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2009 Parhelion Spring Series

The Parhelion yacht racing series is run by the Portsmouth Sailing Club, with races in the Eastern Solent, off Portsmouth and in Hayling bay.

One More Knot's skipper reports each race in the series, blow by blow. Some of the other crews and skippers contribute too ... just to give a balanced view!

Portsmouth Sailing Club's Spring Parhelion Race Series

Spring Parhelion 2009 dates are:

• Saturday 21st March
• Saturday 28th March
• Saturday 4th April
• Saturday 18th April
• Saturday 25th April, last weekend and presentations

2009 Spring Parhelion Series - Club Fleet Standings

Official results table from the PSC

Results courtesy of Portsmouth Sailing Club
* Official PSC results have the duration of race 9 in error. These results are corrected for a 12:10 start (not 11:45).

Race Results

Race Reports

Appeal to skippers, crews and race officials, spectators, etc.

Please help me out with:

• your boats story
• any photos
• observations from the committee boat and RIBs
• your point of view .... let me know
• errors .... its difficult to remember everything blow by blow

Spring Races 1 & 2

Crew: Phil, Darrell, Glenn, Phil B, Kevan Quinn

A fortnight before hand, we had put the sails back on the boat, and gone out in a F5-7 to shakedown. The following day, we had another play in a meagre F7 (max recorded gust 60 knots!). We peaked at 12.8 knots through the water broad reaching near North Sturbridge. We were surfing on the waves generated by the 3 mile fetch from Wooton Creek.

However, todays racing was in complete contrast. During the week, we had forecasts of 0 knots! Fortunately, on the day we had a bit more than that, but only just at times, typically between 3 and 8 knots true.

The crew met up for brekky in the "Crews Mess"; refurbed and under new ownership. Newcomer Kevan was introduced to the pre-race ritual of staring at the forecast and talking through spinnaker procedures.

Race 1

The committee settled in on board Mary Shibhaun near Gleeds. The race course seemed like an essay, which usual means varied racing angles. The course was set with the start at Gleeds, a 1.5 mile beat to 'Darling Associates' just past Gilkicker; followed by a 1 mile beam reach to North Sturbridge; then a 1.4 mile very broad reach to Mary Rose with a 0.4 mile reach to Gleeds. An extended course was set, but was shortened to this one.

Tides were neaps and the flow was quite modest, approximately 0.3 knot from the west.

Pre start, One More Knot made several runs at the line to get the timing sorted. Meanwhile the rest of the fleet gathered to reach in on starboard. If we could get the timing right, we would approach to leeward and have all the rights!

At the start we were near the line but a few of the other had got a bit closer. Symphony (Elan 340) was ahead and slightly to windward. Total Obsession Too was also ahead, but slightly to leeward of our heading. We attempted a stealth tack to get clear air on port, but sadly Symphony tacked at the same instant and covered us. Soon after the majority of the fleet were on port heading for the Haslar wall out of the tide.

As we found our feet, our boat speed improved, however we were not as fast as Symphony. We elected to concentrate on VMG and point higher but go slower. Just in Time had gone of very low towards the wall. Eventually we cross tacked with Symphony. We were still behind by a few boat lengths. We were much closer to Total Obsession Too. As we were still on port, we were the give way boat. Phil B sitting on the foredeck got quite a shock when TOT emerged from behind the jib and we missed her transom by a few feet.

After 4 tacks, we rounded the windward mark in 3rd place and hoisted the blue kite. The angles were right on the limit and it we felt it was touch and go regarding rounding North Sturbridge without having some trouble. In the light airs, the apparent was on or marginally in front of the beam. The fleet were having a bit of trouble holding the spinnakers. On several occassions we had to bear away to reflate the kite. Just In Time, some way behind got an hour glass which forced them to drop the kite and complete the leg under whites. They probably didn't loose out.

After gybe at the mark, we then set off after Symphony and Total Obsession Too. We slowly, so slowly made some ground on TOT even to the extend of getting in front. As we approach the mark, we lost some ground and it allowed Total Obsession Too to get into the mark clear ahead by about 1/4 of a boat length. Both boats left the drop to the last minute.

One More Knot, forced to give way on the way in took a wider entry to be tighter on the exit. With a slick drop and power up onto the jib, we managed poke our nose into the gap on the exit. We now had 1/4 of a boat overlap and were moving quicker than Total Obsession Too.

TOT defended by gaving us the squeeze and luffed (gently) to start sailing us 30 degrees from our course to the shortened finish at Gleeds. The boats we playing cat and mouse with inches between the beams. Drew, TOT's bowman was sitting on the rail. Bowmen are not known for being timid, but even he had the sense to lift his legs! Eventually, Phil conceeded the battle, lost some speed to drop in behind TOT in the sprint to the line.

I'm gutted to report that the use of such tactics cost Total Obsession a point, because Scallywag managed to pip them to 2nd place by just 2 seconds!!!

Sadly, OMKs result was less impressive, clocking in at 5th.

Race 2

This race used the same course as the first. The light westerly breeze and swund a few more degrees southerly, so we formed a cunning plan for the top leg.

At the start, the line was very busy with yachts near the committee boat. Once again we had rights, but we had lost speed due to dirty air. We had to holler at Just In Time, but there was plenty of space for her to cross the line. We were on the second row, behing Scallywag (best start) and Symphony.

Once again, the 2nd row boats tacked early on to port towards the wall. Just In Time set off fast but low. We struggled to find the groove with One More Knot and the leaders left us trailing.

We found ourselves in pleasent but different company, Ellisa and Scallywag. Meanwhile, up ahead, we could see that Just In Time had a decent lead while Symphony and Total Obsession Too were neck and neck.

In desperation to find a way back, we went a long way into Gilkicker. We didn't tack until the alarm went off. It then proceeded to bleep and squak for a few minutes with as little a 0.3m under the keel at times. We weren't going fast, just a couple of knots, but fortunately we never touched the bottom, as the fleet struggled to roudn Gilkicker. As we escaped the headland, the fleet order was more or less the same.

We had managed to claw our way back onto terms with Ellisa as we approached the windward mark. Once we had made the lay line, including an allowance for the tide we tacked across Elissa bows. We sheeted in and hollered starboard. Ellisa tacked immediatley, although she probably could have continued for another couple of boat lengths or ducked us.

We made the windward mark, but Ellisa was short and needed to double tack to get around. Despite the light airs, we hoisted our red heavy kite, which although smaller, is much flatter. This allowed us to carry the spinnaker down to North Sturbridge with relative ease. Ellisa, once around the mark seemed to have terrible trouble getting thier cruising chute to fly,

Much to bowman Phil's disgust, the heavy kite is now in a snuffer. At N. Sturbridge, we rapidly snuffed the kite and dropped it back on deck, before gybing the pole and hoisting the big blue. Our cunning plan let us setup a guy sheet combo for each kite to allow us to perform our safe version of a spinnaker peel. If we didn't have the snuffer, we probably could have done it properly, hoisting before the drop.

On the run back to Mary Rose, we were in the company of Scallywag. We managed to catch them (yes, they were ahead), and overtake to leeward. Duh .... surprise surprise, we slowed to their speed. To escape, we reached under their bow with feet to spare and then made a clean getaway in the undisturbed air. The breeze was failing and we resorted to VMG downwind reaching to keep the boat going. All the time, the fleet was getting extended. Meanwhile the leaders were safely home.

The final leg was straight forward, and once we crossed the finishing line and sailed toward the mainland shore, the breeze increased to a good F3. OMK recorded another 5th. Not quite the day we had hoped for after the end of last season.

Spring Race 3

Crew: Phil, Glenn, Phil B, Joe

Race 3 was the long race in the series. Just a single race was planned, with a lunch stop over at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. The committee boat set the start at Gleeds. The course was set as Burgess Salmon, North Sturbridge, East Bramble, Craft Insure (shortened to here), South East Ryde Middle and Craft Insure.

One More Knot was on the water early, but with only 4 crew on board we knew we needed to keep it simple and tidy to have a chance. The recent forecast for the day showed early morning calm building to 21 knots. This would suit us and allow us the liberty of keeping the beast in the bag without incurring too much penalty.

We set up the boat with the #3, 1 reef in main at start. As the breeze appeared to be more F6 than F5, plus blustery squalls, we rigged the sheets outside the shrouds. This would slightly compromise our pointing ability, but improve our stability and albility to remain in control during the gusts.

Pre start, we worked out that at full chat we could sail the length of the line in only 40 seconds. We got into position and feathered our way in, using the GPS to judge the time and distance to go. As we approached the line, Scallywag was in front, followed by OMK sailing slowly with the rest of the fleet aiming for the committee boat. With 15 seconds to go, we hardened up and cranked the sheets in hard. We hit the line fast and high for a great start. Scallywag was still sheeting in as we quickly overhauled her. At the windward end of the line, Total Obsesion Too had the best start of the rest. We had our nose out in front, but their line was 100m to windward.

The first leg to Burgess Salmon was effectively split into two. A fetch to Gilkicker Point and then an offset beat upto the mark.

One More Knot and Total Obsession Too led the drag race to Gilkicker. We were happy to be slightly lower because we felt there may have been a marginal tidal advantage. Behind, the fleet was a bit mixed. Symphony was a bit off the early pace (they've lined up their excuses) and was being caught fast by Elissa, who was charging in the heavier conditions. Just In Time seemed to be off form and were further back.

At Gilkicker, Total Obsession Too rounded inshore, with One More Knot abeam but 150m further out. The fleet narrowed, but we didn't really too much time to check out what was happening behind. We were too busy setting the boat up to head into the stiff F6. Once rounded, TOT stayed high and inshore, with OMK was further out in the deeper water and unable to point so high. The speeds were comparable, but TOTs higler line was starting to look good.

Elissa managed to close on One More Knot for a while, but as the breeze picked up OMK was able to take advantage of her #3, while Elissa furled her headsail. Elissa slowly started to drop back.

At the head of the fleet, TOT and OMK were both sailing fast on the beat. Positionally, TOT had the advantage. Post race analysis of the GPS showed that as OMK ventured into deeper water, her abilty to keep her heading was comprosmised. So Total Obsession Too probably had the better tide inshore. This was contrary to our pre race thoughts, which were to stand off the slightly.

We're not sure, but we think the Total Obsession may have been able to lay the mark. Symphony had recovered her position and had also been sailing high. She managed to sneak through as we tacked to come up onto the lay line. On the tack, the jib car control line came out of the jammer and it shot to the back of the track. It took a while to sort things out.

As the two boats ahead rounded the mark, we deployed our secret weapon by shaking out the reef in anticipation of the next leg.

Sadly, we lost a little too much hieght and had to throw in a last minute double tack to make the mark. Just to give the rest a chance, we messed up and needed to back the jib to get the second tack to bite.

The next leg was a broad reach to North Sturbridge. Our plan was to use white sails in the 20+ knots of breeze. Of course everything settles down when off the wind and we felt marginally underpowered (for racing) at times. However, by sailing just high enough to keep the jib pulling hard our speed was still good.

Ahead, TOT had hoisted her kite and had a good lead. Symphony took their time raising their asymetric, but once raised it provided both speed and entertainment! Especially in the 30 knot gusts.

Back on One More Knot, we were better in the gusts and wishing for more. In the gusts, Symphony was rounding up but our speed just increased. Our log was peaking out at over 9.5 knots and we close to matching Symphony. Total Obsession Too had built a big lead on the long 3.2 mile leg. However, we were curious of her tactics. She had gone well towards the island side of the course.

Elissa was doing a good job of keeping up. They had unfurled their full jib for the downwind leg. Pretty handy in the conditions.

With TOT off Ryde, they dropped their kite .... or should that be fly it! It appeared to be 30ft away! Apparently Emma didn't bear away! But from where they were on the race track, I can imagine her reluctance to sail the wrong way. After some time, they recovered and reached back to the mark. We didn't see them round.

Symphony and an IRC class Sigma 38 rounded N. Sturbridge simultaneously. Both boats seemed to be too tight in, and too low out of the turn.

One More Knot approached the mark higher. At the last minute, we ran dead downwind. We changed configuration to goosewinged by gybing the jib. In the final few seconds to the mark we sheeted the jib hard before it was loaded and gybed the main. This allowed us to come smartly up on to the beat within feet of the mark. A good high fast rounding, which then put us much closer to the other boats.

Elissa lost a lot of ground after the mark. We spotted them with a flogging jib. Presumably there were putting the reef back in. If so, maybe they should have done it on the final part of the previous leg.

Sailing slightly lower, but faster we managed to get abreast of Symphony and the Class 1 Sigma, Gauntlet of Tamar. The wind had moderated to 18 knots. One more Knot now had the advantage of a full main, the others still had a reef.

These 3 boats then tacked off at different times, with One More Knot being the last to tack and remaing significantly the most southerly. Judging by the angles on the GPS plot this may have been an error. However, the 3 boats remained close all the way to East Bramble.

At East Bramble, Total Obsession had rounded way out in front, followed by Symphony, Gauntlet of Tamar and then One More Knot.

Both Symphony and Gauntlet of Tamar appeared to have some trouble rounding the mark. OMK had held onto her tack for longer and had bit of room to play with. We allowed ourselves to free off slightly, but then got surprised by, preusambly a tidal effect and had to pinch the last few boat lenghts to get around.

The race had been shortened and this was the final leg, to Craft Insure. It was just slighty to port of a dead run.

Total Obsession was long gone. On board One More Knot, we set about having a go at the Sigma 38, both boats under white sails. We did a better job of keeping the jib flying and started to overhauled them.

We changed to a goose winged configuration, but we were slightly the wrong way around. After some messing about of the foredeck, we poled out the jib and this worked wonders.

We soon left Gauntlet of Tamar and started to close significantly on Symphony. Symphony's crew were in the process of learning that their asymetric wasn't too great dead downwind. They were charging form left to right, and back again, getting in lots of gybing practice.

Their speed was good, but their VMG wasn't quite as good as ours. We wanted to cross the line in front of them and tried very hard to do so (our Elan 333 vs their Elan 340 personal battle). However, they pipped us by just 25 seconds after nearly 2 and half hours of racing in F5 and F6. We weren't too disappointed, as their handicap means that they give us something like 54 seconds per hour.

With the other boats too far behind to affect the result (with the possible exception of Scallywag), we knew we were in for a decent result.

The majority of the fleet descended on the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, destroying the tranquility, to enjoy a bite to eat and a pint. It was a short but pleasant visit, with the crews staying for only about an hour to avoid getting stuck for a tide. The crew of Total Obsession Too were deservedly pretty pleased with themselves.

Once the results were published, One More Knot claimed 2nd place on a very blustery day, some 5 and half minutes behind Total Obsession Too.

Races 4 & 5

Crew : Phil, Glenn, Kevan

The forecast was for Westerly 9 to 12 knots, although ealrlier in the week it had been for much less. The short handed team discussed tactics over breakfast, and concluded leaving the spinnaker in the bag was the best plan. So much for planning ! We started the day in drizzle (at breakfast), but this had stopped by the time we got on the water. By the end of the day, we were in blazing sunshine.

On the water, it looked like a good turnout for the day. Concerto made her first appearance for the season, along with another Contessa.

Race 4

The course for the first race was Darling Associates (just past Gilkicker point), North Sturbridge, Gleeds and then do it all again for another lap. The race was shortened to 1 lap.

Unusually, the committee boat set up the line with Gleeds at the port end with the CB to starboard. At the start the fleet approached the line, with One More Knot near the front. The boats were quite close and we wanted to stay near the pin. Phil asked Kevan to ease the main to slow down on the approach, but to go fast enough to keep Scallywag from overlapping. If she had overlapped she may have pushed us up over the pin.

At the gun, the fleet hit the line, with OMK right on the pin and being chased by Scallywag (GK24). One More Knot tacked immediately for the Haslar wall.

Shortly after, Symphony and Just In Time also tacked and made for the wall. The rest of the fleet stayed on Starboard. It was difficult to know what the best plan was, because the tide was on the turn.

One More Knot raced to wall with Symphony and Just In Time. OMK pointed higher than the others but the boats remained close as the tacked up to Gilckicker. Horror .... the other side of fleet won. Elissa followed by Concerto were well ahead and we had to sail up and join their line to pass Gilkicker before rounding Darling Associates.

The next leg to North Sturbridge was a broad reach and most of the other boats were able to deploy their spinakkers. With the boat speed, the apparent came around to just in front of the beam. One More Knot was racing without the spinnaker due to our short handed crew; however we hung in there and rounded North Sturbridge ahead of Symphony.

At North Sturbridge, we executed a very clean gybe close to the mark and made for Gleeds. This was more problematic undier whites because it was a deep run.

Symphony had soon gybed her kite and was now bearing down on us. She managed to overtake us sufficiently to leeward to avoid our dirty air. We then observed a tactical blunder as she tried to overtake another boat (also sailing without a spinnaker) to leeward. Spymphony was too close and just slowed to her speed. Drastic action was taken and she reached up behind ???? on the verge of broaching before finally overtaking to windward.

Elissa took line honours. One More Knot finished well down the field.

Race 5

The race was set as 1 lap of a much longer course, starting at Gleeds, then Browndown, Bob Kemp, N. Sturbridge, back to Gleeds and then some more if we had time.

At the start, we were 5 mins out of synch with the timing and fortunately happened to be sailing on port 100m to leeward of the line at the 1 min gun. Having realised the potential calimity, we timed a tack and made for the line. This put us in the middle of the line but in clean air.

It was very very crowded and the pin end and we could hear Roy on Symphony telling Just In Time, in no uncertain terms, that there was no room at the mark. Just In Time were up to their naughty boys trick of barging in at the start again.

We witnessed Symphony turn to avoid a collision. We expected to see Symphony protest. Roy, ever the gentleman didn't ... but he should have (how else will they learn the rules). We found out later that Just In Time managed to have a collision all of their own, with Gleeds, the pin end on the line. Just In Time took a penalty turn for hitting the mark. If Symphony had protested, they should have done 2 turns, or battled it out with the Protest Committee.

One More Knot's start wasn't too bad given the last minute rescue. The tide was now running to the east, so we wanted to tack. We tacked behind the front line of boats, Elissa, Scallywag and Total Obsession Too.

The course to Browndown took us around Gilkicker point and then 3/4 of the way up Stokes bay. Once again OMK led the race to the wall, pointing higher than Symphony. Just In Time had managed to recover and we cross tacked.

JIT called starboard and clearly expected us to yield. However Phil was helming from the leeward quarter and he could see that was going to be close. He held his nerve and we passed a few metres ahead. However, Just In Time made some comment about us being on port, of which we were aware. Apparently they seemed to be of the view that we should have tacked because they had called "starboard!" As far as we were aware they didn't have to change course.

One More Knot stayed in the shallow water close to Gilkicker to avoid the tide, Just In Time and Symphony went further out in to the tide. Many of the rest of the fleet had stayed on starboard for much longer, as in the first race. This time, they were history (or so we thought).

The wind was failing, we were now down to 5 knots or less at times. We were experiencing 0.4 knots of adverse tide in the shallows becoming 0.8 knots just a bit further out. It would have been much worse in the main channel. Our route taunted the depth alarm into life.

OMK opened a lead and then managed to judge a tack nigh on perfectly, helped by a small lift in the breeze at the headland. We managed to finely cut the shallows at Gilkicker, with about 1.3m under the keel. Soon had a good lead. All the time, the tide was getting stronger.

The wind became even lighter and we were enjoying ourselves in the sunshine. Eventually the rest of the fleet rounded Gilkicker, Just In Time led from Symphony.

We were looking back and we could see Just In Time closing the distance by sailing lower and staying on the beach out of the tide. However, we knew she would eventually have to tack out. We were between her and the mark. Symphony used the same tactics but didn't seem to make the same impression, although her largest headsail is a #3. Total Obsession Too and Elissa were way back.

We were experiencing big holes in the wind, but somehow we managed to keep the boat going to windward. When we were about 1/2 a mile off Browndown, the RIB came and asked if we would make Browndown. We said we thought we would despite the 0.8 knots of adverse tide in Stokes Bay.

After a bit of banter, the course was changed and we were now to round Browndown and return to the line. Total Obsession Too retired, stating that they had no prospect of getting around the windward mark .... bloaters!

It took us another 20 minutes to get around. There were big smiles on board, thinking that the race was in the bag, as the rest of the fleet struggled to beat against both wind and increasing tide. We rounded and got into deeper water, getting between 1.2 and 1.4 knots of tidal assistance.

Kevan took the helm as we hoisted our heavy (red) kite. It is a 1.5 oz reacher and now stashed in a snuffer for heavy weather work. We felt that this was the most appropriate because we were short handed and that in light airs, the flatter cut might help our VMG sailing. However, once hoisted our problems began. We couldn't get the snuffer outside the jib and worse; the breeze was now only 2 knots true, meant that the apparent was nigh on anything. The kite just hung limply from the masthead. It gave us a few minutes to observe the nuclear power US aircraft carrier that had just come into the Solent and parked up; complete with a deck full of F18's or F22's.

We drifted.

After 10 minutes, Just In Time managed to get around the mark. She got her kite up and in half inflated. Soon after, Symphony rounded and had a bit more success with their kite.

Just In Time aimed towards the shore. Meanwhile, Elissa had made a bit of a comeback and had also got around the mark.

The boats behind were closing down on One More Knot. We still had a good lead, but no wind.

So, drastic measures. With regular bowman skiving on a skiing holiday, Phil took to the foredeck once again. Kevan was at the helm and Glenn had the responsibility of all of the many strings in the cockpit. We went for our first ever full on spinnaker peel. We'll omit the detail about there being no wind. So the blue kite went up outside the red. The red was snuffed and dropped.

Phew, hot work in the sunshine, but we were rewarded with a kite that would at least fill and carry its own weight. After that, Phil stripped off in the cockpit (top half only) and reconfigured with just the polo shirt.

We started to make some way, but it was still very slow. Looking at the distance to go and our speed it was already clear that we would be out of time unless the wind filled in a bit.

Looking to windward, we could see Just In Time, Symphony and Elissa with their kites filled and sitting in darker water. The breeze was filling in from the back of the fleet. Phil was very anxious about being in the right part of the water to get the earliest breeze. We had been here before!

As it transpired, we had so little breeze that we couldn't do much about it. Soon we had Symphony and Elissa to Starboard, with Just In Time to port. Only One More Knot was sitting in the wind hole!

Eventually we got some breeze and the fleet started to sail more or less abeam of each other. The clock was still ticking towards the 2 and a half hour time limit.

Symphony gybed to make for the line, but she gybed onto a very deep course. One More Knot gybed the other way and VMG reeached across the transom of Elissa. We then Gybed back and made for the starboard end of the line.

Eventually, Symphony crossed the port end of the line, followed about 20 seconds later by Just In Time. Another 20 seconds later, Elissa and One More Knot are having their battle. Elissa left us enough room to squeeze into the starboard end of the line without needing to be vocal. Elissa pipped One More Knot by just 1 second.

Symphony's line honours were sadly just 17 seconds over the time limit, so nobody recorded a result.

After the racing, we couldn't raise the rib on the VHF, so the crews of One More Knot, Symphony and Elissa recalled the tales in Landers over a lemonade!

Races 6 & 7

One More Knot was unable to race this weekend because Phil and Glenn were off to the Plextek 20 year bash. Plenty of beer was drunk and there were celebrations and activities all weekend long. It transpired that Plextek has just won 2 Queens awards for industry.

However, none these activities help OMK gain valuable results on the series, so this weeks report is from Roy on Symphony.

Well this week has stirred the table up! Currently the Contessa 32's are not showing a handicap. My table uses the old handicap for Concerto. This makes the top 5 spread over 5 points. Sadly, OMK is one of them.

Races 8 & 9

Crew : Phil, Glenn, Darrell, Phil B, Joe, Les

These race reports are brief because I forget to do them immediately !!!

Race 8

Errr, possibly the less said about this race the better. With the South Westerly, Bob Kemp was the windward mark, followed by Mary Rose and then VT. The line was half way down the Haslar wall. As it was the last day of the series, there was a big turnout with every "Club Class" boat competing.

We got an ok start, but so did most of the rest of the fleet. At the windward mark, we pushed in close and made the mistake on arriving close to the mark on port. Just In Time were coming in fast and after they hollered starboard we waited until the last few seconds and tacked underneath their port bow, We bore away and filled our head sail, they were still astern and on their layline, but travelling much faster than us. Phil shouted for them to leave room for us at the mark, however Just In Time continued on their line. One More Knot sailing slowly after our tack, but also pinching tyring to make the mark. We were concious of Just In Time's line and our obligation to keep clear following our tack. A second call went out to leave room for us as they started to roll over the top. Perhaps a better call would have been for the windward boat to keep clear. Just In Time refused to give any room to us as they rolled over the top, both the overtaking and windward boat. We were still pinching, and the gap between the boats was diminishing. Phil was forced to steer to avoid an initial collision, however as Just In Time overtook, her dirty air backwinded our jib and pushed us up into her quarter. It was a light "kiss" and no damage was done to either boat. OMK gybed away around a 360 to find a better place in the queue to get around the mark.

On the downwind leg, we elected to use the smaller kite, in its snuffer. However, it went up with several twists and the snuffer never made it past halfway. Eventually, we gave up and finished under white sails well down the fleet.

Race 9

The wind had been getting up more on the interlude between the races. During the race 8 post-mortem, we had a close call and narrowly missed T-boning Cordelia (who was on port). Concentration all around was instantly restored, however Phil hadn't picked up the extent of the port bias on the line. At the start we were one on 2 boats attempting to start on starboard, even then we still needed to tack to get across the line.

After being messed about by the rest of the fleet, we headed for the shallows off Gilkicker. Everyone else had gone for deeper water. As we tacked back into deeper water we noticed that we were pointing much higher than anyone else. We still had full sail, whilst most of the rest of the fleet had reefed. Ironically, the wind had eased a tad, so we were fully powered and I suspect that the rest of the fleet were slightly under powered.

One More Knot rounded the windward mark first with a decent margin. We elected to keep things simple and white sailed the next leg. We used a combination of goosewinging and deep reaching, going as deep as we could with the genoa still pulling. A number of the other boats followed our lead and declined to use their spinnakers. However a few did and we watched their progress as they closed the gap, including the Contessas and Total Obsession Too. Total Obsession Too looked to be getting quite close, however they tripped their kite very early which allowed OMK to stay in front. At Naomi House, OMK rounded several boat lengths ahead.

Following the turn, Phil took a wide line, deliberately to get into the main deep water channel. We hoped that we would pick up some extra tide. Total Obsession Too took the direct path. It was a tricky game to play, so we held onto the deep water for several hundred metres before hardening up to make the mark. The crew reckoned that the tactic increased our lead by about 200m, maybe we could have stayed in the deep water longer.

After rounding VT we tacked back up the Haslar wall. It was a bit hectic with the recreational traffic from the harbour entrance. In the event, One More Knot took line honours by a clear margin. We watched the clock and did the sums, and reckoned that we had beaten Total Obsession by about 17 seconds on handicap. We watched the other boats too, and it became clear that the only threats were going to be from corrections for the slower boats.

The PSC published results for race 9 are clearly in error. The start time is shown as 11:45 (10 mins after IRC1 started their race), however the club fleet were still racing with the last boat finishing race 8 at 11:57. The actual start time was 12:10. The consequence of this is that published results of race 9 adjusts the handicap for a race approximately 1.5 times longer than it really was, giving an advantage to those with lower handicaps.

So, here's my version of the results based on a 12:10 start time. In practice, the amended race time only flips One More Knot (now 3rd) and Total Obsession Too (now 4th). Its just shows how tight the racing can be, as these boats only have a small handicap difference.

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Last modified: Wed, 20 May 2009 20:19:51