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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.
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…
Like this:
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.
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.
Today Jan and I got up early and headed off to Burnham-on-Crouch (no easy feat after yesterdays birthday celebrations for Jan). NINJOD was to be launched for the 1st time today.We arrived and were warmly welcomed by Tony, Ian , Aaron and a nice cup of tea. Roma, Jan’s mum dropped off a very nice cake to help us celebrate Jan’s birthday and NINJOD’s launch day.
Everything went according to plan and after Ian had given us the thumbs up to let us know that we were not taking on any water Jan sprinkled some fizz on the bow. We all gave a cheer and then climbed on board.
The rig will be installed as soon as the current round of strong winds clears. While onboard I managed to check out some of the electronics, I reconfigured Expedition on my laptop to support the NMEA2000 bus and the new Actisense gateway. Everything worked ..Phew..
Peter, our local RORC measurer is due to arrive next week to weigh and measure NINJOD for our endorsed IRC certificate. Our 1st sail is currently scheduled for Saturday the 15th. I cannot wait !
NINJOD - Hull number 116
While all of todays action was taking place I received a great email from a guy called Dale Kushner in South Africa.
Dale has ordered a Sunfast 3200 and had visited the factory to check on its progress. Dale took this picture of hull number 116 (yes its NINJOD) when standing on his new yacht (hull number 117). Dale’s Sunfast 3200 will be the first in South Africa. How very cool..
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I headed off to Burnham-on-Crouch this morning full of excitement. As I pulled into the town I saw the yacht transporter pulling out of the road that led towards the marina. I pulled into the marina car park and saw the new NINJOD, a shrink wrapped new NINJOD.
After a cup of tea with Ian we unwrapped the ever so shiny NINJOD, my face held a permanent grin from ear to ear throughout the process.
We climbed aboard and took a look below, it was all very clean and had that just pulled out of the factory smell about it.
Tim, the electronics man, arrived and the 3 of us went through where the various additional components were to be installed. AIS transponder, Active Radar reflector, VHF & speakers, Stereo & speakers etc. – all needed to have a sensible installation location.
Ian and I went through the boat branding (name stickers, sail number stickers etc.) and also discussed the location for the additional internal manual bilge pump required for compliance with ISAF special regulations.
When every component had a installation destination and I had spent some more time sitting in super comfortable chart table seat I waved goodbye and went to Roma’s (Jan’s mum) for some lunch.
The next visit is scheduled for Saturday. Hopefully we should be sailing for the 5th of October (Jan’s birthday)
Last Friday Jan and I raced the old NINJOD in the EAORA Buckley Goblets for the last time. The fleet, although sadly low on participants with only 9 yachts, offered 3 classes. We were the only two handed entry. Due to the poor weather forecast for the weekend, most of the fleet had planned to race to Belgium on the Friday, have a quick beer and then leave early on Saturday morning to avoid the very strong winds that were forecast for Sunday; Jan and I had also adopted this plan.
The race started in fairly light conditions with a foul tide deep run along the Wallet. This leg was pretty painful for us because: a) we tend not to go that well in light airs, b) we were in two handed IRC mode and consequently were only allowed to use asymmetric spinnakers AND c) even though we had a pretty good start I had made completely the wrong spinnaker choice. We persevered with the wrong spinnaker for a while before finally I acknowledged my mistake in judgment and told Jan she was right. With the pilot steering we set about the sail change and were both pretty chuffed with how smoothly it went.
By the time we reached Long Sand Head we had left ourselves a fair bit of work to do. The other class 2 competitors (and 1 of the class 3 competitors) were distant dots on the horizon. We aimed to remedy this situation and hoisted our Code Zero (another great sail change). As the wind speed increased the distance between those we could see in front of us shortened, we were catching them up.
The top true wind speed seen was 26.9 knots and about the time we experienced this we were crossing in front of a large ship. We still had the Code Zero up. We bore away slightly and sped off at 10 plus knots without feeling like we were totally in control. As soon as we were clear of the ship we dropped the Code Zero and went back to doing some more sedate fast reaching with our standard headsail, not wanting to damage the boat on our last race.
As we passed through the large ships mooring just off the coast of Oostende we hoisted another spinnaker and headed towards the finish line. We completed the 90nm course in just less than 13 hours.
We hooked up with the crews of Inn Spirit and Upstart, had a bite to eat and then went for a beer in the Cosy Corner. By 0530 the following morning we were on our way back across the North Sea heading for home.
The return trip was a very pleasant experience. With music playing on the stereo and the pilot faultlessly steering us home we experienced great conditions and some really nice boat speeds. This was our last sail on old NINJOD and we were both really pleased that we were able to end our journey with her on something so enjoyable.
New NINJOD arrives in the UK next week, more news on that soon….
This morning I entered the Buckley Goblets race that is run by the West Mersea Yacht Club and is part of the EAORA season of races. The race course covers some 90 nautical miles, it starts at the Nas beacon just off of West Mersea and finishes in Oostend, Belgium. The current plan is for Jan and I to do this last race 2 handed.
Things are going to plan with new NINJOD. She is still due to arrive in the UK in/around the 22nd of September and weather permitting, will be handed over to us in early October. Our plan is to keep her in Burnham-on-Crouch for a few weeks while we snag her and race against Amazon, another east coast SF3200 at the Crouch Yacht Club. Then at the end of October she will be sailed back to Suffolk Yacht Harbour to finish the season sailing with our home club Haven Ports Yacht Club.
Today has been a very significant for me. Today I committed to purchasing a new boat, a Sunfast 3200, a new NINJOD. Like the old NINJOD the new NINJOD has been designed by Daniel Andrieu and will be built by Jeanneau in France.
The new NINJOD was specifically designed with shorthanded and solo sailing in mind but is still able entertain fully crewed racing. It has been well proven in offshore and oceanic events such as the RBI (Round Britain and Ireland) and the Transquadra and it remains competitive under IRC racing (the predominant handicap rating system for yacht racing).
I had been considering this change for a while. Originally I had thought I might go for a Class 40 but draught constraints on the east coast and an unwillingness to move our sailing to the south coast quickly ruled that out. I shortlisted a number of production boats that included yachts like the Archambault A31, the Akilaria 950, the JPK 1010 and the Elan 350. In the end the SF3200 shone through because I had experienced good things when dealing with Daniel, the designer regarding JODs, the dealer was local and owned one himself and a number of solo sailing chums have nothing but good things to say about them.
Spare time during the past couple of weeks has been spent thinking about the detail. Things like the sail plan, sail cloth and electronic instrumentation have all been thought about.
So at some point towards the end of September, early October the transition from old to new will take place and a new era of sailing shenanigans aboard a new NINJOD will begin.
