Last Saturday saw the third cruiser race of the Rye Harbour Sailing Club Autumn Series and Rye News‘ sports editor had the good fortune to be invited to join the crew of one of the yachts. The boat in question was Helena Anne, a very lovely Clyde-built wooden yacht, 38 feet long, built by the famous McGruer yard in the late 1960’s and owned by her skipper, Hugh Redman.
By 1:30pm we were at the start line in the company of four other boats – Roxanne, a modern 38 footer; Close Encounters 31 feet; Mystic Sky 32 feet and the smallest boat in the fleet, Limbo Girl, at just 22 feet. As the size of a boat directly affects the speed at which it can go, there is a handicapping system that compensates for this and produces a “corrected time” for each boat at the end of the race thus giving everyone, regardless of size, a chance of winning.
The start was calm and controlled on Helena Anne and we crossed the line in close company with the other four and alongside Mystic Sky. Suddenly Limbo Girl, with her light weight and quick acceleration squeezed between us and cheekily tried to force us to bear away and to take our wind. Skipper Hugh was not to be intimidated, however and Limbo Girl soon realised that to be in the path of a vessel now travelling faster, much larger and many tons heavier was not, perhaps, the best of places to be.
Helena Anne may have been the oldest boat racing, but given the right conditions – and the flat sea and good northerly wind of around 20 knots was just what she needed – she can still show a clean pair of heels to many others. By the time we reached the first mark – the RHSC buoy off Camber – we, in company with Roxanne, (just in front and who was clearly going to be our main competition) had started to draw ahead of the others.
Rounding the mark, we chased Roxanne to the Rock Channel Marine Buoy off Winchelsea Beach. Were we gaining on her? Yes perhaps a bit and then disaster struck. While winching in the genoa (the sail), the sheet (the rope that controls the sail) became jammed in the winch and, in order to avoid losing boat speed, we had to carry on past the mark losing precious time until the jam was cleared.
In the meantime Roxanne had drawn further ahead and Mystic Sky had rounded the buoy and slipped past under our lee while we were otherwise engaged. Back on the proper course, we soon overhauled Mystic Sky and suddenly found ourselves close up to Roxanne once more – who had had her own problems in the stiff breeze, now gusting over 20 knots. This remained the order for the final two legs of the course and after one and a quarter hours racing, we crossed the finish line just 35 seconds behind Roxanne. Surely we had beaten her on handicap? And yes we had but in the excitement of the chase had forgotten about Mystic Sky, finishing barely two minutes behind us, her corrected (handicap) time put us into second place by just 16 seconds. If it hadn’t been for that darned genoa sheet . . . but that’s sailing for you.
After a quiet sail back up the river to the mooring – during which the skipper bravely allowed me to take the helm, we relaxed over a glass of wine and black forest gateau. What better way to finish a great day’s sailing.
My very grateful thanks go to Hugh Redman and his crew, Caroline Wylson and Martin Carter for allowing me to race with them. The detailed results can be found at www.rhsc.org.uk.
Photos: John Minter and RHSC