Month: October 2018

This weekend was the CCRC Clocks Back race; an informal (i.e. no trophy) race on the weekend the clocks go back. But since this year saw the CCRC seventieth anniversary we set the clocks back many years by forbidding the use of GPS etc. So buoys had to be found by traditional means. All the participants took this seriously; Slipstream even turned off all usual instruments but added a trailing log and used a 1939 chart! The weather, however, was forecast as northerly force 5, 6, 7 and occasionally force 8; and it was to be cold. So a course was set to get us to Cowes quickly, still going round a number of buoys but avoiding too much to windward. Yachts emerged from the harbour well-reefed only to set more sail as the wind was not too strong and it was sunny. The five yachts taking part (after a few dropped out the day before) all kept within sight of each other so the leading yacht tended to help as a path-finder (or buoy-finder) for the others. Once in the Solent the wind built and gusts of 25knots were seen but the sea was still fairly flat except outside Cowes where the race finished after about 2 hours – a fast passage. Then it was into the Medina and up to the Folly Inn for some socialising (and a sixth boat joining us) before dinner at the Folly.
The journey back the next day was similarly windy – with gusts reaching 30 knots but still an enjoyable if chilly sail.

Sunday’s weather was a marked improvement with clear skies and sunshine but still a fresh northerly wind. The start was at Gleeds and after a short upwind leg the fleet headed on a broad reach through the sub-marine barrier gap – some with spinnakers flying. Then a few legs around the Hayling Bay marks before a finish at Chi made a race of around three hours. A refreshing final event of the formal club race series.

As Billy Joel sang “Storm front coming, Small craft warning on the radio. We’ve got a low pressure system and a northeast breeze, We’ve got a falling barometer and rising seas, We’ve got the cumulonimbus and a possible gale” and that was the forecast for Saturday!
Nevertheless the CCRC headed out of Chichester for a passage race to Gosport but with the objective of arriving before the front really hit. The race started with a short upwind leg, then a run before a long reach from Chi to Boyne (outside Portsmouth harbour) where the race was shortened. With a race lasting just over an hour a good distance was covered before we headed in to Gosport to dry out from the rain and relax before a super dinner at Hornet Sailing Club.

Sunday started with more lovely sunny weather and the race was not until the afternoon so the crews in Bembridge relaxed, went for walks, read the papers, and generally socialised.
Then it was out for the rolling start at the buoy Ruthven and a windward leg to Acland before a downwind leg across the shipping channel. This was interrupted by a large container ship which held up the back half of the fleet. The wind had built a little from the day before (and swung round to the west) so it was a fast race. Then a couple more marks in Hayling Bay before a finish at Chi. Another super day.