Six High Speed Hours

Nick Moloney reports from record breaking run on Fossett's Maxi Cat

Nick Moloney, 'Kingfisher' co-skipper during 2001 stepped onboard Steve Fossett's maxicat, ex-Playstation, at the last minute on Monday morning to break the English Channel record from Cowes to St.Malo. He shares some of the 6 high speed hours onboard...



I certainly didn't take much convincing to dash back from France to take up Steve Fossett's offer to attempt the Cross Channel Speed Record onboard his Maxi Cat.

0600 local, Arrive Portsmouth Ferry Terminal...its pitch black and freezing..I am met by Brian Thompson with his phone to his ear getting an update. The team has left the dock and are heading towards the start line off Cowes. Don't worry mate, I say, If my memory serves me right It takes half an hour to hoist the main.

A rendezvous with a rib in Hamble and The Cat appears out of the dark at the mouth of the river. This was the first time I had seen her since I watched her sail off from Antigua after retiring from The Race. What a strange feeling it was to climb aboard once again.

Some familiar faces, some new. The same awe-struck emotion. Yep, she's as big as I remembered. Quick acquaintances, the big grind; Full main, Big Gennaker. As the sun rose behind the Isle of Wight we rolled across the start line at 0833 and 54 seconds...

Its a weird feeling, all fired up for a speed record and beginning in 10 knots of wind with a flat run out of the Solent. As the clock ticked away we slowly jibed our way towards the needles, losing on the record every mile. Boat speed around 12 knots on the second fastest Ocean Passage in the Record Books, certainly not the perfect scenario.

As soon as we cleared the needles and pointed our bows towards the down track course the Gennaker sheet broke and we were forced to change quickly to the Solent. Throughout the manoeuvre the wind increased enough to fully power us in our new configuration. Speed now in the mid to high 20's but Wind Angle at around 80-100 degrees off our bow.

The wind continued to increase, gusting to 22 for a period and edging more towards where we want to go. We were forced to take a reef in the main and change to the staysail. Manoeuvres are incredibly costly on such a boat, during the reefing procedure we strayed 6 miles off course at pace.

The odds appeared to be somewhat against us but with some good driving we began to charge across the shipping lanes at 32-34 knots at 80TWA. Through all the spray and tension dodging cargo mid English Channel I was amazed to suddenly look beyond our working platform to see the Cherbourg Peninsula and the first of the Channel Islands about 5 miles away. Wow, we must certainly be back in the hunt.

By just under mid way, we were back on record pace and with boat speed in the 30's we continued to gain. The lee of the French Coast drew cause for a change back to full main and solent. Some light patches kept the required average around 18 knots which was a real concern as the breeze was now even further forward and our desired course to the finish in St Malo was to draw us to a close hauled course with the possibility of a tack.

We rounded our last waypoint 14 miles from the finish in 20 knots of wind flying a hull, flat water, sunshine, 22 knots of boat speed, 5 degrees of heading in the bank and we slowly watched the required average drop; 15, 12,10, and so on. It really was not until we could clearly see the press boats at the finish that I felt we were in.

Finish time 1455 GMT 27 minutes and 25 seconds inside the record. Average speed 21.66 knots.

It really was a treat to sail once again with Steve and his team. The sensation sailing the Big Cats is really something else. AWESOME!