RAOC Gazette - page 246
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 |
reading an Observer article about a twin hulled proa fa rather peculiar design which sails backwards or forwards depending on the wind direction) which was entered in thai year's single handed race. She laughed out loud, saying that this boat was as funny looking as mine, and perhaps I should lake mine across the Atlantic Ha H a ! ! Well the seed was sown and after many letters and discussions, phone calls and meetings [ had a very stable reliable and most importantly compatible crew in Captain Carl Hoe. AG9 our postings branch and our units, had agreed that we could both combine leave plus a few weeks to make up the six or seven weeks necessary for the race, and the RAOC Sailing Association had agreed to us chartering the Corps Yacht, and to her coming back in five or six legs of an adventure training exercise. The race was organised by The Royal Western Yacht Club of England at Plymouth and sponsored by the Observer newspaper and the French radio station Europe I. The one hundred and four starters were split into six classes according to length. We were in class five along with eighteen other yachts, fourteen of which were longer than ourselves. In fact out of the one hundred and four starters, ninety were longer and therefore potentially faster. We knew we could not come first, but we felt that this was a competition against the Atlantic, and if we could get across in reasonable time, arriving in good order we would have succeeded. We both stayed in the cockpit for a few hours after the start, deciding to go in to a watch system at six that evening. There were many boats about and we chose carefully our time to tack across the fleet for the Lizard point. l Kriter Lady II, 1 a sixty eight foot monohull with three unstayed masts, a new design of sail plan and John Oakley (of Lionheart fame) at the helm, came past us at quite a rate lacking shortly before us and rapidly drawing away into the distance. We were rather pleased that we had been ahead of her at the start, little did we know that we would encounter her behind us eight days later. That tack took us in towards Fowey, where we turned south again reaching the Lizard point at dusk. The last yachts we saw were a twenty nine foot racing machine called k Poppy f * which had gained a lot of publicity before the race, and a, British forty one fool monohull ' Wild Thyme of Durham.* With night full both yachts became just navigation lights and with constant sail trimming we seemed to be drawing ahead, There were many lights as we rounded the Lizard, but we were the closest in and therefore the windward boat. The next obstacle was the Scillies, and the course took us north of them, past the Round Island Light ship and out across the Atlantic on the great circle route, the shortest distance to Newport. We would probably see Cape Race the South Western Tip of Newfoundland. From there along the South Eastern coast of Nova Scotia, north of Sable Island, south of Nantucket Island, and in towards the finishing line at Brenton Reef Tower outside Newport. I was on watch as the dawn came up the next morning and with it the Round Island light ship. We had seen the loom of its light in the night, but with the very rough sea kicked up by the forty hve knot south westerly wind, we had not been able to identify it for sure. I was glad that we were close enough for a visual identification, because the Scillies are notoriously dangerous with strong tides and shallow water. There was a strong set to the north and the making tack was to the north, so accepting the inevitable, we made our departure from the Round Island Light ships on a course of two hundred and ninety five degrees, slightly north of the great circle route which would put us to the north of a line of lows stacking up in the Atlantic thus hopefully giving us favourable winds. There were two thousand miles of ocean ahead before we approached Cape Race, and we began to settle into a routine of four hours night time watches with the day split into two six hour periods, W r e didn't eat much those first few days. Between us and the frigate was an orange buoy which marked the end of the line for monohulls with a seething mass of catamarans and trimarans jostling for position on the other side 204 — |
| Book number | R0250 |