A R T I C L E S

Oojah Qualifies for RBI
by Peter Tanner

We left from Port Hamble Marina in the afternoon of Friday 31st March. The forecast gave a south westerly force 5-7 occasional 8 for our area with winds easing slightly on Saturday and Sunday. Oojah is a J110 owned and skippered by Peter Tanner and co skippered this season by myself Philip Kirk. While we both have a lot of offshore experience we are a new pairing on the double handed circuit and this was my first passage sailing double handed.

To complete the 300 miles or 48 hours required to Qualify for the Round Britain and Ireland race we had planned to sail from Hamble to Ouistreham back to Poole, out to EC2 and then in to Hamble either via the Needles or a buoy towards Chichester. Due to the spring tides we had planned our passage to avoid any major tidal gates.

We knew that we didn’t need to break any records and started cautiously with the number three jib and 2 reefs. We experienced gusts of 30 knots before we left the Solent making it tricky to eat our simple dinner of cold cooked chicken (straight from the Tesco’s wrapper) catering was going to be simple on this trip. The wind steadied at force 5 but had backed to the south forcing us to sail on the wind through the night. We encountered a few squalls as the cold front passed over us in the early hours of Saturday morning by which time we were 20 miles off track and heading for Fecamp instead of Ouistreham. Neither of us were feeling well with this being our first offshore sail of the year so breakfast consisted of fruit and some Hob-Knobs. Luckily the wind gods took pity on us, by veering to the south west and easing. I wondered if the drop in wind strength was a meteorological April fool because there wasn’t a forecast indicating the lighter winds that we had been given. We rounded a starboard hand channel mark close in to Ouistreham and sailed away on our second crossing of the Channel to Poole. The locals must have thought us mad to come so close to their harbour and not stop for lunch but we could not be tempted.

As we sailed away from Ouistreham the sun came out and it began to feel warmer. It had been freezing cold through the night so the increase in temperature was relative and I was not contemplating on tacking off my jacket. With the lighter winds we changed headsails up to the No. 1 and started to make better time. That done it was time for a proper meal. Peter cooked a tasty beef stew with potatoes and peas which felt great. I hadn’t realised how hungry I had got. We made good progress with the help of the ebb tide and the backing wind, and were crossing the shipping lanes by night fall. We had sailed 3 hour watches for most of the trip and I was getting used to running the deck single handed on my watch. As we neared the English Coast a squall enveloped us but not before I had spotted the lights of a fishing boat on our bow a couple of miles ahead. As the visibility dropped I lost sight of the lights but had a more urgent issue to worry about. The wind had risen from 16 to 24 knots in a matter of minutes and the boat felt as if it was on the edge of control. I eased the main, furled the Genoa and bore away 10-20 degrees to run more off wind. The boat felt under more control but I was concerned about the location of the fishing boat. Had I imagined it? Was I getting tired? Despite keeping a sharp look out I didn’t see it until the squall had passed by which time the boat was no more than half a mile away. The wind then died, filled in from various directions before settling in from the North West. Exactly where we wanted to go! Back on the wind again but now with full sail.

Peter relieved me on deck at 3am having slept through much of the drama and managed with difficulty to locate our turning mark in Poole Bay before turning the boat towards our next mark, EC2. The morning forecast was still indicating force 5-7 from the south west not from the north west, west or south that we had experienced so far on our trip. By the time we reached EC2 the wind had risen, the seas had built and we were sailing with three reefs and a scrap of the Genoa. We rounded the mark and headed towards Chichester with the flood tide. Over the next two hours it became obvious that the winds were increasing and had exceeded the force 7 given in the shipping forecast. Other yachts were in trouble. The cost guard were busy on the VHF helping a number of them and one yacht had to limp back to Hamble with a damaged rig. I awoke to here the end of these messages initially wondering what all the fuss was about however when I got on deck and saw the conditions it struck home. We were sailing with just our deep third reef and still surfing down the waves. As we passed Bembridge Ledge cardinal we saw the coastguard rescue helicopter involved in a rescue close by. They had initially come towards us but realised we were not in trouble just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We were just glad we were still in one piece and in control and the boat felt safe. I had expected to find shelter in the lee of the Isle of Wight and although the waves had eased, the wind was still gusting up to force 8 or 9. As we sailed Oojah was slamming into the 2m high chop (the biggest either of us had ever seen in the Solent). We had to set a few square meters of the Genoa to give us enough power to drive through the waves. We had left it too late to change down to a smaller headsail and should have had the Storm jib up by now. Although we were making 6 knots it seamed to take an age to reach Hamble but forty eight and a half hours and just over 300 miles after setting out we arrived tired, hungry but happy to have completed our passage to qualify for the Visit Shetland Round Britain and Ireland race.

Despite the cold, not eating much and the windy conditions I had enjoyed the passage. Peter and I got on well which is very important. I don’t think I know where Oojah’s limits are at the moment and probably reefed earlier than necessary. That will come with practice. We finished the passage without any breakages and while we can do a few small things on the boat to improve performance she is ready to race round Britain now.

Peter Tanner