The annual Around French Island catamaran race hosted by Cowes Yacht Club turned out to be a bit of a drifter. WYC boats made up the majority of the fleet:
- Steve Cross & David Burford - Nacra 5.8
- Andrew Hill & Nicholas Jurovic - Taipan
- Robert & Luke Pease - Hobie 16
- Adam Smith & Campbell Everitt - Hobie 16
- Xavier Vandame & Laurinda Dugay - Hobie 16
- Kristian Willand - Hobie 20
We left the beach at 8.30 (apart from Steve, who broke his tiller extension before he even made it to the water!) in a light but steady breeze. With the backmarkers taking a bit of a tow we all made it in time for briefing at 9.40. The fleet was chaperoned by Christiane Coutant in BI12 with Andrew & Hannah Everitt aboard and Wayne Hill with friend Warren in his powerboat.
The Hobie 16s took off first and made reasonable progress, about 6 nautical miles, in the first hour. The faster cats started about half an hour later.
In the second hour the wind became patchy and progress was slow. By 2 and half hours into the race the Tornado had passed the Hobie 16s but it was obvious that no one was going to make the half way mark in the 3.25 hour time limit. The PRO dropped a shorten course rounding mark near channel marker 4 (pretty unfair on Rob and Luke who had taken a southern line in search of wind). Adam and Campbell rounded in second place behind the Tornado.
On the return leg the Tornado cleared out and Xavier & Laurinda kept their boat moving well upwind to be in a good position. However, as we approached Cowes the wind on the lay line disappeared the boats that headed in towards the island picked up a local sea-breeze and scooted along the shore past the front markers. As a final frustration, the outgoing tide running at 3 knots swept 3 of the leading boats past the finishing buoy on the wrong side and they lost valuable time trying to sail back against the current.
In the end the Cowes Tornado recorded a comfortable win from the fast finishing Nacra of Steve & David. Adam & Campbell were third, Kristian fourth, the unlucky Xavier and Laurinda 5th and Andrew & Nicholas sixth. Rob and Luke lost patience and decide to accept a tow.
Last Modified on 16/01/2017 20:18