Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Nick McLoughlin, Navigator on Visit Malta Puma
It had all started so well. Mid week and with our usual skipper Philippe gallivanting around the Med in the Middle Sea Race (do we know yet what he forgot?!), the crew of defending champions Visit Malta Puma were keen to know who was going to skipper the boat on the third Sunday of racing in the Winter Series. We were not disappointed when Peter Robson (owner of Playing Around and winner of the 40.7 class at this year’s Cowes Week) was confirmed as skipper. Also the wind forecast for the weekend was looking like classic "Reflex wind" – 17/18 knots and gusting a little more. What was the gust/lull ratio going to be we all wondered?! Certainly not the sort of wind we thought would be favoured by series leaders Vortex. And oh yes the Visit Malta Puma crew had seen the Jaguar Logic blog - nothing like a bit of rivalry for inspiration!
A very early and chilly start on Sunday morning saw sunshine and blue skies and a hive of activity around the Sailing Logic boats. There was a really positive vibe around the Visit Malta Puma crew despite the hour. We were all at the boat early and keen to produce a duo of good results to both challenge Vortex and consolidate 2nd place in the series to keep the other Sailing Logic boats at bay.
But Sunday also saw the northerly wind now forecast to be much lighter at around 10-12kts (classic “Vortex wind”…). So to make Visit Malta Puma as light as possible, everything that could legally come off the boat was taken off including bunk cushions and mysteriously some bread baking tins left over from Visit Malta Puma’s recent tour of the British Isles – no wonder our upwind boat speed last weekend was down on polars!
Spring tides against meant that we needed to be off the dock by about 07:45 and as Visit Malta Puma powered up Southampton Water to the Solent race area, tweaks were made to the rigging in anticipation of the lighter winds. And then after a few practice hoists, gybes and drops, the start was upon us after the Big Boats were all away cleanly.
Our first race start line was in the vicinity of Flying Fish and after Hamble Comms and Hamble Race Control had waxed lyrical about the famous HRYC cake on offer after racing, they announced the windward/leeward course up to Royal Southern cascading very slightly East in the northern Solent over the Hillhead plateau with a finish at Hamble Yacht Services. With little happening tide-wise, this first race was one where wind strategy was to the fore. After a good start, the boat was going really well contesting 2nd place with Encore until Phil on bow called a rip in our #1 headsail. A change to the #2 ensued on the next downwind leg but despite really good team work that change to a sail unsuited to conditions unfortunately cost us valuable time despite the fact that we seemed to be going pretty well upwind. We crossed the line 3rd on the water and anxiously counted down the seconds to the next boat to cross the line – Lion Logic. With 25 seconds between us on the water it was going to be close on corrected time. Chatting between boats between races, Lion Logic skipper Pete Burwood thought that he had just pipped us…
The second race saw another windward/leeward course starting this time near Universal Marina and finishing at HW Corporate Finance with a foray over the deeper water to Sunsail Events. This race required a lot more tidal strategy and it was important not to over stand any of the marks and have to sail back uptide. After a cracking start and some great downwind sailing, we were lying in 2nd place coming into the final leeward mark, Flying Fish. And then as we came into the mark, two class zero boats got in our way.... Although quite within their rights and fighting for position in their own race, these two boats called water and we had to keep clear. In the meantime, Interceptor (our nearest rival in the race) sailed around the outside and they were off and away by the time we were around the mark. We did our best to catch them up the pretty long last beat with some good trimming but to no avail. Crossing the line, we were confident of 3rd place on corrected after seeing how far the next boat was behind us.
A great sail at 7kts down Southampton Water whilst having lunch reminded us why the Winter Series is such a great event and why some of us keep coming back year after year when we get weekends of blue skies, sunshine and a decent breeze. A cheeky beer (or pinot grigio spritze) later in the Waterfront pub and we were away home frequently hitting refresh on our phones in anticipation of the results.
And Lion Logic beat us into 4th place in the first race by a mere 3 seconds in a race lasting approx 75 mins – galling but really well done to Lion and her crew. We also only avoided arch rival Old Mother Gun beating us by 5 seconds so it was all too close to call. If only we hadn’t ripped our #1 and we could well have been in 3rd if not 2nd place. Our 3rd place in the second race was confirmed but what would have happened if those class zero boats had not got in our way? Yacht racing is so frustrating! We did very well considering no #1 jib for most of the racing. Oh and Vortex were first in both races – told you it was classic “Vortex wind” (and great sailing).
So in race number terms we are now half way through the series. Crew teamwork is improving markedly every time we sail together and we are still looking to contest the series and defend our title but it is going to be a challenge from here on in – we just need stronger "Reflex" winds and then we’ll see how it all shakes out.
