Royal Air Force Yacht Club

Result:      ISC Overall  586th of 878                 Class 6      113th of 187                 Class 6C     45th of 64

Elapsed time    9hrs 38 mins

This is about were we had expected to come; after all it was our first ever yacht race. We were not disappointed as encouragingly there were three other Beneteau 311's, and we all finished in an 8 minute window.

Colin Devonport Ninkasi

Just after the manic start, whilst tacking into an F5 wind, the Genoa halyard came out of jammer and unfortunately it had not been secured around a cleat, consequently the Genoa slipped down the furling track. Because of the conditions we were not able to get it fully hoisted again and the tack flapped for the whole race. The F5 and F6 conditions in The Solent did not suit the boat when beating, it kept rounding up and we were fighting with it constantly, this despite being having maximum reefs in. The final leg from Bembridge to Cowes was against the east flowing tide. After Ryde Sands we should have gone to the Island side of the Solent for the weaker tide, but as were struggling with the F6 conditions we opted to stay in the middle of the Solent. This meant that we had the strong current against us, but at least we could avoid most of the other yachts.  Having just three people on board was not enough; we were all very tired by the end of the race. The ISC rating system is questionable. There were many boats that were bigger and better than ours that we in the same class, or even lower! Our objective was to get around safely; consequently we lost a lot of time just trying to avoid the bulk of the fleet. The start was very congested, but the finish was pure mayhem!!!!!! I think there were far too many boats competing for the same stretch of water as they endeavoured to get over the appropriate, relatively short, finish line. We had one close encounter; we were on port tack and going behind another boat which was on starboard. At exactly the wrong moment the boat rounded up and were on what seemed like an inevitable T bone'ing collision into the other boats beam, but fortunately Andrew managed to tack at the last moment and we end up sailing parallel to the other boat with our toe rails 6 inches apart - scary stuff! I really did not enjoy the day because of the weather conditions and the risks of collisions. I vowed never to do it again, but after a few days my view has mellowed and well, you never know!

4 boats were dismasted;
5 boats were damaged and needed a tow;
1 boat sank;
1 boat upturned / capsized;
11 Man Overboards
5 injuries including one person lifted off by helicopter to Southampton General with a head injury - we understand this person is now out of danger;
5 boats grounded.

There were many collisions and it is reported on the YBW forum that the Coastguard received 50 calls for assistance. The following day we returned from Cowes to Haslar Marina, this was eventful in that we got a rope around the propeller. We anchored and Andrew dived to try to free it, but without success. We then had to be escorted into Portsmouth harbour by the volunteer Harbour Patrol, and they then assisted us getting onto a berth. I vow to fit a rope cutter next time the boat is out of the water!

Exciting stuff!

Owner:     Colin Devonport

Skipper:   Andrew Devonport

Crew :     Colin Devonport, Jonathan Edwin

Boat:       NINKASI  Make:      Beneteau  Model:     Oceanis 311

Length     9.85m  ISC Rating:     6C