The Metropolitan Police Offshore Yacht Racing Championships, 2003

"Team Northants":
Pete MANKIEWICZ, Skipper
Roger BADCOCK
Ali REYNOLDS
Martin DEARSLEY
Phil OSBORNE
Chris HUME.

Home from home?

Wednesday 8/10/03

Ali Reynolds looks forward to the day ahead.

Up early and departing about 9.20am. There are 14 boats all chartered for the Wednesday, so there is plenty of hustle and bustle to get going. Fairly bright morning, but forecast for winds Force 4-6 from West. At Portsmouth entrance it is fairly quiet, but winds soon pick up, and before long we have to put a reef in. We make good fast progress towards Cowes and arrive about 12.30pm. Have lunch and some take shore leave, then leave about 1330hrs - (The intention being now to practice with the Spinnaker, on the down-wind run back to Portsmouth).

It is decided it will be far easier to get used to the spinnaker without having the other sails up. Our first attempt is a struggle, but everyone is allocated their own jobs (Pete - co-ordinator and up haul, Roger - Helm, Ali and Phil spinnaker lines, Martin / Chris foredeck) and the spinnaker is up eventually. The wind however is blowing hard - about F5 at this time, and we are all impressed with the power of the spinnaker, but it is very roly-poly. Roger likens it to hanging onto the ears of a wild pig as it thrashes about trying to escape. We get it down, and up a 2nd time, a little more successfully, but still pretty wild. 3rd time, we are by now near Wootton, and up it goes again.

All of a sudden, the wind, now about F6, broaches us, turning us up towards wind, but still with the spinnaker full of wind, pulling us down wind. This all happens in seconds and is accompanied with tremendous banging and crashing, flapping and roaring, with lines, people and spinnaker poles all over the place. All hope of steering is lost, as the rudder lifts out of the water, and all over a sudden we are laid flat, with the mast in the sea. After a couple of seconds, (but seemed like minutes), the boat rights itself, and we quickly scramble to get the spinnaker in before it can fill with water, and hold us down. A quick head count thankfully shows we are all still aboard, and we return to Portsmouth to lick our wounds, and are very happy to have survived the experience. 19 miles completed.

Wed evening spent at Gunwharf Quay, where we meet some of the other 21 yacht crews, from the Met, Notts, West Mids, and Coastguards. Skippers have Race Briefing about the next two days, in the Old Custom House, at Gunwharf Quay.


Thursday 9/10/03

We are up at 5.45am, and departing Portsmouth at 6.30am, ready for the first race, at 7.55am. We must look a curious sight, 22 identical yachts, all leaving Portsmouth Harbour in the dark. We make our way to the start, with the stern lights of the boats in front looking like a road in the darkness with Cats Eyes gleaming. There were 3 races during the day, of about 2 hours each, with around 45 minutes between races. We had 3 good starts, and managed the Spinnaker pretty successfully, and had really exciting finishes, just managing to pip opposition yachts in the last few yards to the line, each time. The day's results were 17th, 17th and 18th, and we were all extremely tired, mentally and physically, by the time we got to The Folly, at Cowes, around 4pm and 48 miles later.

Pete Mankiewicz - Chris Hume - Roger Badcock.
(plenty of boats behind...)

Evening in the Folly very good, with plenty of liquid refreshment taken. Ali and Chris win raffle prizes, and Phil falls asleep, but it was a smashing event again. For the first time saw most of the 200 competitors taking part. The pub had been closed for this event.

Friday 10/10/03

Start of Race Four

Lay in till about 6.45am this morning, and Martin prepares another good meal (egg and bacon butties). We discover we are last away about 8.10am, but racing not due to start till 9.30am, and in the event, we are waiting a long time for the start. The weather looks far more grey and threatening at this time, with winds about F4/5. Just before the start we put a reef in the sail. We get another cracking good start and for he first time, reach the first turn in the top 10. We then have a very long down wind run towards Portsmouth, and get our spinnaker well set, and make good ground, only just losing a few more places at the end of the leg. We finish in our best position 14th, and everything went pretty well in the race.
Next race starts even better; we are one of the first over the line. Incredibly we turn at the first mark in 6th position. The wind has by now picked up considerably again. We get the spinnaker up again, for the long downwind run, and gradually overtake another boat. We are flying at between 9 - 10 knots, when suddenly… whoosh, we are broached again. We just manage to keep the boat upright, but pandemonium breaks out again. The boat is held with its nose towards the wind, but the spinnaker continues to do its own thing on the port side, trying to pull us over. As we try to gain control, it is noticed that the spinnaker is now holed (believed snagged on the spreaders), and is brought down. Control is regained, but we have lost a lot of time, and now are well in last position. We continue in last position, in a very long race without the spinnaker, but gradually claw our way back, and cross the line only about 10 seconds after the last but one.

We were not actually last, because 3 other boats retired, two had major spinnaker blow outs like us. (We could see that one had its spinnaker completely torn in half). It was kind of reassuring that no one really got going again after these violent broaches. The third boat retired because they lost a man overboard, but he was later fished out - no real harm done.

We finished the series in overall 18th position, and we were all pleased with the result. There was much to encourage us. We did use the spinnaker successfully on occasions. We did have good starts and finishes, and for certain periods we lived with the leaders, but most of  - it was enjoyable.

"Team Northants"

Roger Badcock, November 2003