Sponsored by Vinyl Solutions
Results PHHS
Channel Series
Results IRC
MOCRA Channel Series
Parallel Univierse's Day out! Benny's crew caught napping - Photos's by John Jaques also Myriams photos of Shebeen's crew and others.
PYRA Photo Gallery
The race Poole to St Vaast.....
The morning dawned, grey &
murky with a good stiff North Easterly breeze.
Brian in Deity started the
race at Vinyl Solutions setting a course straight to St Vaast finish, and the
fleet was off on time - Most flew spinnakers from the start, and it didn't take
long for the first broaches. Various damages were incured - Pitraus' spinnaker
self destructed shortly after the start & various other damage was sustained
by other boats, and kites started to be replaced with Jibs. On Two Fast we held
the kite until our Guy broke ( I can't say I was too upset to be taking the kite
down as it was gusting to around 30 knots by this time and was getting
rocky)
The fleet split up & the seas built - I dont know where Hughy was
but lots of people were calling him!
Zorra passed us and headed off at a much
higher course.... we wondered if he was heading for Le Havre?
As we neared
The French Coast we spotted some familiar yachts - and there was Zorra again
well off to the East, and a clutch of boats close in to the west, belting
through us on less tide. We arrived at the finish, and anchored up in the bay to
the lee of Tatihou to wait for the gates to open, and enjoyed a well deserved
beer in a quiet calm anchorage - what happened to all that
weather?
Saturday was a rest day in St Vaast, and Sunday dawned with
dismal forecasts of Force 5-6 with gusts of 7 from North to NorthWest -
not ideal for a race to Cherbourg, but not a bad day to explore more of St
Vaast. The RO took the difficult decission to abandon racing for Sunday, and
rearrange the return race to leave St Vaast Port by 0300 on Monday in order to
clear the sill.
I can't comment on the return race as Alan & I were
retained with upset stomachs - I beleive it was rather rough to start with, with
a Northerly force 5-6. . . . we heard a Mayday from Zorra as we cruised round
to Cherbourg much later in the day......
From Mark the skipper of Zorra
Unbeknown to myself or Fiona, Zorra hit something in
the big seas coming out of St Vaast in the early morning of Bank Holiday Monday.
Didn't discover the water coming in through the cracks in the hull until in the
middle of the east-going shipping lane. Bilge pump had been doing a valiant job
of stemming the flow and made sense of the need to recharge the domestic battery
3 times since leaving St Vaast! Immediate concern was that the keel would
detach itself, causing Zorra to turn turtle and the almost instant decision was
made to put out a Mayday and get the liferaft on deck and secured. Having lost
the aerial from the top of the mast earlier in the morning, raising anybody was
difficult. Used up all the different types of flares we had until we saw ships
turn in our direction. After assistance from a Ukrainian tanker (with the
inevitable language problems), a Brittany Ferry standing by and the attendance
of a French helicopter and lifeboat, we decided to accept a tow from Javelin, a
UK based Sweden 39 en-route to the Solent and see whether the ingress of water
could continue to be dealt with by the bilge pump (now being supplied by both
batteries). Whilst having a welcome supper on board Javelin, the constant watch
to Zorra’s waterline indicated that she had sunk lower in the water. About 15
miles off the Needles, I reboarded her, found water above the floorboards and
asked Javelin to call for assistance. 60 minutes later and after a lot of
pumping and bailing, the Yarmouth lifeboat arrived like the cavalry over the
horizon and took over in a very professional manner. 2 crew in dry suits
boarded and we joined the lifeboat. Zorra then proceeded under her own engine
with the lifeboat following very closely (the crew on board Zorra indicating
that they believed she may go down at any minute). Made it into Lymington and
got hoisted out at 0130 with the keel swinging underneath and the rudder showing
significant damage as well. Got 3 hours sleep before going into work on Tuesday
morning, having meetings, sorting out insurance and repair quotes and then
racing (and winning!) on Eclipse at Poole in the evening. Worked out that I got
6.5 hours kip in 62 before finally getting into bed at 2200 on Tuesday for a
well deserved good night’s sleep. |
