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Three’s a Crowd

Published 01:00 on 2 Sep 2013

On Saturday, the weather was glorious and allowed for some great Champagne sailing. The 10 to 15 knots east northerly breeze and sparkling sea allowed race officers Kathy and Rupert Smalley to set up three good races involving a lot of action.

Five XoDs turned out to play. The shifts were to have the greatest influence as they swung through 40 degrees; getting on the wrong side of them was a slow death. The first race proved the point when Mischief had an appalling start but ended up first at the windward mark having read the shifts correctly (more by luck than judgement) and won the race. After this it was Leading Wind who lived up to her name and won the next two races. Mischief, Pepper, It and La Mouette managed to get every header each time they tacked, it became a game of snakes and ladders! It was fascinating racing which required great concentrating.

In the IRC class, Wee Bear (Sophie Chudziak and Bertrand Malas) did extremely well and achieved three bullets (but don’t tell anyone there was no opposition). The day was nevertheless a great opportunity to practice symmetric spinnaker skills, which can be tricky with only two people on board, and the great finish in the river for the last race was very challenging.

On Sunday, the wind had gone away when the boats left the river. The great news was that Two Frank (Oliver Love and Barney Smith) had doubled the number of IRC boats and thus considerably increased the opposition to Wee Bear. The XoD fleet was down to three boats, which still allowed good quality and close racing. The committee boat also joined in the spirit by going two-up (Kathy and Rupert).

Despite the challenging conditions, the race officers decided to start the first race, as there was just enough wind to get the boats moving. The breeze was very flukey and came and went as though controlled by a malicious spirit. It made for a very tricky race and a strain on the patience of at least one helm who ended up muttering murderous imprecations against all in sundry especially as we bobbled up and down through the wash of passing motor boats.

Finally with a shortened course all three X boats arrived a few yards from the finish line within a few feet of each other, but with no wind and an ebbing tide so it was two feet forward and one foot back until La Mouette finally managed to creep over the line followed by Mischief and Pepper. It must have been the slowest finish in X boat history.

In the IRC class, both boats were on the start line dead on time, but Wee Bear used her starboard advantage to force Two Frank to tack underneath them. Wee Bear made it to the windward mark with a small lead, but then struggled to soak downwind as the wind was slowly but surely dying. Two Frank managed to keep moving on the approaches of the leeward mark whilst Wee Bear was having a lot of difficulties with their spinnaker. This meant that the Impala had a reasonable lead heading for the windward mark again. At that time, the wind had gone anywhere and all over the place at the same time. Two Franck was tacking and tacking to make their way to the finish (the race officers sensibly decided to shorten the race at the windward mark), and at the same time Wee Bear was chasing them heading for the finish with their kite up… At a point, it looked like Wee Bear was going to catch Two Frank, but eventually the wind patch on Wee bear went away. For the reference, it took Wee Bear 25 minutes to finally cross the line.

It was decided to wait a little bit to see whether the south westerly breeze that was measured on Bramble Met would eventually arrive in the racing area. With the help of Two Franck, race officers decided to move the fleet to Cutter as the wind seemed to be constant there. This required the committee boat Obsession to tow three XoDs.

The breeze finally kicked in and suddenly it was a 15 to 20 knots wind that the fleet was facing! Race officers set up a three short laps course.
In the XoD fleet, Mischief showed the opposition a clean pair heels in the last race until the leeward mark when she went trawling with her spinnaker. There was a deadly hush on board. This allowed La Mouette to win although Mischief redeemed herself by coming second with Pepper third.
In the IRC class, Two Frank decided to take the pin end and Wee Bear the committee boat end. Both boats were dead on time again and Two Frank crossed just in front of Wee Bear. Making full use of their longer hull, Wee Bear made it in front at the windward mark. Despite some small spinnakers issues on Wee Bear (you don’t need to spin the gear when your spinnaker is on the correct side already!) and a challenging and unstable wind in direction, the positions remained the same until the finish.

After the race, most of the crews gathered at the club for a convivial drink. It was unanimously agreed that this has been one the best week-end of racing this year, thanks to our brilliant race officers and great and challenging conditions. We really hope that more boats will make their way on the Double Handed world next season.

Results:
IRC
1. Wee Bear
2. Two Frank
XoDs
1. 13 – Mischief
2. 144 – La Mouette
3. 108 – Leading Wind
4. 150 – Pepper
5. 10 – It

The full detail of the results is available on the club website in the Results section.

Race report Diana Wilson and Bertrand Malas.
Photos Oliver Love and Bertrand Malas.