The Solent Slog
Adrian Lenc of Shukers, Shrewsbury ready for his 'slog'
A journal of a fantastic day, by Adrian Lenc... Corporate Sales Manager at Shukers, Shrewsbury...
Saturday June 5th the weekend of the slog has arrived its 6:30am as we hitch the Nacra f20 up to the Defender 110 XS.
I have now been up for an hour after spending an evening with the Shropshire Chamber of Commerce at their 10th anniversary presentation dinner and was feeling a little jaded already. Off we set on the 210 mile journey to Southampton, with the Defender pulling effortlessly and an absolute joy to drive. I know you are going to think “he is bound to say that he sells them” but you really do notice how well a Land Rover performs when you use it for the purpose it was built for. I found the Defender so easy to drive even with a 20 feet long boat behind it. Several hours later we arrive at our destination: Weston Sailing Club just as fresh as when we left Shrewsbury and by my calculations the Defender averaged 25-26 mpg loaded up and towing.
We say our hello’s and set about preparing the f20 for the afternoons practice race, a dash up to a mark called Coronation, back to the eastern docks and then over the finish at Weston. At 4:00pm the practice race began, we set off in light winds however enough to go out on the wire, fantastic fun, I would highly recommend it if you have never done it. We felt confident running in second place on the first leg only to run the dagger boards aground opposite the entrance to the Hambledon River. My skipper Simon said “lift the daggers”, but we can’t. We are truly grounded so next he says, “jump off”, I look at him slightly confused as we are in the middle of Southampton water .We jumped into knee to waist deep water and lift the boat clear of the shingle bank which we were grounded on. Off we sail again rueing our school boy error and sailed in 7th position, not bad considering. During the evening we discovered we were not the only victims of the shale bank! The following morning would be an early rise for a briefing for the main event so only a few beers were consumed and the odd tequila thanks to Michelle, (commodore from our club at Bala)
9:00am Sunday morning - briefing for the main event and the course is set with a 10:00am start planned. Blast down to Coronation then on to Browndown and then to Gilkicker over by Portsmouth. We then cross over the Solent to Mother bank and then on to Prince Consort in the mouth of Cowes. From there we must cross the Solent again to go through a gate at Peters & May, from here onward a huge slog up to Hurst-Echopilot , then back to Weston via the gate at Peters & May, 52 nautical miles as the crow flies. The weather forecast was good, however the wind was due to fill in during the afternoon so the backup plan was to shorten the race if the lead boat had not reached Peters & May by 2:00 pm. We are provided with tracking devices to be fastened to the mast and Simon’s advice was to wear white rash vests over our life jackets so we didn’t get snagged on anything and were more visible if we were to fall off! I didn’t dwell on this for long because he is joking surely?
At 10:30 am the race finally begins, the sun is out and there is a steady enough wind to twin wire up along Southampton water towards our first marker. Jostling for positions and planning our strategy the wind dies on us around Stokes bay as the fleet all catch up. It is now mid day so we take time out to rehydrate and eat some power bars provided by one of the race sponsors. The wind starts to fill in as forecasted, we round Gilkiker and head across the Solent towards Cowes. We are now absolutely flying along both out on the wire and I need to dump power out of the mainsail as the sea starts to get choppy. As we pass Cowes the wind must now be about force 5 and there is a 1.5 metre swell running, it started to get a bit intense out there. We check our watches trying to figure if the lead boat will make it to Peters & May by 2:00pm, the conditions now were quite rough.
About 100 meters dead ahead I spot a catamaran capsize and as we approach it Simon said “make sure you can see two heads by the boat. As we approach there is only one person clinging to the boat who is shouting “I have lost Jim”, Simon then instructed me to keep an eye over my left shoulder for him. I spot him about 40 metres away from the stricken catamaran. I now realise how important the white rash vests over our life jacket really are. The race is now the last thing on our minds we have to rescue Jim, its blowing a force 6, the swell has increased and we are in the middle of the Solent. We pull alongside Jim drag him on board as Simon instructs “all get to the stern as I bear away, she’s going to take off”. We accelerate so quickly in such rough conditions it is truly amazing, we then need to drop Jim back off at his boat to the helm, who is still clinging to their catamaran waiting to right it and continue.
On our first attempt we do not get quite close enough so we bear away again, once again the acceleration in phenomenal. The second attempt we get Jim back to his boat, as he jumps off and reaches the mast, “don’t let go we are not coming back again “we yell. Once again we bear off however with just two of us on board now the acceleration is even greater and I fly from one side of the trampoline to the other just managing to cling on. Nervously I laugh as we continue on with the race; we are now both physically drained but continue onward. Simon nearly is knocked off by a large wave and I start to think maybe we should consider turning back. We slow up for a breather, then spotting other catamarans go through the gate at Peters & May, they then turn, hoist their spinnakers then head for home. We battle on towards the mark, as we reach it we are instructed the race has been shortened due to the deteriorating conditions. I feel a mass of relief as I raise the spinnaker and we head for home extremely quickly now with all three sails up. Still in the middle of the Solent as we put in a jibe we capsize ourselves, (this is the first time I have done a capsize drill and what better place)! After losing our righting rope we were then forced to improvise. We right the f20 and sail back into the calm of Southampton waters. Laughing and joking about what had just happened, we completely forget we were still in a race. We were then able to thoroughly enjoy the sail back, both out on the wires all the way back to Weston as we finished at approximately 3:00 pm.
Back on dry land everyone was asking “would you do it again”? My reply, “not a chance”, however on reflection it was such a fantastic adventure I think would. Next time I would study the conditions hard before making a final commitment. We pack the f20 away, load it up onto the trailer and attend the presentation to find we came in 17th which while a little disappointing, was ok considering what we had been through. Tired from the events we set off on our journey home, pulling up out of the campsite in low box and double de-clutching into high. Once again, the Defender proving to be a fantastic vehicle as we made the 210 mile journey home.
I would like to say a few thanks to:
- Shukers Shrewsbury, for the use of the Defender 110 XS for the trip.
- Grant Piggot of GP Sails and Nacra UK , for the loan of the Nacra F20 while Simon’s new F18 is on order, the hats to keep the sun off and the so important white sailing tops.
- www.gpsails.com
- www.nacra.co.uk
- Weston Sailing Club, our hosts for the event, www.weston.org.uk
The event sponsors
- Wildwind Holidays
www.wildwind.co.uk - Seasure for the power bars (sorry we lost some overboard)
www.sea-sure.co.uk
Finally a special thanks to my mate Simon Flack for getting us both back onto dry land safely!
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