Coordinating a busy work travel schedule with regattas can sometimes mean very ugly itineraries. Such as flying in from the Middle East, hop in the car and drive 15 hours to North Carolina, as was the case with the North American Laser Masters at Wrightsville Beach. Jet lag is brutal on the race course. However occasionally I'm able to take advantage of my travel and do something interesting, like the Isle of Wight race in the UK. Through a friend, David Bradley, I was able to jump on board an Elan 333 for the 50 mile around the island race, while on a recent layover.
There are no lasers in the event, as you might guess, but there are plenty of Laser sailors, including the likes of Ben Ainslie…and me. The race is hosted by the Island Sailing Club in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. The event itself dates back to 1931, when 33 boats took part in the inaugural race. Since then it has grown to 1,779 entries. The boats taking part range from some classic ketches and Folkboats to high performance trimarans and VOR 60's. It also attracts a number of elite sailors, even though for most this is a fun charity event. To see this massive fleet spread across the horizon with spinnakers is quite impressive.
In order to get all the boats started, fleets of 40 - 80 boats start every ten minutes beginning at about 6:30am. The fastest fleets start earlier. The morning started off with light winds (3 - 5 kt) and rain. Our start was at 9:00 am. Despite all our best planning we still managed to be 4 minutes late for our gun. However with a kilometer-long starting line, by starting at the favored end we didn't lose too much on the fleet.
The first leg was a long beat (three hours) west up the Solent to the "Needles". We stayed on the right side of the course, which was favored as the wind clocked and built up to eight-10 kts. We always made sure that we had a good lane when we tacked onto port as the traffic could be quite crowded. I spent the first leg trimming the genoa and keeping an eye out for new pressure.
We bore away at the needles, raised the chute and headed east around the backside of the island. The sky cleared and the sea breeze slowly built up to 20-25 kts, which kept the gybes interesting (including one decent broach). I was fortunate to be at the helm for this leg, and had a blast steering the waves and occasionally surfing. However we stayed offshore in the currents, which were now against us. Though we were in stronger winds, the boats inshore faired much better and we lost quite a few places.
The next major turn is a mark at Bermbridge Ledge, at the eastern end of the island. At this point the wind decided to die and rotate 180 degrees creating a massive boat jam. Fortunately we were able to duck inside and find some light winds quickly, which helped us gain back a few positions.
The final leg was again a beat, but this time against the tide. Dave took over on the helm and tacked up the shore, minimizing the effects of the tide and used previously grounded boats as shallow water markers. After 10.5 hours we finished off of Cowes, with big smiles and a can of gin & tonic. We ended up 309th out of 1,567 finishers.
I've done a number of long distance races over the years, but this was by far the biggest and the most interesting event I've taken part in. Beautiful scenery and just the shear volume of boats on the water is jaw dropping. Hopefully my travels will take me back this way again.
John Rae is a long time sailor and Laser class member sailing from Britannia Yacht Club in Ottawa, Ontario.
