Round the Island 2009

[oak]

Congratulations to all three.
I hope that we shall see some photos/stories from our two members.
Did you lift the keel over Ryde sands?
Oak
"Merlin"

[Dennis]

May I also echo Oak's congratulations.
1st, 2nd and 4th is a fantastic result . I would be interested to know what the opposition consisted of in the "Modern Gaffers" class.
Makes you realise what a tremendous little boat we have.

Well done!

Dennis
CC19 #100 Mary Ann

[oak]

hi Dennis,just look up the JP morgan round the island site.very informative site this year
gives all the runners,18 in our class
Jack
"Merlin"

[Dennis]

Thanks Jack

For the benefit of others who may be interested, there is a link from the home page of the Honnor Marine CapaCutter website (http://www.capecutter19.com). This takes you straight to the results for the Modern Gaffers class you can then click on a boat name and it gives you further information including boat class.

Also, congratulations Jack, you may not realise it, but your last post was the 100th since this forum was formed.

Cheers

Dennis

[Simon Head]

....and from the http://www.capecutter19.org...................


Regards

Simon Head

[David Hill]

On the Friday Tony and I drive to Hamble Point Marina, to launch Moonstruck. Mid afternoon we’re away, and sail over to Cowes. Just off Cowes, I have the following radio conversation with Cowes Yacht Haven:

DH: CYH, this is Moonstruck. 6M, looking for a berth for the night
CYH: Sorry sir, we’re full
DH: “I rang a couple of months ago, and was assured that you’d squeeze me in as “we always manage to”
Silence…….
CYH: what length are you again?
DH: 6M
Silence
CYH: Come in, North entrance, N8, port side to.

Excellent! perfect position for the bar, the showers and the bands. Wander into Murray’s, hoping for a table for two but not really expecting to get one. Again a result – they’d just had a couple cancel so we could eat immediately. The omens for the race are good.

Up early for the start, get out to take a look. We are in a great position pin end at 7.30, with the start at 7.40, and then disaster! The wind, light as it was, disappeared. And then the gun went. And then the next fleet sailed towards us. We crossed the start line around 20 minutes later……We couldn’t see many other gaffers – are those small tan sails way inshore that we can see?

The wind started to pick up, and so commenced the beat up to The Needles. Saw a beautiful gaffer point ridiculously high – saw two very large old gaffers sail off into the distance – on well, concentrate on what we’re doing. Loose and fast. See Sea Badger II up ahead. Concentrate on sailing, and go past him just shy of The Needles. Go round only 100M off the Needles, and pole out the genny for the run.

SBII rounds behind – what’s this, a spinnaker?! Stays so close to the cliffs I thought they were fossil hunting. They creep past. Long long run down to Bembridge. Try spotting the other gaffers – the big ones power past, we see some tan sails a long way behind (the shrimpers?), we go past a twin masted gaffer we hadn't seen before. Then we spot the slim one we saw at the start, and shortly afterwards go past her. Start to think – are we 4th in class on the water? The two big ones, then SBII, then us? At the mark SBII is now 500M ahead.

They round, we round, luff up, clear wind, let’s head for Ryde Sands to get out of the tide. Look around to check on SBII progress – huh? How did he end up behind us? Must have been swallowed up by a group of boats on the rounding.

Ryde Sands – tip toeing across. The lifting keel makes and excellent depth sounder……… huge ‘short cut’. Go past the two big gaffers. SB11 still behind – great! When he tacks, we will. He does. We can’t – there’s a Contessa 32 off our quarter. Mmm…..not doing too well, so bear away, tack behind – what the?! Mike is now level, slightly to leeward? How the …..?? 10 hours into the race and we cross tacks so close we shout “hi” to each other!

We continue………a mile to go, he is now 200 meters directly ahead, with a short beat to go. Remembering our tacking duel up the final leg last year, I know the fat lady hasn’t sung yet, she has merely cleared her throat.

Couple more tacks – his lead has extended. Mmmm………what has happened to our boat speed? Look for clues around us, and conclude that we can’t to too much. SBII finishes – fifteen (!!!!!) minutes later we do!

Back to Cowes Yacht Haven – and once again, a small gap is found for us. Hurrah for small boats!

Slope off to a restaurant for steak and chips – seems hugely appropriate after the day’s sail. As does copious amounts of red wine………then to the CYH bar, where we see the results being posted on a big screen. Where did we finish? Were there other gaffers that managed to start on time that we never saw? Once handicap is taken into account how did we do against the other gaffers? The results of the IRC 3B whatever keep coming…………

On then up come Modern Gaffers – we’re second! Superb! A big improvement on last year’s 9th.

This story ends with us taking a look around to see if we can spot SBII to offer our congratulations. Which we can’t – so here in this tale I’d like to offer Mike Brooke (and of course Graham) my hearty congratulations on a race well done – we’ll be back next year!

Cheers to all,

David

[Simon Head]

David

Congratulations!:)

Job well done. I updated the web site on Sunday 9:00am on seeing the results.

I thought when I read the forecast that the CCs stood a good chance this year of winning, but 1st, 2nd and 4th is incredible!

Again well done to everyone who entered!

Regards

Simon Head

[Simon Head]

I have created a new forum under technical called "racing" for racing matters raised by this thread as some of the points raised are very valid and quite interesting for those who wish to race their Cape Cutter.

All the post concerning Class Rules have been moved here- this is so that they are easily referenced.

I have also added some information with regards to the Portsmouth Yardstick rating for the Cape Cutter 19.

Regards

Simon