18 year old completes OSTAR qualifier

Oscar Mead set to be youngest competitor in next year's solo transat race

Young Cowes based sailor, Oscar Mead, who turned 18 only last month, has just completed a 500 mile solo qualifying sail, as a prelude to a possible entry in the 2009 OSTAR race.

The OSTAR is a 3,000 mile race from Plymouth to Newport Rhode Island, which launched the careers of some of the world’s leading singlehanded sailors. Oscar won “Top Rookie” in the recent Petite Bateau ZTL Singlehanded Race Week, but 500 miles non-stop was a major step up in terms of offshore solo sailing for Mead.

Mead left Cowes at 1400 hours on Thursday 21 August, aiming to sail out past the Isles of Scilly and into the Irish Sea before turning for home. He had to sail a minimum of 500 miles and had a good forecast for the first 200 miles, with a forecast wind shift to the north in his favour.

The first night was however very light and after a long first 14 hours Oscar had only got as far as the looming light that shines from Portland Bill off Weymouth. This became Oscar’s lowest moment when he admitted after returning that the lack of progress, and the lure of his home port just 50 miles back down the track, was almost overwhelming. Thereafter the promised Northerly breeze came in and with dawn and better progress, the task was attacked anew.

A fast and undemanding 24 hours saw Oscar 5 miles south of the Isles of Scilly, still in winds of under 15 knots and moderate seas. The benign forecast had however turned, with an Atlantic depression rolling in and a forecast of rain on the front ahead of it. As he sailed outside the Silly’s and into the Irish Sea Oscar saw 34 knots of breeze from the south west, which made the last 50 miles on the outward leg both fast and wet. Sailing a 34 foot J/105, Oscar found that the water pouring over the relatively low freeboard went everywhere down below, and at one point he was pumping by hand to keep the bottom of the boat moderately dry. Sleep management was the biggest challenge, having only spent one night at sea singlehanded before the qualifying sail, the 4 night and 5 day passage required a new approach to cat napping!

No singlehanded sail is ever easy however, and Oscar then had two major issues to deal with. First he woke after one of his 20 minute naps to check for shipping and found that the jib had split from leech to luff and was effectively useless. Carrying on for another hour saw Oscar at his designated way point in the Irish Sea, and the turn for home, which was just as well, as the mainsail then also split from leech to luff, just under the reef points. That meant a very reduced sail plan for the balance of the trip but by this stage it was blowing about force 6 so that wasn’t an immediate issue. A singlehanded sailor can live with small sails but they can’t live without an auto pilot very easily so the ultimate challenge came when the boat rounded up at 3am with a clearly disabled “Anthony” unable to maintain course. This led to a half hours work in driving rain and near 30 knots of wind to track down the problem, which turned out to be a sheared pin on the steering rack at the stern. After replacing this with a screw driver jammed into the appropriate place, Oscar (and “Anthony”!) were back up and running.

A fast sail saw Oscar return into the English Channel on day 3 with a spinnaker set. Top speed was 18 knots surfing down a wave which suggested a fast trip home, even with reduced mainsail area. Progress was only interrupted when the aforementioned screw driver also sheared off, sending the boat into a 360 degree spin whilst the skipper was asleep in the middle of the 4th night! An Allen key jammed into the appropriate spot sufficed this time, and got Team Oscar back on track after clearing the spinnaker which was wrapped around the forestay.

Thereafter it was an uneventful trip, albeit the most tiring stage with the need to be constantly alert for shipping. At 1125 hours on Monday the 25th Oscar sailed past Gurnard Sailing Club with the spinnaker flying, having completed his 500 mile solo sail and qualified himself for the 2009 OSTAR race in 89 hours and 25 minutes. Oscar will be at the official launch of the 2009 OSTAR at the Southampton boat show on the 12th of September as the youngest qualified entrant of the race.