RWYC TWO-HANDED ROUND BRITAIN & IRELAND RACE IN A MAXI 1100
by Guy Warner
I bought my Maxi 1100 Blue Demon new last year and specified a number of cruising gear items that added weight – eg extra tankage, batteries, cupboards & fridge. It was perhaps not surprising that our results in the RSYC’s two-handed races were poor. A longer race was needed to show Blue Demon’s true potential and so, rather rashly, I entered the RWYC two-handed RBI – clockwise from Plymouth leaving Great Britain & Ireland to starboard (except for Rockall) with 4 compulsory 48 hour stops at Kinsale, Barra, Lerwick & Lowestoft. A 300M qualifier had to be completed by 1 May and an account of this is at
www.petitbateau.org.uk . Suitably chastened by the roller coaster experience in a F6-8 but heartened by the superb performance of my co-skipper Nicki Crutchfield, Blue Demon duly arrived at Queen Ann’s Battery Marina on Tue 6 June to prepare for the start at noon on Sun 11 June.
There were 40 entries ranging from lightweight catamarans/trimarans, through Open 40s and J109s to a few souped up cruising yachts. They all had one thing in common – they were light and fast. My competitors were mostly experienced long distance racers (including Pete Goss) who all moaned about having to carry a dinghy – the stop at Barra necessitated having to anchor in Castlebay and get ashore by one’s own means. We were the only yacht with a sprayhood and dodgers – the sprayhood is down in the photo but I left the dodgers up throughout the race! There were 6 classes – 2 multihulls, 1 open 40 and 3 IRC. We were in IRC class 2 with a handicap of 1.014. We should have been in class 3 (under 1.000) but I was carrying both the 105% jib & the 143% genoa as well as a self-tacking staysail on an inner forestay.
The first leg to Kinsale was characterised by very light winds. It was a struggle to get round the Lizard and Bishop Rock and then a beat across the Bristol Channel. We finished at 1257 on Wed 14 June having sailed 288M with almost zero wind for the last few hours. The next leg west of Ireland duly started for us at 1257 on Friday 16 June. This was light winds again for the first 36 hours but it picked up to F5 and we had a fine reach up to Barra (489M) arriving at 0115 on Tues 20 Jun and picking our way gingerly into the already crowded anchorage.
The following day it blew F10 through the bay causing havoc among the yachts with one badly damaged after having to be pulled off rocks by the local lifeboat who did a sterling job. Blue Demon dragged her anchor as well but we took refuge in an adjoining bay which was less crowded. Most yachts stayed in harbour even though they were due to sail. One brave Dutch crew left only to be pitchpoled off St Kilda and rescued by the lifeboat.
Racing
