Snakes and ladders

Andy Rice reports that the competition is tight in the 12m class

Monday was a day of Snakes & Ladders. Racing on board the German-owned Flica II, we seemed to slip down plenty of snakes during the day, and yet somehow we are joint leaders on the scoreboard.

Racing is incredibly tight in the Classic 12-Metre fleet. Some of the boats look radically different, but competition is proving to be very close at the front. Playing the tidal and wind effects of the Solent was absolutely crucial, but so was keeping these heavy beasts moving through the slop and chop kicked up by an over-eager spectator fleet.

We led round the first mark of the first race and held that position ahead of Torben Grael and his crack crew on Nyala until the final run. Trying to defend our lead from the middle of the course proved to be foolish, as we looked to have dropped to fourth at one point, with boats attacking us from both sides of the course.

Despite tearing a spinnaker, Nyala sneaked home first and we won a three-way battle for second with just inches separating second to fourth. Big sigh of relief mixed with disappointment at not securing a victory that looked well in the bag.

We and Nyala made a rapid change of mainsails for the second race. But these nuances of speed count for little when you start early, as we did along with three others as the gun went. When the recall signal sounded and our sail number was read out over the VHF, the sail back down to the start against the tide seemed to take forever and the race looked all but lost.

After getting the all clear we rounded up again, at least 300 yards behind the leaders. Nevertheless we started grinding away at the fleet to salvage whatever position we could. Sneaking down the shallow water of Ryde Middle bank on the first run we were amazed to find ourselves back in the hunt, just yards behind Sovereign, the eventual winner of the race.

But after our incredible early progress, we hit a brick wall and fought tooth and nail to hang on to a good position. A very average second beat and run saw us drop back to sixth after looking good for a fourth place. Some more snakes and ladders up the final beat worked to our benefit and we crossed the line in fourth. Not bad after our shocker of a start.

But the best was yet to come. We knew Sovereign and Nyala were ahead of us in the overall rankings, but as we strolled down to the Crusader 12-Metre party at Harold Cudmore’s place, we stopped in to look at the results. Joint first with Sovereign! What??? Nyala, apparently, had incurred a 20% penalty and we don’t quite know why. But who cares? We’ve been lucky to get a Get Out Of Jail card today, and we’ve come away with two second places, two counters in a series that has a long way to go.

Tomorrow is the big one - death or glory in the round the island race. It will be great to start with all 37 12-Metres on one start line, a bonanza for the photographers and a huge privilege to be part of such a historic event. Whether we’ll feel so euphoric about the whole experience after 60-odd miles around the Isle of Wight is another matter. At least we’re still sailing. After Big Sunday, with four dismastings and numerous other incidents, some visitors are resigned to the fact that their America’s Cup Jubilee is confined to the bars, yacht clubs and beer tents of Cowes.