19.08.07 Here are my previous comments on Fastnet preparation
Event Date: 12th Aug 2007
Team Members: James Hope-Lang, Alisdair Pearson, David Scott, Katie Gibson, Daniel Roswell, John Kinchin, Terry Driscoll, Peter Brown, Melanie Cole, Catherine Strange, Andy Sharples, Keith Wall
About our charity : BEN- Motor And Allied Trades Benevolent Fund BEN is the automotive and partner industries' own charity offering help, support, financial assistance and advice to over 15,000 people in their own homes every year. The Fund also provides a home to over 350 disabled and elderly people in one of four nursing and residential centres. Any individual who works or has worked in one of the industries BEN encompasses is eligible for help along with their dependants. Charity Registration No 297877
Fundraising target:
Me: £2,400.00
My donations to date :
£ 1,900.00
You may have only heard the title of the race. It is in August and lasts for up to five days over a 608 nautical mile course, including difficult tidal currents and changeable weather conditions. There will be over 200 yachts in the race, which goes west down the Solent (by the Isle of Wight and Southampton), then all the way to Lands End and the Scilly Isles, before finishing at Plymouth.This promises to be great fun. I've decided to treat it as a holiday, so it will be in my own time. It is a gamble, because it is expensive. The expenses of hiring the boat and entering the race are high, and we have to take part in two other races, on 13th to 15th July and 28th to 29th July, in order to prepare for the Fastnet, but I hope it will be worth the trouble. I have paid for the trip myself, so that any money raised will go directly to the Charity.
Monday 13.07.07 I just got back from the weekend's race and feel as though I have been 15 rounds with Mike Tyson! I am battered and blue and have a fair selection of cuts, together with worse sunburn than I have ever had.
We sailed to St Malo in France, but owing to bad weather (too much sunshine and not enough wind) we arrived late, probably in keeping with many other competitors. Ironically, we also had the other sort of bad weather, storms and rough seas, hence the battering that we all suffered. Unfortunately, bad seas slow you down almost as much as calm seas, because you have to keep climbing over waves.
The worst part, and I really can't remember what time of night or where we were, was one particular watch when everything seemed to go wrong. First of all, the rope operating the furling drum for the foresail (the triangular sale at the front of the boat) got jammed. Then another pulley got jammed under a hatch cover. Later, a rope became loose (very dangerous, as winds exert enormous pressure on loose ropes ; they flap about like 1-inch whips, and it's no joke); it wound itself round a winch. Efforts to fix these problems are really tricky manoeuvres in the dark in rough seas. All you can do is try to point the boat in the right direction, so that it doesn't pitch sideways as well as up and down. Then you have to remember which rope does which job (difficult anyway when one is colourblind). This really challenges you, when you're a novice sailor and the boat is quite new to you, as each boat is different. It's not surprising that you hear about people falling overboard. Do not worry; we tie ourselves on to the boat all the time at night or in rough weather.
Because of the time, we could not get into the harbour in St Malo, as the marina is protected in times of low tide. Therefore, we just turned round and headed for home via Alderney, which is lovely (and missed the Bastille Day party!!), but lost wind again. In the end we motored most of the way, which was a sad end to a lovely weekend sailing.
27.7.07 Well! We lost a captain, but gained a cook. Andy, do you yet realise how much we eat?! James has stepped in to replace Alan Morgan, who sadly had to step down. James is a good skipper, and our sense of loss is further mitigated by Andy's arrival.
Monday 30.07.07 Well, this is the second update of our testing for the Fastnet race. We did much better this week than in the previous race, but still did not finish in a good position. Unfortunately a block on the boat broke and left us without the use of our foresail for a long period of the night and Sunday morning. This meant that we were limping along on a staysail and mainsail, which do not give anything like the same amount of power to the boat.
Come daylight, we were able to assess the damage, but even then we had to wait for a heavy swell to subside before we were able to repair it. The amount of time lost was enormous, because we were swept along by a strong wind away from a buoy, which we had been about to pass, and when we recovered the situation, we had lost about eight miles. We had to go back against the wind and the heavy swell, to sail around the buoy, and this cost us four hours. The rest of the time lost was down to sailing at only half speed.
Would you believe it, just as we approached the finishing line, a small catamaran turned over in front of us ... 34 tons vs a couple of hundredweight, I suppose ... I don't know what he was planning, cutting in front of us, but our helmsman swerved, throwing us all off balance (we were ready to go past the marshall's boat in style). Not a dignified end to the race. Still, we have one more practice and then the big race on 12th August. Fingers crossed that all our problems are behind us!
Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: BEN - Motor And Allied Trades Benevolent Fund will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you. Don't forget to claim the extra 18% on your tax return if you are a 40% taxpayer.So please sponsor me now! Many thanks for your support.
Event Date: 12th Aug 2007
Team Members: James Hope-Lang, Alisdair Pearson, David Scott, Katie Gibson, Daniel Roswell, John Kinchin, Terry Driscoll, Peter Brown, Melanie Cole, Catherine Strange, Andy Sharples, Keith Wall
About our charity : BEN- Motor And Allied Trades Benevolent Fund BEN is the automotive and partner industries' own charity offering help, support, financial assistance and advice to over 15,000 people in their own homes every year. The Fund also provides a home to over 350 disabled and elderly people in one of four nursing and residential centres. Any individual who works or has worked in one of the industries BEN encompasses is eligible for help along with their dependants. Charity Registration No 297877
Fundraising target:
Me: £2,400.00
My donations to date :
£ 1,900.00
You may have only heard the title of the race. It is in August and lasts for up to five days over a 608 nautical mile course, including difficult tidal currents and changeable weather conditions. There will be over 200 yachts in the race, which goes west down the Solent (by the Isle of Wight and Southampton), then all the way to Lands End and the Scilly Isles, before finishing at Plymouth.This promises to be great fun. I've decided to treat it as a holiday, so it will be in my own time. It is a gamble, because it is expensive. The expenses of hiring the boat and entering the race are high, and we have to take part in two other races, on 13th to 15th July and 28th to 29th July, in order to prepare for the Fastnet, but I hope it will be worth the trouble. I have paid for the trip myself, so that any money raised will go directly to the Charity.
Monday 13.07.07 I just got back from the weekend's race and feel as though I have been 15 rounds with Mike Tyson! I am battered and blue and have a fair selection of cuts, together with worse sunburn than I have ever had.
We sailed to St Malo in France, but owing to bad weather (too much sunshine and not enough wind) we arrived late, probably in keeping with many other competitors. Ironically, we also had the other sort of bad weather, storms and rough seas, hence the battering that we all suffered. Unfortunately, bad seas slow you down almost as much as calm seas, because you have to keep climbing over waves.
The worst part, and I really can't remember what time of night or where we were, was one particular watch when everything seemed to go wrong. First of all, the rope operating the furling drum for the foresail (the triangular sale at the front of the boat) got jammed. Then another pulley got jammed under a hatch cover. Later, a rope became loose (very dangerous, as winds exert enormous pressure on loose ropes ; they flap about like 1-inch whips, and it's no joke); it wound itself round a winch. Efforts to fix these problems are really tricky manoeuvres in the dark in rough seas. All you can do is try to point the boat in the right direction, so that it doesn't pitch sideways as well as up and down. Then you have to remember which rope does which job (difficult anyway when one is colourblind). This really challenges you, when you're a novice sailor and the boat is quite new to you, as each boat is different. It's not surprising that you hear about people falling overboard. Do not worry; we tie ourselves on to the boat all the time at night or in rough weather.
Because of the time, we could not get into the harbour in St Malo, as the marina is protected in times of low tide. Therefore, we just turned round and headed for home via Alderney, which is lovely (and missed the Bastille Day party!!), but lost wind again. In the end we motored most of the way, which was a sad end to a lovely weekend sailing.
27.7.07 Well! We lost a captain, but gained a cook. Andy, do you yet realise how much we eat?! James has stepped in to replace Alan Morgan, who sadly had to step down. James is a good skipper, and our sense of loss is further mitigated by Andy's arrival.
Monday 30.07.07 Well, this is the second update of our testing for the Fastnet race. We did much better this week than in the previous race, but still did not finish in a good position. Unfortunately a block on the boat broke and left us without the use of our foresail for a long period of the night and Sunday morning. This meant that we were limping along on a staysail and mainsail, which do not give anything like the same amount of power to the boat.
Come daylight, we were able to assess the damage, but even then we had to wait for a heavy swell to subside before we were able to repair it. The amount of time lost was enormous, because we were swept along by a strong wind away from a buoy, which we had been about to pass, and when we recovered the situation, we had lost about eight miles. We had to go back against the wind and the heavy swell, to sail around the buoy, and this cost us four hours. The rest of the time lost was down to sailing at only half speed.
Would you believe it, just as we approached the finishing line, a small catamaran turned over in front of us ... 34 tons vs a couple of hundredweight, I suppose ... I don't know what he was planning, cutting in front of us, but our helmsman swerved, throwing us all off balance (we were ready to go past the marshall's boat in style). Not a dignified end to the race. Still, we have one more practice and then the big race on 12th August. Fingers crossed that all our problems are behind us!
Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: BEN - Motor And Allied Trades Benevolent Fund will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you. Don't forget to claim the extra 18% on your tax return if you are a 40% taxpayer.So please sponsor me now! Many thanks for your support.
posted by Keith | 6:46 pm
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