Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup - Unsatisfactory conditions on day 4

by Trish Jenkins on 24 Jul 2014 Day four of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup was one Principal Race Officer Stuart Childerley and his team would prefer to forget.

With the best wind forecast for early morning, the 27 boats in nine teams started an hour early from a line off Peel Bank. The plan was for them to sail north to the North Ryde Middle mark and then east out of the Solent and into Hayling Bay onto a windward-leeward course.

Childerley recounted: 'The boats started reaching out towards the Forts and there were a few big holes there and then six of the boats got to St Helens [mark in Hayling Bay]. Meanwhile the rest of the fleet was being affected badly by big holes in the wind, so we had a situation where probably over half of the fleet wouldn't have finished within the time limit. So we had to abandon that one.'

There followed a long wait for the boats in the Solent to reach the new start area in Hayling Bay before a second attempt at race four of the series could be made - this time a windward-leeward in an offshore northeasterly breeze of 6-7 knots. Unfortunately as the boats were approaching the leeward mark the wind shifted hard right, by more than 90°, into the south. The race committee spotted this quickly enough to lay a new weather mark, but after the top six boats had rounded it the breeze dropped away to nothing and the fleet came to a standstill. This race was abandoned too.

'It was just pretty unsatisfactory,' said Childerley. 'We have had one race in this series when there was a bit of a shut down. I am trying at all costs to avoid that again.'

Unfortunately conditions for the next two days are not looking much better.

Mike Broughton, meteorologist for the Irish team, current leader in the Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup, explains that there is currently an area of high pressure centred over Norway, bringing Mediterranean conditions to the UK, but making conditions difficult for yachting. 'The northeasterly wind has to come all the way across 150 miles of land to get to us and so it is very patchy and shifty. Then you have a sea breeze that is trying to make it in and is fighting it. Today we had a full on fight with no one winning. It is difficult, but it is what it is.'

Broughton says that tomorrow it could be even worse with a trough passing over, bringing rain showers.

RORC Vice Commodore Michael Boyd, who is the co-charterer with Niall Dowling of the Irish team's Grand Soleil 43 Quokka 8, commented: 'It was an impossibly challenging day for the PRO and I don't envy his job. In retrospect maybe he could have shortened the courses, but that is all 20-20 hindsight.'

Boyd added that he was happy with the position the Irish boats were in when the two attempts at race four were abandoned today. 'We would have advanced a few more points, but the races weren't fair. In the first there were four separate fleets.

'The forecasts we have seen for the next three days is for a declining wind. So I think we just have to sail in what God gives us and be patient. This is a sport and you just have to stay focussed and alert.'

Jean Philippe Cau, sailing on Hervé Borgoltz' Grand Soleil 44R, Eleuthera, in the France Red team, said that in the first attempt at race four they had been very pleased with their performance, matching Anthony O'Leary's Ker 39, Antix. He observed that when that race was abandoned there had been a gap of more than a mile between the front runners and those astern.

'And in the second race we did well also,' Cau continued. 'We were in the match with the first group of boats including Quokka, and at the weather buoy when the wind disappeared it was very difficult to pass the boats. We were not happy with Quokka [overlapped on the outside of them at the second weather mark] so we had a little fight with them! There were red flags going up!'

In addition to sailing, Cau has also been responsible for putting together the giant French four team entry in this year's event. He says he is pleased with his country's performance, particularly France Green, which includes Eric De Turkheim's radical new A13 Teasing Machine and Eric Basset's modified Farr 30, Motivé. 'If the Farr 30 is able to do reasonably well in the next races, which is especially possible in light winds, I think there is really the possibility to do well. My prognostic is that we will have two teams on the podium.'

Tomorrow the race management team will once again aim to get racing underway at 10:00 BST. Childerley concludes: 'If we can get at least one in tomorrow, Saturday is looking more promising and, with a couple of jiggles around, we'll get the series in. But most important is that I want to give people really good racing. That is the key.'

Sail No	Bow No	Boat	Type of Boat	Team Name	Handicap	Series Points	Solent Inshore Race 1	Solent Inshore Race 2	Offshore Race PF2.5
USA1253	26	Catapult	Ker 40	Ireland	1.210	18.5	7	4	7.5
IRL3939	25	Antix	Ker 39	Ireland	1.131	52	1	1	50
GBR2215L	27	Quokka 8	Grand Soleil 43	Ireland	1.100	55.5	23	5	27.5
FRA38757	06	Teasing Machine	A13	France Green	1.174	33.5	4	27	2.5
FRA38749	04	Chenapan3	A35R	France Green	1.042	37	9	13	15
FRA56002	05	Motivé	Farr 30	France Green	1.056	81.5	13	21	47.5
FRA35421	02	Goa	A40	France Blue	1.088	29.5	6	6	17.5
FRA36777	01	Codiam	Grand Soleil 43	France Blue	1.102	63.5	12	19	32.5
FRA35439	03	Inis Mor	Ker 39	France Blue	1.123	79	25	9	45
NED40010	17	Cutting Edge	Ker 40	GBR Red	1.199	23	10	8	5
GBR8888N	16	Cobra	King 40	GBR Red	1.118	46	3	3	40
GBR3700L	18	Fatjax	X 37	GBR Red	1.037	103.5	24	12	67.5
FRA29960	09	Pen Koent	First 40.7	France Red	1.047	52	15	17	20
NED7025	08	Eleuthera	Grand Soleil 44 R	France Red	1.111	67	8	24	35
FRA5040B	07	Beelzebuth 3	Grand Soleil 40	France Red	1.061	78.5	16	20	42.5
GBR7745R	23	Eala Of Rhu	Swan 45	Scotland	1.181	41.5	2	2	37.5
GBR8140C	24	Zephyr	First 40	Scotland	1.092	58.5	17.5	16	25
GBR7737R	22	Aurora	Corby 37	Scotland	1.094	101.5	19	25	57.5
GBR741R	19	Hooligan VII	Ker 40	GBR White	1.192	48	27	11	10
IRL39000	21	Localletterbox Zero II	Mills 39	GBR White	1.117	74.5	5	7	62.5
GBR8601R	20	INO	Corby 36	GBR White	1.081	88	11	22	55
FRA35080	10	Dunkerque Plaisance - Gill Racing Team	A35	France White	1.030	58	17.5	18	22.5
FRA35950	12	Nutmeg Sparkling Charter	J/122	France White	1.077	64.5	26	26	12.5
FRA27691	11	MUSIX	Grand Soleil 37	France White	1.026	94	20	14	60
GBR1242R	15	Yeoman of Wight	J/109	GBR Blue	1.028	54	14	10	30
GBR3213L	14	Dusty P	First 40	GBR Blue	1.079	97.5	22	23	52.5
GBR1466R	13	Diamond Jem	J/109	GBR Blue	1.025	101	21	15	65

 

Team Name	Team Points	Team Place
Ireland	126	1
France Green	152	2
France Blue	172	3
GBR Red	172.5	4
France Red	197.5	5
Scotland	201.5	6
GBR White	210.5	7
France White	216.5	8
GBR Blue	252.5	9

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