Lewmar Lonely Tower Race
On the 22nd of March the JOG fleet set out eastwards threading the Solent forts and heading for the Lonely Tower. On board Elaine Again a JPK 1010 on the bow, I had front row seats to the action that would unfold. For the start of the race we had champagne conditions, for wind defiantly not temperature. Despite extra layers and hats on the competitors the fleet pushed on. The left, the choice for more wind in the convergence. The right, that extra push all the way out to the edge of the island. This was just one of the many choices the fleet were required to make. On the JPK we choice left getting our self into our more favourable conditions. Having started in class 3 we were making quick work of the early starters threading our way though boats all the way to the tower. We rounded the tower in 4th with our competitors Karaboudjan and Frank 4 just ahead. The left leg was a reach on the Code 0 over to the winner bank by Hayling Island. Managing to pass another slower boat on the leg as they struggled to hold their kite. All crew on board were very thankful for the JPK’s twin rudder design allowing us to push higher then most on the Code 0. Around the winner mark the call was made to peel from the Code 0 to the S1. Chasing down the leading 2 now we decided to split staying in the middle of the Solent to try and get into as much tide as possible. As the wind died towards the end of the race the call was made to hoist a stay sail. The Jib halyard was taken and attached, as the halyard passed the spreaders the tension in the staysail went loose followed by a large bang of mental landing 30cm away from me. We quickly grabbed the bosun’s chair and I was hoisted up the mast to recover the halyard, making quick work to reduce our loses we had the halyard back down and secured. Unfortunately despite our gamble the right inshore side had paid and Frank 4 was cruising towards the win, leaving us and Karaboudjan behind. We finished overall in 12th across al the classes out of around 100 boats, 7th in Class 3 and 3rd in Generation JOG.
Rounding the Tower
Heading though the Forts