Six CSORC members crewed Jeepster in the RORC Morgan Cup race from Cowes to Dartmouth, on Friday 12 and Saturday 13th June. Jeepster was skippered by Bruce Kavanagh, with Phil, James, Tom, Sam and Simon M as crew. It was an exhilarating and wonderful offshore race designed with tidal challenges and provided a first experience of offshore racing for some of the crew aboard. It was hard going being mostly head on into a strong westerly wind for most of the 24-hour race and a sea state that was up due to a previous week of strong winds. This made it tough but fun for the crew.
The initial forecast for Friday pm onwards was for light winds, but in fact the wind was quite strong – Force 5 to 6 Westerly with occasional gusts of F7 for most of Friday day and night and only abated to a F3 to 4 by mid-morning on Saturday. The route was an East going start from the Cowes Royal Yacht Squadron line, sailing down The Solent towards the forts off Ryde and Bembridge, then round to the south side of the Isle of Wight to St Catherine’s point. From there it was straight to Dartmouth.
On the Friday of race day, we met up at Mercury Marina Hamble and boarded Jeepster the CSORC J/109. Bruce gave the boat a check over before we set sail. Phil and Tom had been on the boat from the week before doing a training week. Sam, James and Simon joined
the boat on the Friday morning. After a safety briefing from Bruce, we got the boat ready to sail and then there was an alarm: a low battery voltage warning for the domestic batteries. With time ticking down to when we needed to leave for the race start, Bruce and Sam did an
excellent job of quickly diagnosing the problem – a connection that had come off across the batteries meant they had not been charging from the shore power. We might not have been able to sail with no instruments, but now the problem was fixed we could at least charge with
the engine. We got underway by 11:15am and headed towards Cowes for the 2pm race start. When we emerged from Southampton water into the Solent, a gusty wind and choppy sea gave us our first taste of what was to come. We put one reef in the main but later required two reefs. We gilled about round the Cowes start line as more and more boats appeared in order to take part in the race. Most boats were reefed. Once we had radioed our participation intention and confirmed crew to Race HQ, we were ready to start.
About 5 minutes before the start time, we unfurled the jib and cut the engine, then jostled for position along the start line. It was a downwind start so we had to give the line plenty of room to avoid going over too early. A minute before the start we turned and headed to the line and crossed just after the start gun went. We had a great start and were up with the best racers for a while!
Despite gusty winds, all boats hoisted their spinnakers. We were screaming down the Solent towards the forts past Portsmouth at about 10 knots! It was a hairy moment at No Mans Land Fort, dropping the spinnaker close to many boats doing the same thing; passing close to the fort there was a wind shadow and then hardening up to sail towards Bembridge Ledge. From here on the race was to windward for the next 24 hours!
We beat for a few hours round to the south side of the Isle of Wight crossing the paths of other yachts doing many tacks to stay close inshore to avoid the worst of the tide that was now building against us. By the time we reached St Catherine’s lighthouse, the tide against
us was at its maximum, so progress was slow. The sail here required many tacks which gave the crew a good workout. It was now about 7pm in the evening. The wind was a strong with F6 to 7 gusts, with notable waves giving us a soaking and making the helm concentrate
hard. It was a while before we reached the Needles around dusk. The sea state caused some to feel sea sick!
The faster boats in the race were by now heading across Christchurch Bay. We followed and headed towards Christchurch then out towards Swanage and St Albans Head. Phil very bravely went below to prepare supper, but some of us could only manage a bit of food.
We started our watch system of three hours on and three hours off as it got dark. Bruce, James and Simon took the first watch in the dark. The wind was still quite strong and the waves were getting bigger. The second watch Phil, Tom and Sam had a hard time in the strong wind gusting to F7 in the dark and even bigger waves as they passed off Portland. Things improved slightly as dawn approached at around 4am when James, Bruce and Simon went back on watch. The waves were at their largest but the wind was decreasing back to a F5, still on the nose. As the sun rose it began to turn into a pleasant sail across Lyme Bay. A large group of dolphins joined us for a while, which was lovely to see. No one could stomach much breakfast as we carried on across Lyme Bay out of sight of land until we started our approach to the finish and saw the Devon coast line appear. As we navigated towards the Dart entrance the wind backed slightly to the SW to help us a bit to avoid tacking near the end. We crossed the finish line at about 3.30pm on Saturday and headed up the river to the Dart
Royal YC where there was lovely BBQ and the bar was open. We managed to find a mooring spot at the YC.
What a lovely scenic place to finish the race in the sunshine! We left our wet gear on the deck to dry out and attended the prize giving and BBQ. It was great seeing the crews of the other boats on dry land. Lots of boats did not finish the race. Many retired due to equipment failure in the strong wind and waves, but all yachts were accounted for. After the race, all were tired but it was nice to stretch out on shore for a while and enjoy a beer and food.
The trip back was a pleasant sail on a sunny and warm evening across Lyme Bay, with a lovely sunset and the spinnaker up. It was a much less lumpy sea and easier to get some sleep off watch. We came across the dolphins again at night which were hard to make out in
the dark but we heard them splashing next to the boat and made out the whistling calls and breathing out on the surface. The whole passage back was quick with a favourable tide for much of the way, but the wind was again head on the nose after Lyme Bay. We used the motor for the last bit in order to make the tidal gate at the Needles channel into the Solent. We arrived back at Hamble about 12:30 on the Sunday in time to pack up the boat before heading home.
The whole trip was an amazing experience and a privilege to take part in such an epic and iconic race. Thanks to Bruce for his excellent skippering of the boat and teaching us a lot about offshore sailing, Phil for his help with everything on the boat and knowledge of sailing.
Tom, Sam and James for your excellent crewing, knowledge and experience. It was a great crew, we all pitched in helping with the various tasks needed. I look forward to sailing with CSORC again, and am grateful to the CSORC for providing the yacht for us to sail and
race in, and to all who put work into it. I look forward to doing another sail again sometime; maybe the Morgan Cup next year!
Simon Millington