some comments after the Solent-Falmouth-Solent Race. I am sure that what I am going to say will probably be "old hat" to the experienced double-handers, so please bear with me. Some of the comments may well be of use to the new guys like us, hopefully.

Firstly, may I congratulate all the crews that took part in the Race, even though we ended up being the only finishers. The weather conditions were horrendous, and tactical decisions became very important I think.

The weather in the Solent was around 20 to 25 kt, from the NW, and allowed us to make Hurst in one tack. We were concerned about the seaway off Bridge, and made a quick right turn into the North Channel. This paid off, as we caught up a lot of ground over the other yachts, which went via bridge. (We were 30 min late at the start line, but that’s another story- and a bit embarrassing).

Lesson No 1
If it is going to be rough at Bridge use the North Channel

I have no idea why RSYC sent us via Poole No 3 buoy. Pool Bar has a known waypoint, and would have been easier than figuring out an approximate waypoint for this unknown buoy. Perhaps they thought that it would give us something to do!!

Again we were very lucky with the wind direction and were able to lay Poole No3 in one tack.

By this stage we could see the Multihull about 1 mile ahead, and we followed her out on Stbd Tack passed St Albans, with a fair tide of 3 kts round the head.

It was about this time that the wind piped up to 30 kt, and being lazy we decided to reef the jib. This led to problem no 1. The Grub screw had backed off, and all I did was pull in 3 or 4 handfuls of rope before realising that the forestay was not revolving. Hence plan 2 - douse the No 3 and put up the No 4.

All went well, though a bit wet. It was at that stage that the Multi Hull retired, and passed close by returning to the Solent.

The wind was still building and we decided to put in the second reef, Having done this, we realised that there was a tear in the sail at the leech below the second batten pocket. So down came the sail, and hence problem No 2 - always rig the lazy jacks, even if you don’t think you will need them. Yards of slippery Quantum Sail in 35 to 40 kt of wind is like dealing with a crazed Boa Constrictor.

Lesson No 2
Always rig your lazy Jacks. You never know when you might need them.

The one good thing was that we had to run off at about 45 deg apparent under the No 4 jib while we mended the sail. This put us on a course well south of Portland.

Sail Patches, as usual did not work in these conditions, and perhaps we were expecting too much. There were green waves in the cockpit, and it was impossible to keep the repair dry. On top of which the wind kept ripping the patch off the sail!!. There then followed a happy 3/4 hour of dress making, however I do not think that Ed or I will be invited to the Milan Design Show! I hate to think what the sail makers on the Quantum floor will have to say about our stitching, but at least it worked.

We did not put the Main back up for about 6 hours. We were doing 7.5 Kt on the No 4 alone at around 40 deg apparent. Wind strength varied between 30 and 40 kt, and hit 44 kt in one squall. I suspect it averaged 35. The seas were long rollers which were comfortable for the boat but a bit wet. Considering the conditions that we were meeting South of Portland, the conditions inside, with less depth must have been horrendous. It was this which I think caused the retirement of Blue Deamon and Mr Tinkles. Blue Deamon had a substantial leak from their Anchor Locker into the Cabin Space, and Mr Tiggles just got too wet and cold. Danny on Mr Tinkles has now decided that he needs to replace his oilskins!!

Lesson No 3
In future I will always carry to sets of mid layers and thermals, so you can change into dry warm clothes when the worst of the storm is over

Lesson No 4
If its going to be rough, keep a long distance off the headlands. Its all right being tough with a full crew but discretion is the better part of valour when there are only 2 of you on board.

After Portland the weather started to improve, dropping from 35 to 40 to 30 to 35. This eventually led to us putting up the Main with the 2 reefs, and then increasing sail to the first reef. We sailed for about 3 hours with this rig, and then the wind went up to 35 kt again so we re-reefed. Viewing the sail by torch led to us thinking that we had developed another rip, so we dropped the sail on the deck again, but thankfully we found that it was only our imagination ( it was a small piece of carbon sail showing between the white patch and the white leech seam that had looked like a rip.)

Thereafter the sail to Falmouth was windy but uneventful. The only hazard being the slalom ride into Falmouth passed the minefield of lobsterpots. These proved to be even more difficult on the return, as the sunlight on the water meant that you could not see them until the last second.

The apparent wind on the return was never greater than 70 deg, and usually 50 to 60 deg, so we were unable to carry a chute. Even still, with the wind still varying from 25 to 30 kt we were averaging about 8kt, and even surfed on George at 10.4 kt on one occasion.

We had originally decided to use Swedish Watches, but after the first night we realised that this did not work. We fell into a revised watch scheme automatically. It worked on the basis that with the boat settled one crew could go below for 3 hours. If called for a sail change, this counted as admin time. Once the problem was solved the crew returned to his bunk, and restarted his off watch period from then. This meant that neither crew ended up without a full 3 hours rest period, and reduced the concern about waking up the off watch crew when a sail change was required.

The return sail was magnificent, and we maintained speed good speed until we reached the Fairway Buoy, when the wind veered to the East, and dropped to 2 to 4 kt. All told it took for 0400 to 0800 to get from the Fairway Buoy to the finishing line with a 2 kt assistance from the tide.

In conclusion, though both Ed and I are feeling our age after all that energetic work on Saturday night, it was a great race, and we are only sorry that the blow on Saturday caused so many retirements. It would have been great if more people had finished.

Both Ed and I have improved our confidence in racing Double Handed, and considering the way the boat behaved in a blow, especially under auto helm we would confidently enter 50 kt of wind without serious concerns. It would be a bit wet though!!

We were sorry that we had problems with the Tracker Device supplied by PB. It worked a treat in the Solent but then lost power. We checked the circuits, remaking the connections and changing the fuse, but to no avail. Again an interesting job in a bit of a blow. I understand that the unit is now working successfully again, so the cause of the problem is unknown. The tracker needs to be continued with, in my opinion, as communication by phone or text will by its nature be sporadic, and even though I was keen on giving updates to PB, it was the least of our worries on Saturday night. My reporting by phone was therefore poor. The fact that you can have a device that looks after this aspect of longer distance racing automatically is therefore a matter, which needs to be pursued in my opinion.

Ian White.
Hooligan V.