Captain’s Log May 2025
I am writing this shortly after returning from St. Vaast. As always, St. Vaast, particularly our friends at Maison Gosselin, provided a warm welcome. The weather forecast was rather less welcoming and this the first time that I have seen a significant number of boats spinning on the finish line and heading for home, presumably to avoid the forecast bad weather. As it so happens at the end of the day the forecast and the weather moderated and most of us who left on Sunday afternoon had a reasonably good and fast trip home. It’s also worth mentioning that this was a race in which the first boat in each class was sailed double handed, a great credit to those sailors.
What used to be accepted as the typical British weather seems to have disappeared during the last 5 or so years and instead, we are getting long periods of calm, punctuated by strong winds either from the West, or as has happened a lot this year from the North East. I am no scientist, but my understanding is that this is all a result of global warming which is causing the jet stream to move unpredictably North or South of what used to be regarded as its traditional route. This weather has certainly kept us on our toes this season. The Lewmar Lonely Tower managed to sneak in with reasonable weather, the TeamO Great Escape Race the following day see very light winds with a shortened course and several retirements. This was followed by the Marlow Weymouth Race in which nearly 75% of the fleet retired after being becalmed in Weymouth Bay. However rather curiously the trip home from Weymouth was a wonderful downhill slide, in “Gunsmoke” we managed over 10 knots under spinnaker in the Solent. Eastbourne had the reverse problem with strong Easterly winds battering the fleet. For St Vaast the wind was back in the North East and was bitterly cold.
Despite the weather, we have consistently attracted record entries in all of our races so far this year. However, races held over the Easter weekend have rarely attracted huge followings and I am thinking about ringing the changes to alternative destinations for that weekend. For the number geeks, it was 93 boats for Lonely Tower, 62 for Great Escape, 60 for Weymouth, 21 for Eastbourne and 30 for St Vaast.
After the Lewmar Lonely Tower we had drinks receptions at the Island SC and Royal Southern SC at which JOG subsidised the drinks as part of our 75 birthday celebrations. This was followed by a great party at the Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club who made us very welcome. As the season comes to a close, we are planning another celebration—stay tuned for more details!
For me there have been a few lessons to take home from our races so far this season. The great number of retirements in the TeamO Weymouth Race was disappointing for us and for our sponsors. Most of us enter Coastal races with the assumption that we will get there in time for a party and a nice meal, I have great admiration for those who clung on, they deserve their prizes, but I do wonder if as a club we should have some sort of mechanism that ensures the majority of the fleet finishes? Most of the time the Race Officer manages to predict the problem and shorten course, but in the last few years there have still been a number of occasions on which a very large proportion of the fleet has failed to finish. I am currently having some discussions with rules experts about ways in which we might be able to amend our racing instructions to ensure most of the fleet get a finishing place without imposing a huge burden on the Race Team, and without unfairly penalising those who usually hold out for the finish.
For the Marlow Eastbourne there was a nasty reminder of the effects of seasickness for all of us on “Gunsmoke”. A very experienced member of our crew, he had just returned from a 2600-mile delivery, became badly seasick as we passed the entrance to Chichester. By the time we were approaching the Owers he was getting worse and we thought that he was becoming a danger to himself, and to the rest of the crew. Reluctantly we retired, by the time we got back to dry land he was no better and starting to show signs of exposure. Fortunately, dry land, a warm drink and a hot shower quickly sorted things out, but the experience was a rude reminder that seasickness can strike anyone and can at times be dangerous and not be ignored. The return from Eastbourne provided two further lessons, shortly after the start “Blazer” suffered an unexpected Gybe and a crew member was knocked overboard. “Kindred Spirit” which was nearby offered assistance and recovered the MOB. The lifeboat was called and took the MOB ashore for a check-up, thankful all was well. Then to the West of Beachy Head “Just So” was hit by a 30-knot squall and her rudder broke off. The rudder and keel had been inspected only two weeks previously! “Scream 2” stood by but again assistance from the lifeboat was required to tow “Just So” to port. “Just So” tried using their emergency steering oar but found that it was largely ineffective. Both “Blazer” and “Just So” are well prepared boats, sailed by experienced crews but even for them things can and did go wrong. Not for the first time the lesson from both these stories is that however well prepared you are things can go wrong and skimping on training and safety equipment is potentially a false economy.
The seamanship and selfless assistance offered by both “Kindred Spirit” and “Scream 2” is an example the skill and spirit of JOG and has to be praised. On a personal note I had a salutary lesson this year when doing our annual MOB training, “Gunsmoke” is a very light boat and far more difficult to handle for MOB than was my previous boat “Jedi”. While there is no substitute for practice, things like throw lines and recovery slings potentially make a huge difference. I once had the misfortune, during a Warsash Spring series race, to attempt a MOB recovery of someone who had fallen from a J24 that capsized. I was on a Mustang 30, this was before the ruled required us to carry such things as a throw line or a recovery sling (or indeed to wear lifejackets in strong winds), and in 20 knots of wind with a Solent chop the Mustang simply could not be controlled enough to make the recovery, which was ultimately done by a heavy cruising boat. Ever since that experience I have taken MOB very seriously both in terms of prevention, equipment and training, I hope that all JOG members do the same.
Sorry about the lecture. I hope you all have a super time for the rest of the season. I pray for some slightly more seasonal weather. I will not be around for the Deauville or the Yarmouth race weekend but I hope to see you all in Alderney which along with St Vaast is one of my favourite destinations.
Tony Tahourdin
Gunsmoke GBR6455R
