Sam Davies Diary - Part 4

More lessons learned during the Mini-Pavois

Leg Two - Portsmouth-St Quay-Portrieux

The re-start was in similar conditions to the first start. I had a bad start but quickly picked my way into clear air and then sailed a storming beat and I got round the Nab Tower first - very chuffed - just ahead of Ronan Guerin who was the leg one winner. I was so pleased to get out of the Solent in first place. We then had a light airs reach in very strong tide around the back of the Isle of Wight. There were huge over-falls and whirlpools which made it very difficult to keep moving through the water. We were averaging six knots over the ground with just the tide alone. I had my Code Zero spinnaker up, which is masthead and sets very easily in the chop, which really helped. Then as the tide turned the wind dropped and I had to struggle to keep moving forwards over the ground. I was either going north or south, and wanted to be going west. Some people kedged, but this is a daunting prospect in 40m of water.

I get terribly frustrated in conditions like this where you are just squeezing for extra tenths of a knot of boat-speed. I knew, however, that even these tiny differences in speed would make a huge difference to my result in such tidal conditions. I also kept reassuring myself that everyone else was also in the same conditions and that Aberdeen is a rocket-ship in the light and we should be doing better than most. I therefore made a big effort to push as hard as I could for the first night and sacrifice any rest or sleep for boat speed.

Then, as the wind filled in, so did the fog. I hate fog. For a start, you cannot see any other boats, and so it is difficult to see how you are doing. The main reason, however, is that I am scared of the ships. We had to cross the shipping lanes in the separation zone mid-channel, and although I do have a radar reflector, I do not entirely trust that Aberdeen always shows up on the radar screens of big ships. A lot of Minis have a radar target enhancer which enlarges the radar signal that bounces back to the ship, making the Mini have a large echo on the screen. It also beeps when it is hit by a radar signal alerting the skipper that there is a ship around. This race has persuaded me to get one. I actually found another Mini and tacked with him to cross the lanes, hoping he had a target enhancer on his boat.

I did have a couple of ships come close by. One was after the fog had cleared and it was hazy. I decided to have a rest for ten minutes so I checked that the horizon was clear and lay down outside. A few minutes later I heard engines and looked up to see a ship crossing in front of me. It was really close and I waved to the guys who had come outside the bridge and were looking at me with binoculars. I was lucky that they had seen me. Another lesson learnt - that ship only took seven minutes to reach me from being no-where to be seen.

The rest of the second leg was similar conditions - light airs upwind with the wind dropping, and big tides. It was very important to push hard to get around the course and stay ahead of the tidal gates. I did.

As I came into the last 30 miles of the race I had Brian Thompson and boat 151 near me. We had a good battle to the finish, but my superior boat-speed kept me ahead of them and I finished in second place again behind Ronan Guerin who has had a 100% record of race wins so far this season. There was a great welcome with press taking photos and doing interviews. Almost famous.

That result pushed me up to fifth place overall; I am extremely pleased with that. Unfortunately I had to leave France before most people finished, as I am now going to Denmark to sail the Yngling with Shirley Robertson. I feel guilty for not being at the prize giving. Brian also left and we took the fast ferry together from St Malo. From the ferry we saw several Minis still racing sadly drifting between France and Guernsey. This made me feel extremely pleased with my result.