* J/111 Doublehanded- Robin and John report on the Rolex Fastnet Race 2-Handed with the J/111 J-XcentricRobin: After Cowes Week went very well for us, we had only one day (Saturday) to change our boat into a “double-handed” racer to be ready for our Fastnet Race effort. Luckily, our J/Team Benelux helped us with that conversion process and by the end of the day Saturday we were ready!
It was really remarkable to watch how the mood in Cowes Yacht Haven completely turned into “ serious business” during Saturday. Everywhere you could feel the tension with skippers and crew members for the coming race. The hectic, festive mood of Cowes Week was completely gone and was transformed into a state of high tension, with static electricity crackling in the air. After our safety check Saturday evening, we were ready to race with our J/111!
The first night of sleep on board is always hard. In the morning of the start, John found just one last little detail that needed to be done-- cleaning the bottom of the boat! With large sponge and goggles he jumped overboard to get the job done! We immediately nick-named him “Sponge-bob John”!
With a fully clean bottom, we head directly to the start of the race, at 12.10 with 70 boats in the IRC2 -- all skippers and crews were full of adrenaline and couldn’t wait to get going-- we knew it was going to be one big mess, so we felt to get out of the Solent in the best way was to keep ourselves apart. Rules did not seem to exist anymore, every man (boat) for itself-- fortunately we knew that there were 600+ miles to sail, so time to forget and just blast away!
The weather forecast was 10 kts S-SW increasing 20 kts and turning SW, so it was a beat to windward out of the Solent with increasing winds predicted. Our setting, a #2 MH jib and first reef in the main ready to go. The reef in the main was soon necessary as we tacked along with the full ebb tide pushing us upwind out of the Needles Channel in the direction of St Alban’s Head. At this point, we took the full benefit of the running tide and we continued our way in the direction of Portland Bill (we wanted to stay nearshore because of the turning tide there).
In retrospect, the start was a very spectacular one because of all the big boats started last, it was a magnificent view to see all those big boats passing ( VO70’s, RAN, ICAP Leopard, Rambler 100 and so on) go flying down the course.
Our tactics that we had outlined with currents and wind shifts worked out very well and the predicted SW-W windshift came as well so we entered into a long upwind leg to Lands-End. This is where our biggest setback occurred. After a long day using the NKE autopilot and computer system, we had to charge the batteries. Starting the engine however was not the problem, but after 6 min. a temperature alarm was generated and we had to stop the engine….. what to do? After consideration, the conclusion was made that either the internal water pump or the engine’s thermostat may not be OK!
Meanwhile, we immediately switched over into energy saving mode. We started steering by hand with as few electronics switched on as possible. With a weather forecast for the Irish Sea WNW – 12 kts turning NW 25 – 28 kts during the night, things did not look that good for awhile. I disassembled – and re-assembled the water pump as well as the engine’s thermostat, but nothing was found defective, the problem remained. The watch regime for two guys was 3 hrs on deck – and 3 hours rest and we stuck strictly to this scheme, and so we entered into the night. With a genoa #3 and a reefed main we screamed and surfed down towards the Irish coast for hours with speeds reaching over 17 kts-- all hand-steering all night long!
The predicted northern wind shift came, but just for a short period and so we ended up westerly of Kinsale in light weather conditions, 22 miles from the famous Fastnet Rock. Here is where we thought that we had screwed up our race! We had to tack those miles to the rock, and the boats that had stuck to the rhumb-line would have had the benefit, or at least so we thought.
But as we got closer to Fastnet, we saw more and more boats from the Irish sea tacking towards the Irish coast, and soon we saw on the AIS system that even our class competitors where behind us! At the Rock we heard that we were the first for line honours in our Doublehanded class…. You don’t know what a boost that gave us!
John: The
Rolex Fastnet race is a tactical game with fortunately many
possibilities in terms of current and wind to win or lose. So, in a
situation where you feel that you are hopelessly lost, there is always a
possibility to fight back forward. This happened approaching Fastnet
Rock, after the predicted NW windshift that did not come we felt we ‘d
lost the game. Suddenly, we saw on the AIS system the J/122 Geronimo 2
at a speed of 8 kts SOG! Cracking along the coastline of the Ireland,
while at sea we could not do more than 4.5 kts. We decided to take the
same route, and where you would expect less wind and tidal current, the
opposite occurred! There was a tidal stream catapulting the boat in the
direction of Fastnet and we took the benefit of that current. At
least we caught another 5 boats again!The rounding of Fastnet Rock was quite spectacular with he helicopter above us, the spectator boat following us, in a beautiful sunset atmosphere… a very special moment! At the rounding, we hoisted the kite ( 1st time in the race ) and we reached away to the Pantenius Buoy.
The engine problem was finally solved in the end by taking the coolant reservoir apart and temporary mounted it above of the engine, we could use our NKE autopilot again!
After Fastnet with the kite up our J/111 was finally able to show her strongest side, but sadly enough the wind shifted NE and after 30 miles we had to take the kite down and ended up with a long close reach towards the Isles of Scillies where we had to round the Bishop Rock. Here we could take advantage of some tidal current and again we were able to gain a few boats out of our IRC class 2.
From Scillies to Lizard point we sailed on shifts and current and our tactics for the last part of the race were determined primarily by tides.
The tidal current changed exactly at the moment that we approached the Lizard and it provided the highest benefit immediately straight along the rocky shoreline. With a light NE wind and a 55 mile upwind beat to Plymouth--- this was going to be a tough journey forward!
Navigating with B&G Expedition on my computer at the chart table, I instruct Robin to tack and tack and I specify how far he may proceed, bravely going up to the 5 meter depth line near shore. I hear Robin mumbling, “are you sure we can go that far inshore? I can feel the spray of the back-bouncing waves from the shore already. Can you please have a look outside to see how close we are to these @#$% rocks?!” All in all, it was a huge gain for us to use these tactics-- we gained a lot of boats and suddenly I see the other fully crewed J/111 Arabella on my AIS system, a new target was born!
As we followed the coastline to Plymouth we faced numerous rain showers with many wind shifts that we were able to take advantage of-- we got to within 100 meters of Arabella! Subsequently, on our AIS screen we can see boats struggle against the tide in Plymouth Sound with a very low speeds to get to the finish line. We decide to stick close to the coast in shallow water to minimise reverse current and slide into Plymouth Bay. This works out perfectly down to the bay of Plymouth, where the wind simply kept dying out very slowly and deliberately! At this point just short of the finish line (only a “stones throw” away), Arabella slides only 50 meters in front of us to cross the finish line as we go slower and slower and-- then start to go backwards!! We can almost touch the line, but are just not able to finish!! The pain, the agony!! No $%&*#% words could describe our feelings!! So, so, so close we could taste the champagne! But, the wind
totally dropped and we had to anchor! Here we lost over 1.5 hour before we found a little puff of wind to finish!
Sick of this 1.5 hour lost of time and realising that perhaps our first place on handicap is lost because of this, we sail into the harbour also aware that we have gained a whole bunch of boats last night that have still not finished. We also realise we have won line honours in one of the world’s toughest races- the Fastnet Race, in the toughest class-- the Doublehanded Class. OK, well, this is just totally cool – and there is still a chance for a top 3 ranking-- maybe even a podium finish! Our fate lies in the hands of the weather Gods and we simply have to wait. We feel we have given just everything!
This year’s Rolex Fastnet Race was a super race with everything in it-- a super fast and reliable boat ( thanks J-Boats!); super teamwork; 0 – 28 kts of wind, unfortunately for us only 30 miles on gennaker; cool tactical sailing, sometimes many boats catching up; solving (technical) problems; but also a very enjoyable good times with many porpoises around the boat etc. Many ups and downs, but coming out better than we could’ve expected, with finally a 1st place on line honours, 3rd place in our 2H class, as well as a 22nd place IRC2 over-all!
In our opinion, we could not have done better given the circumstances we have had given the weather systems. On the one hand a pity, on the other hand a third place in this field is just a fantastic performance.
Very satisfied and in two years time we will be back!
Thanks to our J/Team Benelux that supported us with the boat and equipment and the perfect teamwork!
See you soon,
Robin Verhoef & John van der Stare
