Cervantes Trophy Race.

2019 Cervantes Trophy Race report.

4th of May 2019. Race start 9am. Forecast 25 knot Northerly breeze easing to 5 knots over the next 30 hours.

Jubilant and crew departed Southsea marina at sunrise 5.30am in order to reach the identity gate and start in good time. A very light but cold breeze from the north with a sky that suggested changeable weather.

RORC have issued the race course. Quite a challenge starting at Cowes with a reach to the Nab tower, a beat to Littlehampton then an 80 mile downwind leg before another upwind leg and final reach into Le Havre. Race distance 159nm.

As 9am approached the breeze picked up to 15 to 20 knots, 110 yachts start this years regatta. We head East on a beam reach with full mainsail and 90% genoa, our first mark is no mans land fort to starboard, this will put the wind on to the port quarter, as we approach it the breeze begins to gust to 25 knots, we decide to stay with the current sail plan, some yachts set spinnakers. Pretty soon there were yachts broaching, shredding there sails and loosing their spinnakers in the sea, we saw one yacht knocked down flat. Quite dramatic, all the time the gusts are building to around 30 knots. We had a front row seat as Redshift the overall winner caught the wind with full sails and rocketed past us at 20 knots or more just feet away, a fabulous sight to see.

The next rounding near the Nab tower would take us upwind to Littlehampton, we reefed the mainsail & genoa for our beat upwind. We’re having a good duel with several boats heading upwind while watching larger and faster yachts pass already on the downwind channel crossing leg. We saw more broaches and torn spinnakers by the front runners, by 4pm several boats had retired. We rounded Littlehampton early evening with winds in the high 20s gusting to mid 30s in the squally conditions.

We set off downwind with a reefed mainsail and full genoa pushing 10 knots over the ground keeping up with several faster yachts, we had mostly clear sky. At around 9pm a weather front approached from the North, winds gusted to near 40 knots. Not long after the front passed we heard a man overboard mayday call on the VHF ( the casualty was recovered safely ). This race was catching quite a few yachts out, more retirements.

Jubilant sailed on solid, sturdy and fast in to the darkness of the English channel. By 2am mid channel the sky was clear and moonless. For a sailor & stargazer like myself there’s no better way to see the stars than being offshore on a moonless night, horizon to horizon stars, the Milky way low but bright in the Northern sky. The international space station passed overhead shining bright.

By the early hours of the 5th the wind had settled to a steady 20 knots.  We were sailing well gybing across the channel through the night swapping places with 2 other yachts, passing within 50 mtrs on each gybe, exciting sailing at close quarters in the pitch black, you see their tricolour light bobbing around getting very close, distance is hard to judge until they are very close so a keen watch has to be kept all the time.

Unfortunately the weather forecast was not in Jubilant’s favour, the breeze was going to ease as we approached the French coast. The fast boats would benefit big time. We needed to reach the next mark a few hours before the tide turned. We did make the mark mid morning before the tide turned and set upwind in a reducing breeze for some 20 miles. As we made the last turn towards Le Havre the asymmetric spinnaker was set for a good reach in light airs to the finish.

The breeze eased to a 5 to 10 knot puff of air but the asymmetric and a fair tide kept Jubilant sailing between 4 and 8 knots over the ground. We crossed the line at 19:39 5th of May. 1 day 10 hours 39 minutes elapsed time. We had finished the first qualifier, we are half way there.

Throughout the race the crew were kept feed by Nicky supplying meals drinks and snacks, in my opinion one of the toughest jobs on an offshore yacht. You need good sea legs to be up for the job, and let me tell you Nicky has great legs.

A few words from Nicky:     I think we all worked well as a team although some of us had only met the evening before and had not sailed on Jubilant, myself included. The crew were kept well fed and watered although at times I found it very challenging, because of  the swell just trying to make a cup of tea is not an easy task when the boat is heeling over at 20 degrees pouring hot water into the cups without spilling it is virtually impossible and I found myself moping up slops regularly.  Pies and pasty’s seem to be popular and easy to heat up so I think they will be a regular midday snack along with pot noodles and the healthy fruit of course. This was my first major race experience, it was exciting watching the big fast boats and being involved in the same race, to see how fast things can go wrong, just goes to show you really need to be totally aware of whats going on around you. I’m looking forward to sailing with the crew in the Myth of Malham race, feel free to make a cuppa any time lads 🙂

 

Since some of the crew only met the night before the start and were fairly new to Jubilant in race conditions, we sailed pretty well and safe. There were no injury’s breakages or problems. We got on well and can make a good team ready for the Myth of Malham.

We were rewarded with a change in the wind from Northerly to Southwest 15 knots for our sail back across the channel arriving back at Southsea by 19:30 6th of May to a warm welcome. A round trip of 260 miles.

A very enjoyable race with mixed conditions and a few challenges.

A huge thanks to Skipper Martin and all the Jubilant crew, new friends and a promising team. JOB DONE.

Thanks for looking.

 

ETA Le Havre Monday morning 6am. 26 hours later than expected. That’s sailing for you.

Cervantes trophy race course has been set. 160 nautical miles, bit of a zig zag across the channel. Passing Littlehampton heading south to the French coast, then back out into the channel before a SE run to the finish off Le Havre. Approximately 20 hours.

The crew are meeting up today on Jubilant to go through safety and tactics ready for tomorrows Race to Le Havre.

Cervantes check list complete. We’re fit and ready to race.

Latest XC forecast. Not bad at all. With this we can expect a decent spinnaker run, but it is only a prediction not actual.

29th May 5 days to the race, weather forecast is looking fairly good for Saturday, clear sky’s with a Northerly 12 – 18 mph breeze easing into the evening. Sunday veering to the Southwest. Hopefully not easing too much Saturday evening. ETA Le Havre early hours Sunday.

The Cervantes Trophy Race is Jubilant’s first qualifier, starting at 9am on the 4th of May. The course will be set by RORC soon and will be between 110 and 160 nm in length depending on weather predictions. Previous courses shown below.

Starting at Cowes, finishing at Le Havre, approximately 130 yachts have entered this years race, from Sigma 33’s to Volvo open 70’s.

Jubilant will be on AIS for tracking in this race.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-1.032/centery:50.793/zoom:14

Video, photo’s & a report of the race will be posted here and live video feeds during races on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jubilant-Fastnet-campaigns-2013-2019-530474330298394/