Shifty bugger

Mumm 30 Europeans underway with the breeze causing all the problems

A more nervous race officer would have baulked at today's conditions on the Solent for the first three races of the Mumm 30 European Championships. PRO Tony Lovell of the Royal Southern YC took the bull by the horns and without much delay put three races on the board, with the winner of the day being the testy light north westerly wind.

The first race was set towards the Brambles Bank, with a very short beat. Mike Budd on Seven nailed the pin end and was the first to tack onto port on a favourable shift and then control the race. On TheDailySail-sponsored Rainbow we decided on the committee boat end - which gave us the opportunity to get into port when we wanted - but by the time the windward mark came, which Budd rounded comfortably in first place, we were in the pack and facing a multiple pile up as people misjudged the layline.

In what goes down as the biggest ‘Threading the needle’ ever, we squeezed round the parked up boats - on their way to negative boat speed numbers - and found a gap opening at the same speed as we were travelling below Louis Browne's Asterix which had be caught up in the mele. In one stroke we had taken at least eight places.

We struggled a little on the run, trying to find a comfortable lane, but things were worse for Asterix who somehow managed to hook the left hand leeward mark. There can be nothing worse seeing all your competitors sheeting on and heading upwind around round your anchored transom.

The young lads on Media Network, now joined by expert one design sailor Gerry Mitchell had successfully fought their way up to third, only to touch the backstay of Budd with the spinnaker on a downwind cross. Taking a turn they dropped to sixth.

Budd was to lose the race to Jimmy Pahun, the Frenchman taking the gun with Robert Barr’s Kanati in third.

For race two the race course was moved to the north with the windward marks off Solent Breezes. Shifty (to be polite) conditions prevailed with the north westerly breeze for the ensuing two races. Shifty means not only 50 degree shifts but also 10 knots difference in pressure. Who would want to be a tactician?

On the second race we came of the line in good shape, but it was the right hand side which was to pay in the end. Asterix made up for the previous race misdemeanours by nailing the pin end and tacking across to the right hand side. We followed, after being in a similar place off the line, but didn’t have the perfect lane and never really got into the favoured side. Asterix went on to win by a country mile with Mammy! third and Bite the Bullet fourth.

On the final race a port biased line was set, which attracted the crowds. We were in there and got a good front rank start, but halfway up the beat it was the right hand side that started to pay handsomely. Those boats that took the hit and suffered on the way into the shore were to come out smelling of roses. We made the mistake of waiting for the best shift to get in there, which never came. We then managed to sail ourselves backwards through the fleet, getting pretty much every shift wrong upwind and down to finish deep in the 20s.

Topas, displaying clinical German efficiency, was to win the race from Bite the Bullet, with Mammy! securing a seventh to put them in third overall.

Peter de Ridders’ Mean Machine, with the current star of the Farr 40 circuit Ray Davis on board, had probably the most successful day. Never hitting the edges too hard like Bite the Bullet, but sniggling their way around the course to score a 7,5,6, to finish just two points off first place.

Mammy! has sailed extremely well too to secure third. After that the scores start going up and everyone had shocking tales top tell.

With the conditions as they are it’s difficult to tell if any boat has better pace than the others, Paul Elvstrom sailing a Drascombe Lugger could have picked of a couple of race wins even.

What is fantastic is sailing these great boats in challenging conditions. Roll tacking and gybing, smooth gear changes and slick hoists are immediately rewarded in boat speed…only for the shift to kick you in the goolies.

Another three races are on for Thursday and all indications are that the Northerly will weaken and the south westley seabreeze should have some effect. Anyway just three boats, through skill and good behaviour, got through today without a dramatic result. We’ll see what hand tomorrow deals.

Results

	Boat Name	Sail Number	Owner	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Pts
1	Bite the Bullet Theoule Mandelieu	FRA 4	Richard Bonham Christie	8	4	2	14
2	Mean Machine	NED 7179	Peter De Ridder	7	5	6	18
3	Mammy!	IRL 50590	Diarmuid Foley	9	3	7	19
4	Topas	GER 5373	Harald Bruning	4	16	1	21
5	Scud	NED 6553	Stichting Benodet	10	7	5	22
6	Gul Seven	GBR 5930	Mike Budd	2	11	11	24
7	Region Ile de France	FRA 2012	Jimmy Pahun	1	21	4	26
8	Media Network International	GBE 1305	Edd Clayson & John Gimson	6	6	15	27
9	Cotes d'Armor	FRA 22	Vincent Biarnes	16	2	14	32
10	Delft Challenge	NED 3405	Stichting Delft Challenge	5	15	12	32
11	Asterix	GBR 3093 R	Louis Browne	23	1	10	34
12	Warp Factor VI LDL Training	GBR 4930 R	Geoff Carveth	13	13	9	35
13	Kanati	GBR 1430 R	Robert Barr	3	17	16	36
14	Rainbow	GER 4640	Bent B Dietrich	11	9	24	44
15	Team Raymarine	GBR 66	Simon Pritchard Jones	12	10	22	44
16	Monkey Business	GBR 7730 R	David Wilkinson & Ian Poynton	20	23	3	46
17	Panther	GBR 7930 R	David Eddowes	25	18	8	51
18	K-Yote Kid	FRA 18399	Sailing Club "Lazeris"	19	8	25	52
19	Moonshine	GBR 1530 R	Jack Kelly	17	22	13	52
20	White Shark	GBR 30 R	Geof Gibbons	14	19	19	52
21	Alfa Laval	FRA 18303	Southampton Institute Sailing Team	15	20	17	52
22	Highlander III	GBR 8930	Gregor Logan	24	12	20	56
23	Aeolus	NED 6535	Lambertus G. P. Dalmolen	18	24	18	60
24	Triple P	NED 6922	Fezi Khaleghi Yazdi	26	14	21	61
25	Offbeat	GBR 7530 R	Ian Gill	22	25	23	70
26	Silicon Theatre Scenery	NED 523	Robert Pronk	21	26	26	73