Round the Island Race 2008
I have always wanted to take part in the Round the Island Race but always tended to be away over the summer. This year, with no family sailing holiday planned on account of James being only five months old, I made an entry. I don’t think I quite knew what I was letting myself in for. Somehow I had gained the impression that it wasn’t too serious - more of a jamboree - a family affair - with thousands of yachts of various descriptions all taking part for the fun of it. I was to find out that most took it far more seriously than that. I hadn’t been too successful in gathering a strong crew, ending up with just myself, Phil and Wayne, who had only been sailing twice before. But imagining that it would be a relaxed affair I thought we could just enjoy the day without too much effort and get by quite happily with just the three of us. As we can easily do when we cruise.
Approaching the day the forecasts suggested it was going to be blustery. I hadn’t been organised enough to book a berth in Cowes so I started to worry about getting moored up with 2000 other boats. The original plan was to join the PYRA fleet in a race to Cowes on Friday, but I decided I wanted to try and get to Cowes a bit earlier to ensure a good berth. My friends John and Sue on Swagman were going to arrive on Thursday evening so it would also be nice to get there early enough to spend some time with them. However, my crew couldn’t join me until after work on Thursday, so we woud have to get the 2130 bridge lift. A look at the tide tables revealed the tide would be flooding into the Solent through Hurst Narrows at about 11pm on Thursday night. So it was decided we would leave Cobbs Quay at 2130 and keep sailing to get into the Solent and pick up a buoy at Yarmouth around midnight, then hop along to Cowes on Friday morning.
We had quite a ride to Yarmouth in a Westerly force 6. A big swell saw us surfing at speeds of up to 11 knots at times. We started off with one reef and soon put in another out in the bay. With the wind dead aft the genoa was flapping around doing nothing, so it was soon rolled away and we sped along with just the double reefed main. Phil did a sterling job checking our position as I gripped the wheel and, after several attempts to pick up a buoy in the dark, against a strong tide and wind, we were on a buoy off Yarmouth by 0030 and into our bunks.
Early Friday morning we ambled along to Cowes and initially moored up alongside Swagman until we were moved by the harbour master to a boat more our size. There were actually still bits of pontoon free, but we chose to be nearer the outside to avoid being trapped in the morning. We enjoyed a leisurely day and mid afternoon a whole fleet of yachts turned up and quickly filled up the remaining berths - it was of course the PYRA lot who had enjoyed a fast sail from Poole with wind and tide.
Up at 5am on Saturday to prepare for our 0650 start. It was still quite blustery and boy was it busy near the start line! We didn’t manage a very good start and I soon realised we needed more crew as it became a case of looking out for and dodging other boats as we tacked back and forth towards the needles. With 1700 boats in the race it was busy! Being a first timer I’d marked a position just outside of the wreck off the Needles and wanted to give it plenty of room. The fleet bunched up at the Needles with boats jostling to get round and we all became very close. A rather rude and aggressive skipper outside of us started shouting at us to bear away saying we had room. I shouted back that that was my decision to make and I’ll go when I’m ready. I’m perfectly in my rights to hold a boat out and not be pushed towards danger.
Once round the Needles we headed off down wind with the wind on our starboard quarter. Big and confused swell plus the gusty wind put everyone on the edge of control. We could see boats broaching and rounding up left right and centre. A larger cruising boat was overtaking us to windward and clearly wanted to head inshore, and kept pushing down towards us. I was concerned that he was too close, plus he was confusing the air we were getting. Unfortunately the inevitable soon happened. We caught a gust and a bit of swell the wrong way and the boat began to round up into the wind. I had the helm hard over but had no control. There was no time to do anything and our bow smashed into the port quarter of the other yacht. The stainless steel plate and bow roller on the front of Csardas was twisted and bent out of all recognition. Bolts had sheered and the bottom of the pulpit stanchion was hanging loose. Phil went up and checked the forestay attachment. It was being pushed to one side by the bent stainless but was otherwise fine. Luckily the forestay on Csardas goes through a slot in the bow and connects to the stem lower down. Some boats have the forestay connect higher up with the attachment integral to the bow fitting. It might have been worse were that the case - we could have lost the mast.
As we hit the other boat there was much shouting and hand waving from the other boat, and I found myself apologising to them. But a few minutes later I realised that they were in the wrong. They had been overtaking so should have stood clear. Had they not been so close we wouldn’t have hit them. Boats were rounding up all over the place so allowances should have been made when passing. And afterwards we could see this other yacht rounding up every so often also. So they should have known the score.
There didn’t appear to be any noticeable damage to the other boat beyond some cracked gelcoat. I suspect a bit of gelcoat filler and a polish is all they need. Unfortunately Csardas requires a new stainless steel bow fitting. Just lucky that it is not structural. The boat will cope without it for a while.
That incident made us a bit nervous of other yachts that would insist on getting quite close. There was no way the three of us could fly our large spinnaker in those conditions. As it was I was the only one who knew how to do the foredeck work, but in those conditions I was also the only one who could steer the boat. So we stuck with white sails. It would have made such a difference to have more crew. With our handicap based on having such a large spinnaker it was clear we weren’t going to do well. But after the collision I don’t think we were too worried about that. We just wanted to get back without any more dramas.
Whilst on the south side of the island we listened to mayday after mayday on channel 16. We saw broken masts, ripped sails, heard reports of man over board, and someone being knocked unconscious in an unexpected gybe. A helicoptor lifted someone off just off St Catherines Point and there were two lifeboats on station. It was chaos. At one point the coastguard responded to a mayday call by saying, in not so many words, “Sorry, we’re rather busy at the moment”. The silly thing is I don’t consider 20 knots windy. In normal circumstances, it was pleasant cruising weather. But add in thousands of boats and aggressive competition and it becomes a different ball game.
The fleet came together again rounding Bembridge and up to the Fort. After the fort we began our beat back to Cowes and it became busy again with lots of ducking and diving. By this time Phil and Wayne were working the sails when we needed to ease off to duck under a starboard boat, and power up again afterwards. They were learning fast.
At one point we ended up nearer the north shore and heading towards Cowes. While most boats were heading south and tacking along in the shallows out of the tide I decided that despite the foul tide I’d stay in clear air and clear water and keep our lives easy for a while. We really could have done with someone on the bow keeping a permanent look out at the very least.
An exciting finish as yachts bunched up again and we finished at 1538 after 8h40 mins. On corrected time we came only 40th out of 43 finishes. Not at all great. But considering our short-handedness, and inexperience, plus a very tricky handicap based on having a huge spinnaker which we did not fly, we should be pleased. Upsetting to suffer damage, but it could have been worse. It will fix. And I’m sure had that not happened and put a cloud over us we might have done better.
By the time we got into Cowes, Shepherds marina was full. But we got a berth alongside another yacht on the visitor’s pontoon up the river and had a well earned beer before going ashore for a curry!
On Sunday we joined the PYRA fleet for a race back to Poole. Similar conditions so a beat all the way back. Again not a great start but with the skills learned the day before Phil and Wayne worked the sails and we managed to keep pace with some other class 1 yachts and thoroughly enjoyed the sail back.
An interesting weekend. The RTI race not quite what I expected. But despite the mishaps, an enjoyable one and I think everyone learned a lot. Next time, if there is one, I’ll make sure we have more crew!
On Monday I slackened off the rigging to remove the forestay and then after lots of hammering and cutting of bent bolts managed to remove the mangled stainless plate before reattaching forestay. I’ve given the plate to a friend who works with metal to see if he might be able to straighten it, or make a new plate up. Failing that I’ll have to go commercial. But in the mean time the boat is usable - the bow just looks a little tatty and there’s no bow roller, oh and the pulpit is wobbly. There’s always something to fix!