RAOC Gazette - page 248
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 |
as one of the most dangerous on the coast of the United Slates, It is an area frequently shrouded in fog with shifting sand banks, strong tidal rips and a minimum depth of three foot, It stretches two hundred and fifty nm south west from Nan- tucket Island. We got a good fix from Cape Cod and the Nan- tucket Light Vessel when we were one hundred and fifty nm from the shoals and then another about a one hundred nm off. After that it was as if they switched off the RDF stations, we could get no signals From any of the navigational beacons. All we had was an aero beacon on Nantucket Island which was permanently obscured by a high altitude weather report on the same frequency, We were committed by this stage, we had to go through the shoals, I worked out that the current could not push us more than twelve miles off course so we headed for a buoy twelve miles from the nearest danger. We kept a very close watch on the course and in ten hours heard the buoy after seventy miles of fog. It was a great boost to morale as we were then able to feel our way across all the banks using the echo sounder. They were indeed most impressive with standing waves and permanently breaking tops over some of the shallower areas. Thunderer was going very well with the large Spinner up, along with the Blooper and a reefed main. We had had a Spinner up now for three days, and we were getting quite good at one- man jibes and spinnaker changes, although we did make a horrible mistake one night We had left the large Spinnaker up too long and at about midnight Carl called me to help get it down. It was dark, the foredeck was a spiders web of preventers, sheets, hauls and guys. The deck lights did not work. Thunderer was rolling and bouncing along, and what with one thing and another, we ended up with £400 worth of Spinnaker flying out horizontally from the mast head cracking and flapping about. We turned down wind, eased the Halliard and eventually after avoiding two fishing boats that appeared out of the fog, we caught the Spinnaker in the lee of the main and dragged it down. It was a good hour before we built up the courage to set the smaller Spinnaker. One misty morning with the sun burning down over a milky undulating sea my drousy watch was disturbed by an odd vibration. I looked up, the Spinnaker and Blooper both draw- ing well in the light air. They looked OK, so I got back to my potato peeling. The vibration became louder so grudgingly I ambled forward and lifted up the skirt of the Spinnaker to peer forward into the mist. There fifty yards ahead was a seventy foot fishing boat hauling nets, the crew calmly gutting the fish as they came up, and watching disinterestingly this large red and blue balloon like spectre rushing towards them, sure in the knowledge that they had right of way. The vibration had been the noise of their winch gear. We passed within twenty foot of his bow but only because 1 sprinted back to the Tiller and altered course. If double handed sailing was this frought with dangers then single handed was for the birds. At least we could keep watch for most of the time, We were now through the Nantucket shoals and making five knots, still under Spinnaker, for Nomans Island; which we rounded by DR and Echo sounder once again in the fog. We then steered three hundred and fifteen degrees for Brenton reef tower and the finishing line. The mist cleared long enough for us to sight a navigation buoy and fix our position. We were thirty miles from the line. We switched on the VHF to report in, but could get no answer from the Royal Western Yacht Club at Goat Island Marine. We called up the local coast guard station and asked him to pass on our ETA, After taking all the details the coast guard informed us that he had an emergency on and could help us no further. We left the set on and heard a French boat trying to report in. The fog had cleared by this time and we could see a sail ahead of us, The wind was strengthening but we decided to hang on to the large Spinnaker in order to catch this Frenchman. I took over from the Navik self-steering when the helm became too heavy. The wind was veering all the time and eventually we had to take down the Spinnaker and set a genoa. A few hours later we spoke with ' Poppy' which had arrived earlier and they told us that my wife Tina was waiting in New- port. This was good news, because we had made such good time I had thought that we would arrive before her. We crossed the line at 1444 GMT that's 0144 local and started the beat up Rhode Island sound. Half way up a motor boat came towards us and held us in his spot light. She turned towards us and I heard my wife's voice call, " hallo Thunderer." The launch towed us in and. we moored along- side Kapitan II a Polish forty three footer which had arrived one and a half hours before us. Tina came on board and reluctantly, for we had not washed for weeks, welcomed us both with a kiss. Then two bottles of champagne were polished off with ease, as we talked in the dawn. We had finished! There was no major damage to the boats, no loss of kit and we were fit and well. We had crossed in twenty five days fourteen hours and forty four minutes. We were sixth in our class and fifty second overall We both consider ourselves to be very fortunate to have taken part in a race such as this. The memory of the race itself and the social events during the week before in Plymouth and the week after in Newport will always be with us, We are most grateful to the Army for allowing us the time, lending us the charts and feeding us, to the Corps and its Sail- ing Association Committee for trusting us enough to allow us to charter Thunderer RAOC (at a very reasonable rate), for overcoming many problems, for handling much of the organisa- tion and preparation for the race and for bringing the boat back. We both thank Mr Cyril Roberts for his generous donations and our wives for their forbearance. We had finished. There was no major damage to the boat, no loss of kit and we were fit and well CORPS SQUASH Date Nov 5 9 12 19 Dec 4-6 17 Fixture RAEC Seaford College R, Signals RMAS Army Inter-Corps Championships .. Camberley SRC .. Jan 13 RA 21 RMAS 27-30 Army Champion- ships Feb 4 RCT 10-12 Inter-Services Championships 18 APTC Camberley SRC 25 FIXTURES Venue Beaconsfield Deepcut Deepcut Sandhurst Aldershot Deepcut . Lansdowne Club Deepcut Deepcut isoo Frimley Green Aldershot Camberley 1800 1900 1830 RAEC Seaford College Deepcut Seaford Apr 10 Army Inter-Unit Final Aldershot 206 1500 1830 Aldershot Mar 4 15 SPORTING Time 1900 1830 1800 1830 PERSONALITY HAS your unit got a sporting personality, if so, why not send in a black and white photograph and a short write up for our sports page? |
| Book number | R0250 |