Tales from Wolf Rock

Mark Campbell-James on how Bear of Britain hit 30 knots...

Bear of Britain's Mark Campbell-James was feeling somewhat miffed to have lost the Admiral's Cup Wolf Rock race to the other 52s when his Royal Thames team had led for so much of it.

"We started with the tide pushing us out of the Solent and were beating out in about 5-10 knots," he said of Saturday's start. "We stuck slightly more to the island shore on the way out and we seemed to have loads more breeze and favourable current. I couldn’t understand what everyone was doing because there was supposed to be more tide to the left. Maybe people were trying to get the wind because a couple of knots more wind at that speed and you go a couple of knots faster. The wind was slightly more important at that stage."

Bear and Chernikeeff 2 got ahead of Wild Oats sailing down the Solent, only to be overhauled by the big Australian boat at the Needles. From then on they were sailing on a tight reach pretty much all the way to Wolf Rock.

"Some people put spinnakers up and some people were two sail reaching," continued Campbell-James. "Then we got to Anvil Point off Poole and the wind went really funky. We had wind from the south and it went round to the northwest. So there was some sort of land effect and we managed to stay offshore a bit and got back into the gradient from the south and then overtook Wild Oats again."

He says that they and Estrella Galicia Uno were first to reach Portland. "We got there at about 8.15 and we were expecting the tide to turn at 8.30-9. At one point we were thinking we were going to be the only boat to get through the tidal gate which would have meant we were launched, but the others managed to get through - just.

As they headed through the night past Start Point and then the Lizard, so the wind began to build as did the waves. "By the morning there was 20 knots and it was really wavey, and we were getting seriously wet," says Campbell-James. "We were trying to keep height as we much as could while going as fast as possible."

Blasting upwind was taking its toll on Bear's crew. "Out of the whole crew we had six people throw up and two of them were fully useless and I had a cheeky chunder over the side when I was driving which was quite funny. It is not good going downstairs in those waves and I came up and drove for half and hour and then started feeling really dodgey.. I had a cheeky throw up over the side and then I was fine. As soon as we were round the rock it was totally different - we were cruising along and it was exhilarating and not as bad on the waves."

Campbell-James was sharing the helm with John Brinkers and Peter Morton, although Morton was also navigating. "I did the start until about 9pm and through the night we were doing three hours on and three hours off. When it got fully wavy we were swapping more often because it was quite hard work. Then when we turned downwind that was hard - your shoulders are aching after not very long because there was quite a big load on the wheel and it was quite easy to spin out if you were not fully on it. We were changing every hour between the three of us."

En route to Wolf Rock and the lightship (the lighthouse is currently inoperative), they were again passed by Wild Oats, but Bear was alongside the Spanish boats and leading the 52s, with Team Tonic-Volvo For Life some way back having suffered when she was stuck off Anvil Point.

Bear rounded Wolf Rock 15 minutes ahead of Chernikeeff 2 and 25 minutes ahead of Team Tonic but 10 minutes behind Bribon Telefonica Movistar. "And then basically everyone charged down the Channel. I think we rounded at noon Sunday and then it was just just surfing down big waves, pretty much going 20 knots all the time..."

With 30 knots of breeze Bear was flying. "Just round the Lizard there were some huge waves and we got this one - it wasn’t even with the kite up it was just with a jib - and we just fell off the top and went straight down it. The impellor was coming out of the water so the boat speed went down to 5 knots because it was just spinning on wind basically. The top speed we read was 31 knots that was on a big big wave, but generally we were hitting 25-26 knots which was going some. And we were getting soaked the whole time and the boat was getting quite a big bashing."

However they were not alone. Rounding the Lizard they were able to bear away, but while they were using a symmetric spinnaker, the others were using asymmetrics. "We were still going very quickly, but when Chernikeef went past us, their spinnaker was lifting their bow up whereas we were bow down charging into the waves. They were able to get the waves much better and with asymmetric you can easily bear away and take the apparent down. They were lifting the bow and they were dropping from one wave, going over the top and getting on to the next one."

By Start Point Chernikeeff 2 had caught up with Bear and on the next leg to Portland had rolled them, Harrison's boat liking the conditions more. Somehow between there and the finish Team Tonic had also managed to catch them. "The breeze from being 30 knots when we were down in Cornwall/Devon, dropped to 15 knots when it got dark. I don’t know whether they came down with more breeze but they pipped us just at the end.

"We were quite annoyed. On the inshores were pretty equal. Tonic was first and we were second, but whatever combination we finished up in this race was how we’d finish up overall. Just because we didn’t have that one sail we dropped from first to third."

So, a disappointing result, but the sail of their lives. From here Bear of Britain goes on to Cowes Week, where she will once again line up against the two other Farr 52s, but in addition to this will face off against Chernikeeff in some match racing in the early evenings in the name of charity.