March 02, 2010
More unseen Ninjod pictures
I bumped into Rod Tinsley recently. Turns out he had taken some snaps of Jan and I sailing Ninjod 2 up in EAORA's Houghton Cup last year. At the point in time these were taken it was all going very well and we were leading class 2 out of the Crouch. It all went down hill after that.
Posted by ninjod at 09:53 AM | Comments (0)
May 02, 2007
Herring Part 2 - Davewah's Pictures
Local man Davewah Hyde, an international man of mystery and a drinking legend snapped these pictures during the beat up the Wallet in last Saturdays EAORA Ralph Herring race.
Shortly after taking these things on the boat he was on started breaking. Unfortunately they were forced to retire.
Posted by ninjod at 12:43 PM | Comments (1)
April 30, 2007
The Weather Forecast – A Red Herring for the Ralph Herring
On Saturday my father and I were due to race in the newly formed short handed division of EAORA’s Ralph Herring race. With a starting line off of the Nas beacon near West Mersea we left a little after 20.00 Friday evening and arrived for some much needed sleep at about 02.00 Saturday morning.
The original forecast I had seen was for Saturday to be a fairly reasonable force 3 or 4 from the east. However much of the course was sailed in the high end of a force 6.
Our course took us on a wind over tide beat up the Wallet, around the Gunfleet sand by way of Medusa and then back down the Kings channel and into the River Crouch.
This was my first official shorthanded EAORA race as the organization now support this class of entry. Consequently I was able to use my shorthanded IRC certificate along with the water ballast.. Thank heavens.. I don’t suppose I would have got very far on the beat without it.
The reaching back down towards the River Crouch for me summed up why I like to go sailing. Our boat speed peaked out at 16 knots on one colossal surf and for most of the run back down our boat speed did not drop below 9 knots.
VIDEO. You can enjoy some of what I managed to capture during the easier moments here.
Please note. You need Quicktime or some other application that enables you to watch MP4 videos.
Paul
Posted by ninjod at 11:41 AM | Comments (2)
June 20, 2006
Light Winds Weekend
During the weekend just passed my father and I participated in 2 races. The 1st, an EAORA event hosted by Royal Burnham Yacht club, started on the river Crouch and was supposed to finish at St Katherine dock. I was using this race as a feeder race for 2nd race, the famous Nore race run by Benfleet yacht club.
The forecast for the weekend was for lots of sun but very little wind.
St Katherine Race
Our start on the Saturday morning in no wind involved us (and many others) kedging to remain the correct side of the start line. Searching for the occasional 2 or 3 knot puff we crept out of the Crouch. On route into the Thames we stuck with full main and no. 1 while others opted for a kite hoist. Neither sail plan seemed to offer any advantage until Blacktail Spit was rounded. At that point the wind dropped to 1/2 knots and kites were hoisted by everyone. The course was then shortened and finished at West Shoebury.
Our corrected time was 6 hours 08 minutes and 55 seconds. We were 31 minutes and 49 seconds off of the 1st place pace. I am fairly happy with this given JOD's are a little sticky in less than 10 knots and my light weight foresail is very old. I will now be ordering a new sail..
2006 Nore Race
After a pleasant evening on a mooring in Queenbrough we crept out of the river Medway on Sunday morning. As we made our way to the pier head under engine we hoped sea breezes would not be far behind. Alas this was not the case.
The big boat bit of the Nore was due to be the 1st to start at 10.30. Some 40 minutes later in around 1 knot of breeze we started. We were the 2nd boat to the 1st mark by about 10 seconds. We opted for a kite hoist on the 2nd leg that cost us valuable time because it was a bad call. Basically as the kite site our apparent went up and we were headed. We eventually took the lead during the 2nd leg and by the time the finish came we were a fair way in front. The only larger boat to beat us to the finish was a trimaran.
We were the first monohull home and as you can see from the corrected times below we were seconds away from 1st place.
Yacht - PY - Elapsed Time - Corrected Time
Morning Song - 1000 - 02:59:01 - 02:59:01
Avrio - 1100 - 03:17:12 - 02:59:16
Ninjod - 880 - 02:38:48 - 03:00:27
We ended up 2nd in class to Morning Song and 3rd overall. Blasted bad kite choice... Still like the Murphy's I am not bitter… There is always next year.
See here for more info:
http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=22057
http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20060520105438Sailpower.html
Posted by ninjod at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
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 12:45 PM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2005
EAORA Janes Cup and Thames Estuary races
I was asked how we got on during last weekends races... My reply is as follows:
"Basically the Jane's cup was the 1st race on ninjod ( www.ninjod.org ) . We were completely fired up and ready to go. Class 3 started and I was feeling good.. Class 2 started and I was feeling ok.. We started ( not a bad start ) and I just overcooked everything. Sail trim was appalling and consequently I stalled the boat in the light airs. As and when the wind raised above 8 knots I caught up a few but then it dropped and I made a balls of it again… It was just a very bad day.. Still not one to give up I finished, got the toot and proceeded to start the engine and head towards Medway YC to get drunk. It was then that we discovered a diesel leak. I called the committee boat and told them that we had issues and were going to resolve out issues in Queenborough. I didn’t want to head down the river in next to no wind with a fuel leak!
We thought we had the problem sorted and got up Sunday morning for the Thames race. Unfortunately we had not resolved it properly, our engine stalled and small amounts of fuel dribbled. The forecast was that the wind was dropping so I made a call to abandon the race and ensure I could get my crew & boat home without incident, at that time I had some wind and tide in my favor! So, relaxed and under little pressure I sped out of the Medway with a kite up reaching towards Blacktail Spit & Maplin. By the time we got to S Whitaker we had 20knots (ish) up the chuff and were fizzing along quite nicely… A bad gybe then caused a monster broach. We recovered the swimming kite, put up a blade and beat back up the Crouch.
I have since read "The big dummies guide to sail trimming" and been to "sail school" and have kicked myself . Oh how I wished I had raced Sunday, Oh how I wished I had not bothered to get up on Saturday.
I am off to do the Solent-> Santander in under a month and after that will be doing more EAORA events. From where I currently am I can only improve !"
Posted by ninjod at 01:42 PM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2005
EAORA Saftey Inspection
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Image taken on 5/6/2005 11:58
In addition to the big race this year Ninjod is set to take part in some EAORA events. For this to happen Ninjod needed to be inspected for safety using EAORA and Category 3 guide lines.
On Sunday the 5th of June we met Bob, a safety inspector for the Crouch yacht club, at the end of the Crouch slipway a little before 10.30. Bob went through his extensive list of questions as we pulled out various bits of equipment. A few hours later we returned home with a signed safety document.
Posted by ninjod at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)