The German Class40 'Red' training two-handed
|
The German Class40 'Red'
|
Andrew Dawson's Class40 'Spliff' at the start of the Biscay Challenge
|
Owen Clarke Class 40's take line honours in Northern European events. The German Class 40 ‘Red’ had an enthralling first foray in to short-handed racing with the completion of the Watski Two Star. This is a classic Northern Hemisphere event, two-handed, over 300 miles in the notorious Skagerrak, starting and finishing in Hanko, with three hour pit stops at Arendal and Marstrand. ‘Red’ completed the course in 29 hours and 10 minutes just under an hour ahead of her next nearest rival and claimed line honours for this event. To give a fuller flavour of the race let's here from the crew of ‘Red’:
“Dear friends, it was a sprint, but a tough one - the 300 miles Watski Skagerrak Two Star, Northern Europe’s most popular double handed race. First leg upwind up to 30 knots and chaotic waves. Unfortunately our wind instruments flew off the mast top and disappeared in the dark and rainy grey...The second leg - well, one of those days you never forget: 30 to 40 knot from around 130 to 140 true, blue sky, big waves from the whole width of the north sea. First C5/ one reef, later genoa. It was like wave boarding on the open sea and man, are these boats wet. Long stretches with boat speeds of 17 to 21 knots, engulfed in a cloud of swirling mist. Last leg rather normal, 15 knots from 90 to 130 true. We put the boat through a real beating - but everything seems solid.
Here the results: 40 percent of the fleet, mainly production cruiser racers and racers between 35 and 60 feet, dropped out. Of the remaining 80 boats we ended up as fastest boat overall, 5th place corrected time, although tactical errors cost us probably one hour. Best boat in our class and two hours in front of the ambitious Norwegian Express40 campaign. Thanks for everybody who helped to realise this wonderful machine. See you at the Fastnet”
Moving Southwards:
The 540 mile two handed Biscay Challenge from Southampton to Hondarribia in Northern Spain organised by the Royal Southampton Yacht Club certainly lived up to its title. Two years ago it was gales that pummelled the fleet this time it was calms.
Andrew Dawson with his Express Class40 ‘Spliff’ showed the way for the fleet this year. Unlike the heavier and somewhat slower Class 2 two boats of this event the majority of the Class 1 entries got away to a fast start and were down channel and riding the light breeze that they managed to hold to Ushant. Once around this infamous Island headland off France the leading yachts were able to crack off and bear away towards the Eastern Northern corner of Basque Spain. Andrew with his crew Jonathan McColl crossed the finish line with Spliff just over half an hour ahead of their nearest rival the racing trimaran ‘Paradox’ and over two hours ahead of the eventual handicap winner of this event ‘Pintia’. Andrew and Jonathan were also presented by Spain's most famous solo round the world sailor, Unai Basurko, an award for the most outstanding yacht of the race.
Allen Clarke of Owen Clarke Design was on board Ron Gould’s wooden S&S 38 ‘Sage’ on which they competed in the 2007 AZAB. With extremely light winds the challenge was more about getting to Biscay let alone crossing it. On the Saturday evening after the start Sage was anchored 15 miles offshore in 150 feet of water to slow the inevitable backward slide in the tide. With fog and no wind it was with some curiosity that the halos of lights from several competitors seemed to fly by going astern, this was a boost to the crew of Sage until the inevitable call for ‘anchors aweigh’ on the turn of the tide meant that all the cable that was payed out so easily four hours earlier had to be hauled back in, there was not going to be any further anchoring on this journey. Without a consistent breeze the trip to Ushant was a stop start affair for this 9 ton 30 year old boat setting our own new slow speed record. With news of several boats retiring the crew of Sage set a deadline time to get past Ushant and this went right to the wire but in the end the final turn of the tide and once again a dying breeze at Ushant left a despondent crew with preserving their sanity and heading for home. ‘Sage’ will be back in two years time with a score to settle for this ‘challenge’. |
