This weekend was the Round Lefkas Island Race, 45 nautical miles. The weather forecast had been changing all week and none of it was particularly good, from too much wind to no wind. Anyway 9 yachts gathered at the north end of the island for a 9.30 start. (the rest being put off by the mixed weather forecast, some would say in hindsight, wisely) Last years race was in our mind taking 15 agonising hours on a J24. Some poor boats and crew timed out after 32hrs of hard racing due to lack of wind. This year we were on a slightly bigger boat (Dehler Optima 101, a 34ft yacht) with more creature comforts, like a toilet! A cooker so we could have hot food and bunks to have a rest on if we wanted.
Well we started with a reasonable wind, and then as the thunderstorms rolled by we had wind from all points of the compass at a variety of strengths. We had the Asymmetric up, Asymmetric down, Genny out, then quickly the Spinnaker up then back to the Genny. This went on for an hour or two till we were dizzy. Then a new weather system bought in 30+ knots of wind for a close reach. We changed to a number three headsail and had 2 reefs in the main, flying down the bottom third of the west coast of Lefkas. That wind stayed with us with occasional bigger gusts in the high 30’s. (max wind strength of 48knts was recorded on another yacht. We had no wind instrument maybe just as well!) Those conditions stayed with us for the next few hours and we were pushing the boat as hard as it would go. Now we thought we had a chance of breaking the record, it stood at 10 hours 6 mins 53 seconds. We rounded the bottom western corner to sail along the south coast of the island at 3pm and hardened onto the wind for another 2 and bit hours. Luckily the sea only got up to a couple of meters or so and gave us a really fast sail for those hours. At the south east corner of the island we bore away, and with the reefs shaken out of the main and the number one head sail we were doing over 7 knots, but the record beckoned so we put the Spinnaker up flew up the channel surfing down the waves at over 9 knots. That ended with a big gust and a near broach when the spinnaker pole jumped off the mast and all hell let loose till we got the kite down, got sorted and got it up again. We’d been racing nearly 8 hours by now, pushing it all the way and we were getting seriously knackered but we still had a chance at the record. Another 15 minutes and the gusts were gaining in strength and the Spinnaker was getting a real handful, particularly as we were shorthanded and it was getting dark. Pull it down, Genny out again, still keeping over 5 knots boat speed. The finish line is now less than an hour away, we’re in with a great chance of the record!! We crossed the line at 18:22 and some seconds giving us a total race time of 9.16:37. We still had to check with the records to see how close we were to it.
Nine boats started, only 2 finished. We’d blown out the Spray Hood, the second reefing point on the boom was torn out (at which point we nearly lost me (Maureen) overboard while lashing it when a gust hit), the Genny reefing block exploded and we were all knackered and battered, but very hopeful. After some hot food and a well deserved beer we got confirmation we had beaten the record by 50 minutes – WOW – fantastic, and it’s a good record, we think it will be some time before it’s broken again!
Well we started with a reasonable wind, and then as the thunderstorms rolled by we had wind from all points of the compass at a variety of strengths. We had the Asymmetric up, Asymmetric down, Genny out, then quickly the Spinnaker up then back to the Genny. This went on for an hour or two till we were dizzy. Then a new weather system bought in 30+ knots of wind for a close reach. We changed to a number three headsail and had 2 reefs in the main, flying down the bottom third of the west coast of Lefkas. That wind stayed with us with occasional bigger gusts in the high 30’s. (max wind strength of 48knts was recorded on another yacht. We had no wind instrument maybe just as well!) Those conditions stayed with us for the next few hours and we were pushing the boat as hard as it would go. Now we thought we had a chance of breaking the record, it stood at 10 hours 6 mins 53 seconds. We rounded the bottom western corner to sail along the south coast of the island at 3pm and hardened onto the wind for another 2 and bit hours. Luckily the sea only got up to a couple of meters or so and gave us a really fast sail for those hours. At the south east corner of the island we bore away, and with the reefs shaken out of the main and the number one head sail we were doing over 7 knots, but the record beckoned so we put the Spinnaker up flew up the channel surfing down the waves at over 9 knots. That ended with a big gust and a near broach when the spinnaker pole jumped off the mast and all hell let loose till we got the kite down, got sorted and got it up again. We’d been racing nearly 8 hours by now, pushing it all the way and we were getting seriously knackered but we still had a chance at the record. Another 15 minutes and the gusts were gaining in strength and the Spinnaker was getting a real handful, particularly as we were shorthanded and it was getting dark. Pull it down, Genny out again, still keeping over 5 knots boat speed. The finish line is now less than an hour away, we’re in with a great chance of the record!! We crossed the line at 18:22 and some seconds giving us a total race time of 9.16:37. We still had to check with the records to see how close we were to it.
Nine boats started, only 2 finished. We’d blown out the Spray Hood, the second reefing point on the boom was torn out (at which point we nearly lost me (Maureen) overboard while lashing it when a gust hit), the Genny reefing block exploded and we were all knackered and battered, but very hopeful. After some hot food and a well deserved beer we got confirmation we had beaten the record by 50 minutes – WOW – fantastic, and it’s a good record, we think it will be some time before it’s broken again!
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