The thrilling end Myth of Malham Race 2014

May 27, 2014

After we passed Start Point, we could hoist Spinnaker III and we did so in spite of relatively high waves. We could keep the boat well under control with 22 knots of wind. By that time we all felt much better as well.

Just at the time we were passing Bill of Portland the tide changed in our favour so I had good hope that we could make it, pushed by a favourable tide, to the finish without being pushed back by the tide.

In the previous blog sent by Pieter Köhne you could know by now that was not what actually happened.

Closer to the Needles the wind dropped and we have to crawl toward North Head Buoy with a speed over ground of 1 knot only. Once we rounded or passed this buoy we tried to make it all the way to the shore to get out of the tide which in the meantime actually changed already. To get to Hurst Castle we made 15 tacked, each and every time we came very very close to the coast. Sometimes somewhat too close but we never touched the bottom.

Once at Hurst Castle it became more difficult. Moreover we were very close to two other boats, one of them must have been the French JPK Sous Mama Boulé [I still have to check the meaning of this expression] and the fact that we had three boats very very close to each other, sometimes less than one meter, made the navigation even more difficult.

We finally made it around Hurst Castle, but when I wanted to turn NWN there came a call to hoist the spinnaker which was done with an enormous delay so here we lost for sure a great deal of time. Finally our Spi I was hoisted and we made good speed towards the Finish, but we took a big risk not going to the shore in case the wind would die again. Well the wind died, we were pushed back by a strong tide of nearly 4 knots until Leen dropped the anchor and saved us from more misery. We stayed at anchor for say one hour when we tide got milder and allowed us to sail in the direction of Hurst Castle again.

It must have taken us about one hour to get to our previous position i.e. half a mile from the finish line. Then the wind died again but we managed to steer the boat over the finish line, just on the tide. Supposed we would have missed it. Then we would have had to anchor again and wait for the tide to change again. Somehow we were lucky it did not happen but the mistake after Hurst Castle the first time must have cost us the 2nd place.

Foggy Dew who must have been going at 14-17 knots speed on her asymmetrical from either Eddystone Rock or Start Point had apparently no problems with the tide, being 3 hours ahead of us, and won our class and became 2nd overall.

Nevertheless Winsome is now 1st on the leaderboard for IRC-4 Class with only 1 point ahead of Foggy Dew. Whatever may or will happen in the next races, we intend to give Foggy Dew a good run for a victory. We know we are in deep trouble the last years with all the JPK boats crewed by very capable French sailors, but it ain’t over until the fat lady sings. So look out Noël Racine!

We had some minor damages and some issued still unresolved but I am sure they will be dealt with until the next race. Reima Alander still in Cowes is making a start with the organisation of these issues already today.

Professor Köhne managed to get us going on Expedition and on the weather page Navimail. There are still some issues to be resolved here as well but I have the feeling that we are leaving the Middle Ages and and entering the 21st Century with the new systems on board. Navimail and Expedition are our new friends. Nothing to the disadvantage of Robert Langford-Wood who helped us tremendously in getting the communication between Deckman  and the boat’s instruments in order. Thank you Robert.

With Navimail on board we are at least equal to the French boats for the weather forecast. Changing to a JPK is no option for me, at all.