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May 23, 2005
Santander Qualification Cruise.
One of the entry requirements for the Solent -> Santander race is a QC (qualification cruise). Every mile my father and I had sailed together in my previous boat did not count as the QC needs to be undertaken in the yacht you propose to race in. For us this meant a sailed 150 nautical mile non stop passage.
During a passage planning session I came up with a 150nm course that would take us out towards an area called Noord Hinder.
1st Attempt - Fail
Our first attempt at the QC took place on the 29th of April. We managed to only log 12 nautical miles. There was very little wind and switching your engine on is not allowed.
2nd Attempt - Fail
Our second attempt was made on the 7th of May. We left a little before 23.00, as we headed out towards the mouth of the River Crouch the wind built. The wind direction meant we were sailing dead down wind on a run. We reefed our mainsail at 0132 UTC in the morning and we whizzing along at 10knots. Just before 0200 UTC we crash jibed and broke the main sheet block. We returned home having logged a whopping 30.49 nautical miles.
3rd Attempt - Fail
Our third attempt on the the 13th of May saw us log another 20.73 nautical miles. On this occasion we were sailing in strong winds with a very reduced sail plan. When we got out to the mouth of the River Crouch we were faced with 40knots of apparent wind. I reminded myself that it was meant to be fun and we turned around and surfed all the way home.
4th Attempt - Hoorah
On the 20th of May at 2110 UTC we headed out on another attempt at our Santander QC. The wind speed (15knots TWS) and direction, mainly Southerlies and South Westerlies meant we sped out of the River Crouch. At 2245 we logged our passage plan with Thames Coast Guard. Our sail plan remained conservative and comprised our No.4 and Mainsail with one reef in it. As we headed out towards Noord Hinder and a specific mark named South Inner Gabbard we fizzed along reaching speeds over the ground of 9 knots. We arrived at South Inner Gabbard at 03.00 UTC and then headed out to NHR SE, It took us 4 hours 40 minutes to travel the 30 nautical miles.
At NHR SE we headed South towards a cardinal mark called Birkenfels. The wind direction demanded that we beat towards the mark. We arrived at Birkenfels at 09.54UTC. From Birkenfels we headed back towards England. Our run back took us towards a mark called South Galloper. Between 1630 and 1700UTC we were hammered by a 30knot (TWS) squall. At the time our sail plan was to large and my father and I had one of those hairy moments when we saw the starboard side of Ninjod submarine while we both yelled "Sheets"!! We ran back towards the Crouch under No.4 alone for a while. Eventually, when the wind had sorted itself out we popped the main back up with a couple of reefs in. At this point we were beating towards Whitaker with 24knots true wind speed. We finally moored up at 0032 UTC on the 22/05/05.
The idea behind these QC's is that you:
a) Ensure that your boat is prepared
b) Ensure that you and your crew are prepared
Given our many failed attempts, gear failure and changeable weather I am now much more confident in Ninjod and our ability to get her to Santander.
Posted by ninjod at May 23, 2005 02:22 PM