OSTAR 2013

February 14, 2012 in OSTAR 2013 | by | 1 comment

With the release of the Notice Of Race yesterday for the 2013 edition of the OSTAR the countdown to the start of the race has now officially begun for me. Between now and the 27th of May 2013 NINJOD and I need to be prepared and to qualify for the event. Since my last attempt at this race in 2009 a lot has changed, a new boat and a fitter and more physically and mentally prepared me will hopefully get me to the finish in Rhode Island this time.

 

One of the last bits of kit required for me to tick all of the boxes for boat compliance for this specific event is satellite communications. By some strange coincidence yesterday NINJODs new Iridium sat phone and associated gubbins arrived.

The plan is to now enter one of the official qualification events organized this summer.

 

Some Ninjod Pics..

January 11, 2012 in Haven Ports Yacht Club Racing, Sunfast 3200 | by | 4 comments

Many thanks to Mike Perkins at HPYC for sending me these pictures.

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Ice Bucket – 2012 1st Sail

January 2, 2012 in Haven Ports Yacht Club Racing | by | Leave a comment

Jan, Neil and I were joined by Martin on New Years day for the Haven Ports Yacht Club Ice Bucket race. A total of 9 yachts turned out to compete. Our start at 1100 was a little before low water and Pete, our race officer had warned the fleet (at least twice) that there were very shallow areas in the river. This unfortunately didnt stop some of the fleet grounding, we were fortunate enough to avoid any such issues.

The race took us into and out of the River Stour before bouncing back n forth across the club line a couple of times and finishing. After 1.5 hours of racing we managed to place 3rd (again) on corrected time.

Full results can be found here.

 

 

Pete’s Pot – In the chocolates.

December 26, 2011 in Haven Ports Yacht Club Racing | by | Leave a comment

It has been a tradition for some time at Haven Ports Yacht Club to race for the Pete’s Pot Trophy each year on Boxing Day. This morning Jan, Neil and I arrived at NINJOD ready to do our best.

There was an impressive 13 yachts on the start line this morning. We had a very good start, in fact I’d go as far as to say it was one of my best starts ever. We were the 2nd yacht around the 1st mark, just off the stern of Kiss (an X35) and just ahead of Cheap Thrill (a Cork 1720). We then hoisted our asymmetric spinnaker and sped off towards the 2nd mark.

We sailed a pretty good race and managed to stay at the sharp end of the fleet for most of the race. The day however was not without incident; at one point we lost a working sheet on our asymmetric, it just opened on its own. It took us a some time to sort it out.

Niggles aside we were pleasantly surprised to be told we came 3rd on corrected time, our 1st significant placing on new NINJOD and in our last race of the year. Our manoeuvres were good and it was nice to mix it up and be competitive in a predominantly fully crewed fleet.

Full results can be found here .  Well done to Roger Harvey on Dash for his impressive win.

Second SF3200 arrives at Suffolk Yacht Harbour

December 7, 2011 in Sunfast 3200 | by | 1 comment

A second Sunfast 3200 now joins NINJOD at Suffolk Yacht Harbour. Not sure of the name currently but I hope they are out for racing on Sunday.

Weekend on the water

December 5, 2011 in Haven Ports Yacht Club Racing, Sunfast 3200 | by | Leave a comment

Last weekend saw some sailing action on NINJOD. On Saturday Michael and I hooked up with John Parker and Mike from One Sails for a sail.  The original idea was to take at look at each of the sails that had been built by One Sails, our sailmaker. On the day however there was a fresh 17 to 20 knot breeze  so we stuck with our new No 3 and a full mainsail.

NINJOD No 3

NINJOD No3

 

As we headed out of the river we managed to get some pretty good boat speeds, so much so that I thought the log might have been over reporting. I checked this by looking at our SOG (Speed Over the Ground) and was pleasantly surprised to see we were in fact going well, very well.

 

As we came onto the breeze and wound in our sails in John got his camera out and got busy snapping. We were enjoying ourselves and then thought we’d pop the CZ (Code Zero) up. After a bit of fiddling we unfurled the sail and watched our boat speed increase to over 10 knots.

Haven Ports Frostbite Number 3

On Sunday Jan, Neil, Will and I arrived on board for 0900 ready to prepare NINJOD for our 3rd race in the Haven Ports Yacht Club Frostbite series. We had missed the 2nd race in the series as Jan and I were busy training in the Lake District for next years Lakeland 50.

The race itself was a little frustrating. Our start wasn’t too bad but our (my) sail selection in our No 3 was the wrong choice, we should have used the larger No 2 headsail.  Knowing we had made the mistake we rounded our first mark, unfurled our Code Zero and then switched the headsails. Unfortunately the choice of Code Zero was also incorrect; we should have hoisted our Asymmetric spinnaker.

 

In our beat up the River Stour we made good progress and had managed to take back some of the ground we had lost in the early stages of the race. As we turned and ran downwind in the Stour we flew our symmetric spinnaker. We turned left back into the River Orwell and had planned to put our Code Zero back up however a halyard issue prevented us from doing so and consequently lost some of the ground we had reclaimed earlier.

With my poor sail selection and our halyard niggles during the race I wasn’t really expecting anything exciting in the results.  I was however pleasantly pleased to see  that after 2 hours and 13 minutes of racing we had achieved 4th position. Furthermore there was only a 1 second difference between our 4th position and 3rd position and, there was only a 39 second difference between us and 2nd place. I found this all very reassuring and  all I need to do now is get my head around the right sails to use.

Full results can be found here

HPYC Frostbite number 1

November 14, 2011 in Haven Ports Yacht Club Racing | by | 1 comment

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With help from Roma and Michael, Jan and I motored NINJOD home from Burnham to Levington in little or no wind on a grey rainy day during the 5th of November. Yesterday we participated in our first HPYC race.

Conditions were fairly light and slowly built throughout the race with a top true wind speed of 11 knots. My father Phil, Will, Jan and I were on board as we prepped the boat. The course took us out of the River Orwell, into the River Stour and then back to the Orwell with a quick bounce back and forth between 2 marks before finishing at the club line.

Our start was not great as I managed to end up below everyone else and in the combined bad air from the entire fleet. As we headed up wind towards the River Stour we used the shallows to minimise the effects of the tide that was running against us. Our kite hoist as we turned into he Stour was pretty slick. We ran towards our turning mark gybing once and making as much use of the tide as we could.

The beat back to the River Orwell, again against the tide and in the shallows, went without incident and as we turned into the Orwell we hoisted our asymmetric spinnaker. Unfortunately it didn’t stay up for too long as we were headed. We then bounced up and down the Orwell between 2 marks before finishing at the club line.

In the results we finished 5th on corrected time in a fleet of 7 yachts. We still have lots to learn and I am confident we can improve and get NINJOD flying. We had great fun with David Card and his crew on Demijon 2, a Sunfast 37, they provided us with some close racing.

The picture above is recorded from the local AIS station connected to the Internet. Ninjod constantly transmits its position speed and course over AIS. It’s nice to know it works.

Race 2 – OCS

October 24, 2011 in Crouch Yacht Club Racing, Sunfast 3200 | by | Leave a comment

CYC Autumn Series Course - 23/10/2011

Yesterdays racing on the River Crouch turned out to be a tad frustrating. John of One Sails, Malc’y, Neil, my father Phil, Jan and I gently motored NINJOD out of Burnham Yacht Harbour into a nice southerly breeze of around 15 knots(ish). We hoisted our No 2 headsail for the first time and then reached up and down the river a few times setting up car positions, outhaul and halyard tensions. As our start time drew closer we did a couple of timed runs to the start line.

Our start sequence began and we jockeyed for position as we turned for the line. We, along with 3 other competitors were early, very early. While the other 3 managed to turn and get back over the start line relatively quickly we were stuffed. We had no rights and were caught in between 2 yachts, both of whom had started well. All we could do was slow ourselves down, let them pass and then turn and go back to cross the start line. By the time all this had happened we were at the very back of the fleet.

The course (see pic above) took us down the River Crouch around Greenward buoy, into and out of the River Roach twice (using Jubilee, Wade and Roach buoys) and then back to the finish line (where we had started). By the time we had arrived at the first mark of the course, Greenward, we had caught up and passed a few yachts. A near miss while rounding the first mark caused raised blood pressure on board for a while. We then began the business of short tacking in the shallows against the tide up the River Roach. We passed Jubilee buoy to port and tested the depth sounder as we skipped past the corner on our way to the Wade buoy.

Just before the Roach buoy the wind freed and we hoisted our spinnaker, then at the mark we gybed. Our first run out of the Roach went without incident. The headsail was hoisted and the spinnaker was dropped as we approached the gybe mark Greenward. Unfortunately the headsail got backed and wrapped around the forestay as we performed the gybe. We dropped the headsail and Jan managed to sort the mess out. We then powered up and began our second round of short tacking into the Roach, this time to turn at the Jubilee buoy.

Our second run out of the Roach was also trouble free however the spinnaker drop at the Branklet buoy was not good. For a short time we had a large spinnaker shaped flag flying from the top of the mast. With the spinnaker finally recovered (and surprisingly relatively dry) we made our way towards the finish line.

I was thoroughly fed up as we got off the boat and headed off towards the Crouch Yacht Club for the results, a beer and some lunch. It was some consolation to find that we hadn’t done that badly considering our troublesome and eventful race. We were the highest rated boat of all those OCS (On Course Side) at the start yet from the back we had managed to pass and put enough distance between us and the other 3 to beat them over the water and on corrected time. We had even managed to beat some who were not OCS. Tony, Chuffy and the crew of Amazon (the other SF3200) won the race, well done to them.

As for us and lessons learnt, we are going to have to work a little harder and get to know the boat a little better. Here’s hoping our third race will be less problematic than our second. Until next week…

 

1st Sail / 1st Race

October 17, 2011 in Crouch Yacht Club Racing, Sunfast 3200 | by | Leave a comment

Amazon and NINJOD side by side

On Saturday Jan and I had our 1st shakedown sail with Ian of Clarke & Carter. We tried our best to remember what all the ropes were for and explanations were given in the use of the different electrical switches and engine controls. We went through all of the seacock positions but after having made a cup of tea with salt water from the foot pump instead of the fresh water tap we discovered that another seacock existed. We dropped Ian off and headed out again, tacking up towards Horse Shoal. Jan sat at the port side tiller and I sat at the starboard side tiller, neither of us moved, we just took it in turns to either wind in the headsail or steer; his and hers helming positions.. it was great !

Just of the stern of Amazon

The 1st race yesterday was excellent. Conditions were very light and fickle and I am told by those in the know (Tony) that such conditions are not ideal Sunfast 3200 conditions. That said Jan, I and the rest of our crew (Neil and my father Phil) were all very impressed. While the corrected results were (almost) a reversal of the order of handicap ratings, out on the water it was very close racing and super fun. Amazon (the other SF3200) and NINJOD switched positions a couple of times during the Crouch Yacht Club race and in the end, after a decision by us to stick with the north shore instead of dropping to the south shore, we finished 15 seconds behind them after just under 3 hours of racing. We were very pleased with ourselves and NINJOD’s performance given it was our 2nd sail on the boat and our crews 1st time out. Line honours went to Inn Spirit and the next cluster of 4 competitors, of which we were one, were separated by only 32 seconds of elapsed time.

Underway with spinnaker

The reason for staying in Burnham-on-Crouch for a few weeks before heading back to Haven Ports Yacht Club and Levington was to snag issues and test/tune the boat along side Amazon. We found a few snagging issues that will hopefully get resolved this week and are looking forward to some more sea trials and testing against Amazon in heavier winds next weekend.

Many thanks to Tony for taking the pictures yesterday.

Mast and measurement complete

October 12, 2011 in Sunfast 3200 | by | Leave a comment

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Very glad to hear that the last 2 big jobs on new Ninjod have now been completed. All the data has been passed to RORC and we should know our IRC rating fairly soon.

The sails arrive tomorrow.

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