© GBR1259T 2023
Results - 2010
The crew of my brother Peter, Robin Lawton and I were looking forward to the race given the forecast of
northerly winds predominating although with a few dreaded variables thrown in, light and probably decent
conditions for us. Our start in the back eddy off the beach was reasonable with the kite up and just about
showing signs of life as we crept over the line in the close company of many others trying to elude the strong
adverse tide in little wind. We did well in the drift past Egypt Point but then came to a halt as we lost the back
eddy. By then a few of the fleet had decided to reach up across the current and head for the mainland shore
presumably in search of a bit of wind and the easier trip against the tide along the mainland shore. Getting
nowhere we decided to follow suit as there appeared to be something out there in the middle, not enough to
stem the tide completely but enough to get to the other side somewhere West of Royal Thames.
Part way across we saw the Harbour Master bearing down on us, blues and twos going and shouting
something inaudible on the tannoy, followed by a very large container ship. In the spirit of ‘Let’s not get
mown down tonight ‘ we started the engine and motored rapidly SW further away from West Bramble for a
couple of minutes and by then the ship had started it's turn and was easily clearing us. We then sailed back
to the engine start position before continuing racing. Somehow the spinnaker was working in whichever
direction we went. We continued to reach across the tide but before reaching the shallows the wind filled in
from the South West and it was white sails from there for the beat to the Needles. Rounding Lepe Spit we set
about catching Xara, which to our surprise, we managed fairly quickly. Ahead we could see Girolle, Whistler
and a rapidly disappearing Longue Pierre. On the beat to the Needles we felt we had gained a bit of distance
on Girolle and Whistler but very little, still good for us as they rate higher.
Round Bridge about midnight with sheets eased. About 1 am the wind started to free so it was spinnaker
time again. We stayed on the optimum downwind angle until we were steering over 240 degrees then gybed
to get back to a closer bearing to that needed. Once dawn broke we could not make out any of our fleet and
were surprised at how few ships we encountered crossing the shipping lanes. The approach to Alderney was
somewhat taxing, whichever gybe we were on felt poor but in the end settled to make sure we were uptide
of the harbour entrance for the last few miles in. We spotted Whistler behind us so that raised our spirits
then heard Girolle on the radio giving her finishing time. Some quick calculations and we reckoned we just
had time to get in and beat her on corrected. We crossed the line just before midday with the assistance of
Peter Chartres giving us the call as we crossed the finishing line and we were inside our target time to beat
Girolle.
We did a nifty buoy pickup without resorting to starting the engine and then saw Longue Pierre looking tidy,
all sails stowed and no one on board. This gave us the impression of her having finished a lot earlier than us
so we hoped for a podium finish and a possible second place. It was a real pleasure to find out later that we
had managed a win with a reasonable margin of 10 minutes.
Saturday evening was a good time to chat to fellow competitors and relax having had a nice kip during the
afternoon although we did have to walk up to St Annes later for a bite to eat and watch the first half of a
disappointing performance by England.
Our trip back on Sunday was pretty quick, motored to mid channel then a South Westerly kicked in giving us
a great ride to the Needles and then back to Cowes via Calshot to drop off Robin. A great weekend with a
wonderful result, weather wasn’t bad either.