Cork Week – Report From With Alacrity

The Tuesday before Cork week With Alacrity was a sorry sight, still waiting for the new mast to be stepped and with polythene bags for windows which we had taken out in a rash of overenthusiastic varnishing. Two frantic days later the nice man who had been re-connecting the masthead electronics stepped off the boat at 7pm Wednesday and we set out for the long sail to Cork. After a short stopover for engine repairs in Falmouth we arrived in Crosshaven on Saturday evening somewhat relieved to have made it in time for the racing!

Monday

We drifted around for an hour waiting for the start line to be laid for the coastal race. Eventually the fleet got away in less that 5 knots of wind and thanks to a start line tangle between Light and Premier Cru we had clear air at the pin end and should have sailed away, but it took us 5 minutes sailing slowly to work out our mainsheet was eased too far - you can have too much twist in the leech even in light airs. The short beat turned into a fetch and we tacked around the windward mark in 3rd place for a long 8 mile close reach. Arbitrator and Premier Cru in 1st and 2nd started a luffing match so we came up with the brilliant tactic of sailing low on the rhumb line - shortest distance and all that. Unfortunately as the wind died we ended up in a band of no wind and sat helplessly as The Project, Sigmos and Errislannan sailed past just 50 metres to windward. After this we woke up to spotting and sailing in the patches of wind that could be seen on the water and hung on to 6th place at the next mark where the course was shortened. Premier Cru sailed an outstanding race to take the win and were spotted that night making a rare visit to the champagne bar to celebrate leading the European Championships after day 1.

Tuesday

A healthy 15 knots blew for the harbour race which featured a huge startline between a starting hut high on the hillside and the lighthouse on the opposite shore. The course was to take us in and out between the harbour and some coastal marks passing through the notorious wind shadow beneath the heads a total of 5 times. We spent a happy hour before the race putting the start line into the GPS and were rewarded with a great start several lengths clear of the boats to windward. In the first pass through the heads we lost the lead to The Project and rounded the first mark close behind them. An uncharacteristic mistake from the foredeck on the kite hoist let Arbitrator through before disaster struck as we sailed into a hole in the wind shadow from the heads and boats behind came up in a gust and were slingshot through the hole either side of us. By the time we had got clear we were down to 10th and feeling slightly hard done by. The rest of the race was spent slowly working our way back up through the fleet reaching 4th at one point until we were caught twice by starboard tackers who we thought we were ahead of. We eventually settled for 6th just a few boatlengths behind Persephone and just ahead of Light. Despite feeling cheated by the flukey wind by the heads this was a very enjoyable race with some spectacular scenery. Ominously The Project took their first race win quite comfortably. Check out www.photoaction.com/regattas.htm for some cool photos of the harbour race (click on Cork Week 2006 and select a boat name) especially look for Persephone racing the dolphins!

In the evening the S38 class was bussed to Kinsale YC for an excellent Cork week dinner which ended far too quickly.

Wednesday

Two olympic course races scheduled for the day and we were met with 8 knots of wind and descending fog at the start. This was reminiscent of the last time I sailed at Cork in a dinghy championship when ribs were stationed at marks with whistles to guide the fleet around the course in thick fog with predictable chaos ensuing. The first start was abandoned after 5 minutes due to a big windshift and for the second start the fog was lifting but the wind was dying. The Project and Light went for port tack starts with The Project OCS and having to turn back Light got a brilliant start and sailed across the fleet on port tack 5 boat lengths clear. Although the line was not far off square it became apparent that the horrible wave patterns in the light air was making it very difficult to get any boatspeed on starboard tack whilst on Port the waves gently rocked Light along 1.5 knots faster. By the end of the triangle Light was still clear ahead but the wind was getting very patchy and we listened in anticipation as the race committee discussed shortening the course on the VHF. After some comment about 70 metres of chain being too hard to pull up on the finish boat the fleet continued onto the sausage where the wind finally gave up completely. At one stage 6 S38s were spread out on the beat with no way of telling who was in the lead. The rest of the race was agonising as much of the time was spent trying to maintain some kind of steerage.

Errislannan somehow managed to get clear to take the win, so now we had 3 races and 3 race winners. With Alacrity finished 6th for the 3rd time, I'm sure consistency must be a virtue. We felt for Light who would have surely won the race if the wind had stayed up. Thankfully we were sent back to Crosshaven without a second race.

Thursday

This was without doubt the best days racing we have ever had in a Sigma 38 and it was worth the trip to Cork for this day alone. Three races were squeezed in to make up for the missed race yesterday on a sausage course in 12-14 knots of wind. The racing was close and the action was so intense that I simply cannot remember the story for each race. The Navy sailing Gauntlet revelled in the conditions and recorded 3,2,2 which helped their campaign enormously. The Project took 3 wins that sewed up the championships for them but the score line does not reflect how close it was as they frequently had to dig themselves out from mid fleet though they have the enviable knack of coming good at the finish. Persephone were looking very good in the first race until they changed their minds at the last minute as to which leeward mark to round and ended up with the genoa on the wrong side of the boat losing 2 places in the last beat to the finish. The final race started off with a general recall and the novel experience of restarting under the threat of a black flag. On With Alacrity we got some good starts but struggled a little with upwind speed, perhaps the new mast needed some more tweaking or perhaps the decision to sail with 8 to make living on board more comfortable cost us a few boat lengths up each beat where weight on the rail definitely makes a difference. We managed to finish 4th, 7th and 3rd only to discover on getting ashore that we were OCS on the first start. This was a tad harsh as the race committee were calling out the wrong sail number as we went up the beat but that's sailboat racing and maybe if you don't get an OCS occasionally you're not trying hard enough!

Friday

For most boats Friday was academic for the series results but still no-one wanted to miss the last race which was the trapezoid course on another day of brilliant sunshine and 12 knots of wind. The Project took another race win though were pushed hard by Persephone and then Dragonfly. Dragonfly sailed a great race and were rewarded with 2nd. The places from 3rd to 5th was where everything was to play for and Arbitrator's 6th place was enough to squeeze them into 3rd for the series on equal points with the French boat Sigmos and helped by the Navy on Gauntlet struggling back in 11th place. On With Alacrity we went into the race with little prospect of changing our overall 6th place with a big gap in points to 5th and 7th which was just as well as we got our worst start of the series and struggled to make headway through the race finishing 9th less than a boat length ahead of Rebel and Gauntlet. Crossing the finishing line with spinnakers flying in a line of S38s was a great way to finish the series though a shame to have motored so far for just one race that lasted little more than an hour.

Postscript

This was our first Cork week and it certainly lived up to expectations, the only surprise was the sunshine and general lack of rain which we didn't expect! There was a fantastic party atmosphere every night, good organisation and great racing despite 2 days of frustrating light airs. This was the most competitive Sigma 38 fleet we have sailed in and it was good to see the strong showing from the French and Irish boats. Our sail back to Southampton was uneventful taking 55 hours non stop with some generous help from the engine along the English Coast.

So just 4 days at work to recover and we do it all again at Cowes Week - bring it on!!