This weekend was the first of the National Match Racing qualifiers of the season, and I was sailing with a crew of David Newey (helm), Scott Millar (mainsheet), myself on jib and James Boadle (bow). We had an interesting weekend, with some good results and close matches, but let ourselves down occasionally with some silly mistakes. We also had our share of eventful moments, with Scott (weighing in at 95kg) almost going for a swim and a wrapped spinnaker caused by a broken tiller extension. We were disappointed with a third place finish having gone into the event aiming to make the final, but did come away from the event feeling that we had developed as a team over the past year of sailing together and looking forward to a few more events together during the season.
It’s been a busy few days since Easter, working with the crews of both ‘John Merricks II’ and ‘Chernikeeff 2′ and also finding time for a bit of my own sailing!
After their success at Red Funnel, it was straight back to work for the young crew on ‘Chernikeeff 2′ (though I did allow them a slightly later start to recover from their celebrations) with an offshore training day on Easter Monday. This involved looking at some of the specialist offshore sails such as staysails and jib tops, and also the additional manoeuvres required including jib changes and spinnaker peels. It also allowed the opportunity for the sailors to get into some of the other positions on board, something which will be crucial for the offshore campaign.
On Tuesday, I worked with the sailors on ‘John Merricks II’ doing some work on the boat, including looking at some of the safety requirements for the offshore races.
On Wednesday and Thursday, I had organised an ISAF Offshore Race crew course for sailors on both boats. This course includes use of liferafts, lifejackets, flares and dealing with heavy weather, and is designed to keep race crews safe offshore. It is a requirement of the Fastnet that 30% of the crew undertake this training, but for the crews of ‘John Merricks II’ and ‘Chernikeeff 2′ I am insisting that everyone who wants to do the Fastnet does this course. Alongside this, I also organised a talk by Mark Tomson (aka Tommo) and Spike Briggs of Medical Support Offshore (www.msos.org.uk) looking at some of the medical emergencies that can occur at sea, how to deal with them and/or reduce the likelihood of them happening in the first place. Tommo and Spike are hugely knowledgable medical professionals and very entertaining speakers, and their presentation is highly recommended.
On Friday I was back on the Isle of Wight, this tim for my own sailing where I was match racing with David Newey, with Scott Millar completing the team. Light winds dominated the Grade 3 Mermaid Match Racing Championships hosted by Sea View Yacht Club on Saturday and Sunday, providing some testing conditions for the ten competing crews. A few mistakes by us in the round robin proved costly, and we eventually finished 6th overall.
The Easter weekend I was sailing at the RORC Red Funnel Easter regatta in Cowes. This traditional season opener allows input from a team of coaches on the water, which was ideal for the two young crews I have been working with on ‘John Merricks II’ and ‘Chernikeeff 2′. Both boats made excellent use of the input provided by legendary coach Jim Saltonstall, fine tuning areas including sail trim, rig setup and weight distribution on the boat.
It was a successful weekend for both boats, with Chernikeeff 2 winning class super zero and John Merricks II finishing second.
Full results and race reports (including quotes from yours truly!) on the RORC website: www.rorc.org
This weekend I was skipper and tactician on the Farr 52 ‘Chernikeeff 2′ with members of the GBR Yacht Racing Academy. With just one training weekend since last sailing together in August, the young sailors performed brilliantly to take 2nd overall in IRC1 for the weekend, including winning the first race on Saturday.