It's a Wrap: Peter Harding reports from Mexico on his Solidaire du Chocolat Race. This evening Class 40 Degrees skipper owner/skipper called from Mexico to brief his designers on the race and the condition of 40 Degrees after her first offshore passage. Peter described how it was with some trepidation that he and co-skipper Miranda Merron set out from France in a boat in which apart from winning the Mondial Regatta, they had sailed only a few hundred miles on the qualifier together. Everyone at the race start in St Nazaire knew there was going to be a vicious sequence of North Atlantic gales. In the end the fleet battled through six winter depressions. The first week was particularly tough, lots of water inside the boat from a leak in the water ballast system and a battle against the elements on the outside. With such a new boat they adopted what Peter described as conservative approach so far as how hard they pushed at first, but they stuck to their guns and initial plan to sail the shortest route rather than head south. Early on in that first week with somewhat inconvenient timing, Miranda battled in atrocious conditions for several days to repair the autopilot system, the lack of which was causing them real problems, particularly at night in the poor conditions and visibility. Pushing ahead with a routing through the worst of the gales as one of the northern group, their perseverance and seamanship saw them emerge after thirteen days with boat, rig, and sails intact. Many were not so lucky. Since 2006 the Class 40 fleet had finished their Atlantic and offshore races completely intact, or at most with one or two boats dropping out. By the half way stage, nine of the twenty four boat fleet had been forced to retire with a range of problems, but notably no disasters and no downed rigs. A bruising but strong performance by this mixed fleet of professional and Corinthian sailors. South and west of the Azores in the reaching and running conditions the boat was designed for, Peter felt his boat was “fast”. Even though, as he explained, they were working out the sail combinations and angles/cross-over speeds as they went along. Even then what should have been trade wind sailing was rarely dull or simple and there were many squalls to contend with. Before arriving at a mandatory gate off St Barts. they split their only masthead spinnaker, the A2 in half. Without this sail for three days they struggled to keep up the pace with the smaller heavier fractional kite and were forced to sail high angles on port gybe in VMG running conditions where they wanted to use the rotating bow pole and big kite to its best advantage. Forced south of the lay line it took 40 Degrees eleven gybes before they could pass through the gate, while 7th place Desafio Cabo de Hornos did a good job sailing down from their position north of the lay line on a single gybe and at speed. The Chilean pair passed through the gate into the fickle winds of the Caribbean two hours ahead of their British rivals, sailing into sixth position. 40 Degrees made up the deficit at a couple of points over the next week but rather worryingly back in the UK on our computer screens we could see her slowly loosing ground as the Chileans passed the Cayman Islands and approached the Yucatan peninsula. When we discussed this, Peter pointed out that on 40 Degrees instead of carrying their big A2 spinnaker to 24 kts, they had been taking it down close to any suspicious clouds, or when the wind was at 15-17 kts. The thinking onboard was that in light airs they really needed the sail and could not afford to loose it a second time. It was also in the hope that at some stage in the Caribbean the Chileans might also loose their only A2 (the class rules dictate a maximum inventory of eight sails) at this critical point in the race. It wasn’t to be. Peter and Miranda finished in 7th place after 29 days and 16 hours at sea. After indicating that 40 Degrees had completed its first major outing with no significant problems Peter went on to say that he was “very happy with his race and speed of his boat”, adding that he’d certainly do the race again. 40 Degrees will now be sailed to Antigua where she will be based ahead of some Caribbean racing this winter including the RORC 600. For some races however she will be available for charter. In December the team will assemble back in the UK with designers and sailmakers to discuss the job list and improvements that can be made in the short spring refit.
The target event for 40 Degrees next season is the RORC Round Britain and Ireland Race. This in a rich season of racing for the Class which among other events includes the Worlds, taking place in Northern Spain and culminating with the Route de Rhum in November.
Quotes from the dock on arrival:
Peter Harding (skipper 40 Degrees): " The first 15 days of the race were really tough. However, the race was run on an excellent route and Miranda and I have ahad a great time."
Miranda Merron (co-skipper 40 Degrees): "Peter says; This is the longest, most gruelling race he has done to date. The first two weeks of non-stop low pressure systems was certainly not what was advertised in the brochure! Those in the UK who had the storm on Friday night will have had a taste of what we went through. We are pleased with our result, bearing in mind the calibre of the teams in front, and we look forward to welcoming in the rest of the fleet over the next few days. It will seem strange going back to a more predictable life on land, where you have a good idea of what will be happening in the next few hours, unlike at sea, where there are no end to the surpises (good and bad!) in store." "A big thank you to everyone who worked so hard to get 40 Degrees to the start line of this race, and to everyone who sent messages - we have been well entertained! "
For blogs of the whole race go to: 40 Degrees News
For Class 40 charter opportunities go to: Class 40 Charters
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