The Cone of Silence raised

by James Neill & Sail-World on 21 Mar 2005 Skipper James Neill explains just how his Reichel Pugh 30 out ran all the 50 footers and a Volvo 60 to take third place in the 2005 Sydney to Mooloolaba Race

‘We were lucky and I don’t think a 30 footer is going to repeat the result and beat the big boats in a 470 mile race any time soon. I say that because if 30 footer is not on the plane it is at least a couple of knots slower than a Volvo 60 all the time.

In almost every long race, there are periods of not much breeze or breeze from the wrong direction and at those times the 30’s are not on the plane. This certainly happened in this race, so while we had opened a bit of a lead on the big boats in the very fresh running in the first 10 hours, as the breeze lightened off and we went in to displacement sailing, the big guys caught and passed us pretty quickly.

This race was unusual in that with 200 miles to go, we were 20 miles behind the Farr 52 OD and Volvo 60 when a nice front came through with 25 - 30 knots under it.

We set everything we had and carried this breeze up to boats ahead.

Luckily for us, it was daylight and flat water so we could push hard. At the time the front came through we were a couple of miles ahead of Michael Spies (First National – Beneteau 44.7) and during the day we caught the Farr 40, then the 45 footers, then the 50’s and finally the Volvo 60.

Frankly we weren’t much quicker than the Volvo 60 or the Farr 52 OD and would never have caught up the whole 20 miles without riding the front up to them.

The race was not without its dramas. We lost the instruments early on and then the generator - which left us relying on the hand held GPS, an old school compass and torches.

We also snapped the masthead spinnaker halyard – which meant sending Andy Turton up the mast on a dark squally night with plenty of lump. Also we had lots of sail damage which kept our on board sail maker James Van Roon busy.

By then end all our new kites were unrepairable and we were left to gingerly sail the last 40 miles in 25 knots or so with our biggest spinnaker, the light air tissue paper ‘whitey’.

The sailing itself was exhilarating. When had plenty of fierce knockdowns of the kind that throw you across the boat and from which you can only recover by dropping the kite. But with the fear of a knock down comes the adrenalin rush of being on the edge.

Driving was the kind white-knuckle stuff that you feel like you can only sustain for 20 minutes. It commands you to forget all the worries of everyday life and give it 100% of your attention and for that reason it’s tremendously satisfying and addictive.

Probably the scariest thing is knowing you are about to take over driving in a few minutes time – or take over trimming for that matter because diligent trimming is equally important for avoiding crashes.

That period before you take over is always one of self doubt - you stand at the back getting thrown around by the violent helming needed to keep the boat on its feet and see white water everywhere – five feet above the rail from being on the plane and every minute or so the bow buries and a foot of white foam washes back through the cockpit.

Then when you take over, after a minute or two, it doesn’t seem so bad and you try to relax that vice like grip you have on the tiller and settle down. The doubts are gone and what seems like 5 minutes later someone says ‘change of watch’.

We had eight crew on the boat and I would like to thank them all. They were mostly young guys with a lot of energy and balls who all contributed. Also I would like to acknowledge ANZDL, who are the shipping line that taken the hassle out of shipping the boat.’

The next major event for The Cone of Silence is Transpac 2005. Go The Cone!!