Broaches galore

on Bite the Bullet, a Mumm 30, during day three of Skandia Life Cowes Week

Sailing out of Cowes is an experience in itself, weaving through on-coming traffic, avoiding the chain-ferry, car ferry, and fast ferry. This task was made more difficult when we had to dive across the river to intercept one of the Island Sailing Club launches ferrying our last crew-man.

I was a little apprehensive when we arrived at the start area as the wind was already blowing a constant 20 knots. I had never taken the helm of a Mumm 30 before. It was surprisingly easy to drive upwind, something which gave me a little reassurance for the start.

We had a mediocre start in clear air but too far down the line. Having finished fourth on the first two days of the week with a different helm I had a lot to live up to. It soon became apparant that we were lying in eighth place as we sailed out of the tide. Fortunately the Mumm 30s were the fastest boats off the line, allowing us to get clear of the Class 9 sportsboats by the time we reached the mainland shore.

We must have tacked 15 times in less than 20 minutes, as we attempted to stay out of the flood tide. On occasion we got close enough inshore to see the depth gauge read "zero". We kept the boat heeling hard over to make sure we would clear the bottom. After that we kept to a minimum of 0.5 metres under the keel.

Up to third place, and with the leader Pogo Bogo in our sights, we switched headsails to the 'Medium' ready for the fetch back to the mainland coast. It was hard work to maintain control of the boat as, with only the two sails up, we were hitting 9-10 knots in the building breeze. Impressive, I thought. "That's nothing," responded our mainsheet trimmer, Ashley Curtis.

He was right. We popped the masthead spinnaker, I watched the speedo with amazement as we hit 15 knots. The crew's eyes lit up for a couple of seconds before changing to a look of fear as Bite the Bullet went into a big broach. Water came crashing over the leeward side of the boat. It was a relief to see that the majority of the Mumm 30 fleet were also on their ears.

The course was laid almost perfectly for the Mumm 30, a slalom along the entire western solent towards Southampton Water. Sailing away from the Island shore the wind and waves started to build, gusting up to 28 knots. It was hard work on the helm, the waves hitting us almost side-on were heaving the boat over to leeward. Our tactician called for me to head up slightly as we weren't quite making the mark.

As we did so Bite the Bullet was hit by a large wave, throwing the boat over with such a force that five of the crew went crashing to leeward. Our spinnaker trimmer hit the leeward guard rails, while the rest of the team ended up on the cockpit floor. Water came rushing over the bow and along the boat, dragging the crew with it to the transom. At one point several crew members were submerged, and were having to hold their breath while I attempted to regain control of £120,000-worth of grand prix racing thoroughbred. Thankfully no one was hurt but it took us over five minutes to recover and prepare for another hoist.

The wipe-out didn't put us off. In fact it spurred us on as we pushed even harder to try to and catch up with the leading Mumms. We lost all of our electrics and the all-important course map during the broach but we didn't let that get in the way. We were a long way down, and so there was no argument when deciding which kite to fly for the final run home. Short of a chinese gybe there wasn't much more to experience in the Mumm 30, so I called for the mast head to go up again.

We careered down the steep swell along the mainland coastline. Occasionally the waves were so short that there was nothing I could do other than slam into the wave in front, hurling tonnes of water over the length of the boat. We were averaging speeds of 18 knots, an incredible experience, and extremely hard work on the helm.

The wind was gusting 30 knots when our jib started to blow about on the bow. Our bowman, Peter Bonham-Christie, jumped on to the foredeck just as we were surfing on one of these short waves. The bow submerged, even with five of our crew hiking off the transom of the boat. All the water taken on during our broaches sloshed to the front of the boat just as we arrived at the end of our ride. As the boat hit 20 knots we hit a wall of water. All but Peter's head went under water.

Our masthead spinnaker powered us through the wave and on to the finish. We had dropped back to eighth place during our second major broach, so our fifth place finish was a reasonable accomplishment.