Chairman’s Report - 1991 AGM
Minutes of the AGM
Out of the Mediterranean
Centreboard Pivot Modifications
Rudders
Letters
Iroquois Round the Island
Chairman - Ken Pack
Secretary - Sue Keeler
Treasurer - Thelma Pack
Please excuse my reading this I am no off the cuff after dinner speaker and I am wanting to put what I say into the Newsletter for the benefit of those who are unable to attend.
We have had a number of apologies etc. Monsieur Gestin, a very good member who sends us all a super Christmas card, photos can be seen in the Club album, Russell Jackson of “Is this Saltfleet” contribution winner of 1990 Newsletter award you can see in the room.
Chris Hammond of Hirondelle fame has kindly, carefully inspected and reported on the strengthening of the leeboard case and connections and come up with a thorough but relatively simple solution which will be included in the Spring Newsletter.
The affiliation with MOCRA . This has proved to be right particularly at this critical time for boating legislation. It is easy and probably fashionable to be critical but there are a number of hard working dedicated people there trying to protect our best interests knowing their best efforts will not be good enough, Bill Bailey Safety Committee Chairman is particularly to be congratulated.
The state of play is roughly, our Department of Transport reacting to the “Marquesa” disaster are dealing with stability in Sail Training vessels. Clearly this will be a pointer to what may happen next.
It is considered wise to co-operate with this legislation and to generally put our house in order before Brussells, attempting to unify laws in Common Market countries, perhaps impose more rigorous requirements such as exist in France and Italy.
There seems a resignation to registration with an initial £100 p.a. rising pretty swiftly to £300, but a determination to exercise as much influence as possible on other matters such as stability and categories. No doubt Peter Cotgrove will be able to tell us more.
All these balls in the air are tricky and heavy. We need a representative on MOCRA and I should be glad if someone would volunteer to take this over from me.
Our personal input can of course be through our MPs etc. but as an Association we should recognise our boats are getting older. I am sure Mc.Alpine-Downie never envisaged what some of us ask of our boats. They are very robust and can be driven hard and undoubtedly that is where a lot of the fun is. The cost is in sails, mast, rigging, rudders and boards. The boats in good condition are more easily maintained, hold their second hand value better and more importantly will reliably look after you and yours.
MOCRA affiliated clubs are also endeavouring to open the friendly marque clubs, rallies and races to each other. There is a logistics problem which initially may take time but should then be a great improvement. There are encouraging signs that groups of Iroquois from East coast, Holland and California are getting together and I am hoping to get prior notices.
The evening was concluded with a graphic description by Barry Bucknell of his new boat that he calls a ‘geriatric boat’.
This is the third Iroquois Barry has put together and each of them has an individual character. This one has elongated Iroquois hulls to 34’6” long with an 18’0” beam, it is more than half as large again as a Mk 2.
Having a crew like Betty is, of course, the key. A sense of humour together with enthusiasm seemed to play major roles. Barry suggested he fell in from time to time but the man overboard drill, apart from the ladder seemed vague!
Thank you Barry, you put 10 years on my projected sailing career. A whiskey decanter, glasses and tray were on show as a presentation to Stuart for his work as Iroquois ‘worthy scrivenor’ over several years. An inscribed mug was presented to Russell Jackson for his “Is this Saltfleet” judged to be the best Newsletter article in 1990. This is to be a yearly presentation we hope the children will have a go, we are not married to the beer mug, if they want to be weaned off the orange juice that’s fine, or we will inscribe a teething ring to get input to the Newsletter.
The ACM agreed the subscription for 1992 should be raised to £6.50. Yours truly managed to successfully turn the AGM into a fiasco by forgetting the Election of Officers. I was to say that I felt a change each year is disruptive but going on for a long time makes one stale. The other thing I forgot was the date of the Solent Meet, we found last year a week before Cowes was a good move (and it also made Rod happy) so I propose July 20-21. Other than that I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening thank you.
For those of you who have forgotten this years subscription please do it now. We obviously cannot chase £5.50, so have decided to only send out Newsletters to paid up members, so it’s likely to be goodbye to some.
Dr. Reg Crampton and Patrick Boyd laboured hard and long to produce an objectively edited collection of back Newsletters. Patrick generously donated a copy to the Association. It is a mighty tome and costs £20.00 to reproduce and £2.40 to post, all enquiries to Reg.
The leeboard problem lingered rather longer than I had hoped and the following is Chris Hammond’s assessment and recommendations. I have conveyed our thanks to him for the expertise and work he has done for us.
At present the deposit account runs at about £1100, but will reduce during the year because of:
The financial situation can be best judged in a general way:
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Postage for the Newsletter |
£25.00 |
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Printing |
£37.00 |
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Envelopes and photostats etc. |
£20.00 |
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£82 x 3 |
£246 |
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Register AGM printing |
£50 |
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Newsletter awards and expenses |
£30 |
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Letters, stationery, MOCRA |
£50 |
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£376 |
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Total payments to date 70 @ £5.50 |
£385 |
Iroquois Owner's Association AGM
held on Friday 12th January, 1990 at
Byrons, 324 Tower Bridge Road, London, EC
The Chairman opened the Meeting and welcomed members and their guests.
The suggested affiliation to MOCRA was discussed at length and agreed.
The election of Officers followed and Ken Pack was elected to replace Thelma Pack as Chairman. Sue Keeler was elected Secretary in her absence and Thelma agreed to accept the post as Treasurer.
The evening concluded with a really enjoyab1e recounting by Stuart Fisher on his Journey with Lillian and Richard Woods to Tallin.
The AGM approved the 18” Iroquois Owners Pennant, white tent on blue background. I suppose the Tee Pee should have been in multicolours but catamarans raise enough hackles.
We have ordered a supply and the cost is £6.00 whilst this order lasts. Cheques to Iroquois Owners please.
Officers for 1991 are:
Chairman - Ken Pack
Secretary - Sue Keeler
Treasurer - Thelma Pack
Well, after eight years in the Med we have finally escaped to the Atlantic. It felt odd to be leaving Cyprus for the last time, we got the same feeling when we left England in 1983 and also after leaving Spain after two years. The trouble is, when you winter in one place for so long you begin to look on it as home.
We did the usual trip along the Turkish coast to the Greek Islands and took a route which took us to some islands we hadn’t seen before, like Naxos, Paros and Milos and then around the bottom of the Peloponissos and thence out of the Aegean and into the Ionion, where we made our way up to Argostoli on the island of Cephalonia. From here we decided to do our longest trip yet and see how we liked ocean cruising.
After getting a favourable forecast on the Greek radio, we set off for Malta, a journey of some 300 miles or so. We got a good start for the first 200 miles and then the wind turned on our nose, so we had to do another 200 miles on the wind, but we got the taste of living at sea and got quite used to it.
Malta hadn’t changed much since I was there in 1958, just a hot lump of rock, but there is no language problem and the shopping was good. We visited a lot of places of interest in Valetta, war museums, cathedrals and even walked down the ‘gut’! a real red light area. But it was very hot for walking around and this takes a lot of enjoyment out of it. We spent another week at Gozo, which is the other island to the west and found it less crowded and more peaceful.
From here we left for Tunisia, but stopped at a small Italian island called Lampadusa on the way. We found that there were no formalities there at all and you could come and go as you pleased, unfortunately it suffered with unemptied bins and the flies and the smell took a bit of getting used to, but there were some good beaches.
From here we sailed to Tunisia where we spent two weeks cruising along the coast. We found the Tunisians very friendly and helpful. One day we took a train ride into Tunis and found it a fascinating place, a great city with miles of bazaars, very much like Istanbul.
From here we were going to sail along the Algerian and Moroccan coast to Gibraltar, but in the last port in Tunisia we talked to some yachts who had come the other way and they painted a very bad picture. There were stories of their boats being searched at numerous places and the authorities asking for equipment from the boats and dirty oily harbours. So on the basis of that we decided to give these places a miss. So from there it was back up to Sardinia and then over to the Balearics and down the Spanish coast to Gibraltar.
We found Spain had changed a lot since we left it in 1985, prices had rocketed and we found that yachts were being charged to anchor in places that were always free to us, but we still managed to find free places. It was nice to be in old familiar cruising grounds, Menorca, Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera. We also noticed a terrific increase in the number of yachts there, at least three times as many as before. It was also nice to see Gibraltar again after six years and nice to see the border open again
We left Gibraltar again as it was now mid August and we wanted to be well down towards the Canaries before any autumn gales came along. Although the Straits of Gibraltar are not very wide we couldn’t see the other side because of bad visibility which seems to abound in this area. There is usually a strong wind from the east or west and you’ve just got to wait until it’s in your favour and go.
From here it was all along the southern coast of Spain and Portugal, this is a lovely area cruise as it reminded us of the east coast of England, plenty of sandbanks and tides. It was lovely passing places like Cadiz and Cape Trafalgar where Nelson copped it! By now of course we were in the Atlantic, so we had a celebration drink, but the water and waves seemed just the same. We worked our way all along the Algarve right up to Cape St Vincente, which is the nearest point to Madeira.
So after a favourable forecast we set off for Porto Santo just north of Madeira, a distance of about 500 miles, this took us three and a half days. The first day we had some strong winds, but for the rest we had a lovely wind behind us and during the days had our spinnaker up. We got into Porto Santo after dark and as soon as we anchored got hailed by some friends from Cyprus, who invited us for coffee and brandy, we slept very well that night.
Porto Santo is a lovely island with miles of golden sands and just one small town, or village to us, as the island is only about 5 miles x 2 miles. After resting here for five days we set off for Madeira, which we could see 35 miles away.
We arrived at Funchal the capital and were most impressed with the greenery. There seemed to be waterfalls, fountains and duck ponds everywhere and beautiful flower gardens. The market was an absolute blaze of colour with all sorts of fruit and vegetables and some very exotic like mangos, papaw and a fruit we hadn’t heard of before, a cross between a banana and pineapple, very tasty! Amongst all this there were the flower sellers all in national costume, very colourful! We stayed here about a week and had a good rest.
After this, being early September we felt it was time to get on to the Canaries. By this time we were travelling with lots of other boats all leapfrogging from island to island and all heading for the Canaries, so we would have a good reunion at each island we got to.
When we left Madeira we intended to call at a small group of islands called the Salvage Islands, but the wind turned to the south west, which was very unusual, and we could only make Lanzarote, which took about four days. So at last we are in the Canaries and we can sort of speak to people again, we didn’t quite click with Portuguese somehow.
So we’ve done Lanzarote and Fuerteventurer which we found very barren and brown, although each island seems to have one good beach. From there it was over to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, which I think everybody has heard of and of course where the yearly ARC race starts from in late November, for the Caribbean. There is about six miles of concrete jungle with all the hustle and bustle that comes with it, but worth seeing never the less. We then cruised around the bottom of Gran Canaria visiting all the ports within a day sail and then over to Santa Cruz the capital of Tenerife.
This is another bigcity and they sport the gun that shot off Nelson’s am, this poor guy has really been in the wars around here (pun)! From there we sailed down to Los Cristianos where we are now. We have a friend here who runs a local holiday magazine and who has been very good to us by taking our mail and making his apartment available for Christmas dinner.
Our family are coming here for Christmas and Frankie’s brother Bob has just arrived from England in his 32ft Contessa, so we should have a big gathering. Our plan then is to leave here in early January for the Caribbean.
The Islands here are very nice to cruise, the weather is beautiful and even now, people are sunbathing and swimming. There are a lot of very posh new marinas all over the place which cost up to £10 a night. But there are still lots of free places and we haven’t paid anywhere since Tunisia and that was about £1.50 and stay as long as you like. Water is no problem and available in most places. We are due to come out of the water in a travellift for one week in December at a coat of £50 in and out and £3 a day on the hard, so we sould be nice and clean for our crossing.
Well, that’s about all the news up to date, so we would like to wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Comanche BUSTER of Maldon
Los Cristianos, Tenerife
An examination was made of an approximately twenty year old fibreglass MkII Iroquois built by Sailcraft Ltd., showed that the boats were designed with two centreboards, one in each hull, offset to the outside face pivoting on a s.s. stud inserted through the forward inside face of the centreboard case.
The wooden plywood boards are shaped to the segment of a circle, the centre of which is the pivot point, where a copper bush is inserted to take the wear of the pivot.
Each board is supported laterally by a slot in the hull, and a slot in the deck moulding where the operating arm emerges, and is connected to a forward leading 2:l purchase for raising, and a single aft facing pennant for lowering. The boards are inclined outwards from the vertical when viewed from ahead, and toe in by some three inches when viewed from above.
Both the lower slot in the hull and the slot in the deck are formed by a flange surrounding the slot moulded over male plugs on the primary moulds.
After the hull and deck mouldings are joined together, a preformed piece of foam is fitted against the inside face of the hull from the centre- board slot to approximately l2" above the waterline prior to a separate fibreglass fairing being screwed to the hull and deck flanges before being finally glassed over to ensure complete watertightness of the final assembly.
I was asked for an opinion on the operation of the centreboards, as well as to modifications to the pivot studs.
In my opinion when there is sufficient depth of water to allow it, both centreboards should be fully lowered in order to obtain maximum effect, in obtaining manoeuverability when tacking, and the correct relationship between the centre of lateral resistance of the boards and the centre of effort of the sailplan as originally designed by Rod McAlpine-Downie.
In this fully down position the operating arm of the centreboard is firmly supported by the aft edge of the deck slot, rather than being one third or halfway along the slot.
The slight toe in effect of the centreboards to the centreline of the hulls means that both boards are contributing to the windward work, since with the normal leeway angle of 12o/15o expected of a catamaran, the weather board will not be idling, and the boat relying on one leeboard.
It is unlikely that the boat will ever experience sufficient sternway so that a wedging effect would force the boards apart, provided that the boat does not ground while going astern.
If operating in shallow waters for lengthy periods, it would be prudent to leave the hauling down pennant free, or if the board rides up due to inherent buoyancy to incorporate a length of shock elastic in the pennant.
I am not of the opinion that if the centreboards are tight down they add materially to the so called tripping effect of a capsise (unless they strike the bottom) since if the boat is making sufficient way through the water, the leeward hull digs in to the surface and helps to prevent the boat being thrown sideways.
The main risk occurs when the boat is tacking, or has been luffed up too high when going to windward, and with all forward way lost, a breaking sea may catch the bows and throw the boat sideways. It is in these conditions that the centreboard pivots may be subject to severe forces.
The existing pivot is welded to a s.s. plate, which is bolted to the inside face of the centreboard fairing and which gains no support from connection to the outboard flange of the slot, so that the full sideways force of the weather centreboard is relying on the g.r.p. layup of the flange formed when moulding the hull, since there is no evidence of local reinforcing being introduced in this area.
In order to prevent tearing of the hull side at the forward edge of the hull slot, which would result in severe flooding, it is necessary for the pivot stud to be replaced by a bolt which will support the outer face of the slot. In order to provide sufficient bearing area on the outboard side of the hull it will be necessary to fix a s.s. plate to the outside of the hull, and fair it in with filler.
These external plates will be handed for port or starboard fitting, and will have a threaded tube welded to them so that new threaded pivot bolt inserted from within the hull will provide support to the outer face of the hull/centreboard case. The inboard face of the bolt to be a plate welded to the threaded bolt, so that it can be screwed down onto a sealing gasket to ensure watertightness, but enabling the bolt to be withdrawn inside the hull for periodic removal of the centreboards for inspection.
In order to rotate the plate to tighten the bolt against its gasket, the existing studs will have to be cut off, and four bolt boles drilled and tapped into the existing bonded plate at 45o rotation to the present position, so that the plate can be pulled down on its gasket.
Although I was not informed of such an occurrence, I am concerned that after a heavy grounding, or if the boat has been thrown heavily sideways that there might be a crack in the centreboerd at the base of the operating era, or in the top section of the centreboard which would be concealed within the casing, and if such a crack developed and the board fractured all the thrust would be taken on a lightweight fairing, which could rupture.
It would be prudent to remove the centreboards for regular annual inspection for signs of cracking, and especially if the boat grounds heavily on a centreboard.
Does anyone have any idea what these rudders are fitted to, and how they are steered? - Webmaster
Dear Mr. Pack
We received the ‘IROQUOIS OWNER’S ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER’ and thank you for same. We want to make sure that we remain a member in good standing and so we remit a check in the amount of $16.00 with the hope that you will let us know the standing of our account. We note that the owners list contains an out of date address and we ask that at your next opportunity you change it to our letterhead address.
We have owned our Iroquois MkI since 1982. At that time it was 3/4 rigged as originally designed with aft leading lower and intermediate shrouds terminating at an outboard tang located on the hull at the aft end of the cabin trunk, a “baby stay’ from a tang located just forward of the cabin trunk to the mast at the lower spreader, a forward stay from a tang located at the forward end of the fore deck to the mast at the intermediate spreader and no back stay(s). In order to accommodate a most necessary “Bimini Top” for sun protection, we cut 12 inches off the foot of the mainsail and raised the boom to gain the required head room. The traveler track which was on the aft transom was relocated to a raised pipe rack fixed to the aft end on the outboard side of the hulls giving clearance for the main sheet from the aft end of the sun top.
In 1986 after sailing from New York City (and the festivities surrounding the restoration of the Statue of Liberty located in New York Harbour) to Stuart Florida (the eastern terminus of the cross Florida OKEECHOBEE WATERWAY) I had to surrender the vessel to a charter skipper for delivery to its home dock at Anna Maria Island because my business partners suggested that it was time to take a “work break”. During the transit of the waterway the charter skipper (having put his head securely into the place where the sun doesn’t shine) ran into a lift bridge that was in the down position thereby causing the mast to separate from its tabernacle step. In contemplation of its restoration, we considered the original rigging design (which was adequate for the small sail area required for the severe wind conditions encountered during a “Round Britain’ race) to be somewhat shy to support the additional sail area necessary for the “Dead Sea conditions in the Gulf of Mexico. To accommodate a “Head Sail” and Spinnaker we added a compression strut to the bows of the hulls and a wire bridle to support the lower end of the head stay and a pair of back stays. Retaining the original fore stay as a stays’l stay converted LE CHAT from a sloop to a cutter and its performance was markedly improved.
In the fall of 1988 we were returning to Anna Maria Island from the head waters of Old Tampa Bay when we suffered severe frontal weather off the eastern end of McDill Penisula which has an unfavorable reputation for unsettled weather. Embedded in the front which engulfed us was a severe twister which dismasted us. This time the original mast, which was salvageable after the first dismasting was folded on itself at the intermediate spreader rendering it useless. I was fortunate in securing a used mast which had almost the same cross-sectional area and shape as the original but was five feet higher. To improve the weather ability we decided to move the shrouds inboard to a position three feet from the C/L of the vessel. This required that we install solid tang bars from the inside of each hull through the overhead to a tang plate which separated the upper shroud located directly opposite the mast and the intermediate and lower shroud tang two feet aft of the upper. To complete the assembly we added roller furling to the head and stay’sl stays and raised the traveler bar 12” to accommodate a new 9.9 sail style outboard and its new raisable mount and the result is an ability to point up to 40o at a wind speed in excess of 15kn and 45o at a wind speed of between 12 and 15kn.
I have singled handed LE CHAT to Bermuda and have sailed to New York and down the Eastern Coast as well completing several trips to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and find it a most suitable craft for the shallow waters of Bahamas and the Keys. At present it is equipped for long distance sailing with a generator operating in either the water towed or wind driven propeller modes, a LORAN “C” and SATNAV position locators, propane fired four burner stove and demand hot water heater, and the required radio and survival gear. In short LE CHAT is fully found including an inflatable dinghy and 2hp outboard.
Nancy and I would love to sail the English Coast and would be pleased to hear from any one who might be interested in sailing the Gulf Coast and the Keys with the idea of structuring a trade. I include a photo of LE CHAT as she sailed to the start of a race to the Dry Tortugas.
We would have been pleased to attend your annual meeting but its a bit far to sail and a bit expensive to fly so you have to do with our best wishes and the hopes for some future meeting.
The rudder was to be the next project and late as it is this sketch of my proposal as a starter. Obviously, a rudder replacement will keep the boat original and probably produce another 10 to 15 years life. The F27 assembly looks promising as does the new Chieftan’s, David Smith’s replacement is simple and robust. Before comparing all these could I ask others to let me know what solutions they have arrived at?
A salutary tale of mixing two solvents Evo-stick and glass resin caused a fire which destroyed “Conchise” No. 288 whilst fitting out in 1988.
Mike and Nancy French
907-5th Steet W
Palmetto
Florida 34221
813-729-5529
Dear Ken and Thelma,
This is to send you the latest list of Iroquois Owners in Holland and to report on our get together a few weeks ago. I have now spoken to just about everyone on the list I send you herewith. We had a very enjoyable meeting on November 17th in Lelystad, exchanging information on all aspects of repairs and improvements. Several of the first owners, that were approaching the age of retirement, were considering selling their Iroquois in the near future.
One of the things that struck me with regard to membership of the Owner’s Association was that most had given up, as they were very disappointed with the frequency of the newsletter. In particular, there were misgivings about the ever increasing bank balance, which did not seem to stop the committee from increasing the dues for this year.
The Dutch are notorious for being penny-wise, but I felt nevertheless that you should know. Perhaps a next letter to all, explaining the cost of colour prints would do some good.
I wish you all the best with an often unthankful task.
With best wishes,
Piet Roes
DRAKAR II, 212
Dear Piet,
Thank you so such for the update on Iroquois owners and I was pleased to hear of your meeting in Lelystad. Having updated the register the fall off of members is much to do with us not having the right addresses. I should be most grateful to have prior notice if you hear of a meet, No. 65 for example I am sure would wish to join you.
The Newsletter is back, up and running with three copies during 1990. I hope astuteness is not the prerogative of the Dutch. Personally, I feel £5.50 is not too much for running the Association, producing and distributing 3 newsletters (and it will need an increase in 1992). Nor do I feel a contingency of £10.00 per head is out of the way. Although these are Club funds they were accrued by officers and my predecessor not making proper charges (e.g. our club secretary has had £10.00 during 1990, this of course will be dealt with, my lady wife, the Treasurer, is damn tight with the club funds).
You will be glad to know I am really quite enjoying the Association and there is much appreciation from a lot of pleasant people. I shall try harder in 1991 and hope our Dutch co-owners join us.
Yours sincerely,
Ken Pack
Dear Ken
Further to your letter of the 11th December concerning the leeboards I have been running through in my mind how I might deal with the situation if I had to deal with the fitting of new pivot bolts.
I am rather a cynic concerning boat construction, especially with regard to fibreglass layups, as depending on the operator the thickness of the areas surrounding the centreboard case will vary quite a bit between individual boats.
Initially I would drill the pivot bolt hole from inside the boat using the existing spigot hole as a guide, or even going so far as to make a drilling jig which clamped to the four clamping down studs of the existing glassed in plate to provide a true 90o guide for the drill bit. It should then be quite easy to drill through to the outside of the hull through two layups of the outer side of the centreboard case. From outside the hull the exit hole can then be enlarged to take the 1" dia. s.s. boss (not yet welded to its backing plate).
Let me digress a minute, I think that the pivot bolt must be welded to a similar plate to the original pivot stud and be held down by four bolts, not studs since it is now necessary to rotate the pivot bolt plate in order to tighten a bolt as opposed to a bush.. It is necessary to bolt this plate down against a gasket to ensure water tightness as otherwise if the outer skin should flex a little, the bolt may lift of its seating slightly.
For simplification of construction I would suggest that the outer 1" dia. boss should not be tapped for the 5/8" threaded bolt initially, but left as a tight fit over the thread.
The procedure could then be as follows:
Drill 5/8" dia. clearance hole for the new pivot bolt from inside the hull to exit through the outer skin.
Open up the exit hole to take the 1" dia. boss.
Fit new pivot bolt temporarily by bolting down the holding plate.
Insert 1" dia. Boss from outside the hull and allow it to slide over the pivot bolt until it touches the outer face of the lip of the centreboard case, or if of insufficient length in practice open up the inner face of the centreboard case to 1" dia. as well.
The outer face of the l dia. boss can now be scribed round to match the outer face of the hull, and a 1/8" thick 4"x4" s.s. plate welded on to the boss. (I think that the gel coat will be of insufficient thickness to allow this plate to be recessed flush, rather it will have to be proud, hammered to shape against the outer face of the hull, and then faired in, hence reducing it to 1/8" thickness.
Once the plate has been welded in position to the boss, the unit can be withdrawn, the boss cut back the distance equal to the thickness of a 5/8" nut, and a nut welded to the end of the boss in order to provide a thread for the pivot bolt
Hopefully the whole unit will then as ready for final assembly incorporating the necessary bushes in the centreboard plate.
Given the propensity that the English have for standing in queue, the Round the Island Yacht Race (Isle of Wight) is an attractive event. While not quite the worlds largest lineup, it certainly would be if that other tradition of putting to sea under sail were as ingrained as it is in the Danes who have started 2700 boats in their Round Zeeland Race. Both races have the added benefit of becoming an Institution - a notion that appeals to the subconscious of all those who are slightly less than totally intrepid in their approach to yachting.
For the Isle of Wight race there are four divisions classified in order of fast, large, medium and slow, according to their Portsmouth number (a kind of expected performance handicap system). The best trophies are given to those who queue up properly and dont rush ahead. To put things in perspective... Roger Gallant an 80-foot cat has circumnavigated the Island in 3.5 hours. Being a 65 n.m., 360o course, the real flyers are sorted out from the rest and, wisely, the Island Sailing Club sends them to the front of the queue right from the start.
Last year, while down under in New Zealand, Mike Jones (also from Portsmouth) joined the crew of the catamaran Sundreamer for her delivery run up the northland coast to the Bay of Islands where Tanya and I now spend our summers. The 130-mile trip took all afternoon, and when Mike returned to England he soon convinced his sailing associates Colin Innes and Dr Andrew Sproul that two hulls are definitely the way to go - which they agreed with and became the owners of the 30-foot Iroquois catamaran Allez Cat.
I am trying to keep this story simple, but this is how I came to be invited to join her crew for this annual race. Mike Jones advised that although our cat was engaged in cruising mode, we would get a good view - while eating the traditional four-course breakfast served during the first leg - of all those who took racing more seriously.
Now, as the last seconds tick away for the 0630h start on a mile-long line, the 60-foot "soopah" tri Spirit of Apricot swoops in on one side and the Formula 40 tri Full Pelt zooms up on the other. Within minutes, they are frail specks on the horizon, beating up the Solent and are gone while the other 15 multis are deciding when to make their first tack! Too frail is Full Pelt and withdraws with a hull failure. As the westerly picks up from Force 3 to 4, we elect to tack across the helpful ebb tide to the northern shoreline to keep clear of the monohull fleet moving up like a warm front of Dacron from astern. The leaders include J-boat Velsheda and the 12-meter White Crusader helmed by Irishman Harold Cudmore, who will go on to be the first mono skipper home long after Apricot's crew has sat around over a quiet cup of tea back at the Cowes finish. That was not the only cup they got, even though they finished 19 minutes outside the race record of something under four hours set by the trimaran Paragon.
The big J splits her mainsail, leech to luff, just below us - she hoves to while 40 crew haul off the huge sail and bend on her storm main to continue to jump the queue - sailing well outside the fleet all the way around. At the Needles, one shipwreck causes another as a French 50-footer clips the top of a sunken freighter and, as we come around, is showing only her top two spreaders above sea level while her 13 crew members hang on to various inflatable objects in the water. The Coast Guard is already in sight.
Force 4 becomes 5, against the English Channel tide, and the fleet gaily hoists spinnakers for the flat run to Catherines Point. We now see sails from horizon aft to horizon ahead - hundreds of sunny colors blithely romping along beneath a sky that is growing grey from the northwest. We spot other multihulls as they gybe downwind, crossing the main cavalcade. We six blokes (one unwell below) aboard Allez Cat are watching the drama unfold... as it surely does... nearing the headland where the overfalls begin to steepen, tumble and roll.
Force 5 gusts to Force 6 as the sky becomes positively dark over the chalk-white cliffs of the island. Roll-outs, roll-unders, spinarounds, extras stretched beyond recommended limits all around us... we drop our spinnaker, gybe, and pole out the spinnaker - the cat now surfing more frequently we are wary of those now unintentionally crossing the queue at right angles from both sides. Reluctantly, some even point back the way they had come with chutes set in the most unusual configurations. There and now, the going gets tough. Channel 16 is alive with urgent and tense voices: "a crewman in the water", "a crewman unable to breathe", "am dismasted and near the shore", and, sadly, we learn that a "crewman has died of a fatal head injury".
Tony Bullimore on Spirit of Apricot who passed this point some hours previously, has hurt his back (sufficiently, in fact, to prevent him from starting the TwoStar some three weeks later). The Coast Guard and Her Majesty's Navy rescue many by sea and air - the race goes on.
Its my turn on the helm again, now in heavy traffic. Our starboard kick-up rudder shears off, and we slow the cat to save the other, losing many places as the lineup moves into calmer waters at Bembridge buoy.
Another Iroquois comes up from astern prompting our boats owners to shake out the reef and unfurl the jib for the beat up the east side of the island. The shoals of Ryde quietly claim victims that try to squeak through along the side of the queue. We sight four or five laying over, safe and sound, on the sand upwind of the fort. This particular circular pile of Portland stone is a man-made islet built to discourage Napoleons invasion, now a piece of bizarre private real estate available for $10 million - presumably by some rock star or deposed despot who values his privacy... as did Queen Victoria whose tree-lined private beach, below Osborne House, slips by on port as we limp up the finish line.
The finish line has been set in a 100-yard wide slot between two fine 80-foot old-timers hanging off long lines strung taught by wind and tide to large steel cans. Those in the queue, sensing an end to the days parade, naturally grow more eager, less polite, and tack more assertively across bow and stern. In a melee of boats, we cross safely on starboard, holding aloft our entry number for the judges to count, find our way out of the slot closed immediately ahead by the cable, tack over onto port, and get T-boned amidships by a 30-footer on a blind heading. Unlucky, but now unlocked, we drift back down through the gate jammed with yachts on both tacks and only just escape out the side to anchor in the shallows and re-assess why the outboard motor is under water between the hulls! Our General Practitioner (of medicine) operates, mopping up saline solution from cylinders, plugs, and wiring. Though slightly stunned, we refuse to let our day be spoiled. The motor revs into life, and we find (just in time) a niche in a cozy nook amongst those already rafted at the overflowing marina. We have a good cook-up below while Andrew and I tape over the gaping hole in the cabin side above the galley.
Our elapsed time is 9 hours and 51 minutes, similar to that of Dolly Varden, a cutter, winner of the honours in the first race in 1931. Our crew is delighted to have even finished this year. Spirits are further lifted by results posted on the (CT) marquee showing us second in our division and 12th overall! Padding back through the rain-wet streets of Cowes to our catamaran, we go through the list of if onlys in anticipation, no doubt, of joining the queue next year.
David Barker
