Sailing By Staff Sergeant Kial Jones Exercise CELTIC CROWN
The annual AGC offshore five-day adventurous sail training expedition, in September, two Hallberg Rassey 342 yachts, crewed by 10 members of the Corps conducted sail training along the south coast. Following the initial briefs and vessel familiarisation, the Yachts departed Gosport Marina to conduct skills, including man-overboard drills. An overnight stop in Yarmouth saw the crews learn how to ‘come along side’, practice ropework and ‘put the boat to bed’.
On day two, the team sailed left out of Yarmouth and headed West. The wind picked up, gusting to force 5 and this introduction to yachts healing over, with waves crashing over the deck, was an eye opener for those who had not sailed before. The crews were excellent in managing to learn, sail and ultimately to hang on!
Day three saw a drop in wind leaving Poole Harbour and some relaxed sailing saw the crews get to grips with tacking and gybing. With an unintentional grounding practise and a couple of bumps and grinds the rest of the expedition went smoothly with perfect weather throughout.
The novices completed the competent crew syllabus; including knots, buoyage, learning the lingo, and being useful crew members. Despite the weather conditions all wanted to come back for future expeditions.
Army Offshore Regetta T
he Army Offshore Regatta (AOR) is an annual inter-corps sailing competition run over 5 days around the Solent and the Channel. The AGC entered two crews into the Victoria Class. AGC team 1 raced on Callista, skippered by WO2 Patrick Audas, and AGC 2 raced on Trochus, skippered by SSgt Oliver Sherlock.
The racing splits into two categories:
the inshore category - four inshore passage races and a compass race, then the offshore race category - a single long-distance race. The competition saw the fleet sailing the length of the Solent, around the back of the Isle of Wight and Poole Harbour. With eight teams taking part in the Division competition was high and saw an increase in novice sailors.
Day one of racing was a physical and mental challenge, starting with a practice to introduce start line discipline and sailing near each other. Race one
finished close to the Isle of Wight with AGC team 1 finishing 1st and AGC team 2 taking 3rd place.
Day two was the offshore race to Poole. A tactical decision was made to sail inside the Solent or around the back of the Isle of Wight. Both AGC teams were in the lead four yachts at Bembridge and all decided to head South rounding the back of the Island. The conditions were tricky and spinnakers were rapidly being dropped to prevent them from exploding! After 8 hours of racing across 60 miles AGC 1 and 2 were in the lead, or so they thought as the AAC team popped out in the lead, having chosen the inshore route. That didn’t stop us chasing them down and AGC 1 just managed to pip them at the finish line winning the offshore race and AGC 2 coming 3rd.
After an excellent week of racing, AGC team 1 won the class and AGC team 2 finished 2nd overall; beating all other Corps represented.
Not only is this a great outcome in terms of the competition, but it was achieved with two crews that had never sailed together, including six novice sailors. All thoroughly enjoyed the experience and absolutely proved themselves against the best in the Army.
AGC JOURNAL 2022 131
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