ISORA

The first 2 ISORA races could at best be described as a learning experience or, indeed character building.  Those less relaxed about these things might say they were bewilderingly frustrating as we languished at the back of the pack with one apparent disaster following hard on the heels of another.

The Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead race saw us make a couple of tactical errors at the start followed by at least 2 hours spent tantalisingly close to the M2 buoy, but stuck against a fickle wind and foul tide, unable to round the mark.

The Conwy to Howth race was to be a straight downwind blast, having first worked upwind to the West Constable buoy.  Progress to windward was relatively slow and we were almost the last boat to round the mark, but with the prospect of a downwind sleigh ride, which would benefit our longer waterline length, all was not lost.  The spinnaker went up at Point Lynas and we flew downwind.  Until, that is, there was a resounding thud and the halyard parted.  The wind was strong enough to keep most of the sail out of the water until the crew could recover it, with only minor damage.  No matter, there was a second halyard.  About an hour later, with repairs made, the second halyard was used to hoist the spinnaker and we were off again.  Now, of course, lightning never strikes twice.......  But about an hour west of the Skerries there was a repeat thud and the spinnaker was down again.  Clearly, we had a major problem (and no more spinnaker halyards).  We limped over the finish line - last - and returned straight back to Holyhead to lick our wounds.  To add insult to injury, no sooner had we fixed what we surmised was the problem with the spinnaker (spectacles), than the prop fell off and we were forced to miss the next race in Pwllheli altogether.

As luck would have it, this proved (with hindsight!) to be the turning point in the season.  With the prop gone, we were forced to make a decision that had been pending (for lack of funds) for a while and a new folding prop was fitted as the replacement.

The Dun Laoghaire to Pwllheli race started promisingly enough and we were second to the first mark, the Muglins lighthouse, having avoided the melee towards the right-hand end of the line.  However, we soon found ourselves stopped in a 'hole' with no wind and foul tide and there we remained for a couple of hours as we watched some of the lighter boats crawling their way up the coast, out of the worst of the tide.  When we eventually made it to the Moulditch buoy, we were again towards the back of the fleet, but still had boats around us.  Better yet, we were able to match their speed on the reach to Bardsey Sound and our tactic of staying to windward and making allowance for when the tide again turned foul (as we entered the sound) paid dividends and we overtook a couple of boats.  However, we now paid for our early slow pace as we plugged the tide in a failing breeze and then ghosted our way up to Pwllheli, crossing the line well after midnight.  But there was cause for celebration -  we were not last!

The Pwllheli day race confirmed our improved performance, if it also demonstrated our lack of light wind options and, ultimately, pace.  Although, we were not able to compete with the J109s, particularly to windward, we had a most interesting tussle in the middle of the fleet.

So to the last ISORA race of the season.  Yahtzee have already written an account on the ISORA website news page(http://isora.org/?page_id=125), which strikes a resonant chord with our experience of the season.  For the first time we were in sight of the leaders as they crossed the line.  We were fourth boat to finish (though we dropped 3 places on handicap).  We beat a J109 on the water.  But, perhaps more importantly, we made it to the bar long before it closed!

A New Main - A New Dawn?

With aspirations of moving up through the Club racing field and possibly entering the ISORA for the 2012 season, the decision was taken way back in the autumn to replace the 'well used' cruising main with something that might just swing the balance between lift and drag in favour of lift.  Three days before the first ISORA (and a month late, having replaced the mast track fittings that didn't) the new 'racing' main was fitted to instant acclaim as we cruised round the cans in the lead.  Truly a new dawn.  This view was enhanced when we beat a local rival in the subsequent Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead ISORA (we came last and second to last, respectively).  However, since then, some of the other Club boats have started racing and cruising round the cans in the lead has become a distant memory!  Of more concern though, is the fact that the 'main' has been returned to the manufacturers after we found it to be delaminating at the leech.  Sadly then, it seems this was a false dawn for our racing Pipedreamers.

New Season

We finally departed our winter refuge in Victoria Dock during the last week in march and made our way up to Port Dinorwic for a wash, scrub and coding survey, before moving on to the Isle of Man for Easter.  Good Friday saw us making the Swellies a little late, but otherwise we made good time and were in Douglas for early evening.  After a minor misunderstanding on the radio between our Ancient Mariner and the harbourmaster we tied up alongside the correct wall to wait for the gate and were in the Marina in time for a quick pint.

Waiting for the tide on Sat morning allowed 2 of the crew to shop for Manx kippers, before we drifted north towards Laxey and then headed south to spend the night in Port St Mary.  It was party night in the sailing club and the pub, but we managed to negotiate the ladder back down to the boat unscathed and departed for Anglesey as soon as the tide would allow.  We made such good time on the journey south that the ebb tide did not have time to take its full effect and we passed just to the east of the Skerries hard on the s'westerly wind and straight into Holyhead, pausing only to let the Jonathan Swift in first.

The following day should have been a charter day, but the wind was less kind than the skipper and the charter was rearranged!

Racing Results Update 2011

Dear avid reader (you know who you are!),
                                                                 I promised a report on our racing exploits.  However, so far, the Club have not published the results of the latter part of the season (when we had scrubbed the bottom and hoped to be a little more competitive) and so we have no idea of our comparative performance or whether we were improving against the rest of the field.  We do know that we crossed the finishing line first on several occasions.  We also know we won the Trophy for not winning any trophies (does that mean we have to hand it straight back?), so we can asume we were not far enough ahead of the others to make up our handicap.  We also know we were second in the Holyhead Sailing Club Regatta and that we had a most enjoyable season!