Guernsey ….
 
Finally I have a couple of minutes spare to actually write down what has happened over the last few days!  At present I am sitting onboard bluQube, sorting things out for another early start tomorrow to Saint Quay in France.  The first leg, from Lymington to Alderney began with some intense short tacking up the Needles Channel, while also effecting repairs merely 20minutes into the race when the spectra securing the port jib downhaul snapped. Crossing the fleet while sat behind the jib on a port tack bearing down on Hurst encourages fast and efficient repairs!  Once past Bridge buoy, somewhat further down the fleet than hoped for, it was a case of sailing as high as possible. For the Figaro, that usually means “not quite as high as everyone else”  and it was pretty soul destroying watching most of the fleet sailing much higher.  However, with winds of up to 22knots apparent and boat speeds in the region of 6-7knots, we made some pretty good progress. 

Once Alderney was spotted it was a case of sailing as far south as possible with the West-going tide before putting in a couple of short tacks to obtain the layline for the finish of the breakwater. We finished neck and neck with Barry Hurley on his JOD 35, and behind Nick Martin on his J105. 

The second race however was much more successful. After another short tacking experience out of The Swinge in about 10-12knots of apparent breeze, it was a case of setting oneself into the groove and basically intending to sail on one tack to Guernsey. About 10 miles into the 22 mile course, the wind shifted slightly and dropped. At this stage we were lying in about 5th, with the majority of the other class one boats around us. As the wind shifted everyone bar Jbellino (who was much further ahead) and bluQube chose to tack, and as the wind dropped further to around 3knots, and with us heading at Sark as opposed to Guernsey, I began to wonder if we had made a huge mistake Rather than opt out however, it was a case of sticking to the original plan, and as a rain cloud headed over towards us from the West I rather hoped that it would bring a big lift with it.  As we managed to point higher and higher I began to wonder how long we could possibly hold onto the lift, but it was with great pleasure that Jbellino and bluQube managed to sail straight towards the line. To windward we had Solan Goose and Ding Dong bearing down on us pretty quickly, and I seriously wondered if we would be pipped to the post. Thankfully, as we sailed into Little Russell, the wind freed more and we were about the tight reach across the finish line in second place and third place in Class 1 IRC. 

Tomorrow we have another early start for a 49mile leg to St Quay Portieux, with conditions looking to be light and downwind, which will be a completely different kettle of fish!!
 
The final legs…
 
Firstly, apologies for not having had an opportunity to bring you up to date with this blog sooner. This weeks racing has been rather intense to say the least, with boats literally arriving, repairing, eating and getting sorted for the next day’s racing, with little time left in between – well, that’s the experience I had!
 
While in France, I was looking forward to the guys at TEEM SARL arriving on the boat to hopefully sort out my electronics gremlins… I have been sailing on a Raymarine ST4000 pilot for the duration of the race, and unfortunately, minus the gyro, it doesn’t hold a particularly competitive course. Fixing the NKE pilot was imperative to ensure a competitive over night leg to Brixham, else up to 20 hours of non stop helming was on the cards…. .Alas, the pilot was not fixed, but shipped off to Paris to be investigated further. Needless to say this left me rather concerned for the over night leg to Brixham. Upwind in the forecast conditions of F5-7, the tillerpilot would have no chance. To prepare, I stored all my food in the cockpit, memorised the tides, expected wind shifts and course to steer, and helmed. For 18 hours.  Sail manoeuvres proved tricky… particularly when I decided I definitely needed to put a reef in. As I engaged the pilot, it immediately bore away 60 degrees (once I was at the mast of course) causing Chris Rustom on Ding Dong to assume I had gone overboard and come and have a look. Once the reef was in, life was a little more comfortable… if still very wet. I was beginning to regret not putting on thermals under my oilies, and I knew it would be a pretty cold night. Still, at least it kept me awake.
 
After a fast start, pushing us to the front of the fleet, the wind backed to the North and onto the nose, causing bluQube to have to sail a much lower course than her longer thinner adversaries. Some impressive breaking waves we seen, particularly those breaking over the bow! I was very thankful for my oilies at this stage!  Opening the Tupperware box with the chicken sandwiches within proved challenging, as two hands were required to open it and secure sandwich without it taking flight, or being submerged by a passing wave. This left steering to the right foot.
 
For the first time in my life I found myself hoping for the arrival of the shipping lanes, since this meant that landfall was a mere 30 miles further. As darkness fell, the looms of the Guernsey lighthouse and the beacon at Start Point allowed me to vaguely picture where I was on the chart. One high point of the night was the abundance of shooting stars that were seen.  Those accompanied by the stereo (which had been on since the start to encourage higher morale!) blaring out anything from Disney to Phil Collins to Katy Perry, when it could be heard over the wind, was rather surreal!
 
Eventually the light sequence of Berry Head, and the finish line, was spotted as the wind began to abate. One below 15 knots apparent, the pilot was able to steer a vague course while I leapt down below for an additional layer. As tempting as a sleep was, I was pretty sure it was a bad idea, since I was now running on Red Bull and adrenaline.
 
After some short tacking back up to the North West, bluQube eventually crossed the line at 0442, as the sun was beginning to rise. I can honestly say that I have never felt to “spaced out” once bluQube was tied up and I could seriously consider some decent sleep. I wasn’t sure that the lay day would give me enough time to recover though!
 
Having taken a lot of water onboard, bluQube was given a rather brief clean up and the following day was spent sleeping!
 
The leg from Brixham to Weymouth was expected to be relatively straightforward in comparison to the previous leg… Not a chance. It seems that on this week everything that could be thrown at the fleet was, and as the fleet headed toward Portland, it was with dismay that I screwed up big time. As I went for the hoist, the pilot came up 60 degrees causing the kite to fill mis hoist and blast out of my hands. Before I knew it we were trawling, and to cut a long, laborious, violent and bad tempered episode short… bye bye spinnaker. This meant we started the leg 2 miles behind everyone else, and unable to hoist a spinnaker – not such a bad thing as it happened since we blasted through the fleet with surfs up to 16knots, passing yachts on their sides as they continually broached out. Passing Portland though the inside channel, and passing so close to the light house we could almost high five the people on the shore, we found that bluQube actually finished second in class over the water… if only I hadn’t of messed up on the spinnaker run!
 
Unfortunately the cock-up of the day before left me unable to hoist a spinnaker on the last day (yes I lost the halyard completely) and bluQube was left to herd the fleet into Lymington under white sails. As yachts around me dropped sails and deployed the engine, I resolutely clung on, turned up the tunes loud and drifted over the finish line.
 
So, since SORC have changed their race format to a predominately IRC one (not a bad thing) bluQube and I did not do too well in the results sheet this year. After an estimated 70 hours of helming over the course of the week, I could do with a holiday to recover! One race has never taken it out of me quite so much! Now it’s a case of fingers crossed and hoping that the French chaps in Paris can fix that blasted pilot! Imagine what a race it would have been with it!

Three times winner of the Women’s Open Keelboat Championship, Louise truly deserves this award for her dedication to the sport.  As well as racing competitively, Louise has spent the past five years reviving the Quarter Ton class, with such success that in the last Quarter Ton Cup there were 35 entries.  She has also campaigned her own boat, Espada, at or near the front of the fleet with a crew composed entirely of girls.

“Over the last decade there has been a marked increase in female participation at Cowes Week with the number of female skippers leaping by 150 per cent since 2002, says Stuart Quarrie, CEO Cowes Week Limited.  “Our Ladies Day Trophy is in recognition of the outstanding contribution, commitment, or achievement of women in sailing – from the Corinthian sailor and those overcoming difficulties in order to succeed in sailing, to those who have undertaken remarkable challenges”.

Laura wants to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world and must complete the two-year trip before she turns 17 in September 2012 to break the record.

After running away to the Dutch Antilles last December where she was discovered and returned home, a court ruled that Laura could remain with her father despite his support for her plan to sail solo around the world.

The experienced sailor was born on a yacht off the coast of New Zealand during a seven-year world trip. She had her own yacht by the age of six and began sailing solo when she was 10. Her father, Dick Dekker, supports her attempt at the record, but her mother had in the past expressed concerns. Laura is planning to spend about two years aboard her 8m (26ft) boat, Guppy, to break the record set in May by Jessica Watson, 16, of Australia.

But the dangers she faces were highlighted by the rescue last month of another 16-year-old, Abby Sunderland from California. The mast on her boat snapped, leaving her stranded for two days alone on the high seas until she was rescued by a fishing boat and brought to the Indian Ocean island of Reunion.

What are your thoughts? Do you think there should be a minimum age at where young people can take on these types of challenges, or do you think they ought to be free to do what they want? Post your comments in our forum.

Visit Laura’s website here : http://www.lauradekker.nl/English/Home.html

The upper reaches of the Clyde just to the north of Cumbrae, provided the perfect stage for the final two races of this very competitive and enjoyable series, allowing competitors to really push to their full potential.

In tricky, shifty, light to moderate winds reaching no more than 8-15kts, 16-year-old Reineke from Fort Lauderdale, FL won the event with a race to spare, which is exactly what she set out to do when she left the shore this morning.

In what turned out to be her last race, she had a fairly conservative first beat but this bubbly, determined yet incredibly cool young sailor kept her head when the going was tough and worked her way to the top of the fleet finishing in fourth place, which was enough to secure the overall world championship title. The winner was Evgeniya Kuznetsova (RUS) who sailed an impressive race to take her first win of the week, followed by Amalie Riou (FRA) and Chiara Steinmueller (GER) in second and third respectively.

Erika Reineke (USA): “It feels amazing because I’ve never won a world championship. I think it’s a good start. I won the bronze at the ISAF worlds, I finished second at the Youth Europeans in Copenhagen. I started sailing in Optimists from Lauderdale YC. Actually I was hoping to win in Turkey but got the bronze so I came here all fired up to win. I knew I had to fight even harder to do well because I really wanted the gold.”

“When I return home I’ll take a couple of weeks off but then I’ll start training again with an aim of doing the US Olympic trials. Paige Railey is an amazing sailor and I aspire to be like her, and Anna Tunnicliffe of course, so I hope to give them both a good trials. My ultimate aim is to race the Olympics.

“I have a great coach back home – Brad Funk – he has been working and training with me and he has really brought me a long way. As far as day to day training goes, I go to the gym three or four times a week, Saturdays and Sundays I sail Lasers, and Wednesdays after school. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays I sail for High School. So, basically I sail every day except Friday when I’m usually travelling to regattas.”

Manami Doi (JPN) managed to retain her second place overall with a seventh in the last race, while Michelle Broekhuizen (NED) had to settle for third.

Manami Doi (JPN): “I am very happy indeed to have finished second in this highly competive fleet. If anything the wind was a bit strong today in the last race so I am pleased that I managed to finish seventh in that one. I managed to stay in the boat today too, which was also a big advantage!”

Charlotte Greenhalgh (GBR): “I had two very good races today with a first and a second which leaves me winning the Silver fleet Girls. It was quite challenging so it was important to keep eyes out the boat looking for wind and pressure, and to be on the right side of the fleet in case the wind changed. Getting the start right today was also important. This is my first world championship so I am really happy with my results.”

Rhianna Pavey (GBR): “I didn’t have such a good day today and I found it quite hard. I was leading the Silver fleet overnight but I didn’t want to get black-flagged again because that was already my discard, so I didn’t push the line too much and ended up second overall. Basically I had a bit of a bad start and couldn’t improve that much.”

Girls Overall Results (after 11 races, 2 discards)
1 Erika Reineke (USA) 22pts
2 Manami Doi (JPN) 49pts
3 Michelle Broekhuizen (NED) 53pts
4 Chiara Steinmueller (GER) 68pts
5 Julia Vallo Arjonilla (ESP) 72pts
6 Tiril Bue (NOR) 72pts
 
For full results go to the website: http://www.laserworlds2010.co.uk/radialyouth

Based at the Royal Dart Yacht Club (RDYC) in Kingswear, Devon, ‘Ladies Afloat’ has grown in size over the years, however it preserves its original aims which are, to provide a safe and enjoyable environment where women members of RDYC can practise and develop sailing skills and sample other water-borne activities.

Ladies Afloat does not aim to teach sailing but the programme offers a chance to try your hand at dinghies, keel boats, safety boats, Seine rowing boats, and general power boating and cruising. It offers grand opportunities to any woman who wants to discover the basics of sailing or to improve existing skills and understanding. There are theory workshops, practical exercises and – of course – social activities.

As well as providing a varied and enjoyable programme, a major objective of Ladies Afloat is to encourage the development of ladies’ sailing skills within the Club and to support those members who are willing to train to become RYA instructors. This creates a body of expertise available to Ladies Afloat, to Junior Sailing and the broader activities of RDYC as a whole. These activities can only be offered through the generosity and enthusiasm of those who give their time, expertise and use of boats, not just in sail training but in many other supporting activities.

Ladies Afloat offers a great forum for anyone who wants to improve her skills, to gain confidence and to extend her social life. The atmosphere is supportive, friendly and welcoming. They are inviting ladies to join them for the 2010 season. All you have to do is complete an application form which can be obtained from the Club Office.

If you would like to know more, please contact the Club…

The Club Office
Royal Dart Yacht Club
Kingswear
Devon
TQ6 OAB

Phone: 01803 752496

email: office@royaldart.co.uk

The all female crew set out on June 1 to race a team of men around the British mainland. But when the male team gave up after less than two weeks, the women carried on alone and without any assistance for five more weeks.
 
These brave women have spent the last 50 days at sea in the world’s toughest rowing race – Virgin GB Row 2010 – living in a boat that is so small only two people can sleep in the cabins. The other two have to sit outside in all weathers.

During that time they were: swamped by huge waves which put the boat’s water maker out of action; almost sunk by a rogue wave that flooded the front cabin, survived storms, navigated some of the most treacherous tides on the planet, almost been mown down by ships, bombed by the RAF and run short of water.
 
One rower broke her finger setting off a flare to warn off a ship that was on a collision course. She then carried on rowing with a broken finger by strapping her hand to the oar.

Sir Richard Branson said:  “Go Seagals!!!  I knew I was right to back to girls in beating the boys in the first ever Virgin GB Row and I’m over the moon that such brave women have achieved a World Record in such a spectacular fashion!  This is why we set up the Virgin Trophy – Belinda, Angela, Laura and Beverley have pushed through extreme tiredness, hunger and serious injury to battle on and achieve the goal they set out to achieve.  Britain has something to be proud of this summer after all! I hope they will get all of Britain’s support when they record up the Thames on Thursday to claim their World Record and the Trophy!”

Erika Reineke (USA): “The conditions were fairly light about 5-8kts. In the first race I rounded the windward mark in about fifth place then I caught up to first on the downwind and led from there on. In the second I led from the start from the pin end. I then just port-tacked the fleet and went out to the right. That was my game plan. I then tacked back and I was in the lead. Today the key factors were ensuring you had a good start and the pin end was the place to be. Also I had good boat speed, which was important. Tomorrow I’ll be trying for more of the same but it is still early days and anything can happen at this stage.”

After today’s racing, a pattern is clearly starting to establish itself but there is one day of qualifying races remaining so it is still ‘early days’. Once the necessary four or more qualifying races are complete, boats will be assigned to final series fleets Gold, Silver and Bronze on the basis of their ranks in the qualifying series. The finals to determine the world champions will take place on Saturday and Sunday.

Manami Doi (JPN): “It was an interesting day. I didn’t have a particularly good start but managed to work my way through the fleet and by the second windward mark I was leading.”

Girls Overall after Day 3, 4 races, 1 discard (qualifying series)
1 Manami Doi (JPN) 3pts
2 Erika Reineke (USA) 4pts
3 Tiril Bue (FIN) 10pts

You can read more details of the regatta, including the boys fleet information at th Event website : Event Website: www.laserworlds2010.co.uk/radialyouth

The Academy was set up in October last year for 18-24 year-olds offering budding young keelboat racers the opportunity to further their skills, experience and knowledge of the sport, fast-tracking their development and progression towards racing at the highest level.

Since it’s conception, the forty sailors picked for the programme’s first two squads have benefitted from expert coaching and guidance, both on and off the water addressing all aspects of running a successful keelboat campaign.
In taking the BKA programme forward, the partners plan to build on the success of the programme’s inaugural year critiquing it’s activities and fine tuning them in some areas.

John Derbyshire explains: “We’re really pleased to be confirming the continuation of the BKA into 2011. The season has gone well for the academy so far and we have received some positive and constructive feedback from the sailors and other industry professionals which  gives us a good base to work from going forward.

“To further maximise the BKA’s objectives of widening access to the sport, smoothing the progression from grass roots to top level campaigning as well as offering the best training and grounding possible for our sailors; we have evaluated our activities and identified some areas we think we can build on for next seasons sailors.”

High on the agenda is addressing the progression through the academy and the jump from J80 sailing up into bigger boat racing on the TP52 JMII.  
UKSA Operations Director, Ben Willows comments: “Making as smooth a pathway as possible through the academy is really important in preparing the sailors for whichever direction they want to take their sailing. The step from J80 to TP52 is pretty large so we are exploring how we can make this more progressive.”

And with a number of academy sailors receiving invitations to race and train with high profile boat owners such as Commodores Cup veteran David Aisher this season; further developing relationships with boat owners and professional teams remains at the forefront of the BKA’s future plans.
Working more closely with local clubs and centres to bolster regional keelboat race training at grass roots level is also on the agenda. This should provide a good source of talented young sailors for the BKA as well as providing a wider range of young sailors with the opportunity to develop their keelboat racing skills. 

Online applications for 2011 BKA squads are now open with selection trials scheduled for 11-12th and 25-26th of September. Applications close at 5pm on Wednesday 18th August.

 To apply visit www.britishkeelboatacademy.org    

“We’re really excited to be putting plans together to offer academy sailors an even more effective programme for 2011. We’re looking for potential talent, the right attributes and a passion for the sport – experience is not necessarily required. Interested sailors should get their applications in early to avoid disappointment,” BKA Head Coach Luke McCarthy added. 

Although the BKA already have a fantastically generous group of sponsors and supporters, it is actively looking for additional funding to help support the programme. Opportunities exist for corporate sponsorship at a range of levels as well as in-kind partners. 

BKA’s partners include B&G, Wild Graphics, Hamble Yacht Services, Harken, Henri Lloyd, North Sails, Ocean Safety, Premium Liferafts and RORC. For more information about the Academy and how you can help with fundraising visit www.britishkeelboatacademy.org.

You can follow the latest news from the BKA on Facebook (British Keelboat Academy) and Twitter (@tweetBKA).