Light wind skill test

Adrian Smith reports on this Saturday's JOG Solent Race

JOG Solent Race

After a few weekends of too much wind, Saturday 27 March saw the opening race to the Junior Offshore Group 2004 calendar welcomed with a lack of wind. With zero wind showing on the instruments and a forecast that didn’t hold out for much more, the race officer postponed all starts indefinitely. All 50 competitors milled around the start area off Cowes Green, expecting a long wait... On your correspondent's boat there was talk of nipping in to Cowes for a sneaky cooked breakfast! The more pessimistic crew, probably planning an early visit to the bar and a welcome afternoon watching the England v France rugby on TV.

JOG was originally set up for those who wanted to race offshore in smaller yachts that weren’t catered for by RORC. Today there is a more wide spread size of boats, from a Sonata 24 to the likes of the Corby 41 Independent Bear. It can be very difficult to set a course for such a disparate range of yacht sizes and speeds, but JOG have managed this well over time, and the essence is of having fun racing sailboats.

After only an hour’s delay, a slender westerly wind fizzled in, and a course was set and the first class away at 10.30, and half hour intervals thereafter. The 50 yachts were sent downwind (and downtide) to Marsh Buoy off Lee on Solent - an 11 mile course that include Navigator’s & General, Seascape, MarineTech.com, and back to Gurnard for the finish line. On closer study, the fleet could just about complete the course by drifting with the tide!

With winds averaging 1 knot true, it was going to be hard to keep kites filled down to Marsh. Most yachts made their way on port gybe towards the north of the main channel. At least by doing that, yachts would drift near to the Marsh buoy. The Class 5 boats just about reached Marsh before the leading Class 4 & 3 boats arrived. More breeze filled in closer to Marsh. The smaller Class 5 boats having drifted a bit too south of the buoy, and, finding the new wind heading them dropped kites, and white sailed in. Class 4 & 5 boats had mixed ideas. Those that kept their kites up faired better in keeping the boat speed up. The tide was beginning to turn foul on the fleet. Minnie the Moocher was the leading Class 3 boat, and along with Class 5 boats Dragonstar and Vela, they gybed around Marsh and tight reached on port with asymmetric kites towards Navigators & General.

With a bit more wind (3-4kts), and a favourable tide, the fleets’ progress was a bit more encouraging, and the crews started daring to think they might complete the race! With a building tidal gate at Marsh, it seemed that the early rounding yachts would have the race in the bag as they raced on towards Navigators & General on a comparatively fast reach. The distinctive orange hull of Minnie the Moocher in Class 3 could be seen well ahead of the pack, seemingly sailing effortlessly on her way to Seascape, while the rest of the fleet were still making their way towards Navigators & General.

In Class 4, it was the X-332’s X-Ploiter and X-to-Sea that had broken away from the pack, with Evelyn R, Electron and Draig Mor in hot pursuit. Wind was still a luxury, and trimmers had to work hard to keep boats moving. As the wind backed some more, those boats that were flying asymmetric kites were dropped, and lightweight kites peeled.

At Navigators & General, the leading yachts hardened up to a beat on port tack. While the heading looked good towards Seascape Buoy, the reality was that the yachts' track, with the ebbing tide, was actually making everyone slide westwards towards Southampton Water. With the wind veering back more to the west, starboard tack paid. Those yachts mid-fleet were able to take advantage of this much earlier having seen the leaders drifting off to Southampton Water and tacked immediately on the buoy to counteract the tidal drift.

In hindsight, Minnie the Moocher was the clue as to how strong the tide was going to be heading towards Marintech.com. It had been noted that her position had not radically changed! Her lead was decreased heavily whilst the wind took its time to fill in.

Starboard tack was the making tack and by leebowing the tide the yachts were steadily being lifted up to the buoy. More breeze came in from the west and lifted. Those who’d spotted it earlier, and bravely decide to put a quick port tack in to sail towards this building wind, paid dividends, and were able to foot faster in to the mark against a building foul tide. Having had the fleet bunch up again on this leg, this new wind became the ‘third’ restart of the race. With the fleet compacting again on rounding Seascape, it was important that those in the lead kept clear air on the run towards MarineTech.com.
At one point, down this penultimate leg, 20 yachts could be seen sailing alongside each other trying to keep out of each others wind shadow. There were many stories in the bar afterwards of great gains, and losses down this leg, and varying views as to which tactic paid: Gybe out on port rounding into clear air or sail above the rhumb line to keep clear air. As your correspondent was on board a yacht that lost heavily on this leg, the only conclusion was that any yacht that could somehow legally keep clear air, and not get trapped by other yachts, then you were fortunate enough to get away. There was also some poor sailing and timid sailing by a few yachts at the turn mark that frustratingly held up those on the outside giving room at the mark. Cautious dropping of the kite too early by some, in 2 knots of foul tide, meant a huge parking lot formed at MarineTech.com. Those that avoided this, by and large ended up on the leaderboard. That’s yacht racing!



Rounding MarineTech.com it was simple beat back to the JOG finish line off Gurnard Buoy, in a very pleasant 6 knot breeze.

An excellent day's racing in five parts! Congratulations to the Race Office for getting the race off, and cannily chosing a course, that, with the aid of tide (and a favourable wind God) tested crews light wind sailing skills to the limit on a first outing. Only six boats retired; a couple were casualties of drifting the wrong side of the start line, and the first mark (Snowdon Buoy), and one yacht that decided it was ok to start the engine, and have another go at getting the start right!

The well sailed all-girl crew of Aquaholix (X-362, Siobhan Hayes & Co) won class Class 3. Considering they haven’t been able to race or train prior to the race due to rigging damage and poor weather, it was a superb start to the season. They certainly partied hard that evening in celebration, without, it seems, any dire consequences to their results in the following days Warsash Spring Series! Saponetta (Sunfast 32, Luca Rubinelli) won Class 4, and one of the smallest yachts (and newest member) in the fleet, MissRed (Sonata, Toby Gorman) won Class 5.

A drinks party was held afterwards for all competitors, courtesy of the new owners of The Square Rigger in Port Hamble. Shame about the rugby, unless you were French, Irish, Welsh or Scottish.