5:10 The 'gunter rig' yacht is the pilot cutter Jolie Brise, 111 years old and winner of *three* Fastnet Races back in the 1920s. More recently, she has won seven Tall Ships Races, includiing two Trans-Atlantics.
Not much fun by the looks of it. That said, I reckon the local chandlers and the local sail loft will be looking forward to seeing a few sales in the coming weeks.
9:22 Scarybird i was on it! Winch guy had cramp in his leg and trying to winch in lol. We saw a boat with a broken mast also nearby. Past needles 6m waves and then past south of the island we managed 15.7kn surfing off the waves
07:00 Should have backed the jib. Just left it sheeted on the wrong side as he tacked to help her round. Obviously I'm saying this from the comfort of my arm chair! Its a different story when you're out there haha.
I think their key error was to try to tack with the jib not sheeted in. It was loose-sheeted and flogging long before the tack had begun. It seems to me that backing the jib in marginal conditions relies on that headsail being sheeted hard, so that the moment the boat is head to wind, it has laminar flow on the old leeward surface. I furthermore feel that two other aspects of not having the headsail drawing conspired to sabotage the attempt: the drag of it flogging meant their speed close- hauled was less that it would have been with the sail furled, let alone set ... and then, once they tried to tack, that same drag was in the worst possible location and direction to prevent the bows coming promptly into the wind before what little speed they had begun with was spent.
Since writing this I spotted a comment from someone on board; it seems the reason the sail was not sheeted before the tack is that the starboard sheet had snapped. Makes sense, and shows the dangers of pontificating from afar - I withdraw and apologise!
Around the Isle of Wight in a Topper? That was adventurous. I used to rent those out along with windsurfers at Anaehoomalu Bay on the Big Island of Hawaii! Aloha and thanks for the video.
M3 thinky that the bigger boats that were running home had already been out in the rougher rough and turned back because of it ! Some of course would be on breakages, but it's always a sight to see big boats turn back and smaller yachts soldiering on... Everybody has the same merit. Unless I have to face a storm which my boat is capable of, I prefer to turn back and live another day and save the rigging too. Lived through enough storms not to want to have to do it unless necessary anymore.
As for Antipodean sailing conditions, right on the money! I helped build a boat whose first sail involved racing in conditions 10 knots juicier than anything clocked on this race, and no damage on board (admittedly we were almost alongside another vessel when it spontaneously dismasted, which seemed to us a bit of a drastic alternative to taking in a fourth reef)
Just watched this twice, once for me and again with my wife. Great footage and wonderful commentary. Well done to all participants…hardy sailors for sure!
I took part in the 90s on a boat (provisionally) called Spirit of Diana. Had to start the engine as cut close to a cliff and the wind which had been offshore was effected by the cliff and blew us too close to the rocks. Anyway I’m only a dinghy sailor but I really had an awesome day. It was a corporate thing I’m embarrassed to say (why!?) but an amazing experience. Great work with the video 👍
Love to see the CO's et al punching thru...Anyway u gotta be brave, bear off a bit then back her round, tht big one got dangerously close, and those rocks there are horrendous.
The big cat at 00:14 appears to be Lord Laidlow’s new Gunboat 80 Highland Fling. She’s an absolute weapon by all accounts; all the crew wear helmets like on an AC boat!
Was pretty hardcore! Sunsail 41, Marlow Ropes, GBR4111X. Third in class in 07:54. Three crew members threw up for an hour! The swells were enormous 4m! Pleased we made it without any incidents to be honest! Joint decision to crack on with it, but having a great skipper and first mate made it an easy one. Could have done with packing more kit!!! :)
The sea conditions got appreciably worse in short order and the yachts doing the best all had 3 slabs in and the smallest headsail they had. However, it was going to get considerably worse once they rounded the Needles. Might be a good idea for an early lunch back at Cowes.
…note she has not lost much speed, in fact maybe better. But has grained hugely in safety. Many racers carry too much sail, especially up wind, so they have it for the downwind leg. I have watched them from above, the Forth Bridge, when they semi broach over, they lose a lot of distance downwind
I skippered “Slartibartfast”, a Bavaria, in 2005 for the owner (Jackie Clarke - a fine skipper herself), and it was the most demanding race I’ve ever sailed in - and the weather was pretty good ! There were boats coming from all directions at the start line, we were nearly hit by an American skipper when he was tacking out to sea from the Needles (he came and apologised when we returned to port - fortunately, none of my crew decked him m- though it was a close run thing…) . We came 180th in our class - I’ve never done it since, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world !
The ones on storm main/jib are smiling now, but wait until someone has to go forward to swap the sails later in the race. I wouldn’t be the one to volunteer.
I did it once in a force 7 and it was hard enough but this looks ridiculous, good on everyone who even started the race, brave soles. Lovely commentary.
Looks less than F7 here so must have been a wild race you had. Once got caught out in 40kts and was too much for a lightweight lightwind yacht. (a bit like the one at 4:51) Pretty hairy spinnaker ride on the plane ! You can really see the difference in speed of the more modern boxy designs vs the older boats. Not so graceful but fast. Good footage.
On the whole they are clearly all good sailors, even to be out in this, let alone racing - They are great seamen and clearly a testament to English history and tradition.
Don't suppose anyone cared to play cat and mouse with the Varvassi this year. Done the RTI so many times, once in 6½ hours on a Corel 45. I'm getting a bit too old for weather like this, to be honest. That TP52 at the start of the film was cracking on! I've just looked, it's "Notorious", and finished in 04:21:20, a full 40 minutes ahead of its nearest monohull competitor. An astonishing result.
Great commentary mate! As a yacht sailor and dinghy racer you reported very well. The failed tacks were probably due to letting the jib go a fraction too soon. Well done 👏
We got about an hour in halfway between Cowes and Yarmouth in a Super Seal 26 when the skipper suggested going back to Cowes for a pint - rest of the crew all agreed in about a second.
We entered but decided not to race in the end but we still had to get back to Keyhaven so we motored following the fleet. Saw loads going back past us, a lost liferaft being recovered, lots of VHF traffic! Here's a taste of what we had: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CQXo7DqbJgQ.html
Where I grew up in the deep south, a rig was not considered fully reefed until the sail numbers were down to the boom! Many offshore sailing boats in the windier parts of NZ used to have four reefs ...
Yeah as long as they do the job they volunteered for, not a taxi service for illegal immigrants. Also get rid of their Chief Executive’s £150,000 salary. All paid for by public donations, disgusting!
I've sailed in many a Hurricane and Typhoon this is nothing to a old salt like me I've spliced the main brace in all the Oceans and Seas of the world yo ho ho
Have done the RTI a number of times, including one time in near calm when most boats failed to get around in time. I remember a huge rafts of boats at Bembridge with no one going anywhere, often a fenders distance apart and some crews pointlessly shouting “Starboard!” as no one could do anything
Fancy employing a commentator who doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Kudos to those who took part, finish or not. I did 13 R.T.I races but never in these conditions. The race organisers did well to cancel the smaller classes.
