RAOC Gazette - page 245
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1981 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | No |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1981 |
| Late date | 1981 |
| Transcription |
* ATLANTIC ADVENTURE P. AN RAOC ENTRY IN THE OBSERVER EUROPE I TRANSATLANTIC RACE BY MAJOR J. D. ROSS eased the sheets to slow down, we had two of the three in the Main and the heavy weather jib up, Thunderer ; )C was going very well but too fast, we were approaching tlw start line on a starboard tack along with one hundred and four other yachts but we were in danger of reaching the line before the start gun. I looked up at the towering grey sides oi l HMS Resolve, the Committee boat, to check the starting flags. My family and a whole host of friends were on a wing of the bridge to view the start, we daren't be early and incur any time penalty. I glanced behind, having heard a spinning winch over the roar of the wind, to see the white bow of a yacht .! ing on our stern, I yelled a warning and the startled face of Bonham appeared over the cockpit coaming, as she bore .!: into the wind to avoid striking us, " Oh sorry Male," she veiled as she passed a Utile too fast for a good start. "They shouldn't really allow females in this race they were one more hazard in an event already littered with, dangers." We had the radio on and could hear the calm collected voice of the Resolves First Officer counting down the seconds to the start fifty, forty five, forty. We loosened the sheets to slow down even more, it was looking good, we were in a fair position, forging down the line between the RFA Resolve and a Frigate at the other end of the line. Between us and the frigate there was an orange buoy that marked the end of the line for monohulls, with a seething mass of catamarans and trimarans jostling for position on the other side. Thirty, twenty five, twenty. A silver grey giant of a trimaran with a white and green main and far too much sail up. flew over a wave and we could see the under side of all three hulls as she shot past not twenty yards from us. There was a hale of angry shouts from anxious monohull crews suggesting not too politely that Gauloise II should take her trainer wheels com- plete with hydro foils to her own end of the line. Nine, eight, seven, six. We hauled in the sheets to speed up before the gun. We were in a good position. 1 hoped that all our friends and fellow RAOC Sailing Association Members were satisfied with our position on the line. They must be able to see us from the Committee boat and I wanted to avoid any criticisms in three or four weeks when the race was over. Three, two, one. We headed up to the line and shot across at six knots. We must have been in the first twenty. It was a good start. But the project had started about a year and a half before. I had been the proud owner of a twelve year old, rather tatty catamaran about which my wife was often rather rude. She was I looked up at the towering grey sides of H M S Resolve. My family and a whole host of friends were on a wing of the bridge to view the start — 203 — |
| Book number | R0250 |