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May 30, 2006
North Sea Race - Shorthanded
I had planned to do this years North Sea Race with Ian, a keen sailor from my local yacht club. Ian owns a 25ft yacht locally and was keen to rack up some miles and experience doing longer passages. We had planned some training sessions but time and work commitments interfered.
On Thursday the 25th the 2 of us left Burnham and headed for Shotley point marina at Harwich. We ended up doing a combination of sailing and motoring in sunshine. It was an easy passage.
On the day of the race Friday the 26th we woke up and locked out of the Marina. The starting area was busy and confusing and the 1st start was subject to a recall.
We got the 1st few marks out of the way, albeit slowly. As we started to reach towards Trinity Light Vessel and Long Sand Head we closed ground on the bulk of the fleet.
While things were ok Ian had lost a little colour and felt queasy, specifically when he ventured down below. Then, during a big jibe, Ian's hand got caught between the main sheet and a hand hold in the cockpit. Ian's hand became swollen quickly and he grew a large 6th knuckle.
While reaching towards South Galloper at 9 knots STW with No 3 and 1 reef in the main the wind briefly shot up to 30 plus knots and our in use reefing line snapped. Lots of flapping later everything was finally secured however with Ian still pale and his hand still very swollen (and bleeding) I thought it best to retire at get him home.
We made our way to Burnham and arrived at 0130 on Saturday morning.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but what a pity you can't buy it in the shops.. I made an appalling judgement call in taking Ian into the race with only the previous day's passage from Burnham to Harwich as his entire time spent training on NINJOD. Sorry Ian... Gosh.. What a plonker I am.. Nothing else needs to be said.. Rest assured, lessons have been learnt.
EDIT 01/06/2006
I recently discovered this link ... http://www.maib.dft.gov.uk/cms_resources/SB2%2D06%2Epdf
Posted by ninjod at May 30, 2006 12:45 PM