Friday 19th August 2251 hrs
Premier Flair - RORC Fastnet Race IRC2
Fri 19 Aug 2011 21:54
|
After the last blog, composed by Mr David Powell,
some sanity returns (temporarily) ...
We rounded Bishop Rock Lighthouse at 2130 on
Thursday evening, then sailing through the night made the 48 miles to the Lizard
by 5 am. The Scillies was something special with many porpoises flying from
the waves in pods of 5 and 7 with a backdrop ofof the dusk sky.
Half way across the passge to the Lizard, a new
front came in from the North, bringing some wind (13 knots) and much rain: it
wasn't long before our now dry boat became wet again !!!
As we had a few hours to go before a favourable
tide to Plymouth, we sailed up close to the coast to around Mevagissey, then
struck out on a fetch to Plymouth. All was going well, and my objective of
winning back a few of the places previously lost seemed to be going well ...
until the wind died !!!
We were stranded on a glassy sea some 4 miles from
the finish - how bad was that ... we set the anchor twice to hold us from
loosing valuable gains to the tide.
Finally at about 4pm the wind slowly appeared from
the SW, bringing a raft load of boats, and we finally crossed the finish line at
1657 hrs on Thursday16th 2011. The race time was 100 Hrs 47 minutes: this meant
that Robin won the "Guess the Runtime" sweepstake, and also that we finished
24th in class and at time writing, 80th overall.
We eventually got berthed in Suttton Marina. As we
were in the lock, a very excited lady's voice shouted from the bridge above -
"Geoff" - it was Kirsten Tapping. She and Peter were staying over in
Plymouth for a few days to follow the Fastnet finish. Later on they came
and visited our boat when we were all moored up. "No Fear", the boat Peter was
sailing had to retire due to sail damage during the storm in the Irish sea on
their outward leg.
So, a shower and beer were called for, and these
delightful duties were duly conducted in that order, but after handing in the
race declaration form to the RORC office. The evening celebrations continued
until late.
That was the 2011 Fastnet - everyone is pretty
exhausted, but satisfied that their bit
A final 'Toodle Pip' from me as I return back to
the my land lubber life !
|