Back to singlehanding

After completing the Oryx Quest, Nick Bubb describes his return to Mini sailing

This was my first solo race for nearly a year and it was great to be back. I could not believe my luck when all went according to plan and I crossed the entire fleet to lead off the line and up to the first mark. Unfortunately my youthful enthusiasm took over on the approach to the first mark and while setting up the biggest spinnaker I had and preparing the sheets I allowed Phil Sharp through only to realise that the next leg would not require any downwind sails! I then held second for several miles to the final bouy before heading offshore.

As the evening came so the wind went and I was left questioning my sail wardrobe choice as with no big gennaker I could not hold off the charge/drift from behind. Things got worse and worse as I was becalmed and then the rain came. Six hours later and I finally got going again having been left behind in my own little weather system. I ended up around five hours down on the leaders after only just over a day of racing. This was
not part of the plan but this happens in yacht racing and you never know when luck will go your way. As my father would say, "it is all character building." Anyway after this I picked up and raced well against the boats around with me never losing out in the small boat on boat battles and started to enjoy things again, in my head I was happy that I was just unlucky and that I wasn't sailing badly.

As we went between all the islands back and forth it became a real test of navigation and with a lot of local effects it was no surprise to see the locals doing well! In the fickle breeze sleep was almost impossible as every time you slept the wind shifted. In all we had three nights of this and I was left in eleventh (position updates were not reliable) I believe at the last mark before the leg home.

This time I got it all right and had a magical 36 hours, gaining time on all the fleet and picking off the leaders one by one to finish seventh but was a little disappointed as 6th was Phil Sharp a Brit and he was only just able to hold me off. He was obviously very
tired as had been one of the earlier leaders and had lost a lot due to one small navigation mistake (the story of the race it seems).

Overall this was pretty pleasing as it was a big fleet and the standard was the highest seen for a long time, it was also the big form guide for the Mini Transat in September. I had not raced solo for a long time and the boat had not been in the water since June and I had little testing time due to the Oryx Quest; so I am pleased there is not too much to do to get up to speed with the top guys. I am now looking forward to racing the Mini Fastnet with my sailmaker John Parker in June. This will see us leave Douarnenez on 19 June and head north of the Scilly Isles before going around the Fastnet Rock and back to Brittany.

Many thanks to all my sponsors and team who helped me get the boat ready for this one, I hope to continue to raise the standard for the Transat in September which is the big goal this season.

Best regards, Nick