A R T I C L E S

Blue Demon Qualifies for RBI ~ The Crew's View
by Nicki Crutchfield

Arriving at Shamrock Quay at 1330 was my first chance to meet Guy Warner my skipper for the next three days and all being well for the RBI. We shook hands, leaped aboard Blue Demon, Guy's Maxi 1100, put the jib on the furler, looked around the boat a little and set off at 1520.

The course for our 300 mile qualifying cruise began at Nab Tower where we found ourselves in a decent body of wind at 1900. Off we went with three reefs in the main and most of the staysail. We took loose watches of between 2 and 3 hours as needs dictated and rapidly donned more clothes as it was very cold with an air temperature of about 3 degrees centigrade and a steady 30 knot easterly. The boat tramped along beautifully in the rising swell and growing dark. Wonderful. At sea again at last. My first sail since August the 5th 2005. I only told Guy this after we had returned.

We headed SE as hard on the wind as we could. The going became wetter and colder as the night progressed but tea and coffee still appeared at regular intervals.

At about 2 am, I'm guessing as I don't wear a timepiece, I went off watch. As soon I got into my berth I heard a terrible banging just by my head. Re-donning my foul weather gear I went on deck to discover that the spinnaker pole had come off its brackets and was trailing alongside having luckily caught itself on a block. It was retrieved with some difficulty and I went back to bed. One big wave a few minutes later reminded me that I should have lashed it to a stanchion as again there was a loud banging. This time I tied it up tightly.

Sometime early in the morning we gybed and headed NW. With the now increased wind against tide the going was `OK but not all that comfortable. Coming back on watch at about 1000, I had two lovely toasty pairs of socks on and some very comfy shoes. suffice to say my feet felt wonderful. The thought of putting them in my damp wellies put me off changing. A couple of minutes after I had decided not to put the wellies on, I looked right to see a large wall of water about to hit the boat. Half a second later, hanging onto the stern, I was engulfed with only one thought in my head "My bloody shoes are wet." The wave went by and I was left totally dry except for my rapidly cooling feet. No water even went down my neck. Lesson learned; don't go on deck in shoes in a F8.

We carried on, me enjoying the novelty of not really needing to know where we were, just sitting around and keeping a close watch on shipping. The wind had settled to a steady 35 to 40 knots gusting 45 and the boat was flying along at 9 knots plus. Lovely. Early on saturday evening we tacked and headed SE again as close as we could to the wind. This was the time when it was the strongest and as the tide turned and started running east life became very bumpy.

Coffee making was an intricate affair as the cooker had been doused by a wave and the ignition system was no longer working. The lighter I had flew across the cabin and shattered. The only way to light the gas now was by taking a taper and lighting it from the oven. But coffee must be made. the tide turned and Blue Demon stormed upwind. It was truly a great feeling. Sunday morning saw us tacking back onto a northerly course towards Nab Tower with the wind just forward of the beam and boat and crew very happy. Crossing the shipping lane for the fourth time was uneventful and we passed Nab Tower at about 1800 with the wind still at a steady 30 knots. Smiles were exchanged. We had qualified; 320 miles on the log in 47 hours of strong wind, swell and spring tides. Most gratifying.

We sailed and then motor-sailed back to the Itchen arriving at Shamrock Quay at 2200. We were within 100 yrds of our berth and looking forward to a beer, when that gentle slowing down feeling told us we were aground. LW springs. Some quick thinking was required if we were to get the beer we had worked so hard for to which end the jib was speedily deployed and, with the engine going flat out, we slowly clawed off into deep water. We made it to the pub for 2230 only to be reminded that it was sunday. We must have looked very disappointed, because the landlord kindly let us have a pint even though he had called time and the pub was empty. Thanks are due to him.

In conclusion, we had a very good sail in good solid weather and seas free from too many people. Guy and I went from being strangers to a team keen to work the boat as well as we can in the RBI. With mutual respect and then earned trust, the qualifying cruise was not only useful, but as we were breaking all of the rules Jerry mentioned in his 'Ten times tougher' article, it was essential.

Thank you Guy and Blue demon and thank you to everyone who was 'watching' us on Oceanracetrack.com.

Nicki Crutchfield