Navigational mistake

They say you lean from your mistakes: well here's where I learnt something about navigation.

It was on the return leg of the Fastnet, which as you might know means you go outside the Scilly Isles. I was navigating and sometime very early in the morning, out in the Celtic Sea, I set a waypoint off Bishops Rock (see chart above), a little bit off to give a safety margin, but not too much to extend our route.

So next day as we counted down the miles to that waypoint I notice that the boats that had been next to us were either further inshore or offshore, and either way had gained on us. With a sinking feeling I checked the tides and was rather horrified to find I'd sent us directly headed into the strongest part of the stream. We were maybe a knot or two slower over the ground than the competition.

There was nothing for it but to 'fess up and suggest we bear in towards the shore.

I should have known better but I had been tired, and the brain doesn't work well without sleep. It starts to switch over to automatic and it turned out my internal auto-pilot had missed a key logic block. It had done what was necessary for a safe passage, but not a fast passage.

It was a valuable lesson : navigation is a safety of life skill, and if tiredness in any way limits your ability to correctly navigate then that's a danger to the boat and crew.

It's best to keep practising until navigation can be done on automatic, so that even a tired brain will know what steps to follow.

Watch this...

I'm off travelling so until back blogging as per normal suggest have a watch of the Fastnet race on the excellent web site instead.

At Lands End

I am very much enjoying following the Fastnet on the web. If you haven't played around with the fab-tastic fleet tracker go on over and check it out by clicking here.

Partly its thrill the overwelming flood of little boat symbols as they pop out of the Solent like a cork. Then of course they ground to a halt, most just before Portland Bill, as the wind died last night.

The tracker means you can try to fathom the various tactics used. For example in the IRC 1 class one of the leading boats is Philippe Falle's Puma Logic, who was one of our class rivals when I did it and who gave tactics talk at a local sailing club. He went offshore after Portland and then back in for Start Head. Aha! thinks I, there was a plan there. But then the boats either side went right close in by Portland so its not a clear picture. Some seem to have gone all over the place - Quokka VII headed 90 degrees to the rhumb line for half the night.

But now they are getting on their way again and the big crush is about to get to Land's End which is where the picture above was taken. Actually its just before looking along the coast by Penzance, and in the distance you can see St. Michael's Mount emerging from the mist.

Tillerman and the rug salesman

Last week Tillerman posted the picture above of two Star sailors for a caption competition. Oh yes, thinks I, what would really work would be bla bla bla.

Fortunately before hitting the "Publish" button realised that no one would get why that caption made sense apart from me and (maybe) one other.

It was the result of one of those random chances. Waking up one Sunday morning with the usual pre coffee more asleep than awake brain, without thinking I grabbed the first t-shirt that came to hand.

What was important and worth thinking about over that first and most important latte was how I was to get to a rug shop by bike. This years big flat purchase is a rug for my living room and as they cost about the same as a decent dinghy it's worth spending some time looking for the right one.

This particular rug shop is in a very posh part of west London and while doable by bike meant a smart bit of navigation around the black hole known as Earls Court. However I made it and was soon helping the young salesman to go through a pile of 3 metre by 2 metre rugs.

All of a sudden he asked "So which Fastnet did you do then?"

For a moment I was amazed - they talk about knowing your customer but this was ridiculous! However then I noticed that the random t-shirt picked out that morning was indeed my Fastnet t-shirt, which sort of gave the game away.

We got chatting and it turned out my rug salesman was a bit more than your average weekend sailor, and had done not just a Fastnet but several. Indeed he had done a season or two of the Star sailing circuit, and when I got home I Googled his name, and yup there he was (and no, he wasn't one of those in the photo).

So when I saw Tillerman's picture my suggestion for a caption was going to have been: "Would you buy a new rug from this sailor?"

Hopefully you now know why it (sort of) would have made sense.

But also why that particular comment was never posted.

The 2009 Fastnet

Tomorrow is the start of the 2009 Fastnet race, and I'm going to sit this one out.

Not by choice - there was a very tempting last minute offer but my next week is already looking very busy. But if I could, I would be out there.

This surprised a friend of mine, who had just seen the video below and associated blog on Channel 4 News about the horrific events of 30 years ago when a storm blew through the fleet leading to many deaths.

If you want to know more then recommend reading the excellent Fastnet Force 10.

One thing I am looking forward to is following the fleet on the great RORC site. Last Fastnet it was fantastic to see where all the boats were - even though most of them were in port, sheltering from yet another blast of bad weather.

But the last couple of months been suffering a weird web anxiety. After I've checked the usual news sites and blogs there's this feeling that something is missing. Have I forgotten to check the status of the Volvo or Vende Globe fleet maybe?

Then I remember that both have finished, and with a sigh its been back to work. May next week I'll find a few gaps between meetings to see where the boats I recognise have got to.

Fastnet Photos

There's been a rush of news about the Fastnet and if you missed these two eye catching photos, enjoy:


Photos from http://www.yachtingworld.com/yw/home.htm and http://fastnet.rorc.org/

Storm hits Fastnet

I felt a bit guilty this morning. Waiting for the alarm to go off, all warm in my bed, I could hear the rain outside and wondered how the Fastnet fleet had coped with the conditions overnight.

I was soon to find out as got the following text over breakfast: "Went for shelter in plymouth: bad night half crew down with seasickness".

Checking the Rolex Fastnet Race web site it became apparent that what seemed like half the fleet had made a similar decision. Ports from Falmouth to Weymouth must be packed with retiring boats.

The two main yachts I was following, Selene (hello A.) and Intuition (hello A. & A.), had both retired. There had even been a couple of dismastings, including the wonderfully named Oz Privateer that used to be owned by an old friend and colleague DK.

If it helps cheer up those recovering in port, this is clearly going to be one of those races that people will remember for years to come.



Graphic from race viewer from http://fastnet.rorc.org/

Fastnet Finally Starts

The Fastnet has finally started and the fleet is well on its way past Portland Bill and heading for Start Point and I have been distracted at work by following their progress on the RORC race player (to be found here).

While the player has its clunky moments, thats not too unexpected given the fleet is not half a dozen as per many off shore races but a whopping 300. Its great fun watching the start as the waves of classes head off down towards Hurst Castle and then bursting out into the channel by the Needles (above).

One boat seem to be routing through the Isle of Wight but I'm guessing that is technical faults not unorthodox tactics.

It seems they will also avoid the worst of the weather - looks like a F7-8 peak and many will at that point be away from the strongest winds, as the chart below (from here) shows a dip in wind speed around the Lizard at the same time as the fleet should be getting there.

This might cause some to question the RORC's decision to delay the race. They say that blogs should always be controversial so I should stir things up and flame at committee mentality.

But the truth is I have some sympathy. The forecast did indicate a potential force 10, with wind speeds over 50 knots in the Celtic Sea just as the fleet would have been crossing it. It looks like this worst case scenario won't happen, but with the vagaries of the weather it might have.

And with gust speeds 50% higher than the continuous that would mean peaks of 75 knots, which would not have been pretty.

If you're not convinced read this great book about the 1979 race when 15 died.

Commiserations and Congratulations

Both commiserations and congratulations to Mike Sanderson.

Commiserations for also not being able to do the Fastnet though for a better excuse than mine - his brand new Pindar was dismasted during Cowes week.

But congratulations are also due as he and his wife Emma (ne Richards) are expecting a baby! Thankfully the lovely Emma, who was on-board at the time, was unharmed in the incident.

I was lucky enough to sail with her last September on another Pindar, so my special best wishes go to Emma

No Fastnet Today

Even with the start of the Fastnet delayed by a day it still won't avoid the bad weather. Looking at the forecast above for Tuesday (from here) its clear its going to be a bumpy ride for the first couple of days.

The argument is that at least the boats will be close to shore if something goes wrong. But some might say that when something goes wrong you might not want to be too close to a lee shore.

Good luck and safe sailing to all those heading out tomorrow.

Fastnet Delayed

A low is sweeping across the Atlantic towards Britain and already it has had an impact.

The start of the bi-annual Fastnet race has been delayed until Monday. Even with the delay there is a chance of foul weather, as the forecast above shows for Wednesday. Winds over 40 knots in the Irish sea - and that is a decrease, as forecasts during the week suggested the low could be deeper with winds up to 50 knots.

I'm not doing this race, which is a shame, but have just too much on with work stress and the OU course. But I'll be checking the weather web sites for friends who will be heading out there.

In the mean time I hope the crews get good rests while they can!



Picture from: http://www.stormsurfing.com/cgi/display_alt.cgi?a=brit_slp