Metropolitan Police Sailing Club Yachting Championships 2005

This year’s offshore championship was more open than the last two, with different teams winning the four races that counted towards the final results. It was held under grey skies with misty conditions and light winds. It was team Roger Glass of the Met that made the best use of what little wind was available to become this year’s champions. They won the first race and came 3rd in Races 2 and 4. Another Met team, headed by Garry Walters, came a close second. They won Race 3, came 2nd in Race 2, and 7th in Race 4. Andrew Munday’s Devon and Cornwall team came third overall by coming 2nd in Race 4, 4th in Race 1, and 5th in Race 2.

In actual fact five races were held, but one had to be abandoned due to a military parachute drop carried out just off Lee-on-Solent. So there were only 4 race results used to work out the prizes. One of those results was allowed to be discarded.

22 teams turned up to race in Jeaneau 37s (new boats this year), chartered from Sunsail of Port Solent. Most of the yachts were crewed by Met sailors, but there were 7 visiting teams from the counties. They included Devon and Cornwall, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands.

On the evening of Wednesday 5th October the fleet made their way to Gun Wharf, near the entrance of Portsmouth harbour, to moor up in the shadow of the spectacular Spinnaker (Millennium) Tower (still not complete). A skippers’ briefing was held in The Old Custom House at 2100, where they were introduced to Karoline George, the organiser of the event, and her team, and also Bill Oakley, the race officer for this event, and his team of OAPs.

The competitors were informed that the first race was to be started at 0800 on Thursday just off Gilkicker Point. So it was an early start for the race committee on Condor, and the 22 teams of competitors. It was still dark when they could be heard on radio asking the Queen’s Harbour Master for permission to cross the mouth of Portsmouth Harbour, and then motor out of the narrow entrance into Spithead. Because of the low tide it was advisable not to cross the shallow Spit Sands outside the harbour entrance. So they all took the longer and safer way round.

As dawn broke Bill Oakley set up a starting line in Stokes Bay, using the Stokes Bay Pier buoy as the outer distance mark. Much of the surrounding scenery, including the Isle of Wight, was hidden in the mist. The sea was calm and the wind was 5 to 6 knots from the NE. Because of this, the race officer declared that it would be a running start (he had warned the competitors in advance), with BOB KEMP as the first mark of the course (south of Stokes Bay). The fleet made a grand sight as it crossed the start line and headed into the mist with all spinnakers flying. The Warwickshire boat (Sunsail 09) was the last one to cross the start line due to going too near the north shore and running aground for a short time before the start. The leading yachts rounded BOB KEMP to starboard after about 20 minutes and then headed westwards to PEEL BANK. They then beat up to MACKLEY CONSTRUCTION (formerly DB Marine), near the eastern end of the Ryde Bank, in the middle of The Solent, for the finish. After 69 minutes and 50 seconds of sailing Sunsail 04 (Roger Glass) was the first boat to cross the finish line, almost 4 minutes ahead of the second yacht- Sunsail 02 (Joanne Lloyd). The 3rd boat to finish was Sunsail 15, with Ross Elliston at the helm. Then there was a close finish for 4th, 5th and 6th places, with the Devon and Cornwall crew in Sunsail 16 (Andrew Munday) finishing just 8 seconds ahead of Mason King’s team in Sunsail 10. Mason finished just 6 seconds ahead of the Sussex team in Sunsail 01 (Alan Costello). All 22 yachts finished within 14 minutes of each other.

Race 2 was started at MACKLEY CONSTRUCTION at 1005. It was a conventional windward start north-eastwards to BROWNDOWN, the first mark of the course. Some of the early leaders were Sunsails 16, 01, 07, 04 and 10. Behind them a huge raft of boats approached BROWNDOWN. The second leg of the course was down to SE RYDE MIDDLE, a spinnaker run. After that it was a broad reach along to S RYDE MIDDLE. It was about this stage in the race that Sunsail 22 (Colin Babbage) were seen flying its spinnaker at the back of the boat. They had managed to get the halyard twisted around something at the top of the mast and it would not come down. They were eventually assisted by Vic and Boyd in the Met RIB, Broadsword, and managed to lower the spinnaker. But the delay in sorting things out put them way behind the rest of the fleet, and so they informed the race officer that they were retiring and waiting for the start of Race 3. Unfortunately that was going to be a long time coming.

From S RYDE MIDDLE the fleet beat back to BROWNDOWN. Sunsail 16 (Andrew Munday) was in the lead, but Sunsail 07 (Gary Walters) was closing fast. Behind them was the Sussex team in Sunsail 01, closely pursued by Roger Glass in Sunsail 04. On rounding the mark, up went the spinnakers and Sunsail 04 began to overhaul Sunsail 01. They got alongside, but could not get ahead of them, so they ducked behind them and veered away to sail in a freer wind. At this stage the boats were moving well.

Light winds made it a true test of patience and sailing skill

The next mark of the course was SUNSAIL, near the western end of the Ryde Bank. From there the fleet would have to beat up to BURGESS SALMON (formerly MARSH) for the finish. But as the fleet reached SUNSAIL so the wind began to drop. The boats were hard put to make progress against the west-going tide. It became obvious to the race officer that none of the yachts were going to finish this race within the 3-hour time limit, and there seemed to be little prospect of holding a 3rd race in those wind conditions. So he made an ‘executive decision’ and informed the fleet that he would extend the race beyond the 3 hours (so keep on sailing!), so that they would be able to get a result. When the fleet eventually appeared out of the mist off the Isle of Wight it was Sunsails 04 and 16 leading the pack. They tacked well up-tide before making what they had hoped to be their last tack for the finish line. However the tide was stronger than they anticipated and they both got swept past Condor. This was to the advantage of Ross Elliston in Sunsail 15, who seemed to have some private wind of his own, and was making a more direct approach towards Condor. He came steaming straight for the line and was the first boat to finish (4 hours 6 minutes after the start). Gary Walters in Sunsail 07 followed his example, and wake, and crossed the line about one minute later. Roger Glass in Sunsail 04 crossed the line 16 seconds later. John Bailey in Sunsail 23 crept over the line in 4th place, 33 seconds ahead of the Devon and Cornwall team in Sunsail 16.

At the end of Race 2, Bill Oakley decided that there was not enough wind to counteract the tide, and so announced to the fleet that there would be no more racing that day. That left all the yachts free to head straight for Cowes, where they would berth for the night. A social was held in the marina restaurant on Thursday evening, which included a roast chicken supper, a maxi raffle and ‘live’ music. Over £1000.00 was raised for the 'Deborah Brown Life boat appeal' for Ilfracombe

Bill Oakley, the race officer, planned to hold three races on the Friday, so that entailed another early start. At dawn Condor motored out of the Medina in the half light and across Cowes Roads to AIR CANADA, in the middle of The Solent, where he set up a start line for Race 3. All 22 yachts were there for start countdown to begin at 0750. It was still misty, with a light wind (about 4 knots) blowing from the east, with smooth water and an east-going tide. As the class flag came down at 0800 the crews of Sunsails 06 and 08 were a little too eager and allowed their yachts to be swept over the line too early, and had to come back and start again. The rest of the fleet split tacks as they slowly beat off towards MARINE TRACK.COM - the first mark of the course. They rounded that mark to port and set off on a spinnaker run to SEASCOPE. The Warwickshire team in Sunsail 09 was in the lead, followed by team Walters in Sunsail 07 and the West Midlanders in Sunsail 11. Behind them was a close group of three Met Sunsails (10, 23 and 01). The rest of the fleet were strung out behind Sunsail 25. On the beat back to MARINE TRACK.COM for the finish the two visiting teams lost out to Met teams, and it was an ecstatic Gary Walters that steered his Sunsail 07 over the finish line first. He finished 25 seconds ahead of John Bailey in Sunsail 23. 35 seconds behind him came team Ray Robinson in Sunsail 25. In 4th place was Ian Mill in Sunsail 17. The Warwickshire team finished 5th, whilst the West Midland team dropped right back to 15th. All yachts finished within 12 minutes of each other.

The race officer wasted no time in setting up a start line for race 4 at MARINE TRACK.COM, and at 1000hrs the class flag came down for a clean start. But, before all the yachts could clear the line, the wind veered about 10 degrees, which put a bias on the line and caused the late starters to bunch up. There was a lot of shouting as the yachts tried to avoid each other and the committee boat. The east-going tide did not help the situation. Eventually they sorted themselves out and the whole fleet beat down towards BROWNDOWN. They made slow progress in the light winds. When the leaders did reach and rounded BROWNDOWN and raised their spinnakers for a run down to FASTNET, they found that although all sails were set they could make very little progress against the strong east-bound tide. In fact, at first, all the yachts flying spinnakers were slowly drifting backwards. The leading yachts slowly steered over towards the north shore to try and get out of the tide. One by one the other yachts coming up behind rounded the mark and joined the line of Sunsail yachts trying to stem the tide. Eventually the whole fleet was in the unusual position of being line abreast, facing towards FASTNET, but getting nowhere fast.

It was at this stage that an MOD Police launch approached Condor from the west and told Bill Oakley that there was an exclusion zone ahead of the fleet, just off Lee-on-Solent. A number of parachute jumps were planned to begin at 1130, but because of the misty weather they could well be cancelled. Bill gave the officer his ‘mobile’ number and asked him to let him know if the jumps were on or not. And so the race continued with the Sunsail fleet still in line abreast making very slow progress, with the back markers supposedly chortling with glee at having caught up with the leaders. However their pleasure was short lived, because Bill received a phone call to say that the parachute drop would be held and that the fleet would not be allowed to enter the exclusion zone. So the race officer took that opportunity to abandon the race, and asked the fleet to make its way directly to BROWNDOWN for the start of race 5. He set up a start line there, and set a simple course with a beat to ROYAL ALBERT, just of Gilkicker Point, a run back to NE RYDE MIDDLE and then a beat back to ROYAL ALBERT for the finish. Bill commented that this meant he was constrained by the parachute exercise at one end of the course and the Mary Rose at the other.

The class flag came down and the Sunsail fleet got away to a clean start at 1205. The wind had increased to about 9 knots, but the tide had changed direction to flow westwards. In spite of more wind the fleet made slow progress. The early leaders were Sunsails 01, 04, and 22. Later it was Sunsails 16, 19 and 07 out in front. But by the end of the race it was the Sussex team in Sunsail 01 that crossed the line first. About 3 minutes later the Devon and Cornwall team in Sunsail 16 finished in 2nd place. They just beat Roger Glass and his team of dinghy sailors in Sunsail 04 by taking advantage of their starboard tack causing Roger (on port tack) to duck behind them. They finished only 7 seconds apart. It was another 7 minutes before Peter Richardson in Sunsail 20 crossed the line in 4th place. The Northants team in Sunsail 19 finished 5th some 2 minutes later, and Colin Babbage in Sunsail 22 was 6th. Team Gary Walters was 7th.

So ended the racing for the 2005 offshore championship. Most of the skippers must have finished the race with their fingers on the start button of their engines, because immediately they received a finishing toot from the committee boat, so their fired up their motors and scooted off towards Port Solent. The conditions had been difficult for both competitors and race officer – a true test of patience and sailing skill. But then, who said it would be easy?

Overall Results: