Nigel Goodhew's Fastnet Report
Published 18:37 on 24 Aug 2015
We set off from Cowes on Sunday with expectations of a close race. Arguably the closest in several years with the tight competition at the top of the fleet and a number of new teams participating in the Fastnet for the first time, as "unknown quantities".
After a dream start, in the negligible wind conditions on the "Squadron line", our race rapidly unravelled...as we drifted the wrong side of the first mark of the course, off Cowes Green, near Gurnard. We were kindly reminded of our transgression and then spent a frustrating 4 hours under spinnaker, trying to sail back against a building ebb tide, still in no wind. After kedging, concentrating and hoping -eventually a gentle sea breeze filled in and we were able to atone for the error and finally point Persephone west.
Never give up though. Although the fleet were 21 miles ahead of us, we adopted a plan. That involved use of all the available tools...the swingeing tide at the headlands...St Albans and Portland in particular, and the night time "land breeze" which we thought might support the northerly gradient breeze if we sailed close enough to the shore.
And it paid off. By the time we reached St Albans head, we had boats further out in the Enlish Channel behind us already. At Portland, the Fastnet tracker website showed Persephone as the fastest boat on VMG in the entire Fastnet fleet. By Start Point we were reunited with With Alacrity and lying 2nd and 3rd in IRC4 - back in the game!
But we were under one third of the way through the race. WA is well sailed and we were matched for speed all the way round, past te Lizard, to the Scillies. WA loosely covered us all the way, until an opportunity presented itself just off Lands End TSS. We ested out the windward section of the race to get round the Scilly Isles, and found merit in sailing west rater than north. So we passed to the south the Islands in favourable tide and a gently building breeze, knowing we would have to sail further, but we were faster....
When we rejoined the main racetrack to the north of the Scillies TSS, we had made gains of more than 6 miles on the fleet which went north, including a number of the Sigma 38 fleet.
The rest of the race was sailed in increasingly Sigma 38 friendly conditions, with breezes picking up to around 18 knots as we approached the Irish coast and rounded the Fastnet rock. A code zero might have been the sail of choice for the return to the Scillies, though we made gains with the No 1. At Bishops rock,out came the reaching kite for a fabulous sleigh ride into the finish, huge fun despite the incessant drizzly rain.
And so a delighted crew of Persephone led magnificently by Tim, consolidated the gains we had made to come home as first Sigma 38, 7th in IRC4 and 19th overall! If you had asked us at 1630 on Sunday, how the race might pan out, the answers would not have forcast that. As they say, you couldn't make it up!
We are all delighted, of course. And I was so proud to see my son's name up on the big screen in Plymouth as he collected the trophy from the Commodore of the RORC.
Related
- The Rolex FASTNET (16 - 21 August 2015)
Last updated 18:38 on 24 August 2015