Parachuted in – Part II
After the 1931 Transat from Rhode Island to Plymouth, with the epoch-defining victory of Olin Stephens’ Dorade, pioneer ocean racer and ocean-racing organiser Douglas Dixon, DSO RN, decided it was time to speed things up… Clare McComb
Following the west to east race across the Atlantic there was almost immediately a great gearing-up for the Fastnet, and what an adventure that was to be. Douglas had published at least one ‘how to’ article about ocean racing – his advice makes humorous reading: ‘Britishers’,who tend to rely on ‘muddling through’ (unlike Ameri- cans who ‘drill’ their crews), can get by with going for a sail on the odd weekend to ensure that, when push comes to shove, the hands are not ‘strangers to their craft’. The cook was ‘guardian of the stomach
on which your ship sails, as surely as Napoleon’s armies marched’. Tea, coffee, cocoa, Bovril and a spot of brandy or rum ‘for the right times’, were judged essential, as were chocolate, toffee, biscuits and staples like tinned butter and potted meat. Each had his idiosyncrasies to be catered for: Dixon’s was half a pound of peanuts per watch and plentiful tobacco and matches. On navigation he instructed readers to
‘choose your man carefully, for to use a sextant, covered with salt, when the hori- zon is lost behind breaking seas, requires a deal of experience; dead reckoning and picking up an absolutely unknown landfall are even more difficult’. He advised con- sideration for your navigator by not leaving the chart table swimming with spilt cocoa. Ocean racing was not about ’driving your ship as to break her’, but to be undertaken with ‘good cheer and earnest thought’. It was crucial never to give up, as a change in weather could upset everything.
The 1931 Fastnet The race started in Cowes, but still passed the Isle of Wight to starboard. With Dixon navigating, Amberjack, the smallest entrant, enjoyed a fair wind down to Start Point, then struck a bad break of calm, making little headway for 12 hours. The wind then began to rise, then
changed direction; by the time they were two miles off the Fastnet Rock it was at gale force ‘and the seas tremendous’. They tried to shorten sail but suddenly, before the hatches could be closed, the little schooner lurched over and great waves rolled in, flooding the cockpit and on below. Useless mattresses were rushed on deck, along with every crew member,
Douglas taking a sight in the Ionian Sea. In 1955 Dusmarie carried his family on a slow ‘pilgrimage’ through the Mediterranean from Gibraltar to the Black Sea, taking in the Plymouth to La Rochelle Race along the way (so that his 15-year-old daughter Astrid could qualify for RORC membership) as well as the historic glories of southern Europe. He then fulfilled his wish to return in peace to Gallipoli, last seen in the heat of battle
except the cook who gallantly stayed at his post, bailing frantically. The designer had made provision for a
capsize to 90° but Amberjack must have been reaching that limit, over and again, with water constantly crashing over her lee deck. Meanwhile, they were drifting closer to the perilous Fastnet Rock. They couldn’t tack, only attempt to stay
where they were, with the sound of waves beating on the rocks loud in their ears. Amberjack was forced so close they could see the cross pieces of the lighthouse win- dows. In peril of losing the ship, they fought for six hours with the cockpit full of water, wondering if they’d get out alive. At long last, ‘after such a night as I do
not want again to experience’, stated the owner, they were able to ‘creep’ to safety, heading for wider waters, where they man- aged to put three reefs into the only light sail they carried and set the storm jib. Although their second attempt to pass
through the narrow fairway between the Fastnet and the Irish coast succeeded, they were then blown, helpless, into the Bristol Channel. Eventually they found their bear- ings by Lundy Island and set course for Plymouth. There was a sense that some- thing still wished to thwart their progress; every tide at every headland was against them; then fog came down and they could not see the length of the boat through rain. Drinking water became an issue. While
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