RORC Fastnet Race 2009

 

While the previous Rolex Fastnet Race is remembered for the course record time being demolished, the only record broken in this year's running of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's biennial 608 nautical-mile classic was one relating to competitor patience, as light winds at the start and end, combined with powerful spring tides, made for a 'tactically challenging' race, and one of the longest in recent years.

The race started at 1305 for the IRC 1 class with the tide ebbing from the Solent out towards The Needles. The wind was light with the fleet splitting up between the north and south side of the channel. Bare Knuckles headed for the northern side out towards Hurst Castle with little wind. By the time the wind had filled in from the south west, it was decided to head out to sea as the tidal gate for Portland Bill had been missed.

At 0200 with 120 meters of warp, chain and anchor out, Bare Knuckles was still making 2.5 knots boat speed in the wrong direction. By 0500 the wind started to fill in from the west initially at 10 knots and slowly building to 18 knots. With this increase in wind speed, the crew got the boat up to speed and back into the race.

Over the next day, Bare Knuckles overtook boat after boat as it climbed up the fleet. By Tuesday morning, the south Devon coast of Start Point was reached, with still plenty of wind although visibility reduced to less than 500 meters. You only see other boats close up when visibility is reduced.

As the weather and visibility cleared up on Tuesday, Plymouth and the Eddystone Lighthouse soon disappeared out of view on the way to the next major landmark, The Lizard.

With the wind yet again reducing to a little over 4 knots, the sight of the Lizard Lighthouse took an eternity to vanish out of view. With light winds and clear skies, the horizon was a sea of red, green and white lights from the competing yachts and the odd ship, which must have wished they had stayed in port for a couple of extra days.

Following a rather slow sail out to Lands End, it was hoped that the wind would fill in from west. However, yet again, we were left with light and variable winds ranging from 5 to 10 knots and changing direction by as much as 50 degrees. into the Celtic Sea, the conditions remained unchanged until late afternoon on the Tuesday when the wind settled down at 14 knots. With this increase, Bare Knuckles wound up to full speed and began the task of pulling back some places.

By daybreak Wednesday, Bare Knuckles was only 35 miles from the Fastnet Rock with poor visibility but a good 18 – 20 knots of wind. Other competitors were sighted, as the fleet tacked to reach the rock. At 1108am, the Fastnet Rock was reached, with visibility only 50 metres. It felt like a long way to not see the Fastnet Rock. After Pantaeneous, the spinnaker was hoisted for the long downwind leg to The Isles of Scilly. Speeds of 8 to 12 knots helped push bare Knuckles up the results board.

At the Isles of Scilly the wind disappeared altogether and Jaguar Logic with Pete Summers is only a few hundred meters away. At this stage its a battle to keep Bare Knuckles moving in the right direction. All it takes is for the tide to turn and we could be heading up towards Wales. The Code A O secret weapon is hoisted and all of a sudden we are moving at 1.2 knots in the right direction with only 2.5 knots of wind. The mood lifts on the boat as we start the last leg back to Plymouth and the finish line. At 0400 Friday morning we at reaching past Falmouth at 7.4 knots with the asymmetric and all crew members sat on the windward rail. During the night the fleet had converged between The Lizard Point and Rame Head. As daybreak arrived we are greeted to a sight of over 50 boats all charging towards Plymouth with their spinnakers up.

The finish was reached after 5 days 10 hours 38 minutes and 12 second placing Bare Knuckles 37th in Class and 186th overall out of 300 entries.

Congratulation to all the crew on Bare Knuckles who completed the Rolex Fastnet Race 2009.
Skipper – Nigel Mashembo
1st Mate – James Eastbury
Galley – Marcus Caston
Heads – Mike Houstoun
Port saloon bunk – Phil Trotter
Just for charity – Trevor Perry
Man with bucket – Fedor Sidorenko
Spinnaker – Ross Hayward
Fore deck – Adam
Deck fluff – Richard Wood

Trevor Perry's account of the race:
Trevor also raised over £1000.00 for charity doing this event.

My Fastnet started when I boarded the Cowes ferry from Southampton on
Saturday Afternoon. Knowing our start time was 1300 on the Sunday I was
a little nervous and a little excited. The nerves soon left me once I
arrived at the boat and met the crew, some for the first time. We were
to be a very snugly fitting 10 on the 38 foot Prima.

Once on the water, Sunday morning, we discussed our tactics for the
start. I just wanted to know where I fitted and what was expected of me.
My sailing ability not really up to race tactics. The next thing we are
over the line and away.

We were then 'blighted' with the lack of wind which scuppered a good
clean start. This was not the only time in the 5 days and 11 minutes of
the race where we 'floundered' around trying to keep the boat moving
forward. I had never experienced such frustration in my life. Especially
when you could see that other boats had wind or smaller lighter boats
were making better progress than we were.

The moral on board was always light hearted and we all seemed to 'gel'
together well whether we were on or off watch. The boat generally moved
forwards and most of the time fairly quickly (though not quick enough to
give us a really good finishing position for most of the crew I spoke
to). I am sure if we had winds of force 4 - 6 Bareknuckles would have
performed even better.

Overall I have an absolutely smashing time. Learnt a lot, made some real
friends and got a lot out of the whole experience. The most
disappointing thing about the whole week, and I speak for most of the
crew, was not seeing the Fastnet rock as we rounded it due to the fog.

Oh well better think about doing it again.