Update
all these reasons it is a great place to race – but, boy, you have to have your wits about you. Compared to the ’80s and ’90s, the models now are so much
better for everyone to access, meaning a better overview with more accessible information. But…! It is still the weather and where the boat is that count – that can feature a cloud either with or without rain, plus the difference in or out of the tidal stream. In the old days you had a three-boat team, the 30, 40 and 50,
and the big thing was – remember that you are a team! Many Australian boats dumped on each other! An Australian 50-footer would be right alongside an Aussie Mumm 36, gassing them! So remember: this is a team event! Clearly this all means that getting off the line doesn’t just involve
favoured left or right, it is the shoreline and the current. Way back in the good old days the Australian team prep for this was in Port Phillip Bay with no tide! We are used to building, robust breezes at home and not much current. But in the Solent there are building breezes or very fickle light and local breezes, meaning reading the sky and the current with eyes out of the boat is critical. So many images in my head over the years from working in the
Solent. I think it was in the early ’90s with Syd Fischer in the team, one of the Solent races had zero wind, I mean absolutely nothing. And it was hot, 41°C recorded at Heathrow Airport – so hot you couldn’t get a sea breeze. So it is amazing the variation in the weather there. In the mid-’80s and mid-’90s the weather was atrocious. High summer in July and August, but we had front after front coming through, and blowing a westerly gale… so a heck of a variation. If you get a frontal low that gets invigorated with tropical air,
sucked in all the way from the tropics, that can bring a huge amount of energy. The great storm in 1987 that flattened the trees in the UK, the one that the BBC weather guy Michael Fish famously said wasn’t going to happen, was one of those… now it is a different game, with today’s different models updating so fast. In the pre-internet days I used to get off an aircraft with a
theodolite, a large radio to decode the teletype, then draw my own weather charts, and I would bring my own weather balloons – but I had to rent a cylinder of helium for those. Now I just get off the aircraft with my laptop under my arm! In 1992 in Barcelona for the Olympics the helium cylinder I got was huge, where I used maybe one per cent of it! After the Games the team all got on the turps – we had a container stacked full of Fosters – then started inhaling the helium and doing Donald Duck voices. Crazy days. Then we come to the triple-points Fastnet. That is certainly
focusing a lot of people’s minds and there are so many things in a Fastnet Race. You are going to get to Portland Bill and beyond on the first night; but it’s all easier now because of access to models with 1,000m resolution. But remember it is 50°N, and you get a lot of weather – that classic high-latitude meteorology playing out in front of your eyes. The effects of the frontal line, the trough lines, clouds and storms and showers, all have a major influence. The big question after you round the Rock, and often fast
running/reaching back, is about laying the Scilly Isles. Do you dig out to get more pressure on the right – or are you thinking of a late shift, and the timing of a front or shift coming in from behind? And now finishing in France throws in that extra curve ball. Final words to all the teams that I have worked with – eyes out
of the boat. See what is driving the wind, and appreciate the current. Meaning the different current characteristics both in and outside the Solent. It is all about laylines and current – and understanding the local wind. Teams will all have local blokes onboard who do or don’t know everything! I remember one Admiral’s Cup way back with Rodney Pattisson
– what a character he was! A couple of gold medals in the Flying Dutchman and a submariner. Rodney turned up to the boat for a Channel Race one year, and he had under his arm this great big heavy Bakelite radio to pick up the shipping forecast – it wasn’t a valve radio, but it was pretty close to it! And strapped to the top of this thing was a classic wind-up double-bell alarm clock, all taped up together so he could wake up for the shipping forecasts on Radio 4. Priceless!’ Blue Robinson
q 16 SEAHORSE SNAPSHOTS Brought to you in association with
l Happy 10th birthday… to our good friends, loyal Seahorse supporters and makers of very clever cutting-edge kit for both raceboats and superyachts, A+T Instruments l A large chapeau… to our newest columnist Sam Goodchild l How would you feel… if Vendée Globe winner Charlie Dalin asked you to take over from him as Macif skipper for the foreseeable while he concentrates on other matters? l An English sailor… getting the biggest Imoca gig… l Imagine the… hard yards that needed. Proud of you, Sam l Plus fellow Pom… Will Harris has been signed by weather god and new PRB skipper Nicolas Lunven for his Imoca l Ominous oppo… Yoann Richomme has re-signed with Paprec (only, no Arkéa) to build a new Imoca for the 2028 VG l Big props… to David Atkinson, race officer to the UK Round the Island spectacular for the last 46 years on the trot… l Question… instead of timing the race for maximum tidal benefit for the very slowest boats… how about in alternate years flipping that on its head? l Big props also… to Botín, Carrington and the Hong Kong Admiral’s Cup team assembled by Gavin Brady… l Veni, vidi, vici indeed… the Brady Bunch smashed it on the debut of their new Botín custom IRC 42 Beau Ideal in Cowes… l Custom… IRC designs… now the big boys are playing l Hands together… for Morty and the boys on winning a second 5.5 Metre world title… l And… to designer of their dominant 5.5, Dave Hollom l The boy done good… a new 63m sloop (sic) designed by Malcolm McKeon will soon start building at Vitters…. l Reverse stem… and lots more brazen modernity… l Shame... Malcolm’s former partner in crime Ed Dubois never got to build his own 100m sloop... l Told you… after a fast-improving fourth in the Normandy Channel Race Lipinski and Alberto Bona wrapped up the first CIC Med Channel Race for Class40s l Random thought… if you told a current Olympic sailor that their races used to be nine-mile three-hour affairs, with a 1-2nm beat, how many would believe you? l Come to think… of it, with Olympic sailing now so anodyne on account of the false god of TV, maybe one non-discardable 9nm race would make things more interesting… l And give… boatspeed specialists summat to really aim at l Say… this very quietly… l Young Kiwi 49er duo… Menzies and Rush finished on top at the 2025 Europeans in Greece l The draft AC Protocol… prohibits Pete Burling from sailing on the Luna Rossa boat at the next Cup… l ‘He will… be part of the sailing team,’ says CEO Max Sirena l Pete Burling… on tune-up… we doubt that very much l Whither the mighty… J Class…? l The whole class racing… caboodle seems to have disappeared, with many boats either laid up or for sale… l Call us cold-hearted… but it was a lot of time, money and above all people to go pretty slowly (soz – ed) l Bloody hellfire… as we close this issue the IRC entry for the Fastnet has rolled through 350 with more and more IRC teams qualifying up to the deadline… from 33 countries l Vroom vroom… while Ferrari may or may not be building a foiling 100-footer for Giovanni Soldini more certain is that Alfa Romeo are supporting the next Luna Rossa campaign… l Money… and technical wizardry (cf Ineos/Merc, Alinghi/RB) l Liferafts… the Normandy Channel Race was a priceless learning experience and from this autumn all Class40s must carry identical Plastimo rafts – being supplied at a discount l Class40… class management which others aspire to... l Them… and the TP52s of course l Final props for now… Pete Cunningham again taking line honours in the 2025 Round the Island aboard his MOD70… l Pete is 84… l More and more… Imocas are popping up over at
RaceboatsOnly.com l For more detail…
EurosailNews.com
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