ST Malo Race Blog - Jaguar Logic.
The latest RORC race to St Malo was another exciting adventure! The race started Friday afternoon with strong winds which resulted in RORC rerouting the fleet out of the Eastern Solent, adding 20 nM (and several hours) to the course!
As we rounded St Catherine's point we were level pegging with Interceptor Logic, and super-slick reefing by Jaguar saw us creep ahead. We were enjoying our 1-on-1 battle and were puzzled by their disappearance. We later found out they had dismasted and were all glad to hear that everyone was ok, but knew that the crew must be bitterly disappointed.
The wind eased, the sun was shining and the sailing conditions were ideal, although the jerky sea action left several of us seeing our dinner a second time! By Saturday afternoon we were passing the Channel Islands under spinnaker and could see both Addiction Logic and Lancelot Logic nearby. Then in contrast to the earlier strong winds, just 15 miles outside St Malo, the wind dropped to just 5 knots, and we inched along painfully slowly, and by sunset the wind had disappeared altogether. We were barely making way and were even overtaken by a jellyfish! So close, those last miles should have taken under three hours.
This leisurely calm was abruptly interrupted by the discovery we couldn't start our engine. With no wind, no steerage, no engine and the tide taking us towards the rocky entrance of St Malo - we were heading in the right direction but with hazards looming we started to consider back up plans. Yachts all around us were retiring, evidently frustrated by the lack of wind. But as we had retired from the Cherbourg race, we needed these miles to qualify for the Fastnet so we sat, bobbing, hoping and waiting for some wind.
After several hours we were getting more and more nervous about the rocks, and had given up hope of any breeze, and decided to retire and get a tow ashore. But no other boats were passing so we couldn't!! Very generously, Addiction Logic offered to retire and tow us in to safety - hugely unselfish of them as they also needed the miles. As luck would have it, they couldn't start their engine either so we were both stuck! Then Lancelot Logic who had just finished offered to come out and save us - again, a very kind offer as that would take several hours and it was already 2am, so everyone was exhausted. In the meantime, we had been investigating the battery set-up and after some clever re-wiring by engineer Eddie we actually managed to start the engine and miraculously the wind also picked up just enough to allow us to sail!
Confidence bolstered by the knowledge we had an engine back-up in case the wind died again, we actually managed to sail the rest of the course, arriving some 10 hours later than expected, just behind Addiction who also completed the race. A huge well done to Quokka and Visit Malta Puma who managed to finish before the wind died - especially Quokka who won the class. One thing about offshore racing - it's never the same twice!
