Bewl - Spring Bank Holiday - Nigel Knowles
I
suppose the auguries were not good. Richard had hurt his foot badly,
Rodger's wisdom tooth was playing up, Mike was at the Monaco Grand Prix
and most of the other "regulars" were otherwise engaged. It was left to
Bryan Clements and me to defend the honour of Aquarius at the Bewl
Valley S C's Spring Regatta.
Now, once upon a time, in less pressured times, this was
a splendid 3 day affair. Aquarius visitors were able to camp in the
adjacent field, use the Club's facilities during the day and sample the
fare of local hostelries in the evening. Nowadays it is still a
splendid affair but most people go for only one day, either Sunday
(handicap racing) or Monday (pursuit racing) and sleep in their own
beds (Richard has been known to buck the trend and sleep in his car -
presumably in a pub car park?). Bryan and I elected go on the Monday
and duly set off with the Club Topper piggy-back on my Laser.
We arrived in good time for a 10.30 briefing. The sky was clear,
the sun was shining and the surface of the water was like a mirror!
Actually not quite a perfect mirror - there were some disturbances
evident - but these were attributable to oarsmen or fishermen and
certainly not wind! Undeterred we rigged the boats.
Of
course the idea of pursuit racing is that the slowest boats start first
followed by progressively faster ones at intervals according to their
handicap such that in theory, other things being equal, they all finish
together after 1 hours sailing. Fortunately for the race
officials, other things are usually not equal, so the fleet is usually
well spread out at the finish- and so it proved!
Anyway Bryan in the Topper was sailing the slowest
boat and therefore was supposed to start first. Unfortunately in the
near flat calm conditions he failed to make his allotted start time so
started late. The gods were not smiling on Bryan - no sooner had he
crossed the line than the wind started to pick up and to change
direction such that by the time the Lasers started we had a gentle
force 1-2 for an easy beat to the first windward mark whereas Bryan had
had to put in an extra tack and was struggling to make the mark as the
faster boats passed him.
Rounding this first mark I looked back to note some
ominous looking cummulo-nimbus on the horizon (i.e big black clouds!)
but thought nothing of it as I set off on a broad reach chasing after
couple of Laser Radials ahead. Suddenly it went quite dark and glancing
back I saw a rain shower approaching. A squall hit me a few seconds
later. The good news was that the wind in the squall was from
essentially the same direction… the bad news was that it
increased to frightening force, blew away my hat and started to hurl
hail stones onto my follicly challenged head while I struggled to keep
control as the boat took off on a plane at seemingly suicidal speed!
My laser normally whines when it planes fast
(there's a nick in the leading edge of the centreboard) but at this
speed it was screaming and doing nothing for my feeling of well being!
My main concern (apart from not really being in control!) was not being
able to see more than about 10 yards ahead and knowing that, not too
far in front, there was a concrete dam across my path. How could I get
off the plane and back in control?..(Richard and Mike don't cover this
in AQSC.'s sail training manual!)….Any attempt to turn upwind at
this speed was likely to result in broaching and rolling the boat and
I've broken too many spars and bruised too many limbs in the past to
want to do this deliberately! On the other hand if I stayed on the same
course I would hit the dam with a mighty whack which was even less
appealing! Should I just jump off the back and abandon the boat?....
I'm not sure quite what did happen, except that
somehow I did come off the plane without capsizing, turned into wind
and promptly got into irons, with the boom thrashing violently from one
side to another and waves washing over the cockpit. This wasn't much
fun! but I didn't really have time to reflect on this, before the wind
caught me on the other tack and I took off on the plane again…
fortunately away from the dam and vaguely in the right direction for
the race!
By this time the gods were making signs of peace,
…the hail had given way to rain and visibility improved so I
could see where I was going. Just as well really, because it was a real
disaster area! Overturned boats littered the course and the safety
boats were really struggling to cope with a number of crews in evident
distress and it was quite tricky avoiding the debris! Conditions
continued to improve and I made the next mark, still on the plane,
feeling quite exhilarated!
The wind continued to decrease, and settled for a
gentle 1-2; the sun came out, we dried out and warmed up and finished
the race with no further drama. I came ashore to find that Bryan,
wisely had retired and moreover, having got his new boots wet had
decided to reef his Topper in readiness for the afternoon race. Of the
23 boats that started, only 7 finished. It was reported that the wind
speed on the committee boat was measured at 55kts. ( Question:. Why
were they measuring wind speed in those conditions? Would you have such
presence of mind when all around you boats are capsizing?)
Bewl has an excellent Clubhouse and provides some
excellent catering facilities. After a welcome lunch we took to the
water again for the afternoon race, better prepared this time for what
the gods had for us. However after the morning's drama, sailing was
relatively uneventful in the variable force 1-2 winds. Bryan, in the
reefed Topper, was frustratingly uncompetitive and finished 21. I had a
good sail, but failed to keep up with the serious Laser sailors and
finished 11.
All in all an exhilarating day and a great change
from river sailing! My thanks to Bewl SC who, as always, make us feel
so welcome.