News
Aug 15, 2011
Fastnet Race Blog
"Daily updates on how our Fastnet Teams are doing throughout the 2011 Rolex Fastnet Race."
Category: Racing Posted by: Doug
Fastnet 2011 Overview
The RORC Fastnet Race is one of the biggest and most famous offshore yacht races in the world. The event takes place every two years starting from Cowes in the Solent. The course takes the fleet West down the English Channel, across the Celtic Sea, round the Fastnet Rock (AKA The Rock) in Southern Ireland, back across the Celtic Sea, round the Scilly Isles and back up the Channel to to the finish in Plymouth. The course is just over 600 miles, although yachts will often race a greater distance in order to benefit from particular winds.
We have two yachts competing in the event, Cheeki Rafiki and Storm Trooper
- Cheeki Rafiki is a First 40.7 and will be racing in Class 2.
- Her crew of 11 is led by skipper Steve and mate Ifan.
- Onboard are Tully, Sarah, Neil, George, Derek, James, Simon, Tom and Kira.
- Storm Trooper is a Sunfast 37, she is in Class IRC4, skippered by Adam and mated by Hamster.
- The crew are Andy, Gerhard, Keith, John, David and Paul
While every yacht competing in the Fastnet is slightly different they each sail with a rating (handicap number). A yacht's actual finish time will be multiplied by its rating to provide a corrected time. The winner is then the boat with the fastest (or least ) corrected time. Over the next few days as I update you on how well our two crews are doing i will be giving you their corrected position in the fleet.
Boats of similar speed are grouped together into classes (our yachts are in Class 2 and 4). The classes are then further subdivided into divisions. This means they will score a position in class (against broadly similar yachts) and a position over all against all of the other yachts. The results we are most interested in are the results in class as these are the best measure of how well the team is really doing.
The results of this epic race also count towards the 2011 RORC series. As we enter the Fastnet Race, Cheeki Rafiki is lying 31st in class in the 2011 series (out of 91 yachts in IRC2) and Storm Trooper is lying 7th out of 101 yachts in IRC4
You can follow their progress on the fleet tracker at http://fastnet.rorc.org/2011-fleet-tracking.html . There are a few things you should know about the fleet tracker. Firstly it only records a fix (position) every half an hour so it does not provide a 100% true picture, secondly it assume the boat has sailed in a straight line from the last fix (half an hour before) to the current one, so will not show when they have change course. Thirdly and most importantly trackers fail quite regularly. Please do not worry if the yacht you are watching disappears on the online tracker, it is the tracker than has a problem, not the yacht and crew. And finally just as they fail to sometimes provide a fix they also occasionally show a yacht in the wrong position. We have in previous years had boats appearing on the online tracker sailing across Cornwall, the Isle of Wight, Scotland and even mainland Spain. In summary the trackers are a great guide but not gospel. If something looks wrong it is most likely the tracker unit at fault.
You can also watch the fleet on a variety of AIS viewers online. (AIS is far more reliable than the fleet trackers but will also include all sorts of other yachts and commercial vessels not competing in the Fastnet).
You can also follow their progress on our Facebook page where we will endeavour to update everyone daily on what is happening http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stormforce-Coaching/13770283547?ref=ts Any comments on Facebook would be great.
Day 0 - Saturday (Preparation)
Both teams met this morning for final race preparations. As the crews are preparing the yachts for tomorrow's start they will be stowing food, programming navigation equipment, checking sails are correctly packed and discussing tactics. Adam Smith (our Chief instructor) gave both teams a full weather and tactic briefing at 1300 today and both teams have left the marina for Hamble where they will spend their last night before the race. We will be eating ashore and then its an early night for all. The start time for Storm Trooper is 1130 and the start time for Rafiki is 1210, both boats will be slipping the dock in Hamble several hours before that.
Day 1 - Sunday (the Start and first leg)
Both crews enjoyed dinner in the Victory Inn yesterday evening before heading back to the yachts for an early night.
Keith and I headed out in Obi Wan the support RIB to watch the start and wave them off. The first start was at 1100 and was for the multi-hull fleet. We and many other fast RIBs followed them of the start line but were soon left behind as these huge multi hull machines accelerated away from most of the small power driven spectator boats. They were an awesome sight and will no doubt get line honors (first to cross the finish line in actual time). The other heavily sponsored fleets the IOCA 60 and the Class 40 followed. We soon lost interest in these yachts as we realised it was approaching 1130 (start time for IRC Class 4).
We found Storm Trooper, who was lining up for the start. She was jostling for space with several other yachts but seeing how determined Adam (skipper) was, the rest let her through and Storm Trooper crossed the line cleanly just after the start gun. There was a recall as some of the yachts were over. Storm Trooper had opted to start at the Island end of the line to benefit from the tide but soon had to tack back onto Port. The first 30 minutes of the race saw plenty tacks, plenty shouts of "Starboard" to give way boats and several yacht narrowly dodging each other. Unfortunately a few of the spectator boats got in the way of some of the racing boats but most of us had enough sense to keep clear.
We followed Storm Trooper for the first few miles watching her tack up the Island side of the course as she headed West down the Solent. We then made our way back to the start to catch Rafiki and the rest of Class 2 start at 1210. Rafiki also got a reasonable start, having witnessed the number of boats cross the line early and be recalled within the previous fleets Ifan and Steve sensibly decided to hold back slightly. As the tide had now turned along the full length of the line she started further away from the shore and initially had less work to do tacking. The full crew were sat on the rail looking pretty cool in their new team jackets (organised by Tully). With Ifan on the helm Rafiki worked her way through the fleet. It was exciting to watch her power past other First 40.7s from other sailing schools.
At Hurst narrows both yachts were carried out of the Solent with the strong spring tide and SW winds, as they entered the English Channel they met more breeze and a bigger sea state.
The fleet all benefited from 6 hours of Westerly tide taking them out the Solent and into the English Channel. The first major decision of the course was what to do at Portland Bill, those yachts that make it past Portland on the West going tide are fine but those further back are met by a strong foul tide on the bill. The usual tactic is to head further offshore if you do not make it round the Bill on time. It is very rare for Class 4 boats to round the Bill on time, and its not uncommon for Class 2 to miss the tidal gate as well.
Storm Trooper missed the tidal gate (as did the rest of her class) and the crew are tediously fighting tide. They have decided to stay offshore by about 9NM, a tactic that so far seems to be playing of. There position at 2030 is recorded as 13th (out of 64 yachts in class), however this is not actually true. Some of the yachts recorded as ahead of Storm Trooper have not updated on the tracker for some time. The software therefore assumes they are still doing the same average ground speed as they were earlier. The software makes no allowance for the increase in foul tide. In real terms she is probably ahead of 3 of the boats recorded as ahead of her. However there are a couple of yachts who have an offshore advantage over her but are recorded as further down the fleet at the moment. I would guess her true position as 10th/11th in class.
Meanwhile Cheeki Rafiki is recorded as 55th (out of 71), however 30 minutes ago was 27th. Unless she is literally going backwards it is unlikely she would have made such a loss in 30 minute. Hopefully in the morning once Portland is left well behind we will get a much clearer picture of what is actually going on.
I have uploaded images of both boats from the start onto our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stormforce-Coaching/13770283547 You should be able to make out individual crew members on both boats.
Day 2 (South Coast & Land's End)
Both yachts are approaching Lands End.
Rafiki has come into mobile reception and I have just had a chat with Ifan. It turns out another yacht collided with them yesterday back in the Solent. The other yacht (a J122) was on port tack and Rafiki was on starboard so its pretty clear the other boat is in the wrong. Damage wise Rafiki has bent a few stanchions, push pit and pulpit as well as some GRP damage to the port quarter, no one on board was hurt and the yacht is still perfectly sea worthy. Results wise they are hovering around 42nd in class having lost a fair few places last night. There are plenty other 40.7s and Class 2 boats near them do the opportunity to take places is there.
Storm Trooper meanwhile has gained a couple of places and is now 10th in class
Day 3 (The Celtic Sea Upwind)
Rafiki is 20 miles from the Rock, unfortunately with the present wind direction she will actually have to sail more like 28 miles to get there. At the moment she is in 46th place in class and playing catch up. The tough thing about being behind on an upwind leg is that as the boats ahead of you round the upwind mark (the Rock) they accelerate further ahead as soon as they turn onto the downwind leg. Rafiki has her work cut out! The crew on board are hoping the wind will veer soon as per the forecast. If the wind were to do as it is forecast to, it would give them a much better wind angle and they would be able to sail straight for the Rock, therefore reducing considerable distance. Sadly the wind does not seem to be following the Met Offices’ instructions quite to time. Rafiki is likely to round the rock in darkness in the early hours of the morning.
The good news for Rafiki is that there are several other 40.7s behind her; the pack in front however has a 14-mile lead.
Meanwhile Storm Trooper is holding 16th place in Class 4. The Celtic Sea has not been good to her so far! Like Rafiki she would benefit immensely from the wind veering to NE, tactically she is in just the right position to take advantage of this if it happened, however like Rafiki she is suffering from the shift not having happened when forecast too. Storm Trooper is about 40 miles from the Rock but with the current wind direction will have to actually sail about 55 miles to get there. She is currently on Starboard tack and will I suspect soon have to tack back onto port. For the team on board they have past the half-way point of the race a few hours ago, they have less than 300 miles to go and are in the top quarter of their fleet. Physiologically rounding the rock will do them good; they are likely to round in the first hours of daylight tomorrow, sooner if the wind shifts.
Looking at the current wind observation reports online there are signs that the wind is starting to veer towards the North. Both boats are currently experiencing about 12 knots of breeze, good visibility, clear skies and have seen temperatures today up to 17 degrees.
Day 4 (The Celtic Sea Return Leg)
Today's update has been held off until quite late in the day, mainly becuase Rafiki's tracker packed in at 0650 this morning and while both yachts have been returning across the Celtic Sea there has not been much information to pass on.
Rafiki rounded the rock in the very early hours of Wednesday morning at 0030. She rounded 45th in class having lost several places in the preceding few hours.The team spent some time stuck in a hole in the wind while heading South for the Pantenous Buoy.
Eventually the breeze filled in slightly and they were able to make more progress. They bravely left the rum line behind and headed a long way WSW on starboard tack before gybing and laying the buoy without any further messing around. They then sailed high of the rum line for a few hours until the tracker (or its software) packed up at 0650. It became evident to the spectators at home that something was wrong over the next hour as the yacht was reported as sailing 000 degrees at 0.0 knots. What the problem is we dont know yet suffice to say the tracker provided by the organisers is at fault, not the yacht or the crew.
Back at home is was a tense day as we watched Rafiki slip further and further doen the results table (the result table could not show her genuine position as the tracker had not updated for several hours). As the day continued she fell by more and more places on the screen. By 2030 she was showing last place of all of the boats still in the race (several had of course retired and are therefore scoring lower). It has been very frustrating to watch, not because we see her in last place, but simply because we realise the software is mis-reporting and we would love to know how well she is really doing. All day we hoped she was catching up the ground lost yesterday, the rest of the fleet were visible to us but we simply did not know how Rafiki was doing.
Meanwhile Storm Trooper made it round therock in early daylight at 0614 having lost several places in the light fluky winds of the Southern coast of Ireland. Having rounded the Rock, Storm Trooper took the opposite side of the course that Rafiki had 6 hrs earlier, she sailed closer to the rum line heading initially SE but also doing most of the the leg with only 1 gybe.
She gybed again at the mark and set of for the return crossing of the Celtic Sea. Sailing higher than the rum line, this time she followd the track intially set by Rafiki and many of the Class 2 yachts.
At 2040 she was reported as being in 24th place. We know she performs better upwind than downwind so were not surprised by the position. We are confident that skipper Adam will be driving the boat as well as he and his team can and they will all be putting their training to good use.
As each yacht rounds the Scilly Isles they will head up to follow the shortest line to Plymouth. The forecast provides for NE winds for tonight and much of tomorrow. This will give them an upwind leg to the finish and a memory of sailing both ways upwind!
Tomorrow Becky and I head for Plymouth to welcome the crew in later.
Our facebook page is at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stormforce-Coaching/13770283547 and for the last few days it has been very RORC Fastnet orientated.
Report from Keith, on board Storm Trooper
Day1
Started with a procession of orange storm jibs and trisails past the inspection gate, an unusual sight for a calm Solent Sunday.
We sent Tom up the rigging prior to the start to fix rollers on the back stay. The start itself was interesting with many spectator boats trying to join in after the start line, and the usual calls for Starboard.
The wind was stronger than predicted which gave us a good sail out of the Solent. We cleared Portland bill by 19.30 and had a good night sail.
Day 2 Morning
Winds are lighter around 12knts, joined this morning by a small pod of common Dolphins. All on board OK and settling in to the watch system, off for a couple of hours kip now,
Day 2 Afternoon
Back in range of land and closing on the Lizard, should be passed by16.30. John wishes to report every boat should have a "hamster" Tom, he introduced on the menu today Manwhiches. 2 slices of bread with everything in.
Sailing well, next turn right at Lands End.
In the mean time the 2 big Trimarans have rounded the rock this morning and are already making their way back. They are currently only a few miles away from the IRC fleet (but on the home bound leg headed for Plymouth).
A few more images have been added to Facebook this afternoon, also from yesterday but from Keith L's camera instead of mine.
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