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Yesterday morning at 09:00 UTC Jan and I set off aboard NINJOD on our first proper offshore outing. Our plan was to log at least 125 nautical miles and use the trip as a) a learning experience and b) our log submission for our Triangle Qualification cruise. The Triangle race requires that all competitors have covered at least 125 nautical miles at sea aboard the yacht they intend to compete in, the yacht must be also be in the configuration one intends to race in ( i.e all equipment etc. must be on board).
The plan was to head towards the coast of Belgium, leaving the Cork sands off of Harwich to the north on our outward journey and to the south on our return. At 09:26 UTC we spoke with Thames Coast Guard and logged our passage plan. You basically explain what you are up to, where you are going and how long you are likely to be. It was the 1st time I was asked for NINJOD’s radio call sign, fortunately I had written it down as I still only remember the old one.
The wind and the boat speed rose steadily throughout Saturday morning as we sped along passing the Rough Towers and Sunk Light. By the time we were passing South Galloper the sea state was moderate and the wind speed had increased to 20knots true. We were happy reaching at speed with our sail plan as full main and our No 2 headsail.
The shipping lanes were very busy when we arrived at them. Fortunately our AIS system gave us all the information we required, it also gave the ships we were crossing at right angles with all the data they required. I chatted with a couple to confirm that they were happy with what we had planned; it all went off without a hitch.
At this point I feel I should mention how very cold (and consequently uncomfortable) we both were. The northerly breeze was biting and as fast as we had left Harwich we were looking for extra layers of clothing to put on. On top of this neither of us was feeling very good. Even before I had got on the boat I had a stomach issue and as fast as we had left the marina Jan felt a little sea sick. I note from the log that at 15:55 UTC, having laid down for a while, Jan finally succumbed and took a couple of sea sickness tablets.
At 19:00 UTC with the sun dropping we finally reached our destination, the north most point of a car park for ships off of the Belgian coast. We then turned around and began our journey home. We opted for a 2 hourly watch cycle throughout the night which worked well although I might have to question Jan’s comments in the ships log.. apparently at 21:08 UTC I was snoring..
The wind dropped as the evening progressed. At 02:01 UTC we were crawling along with a true wind speed of 3.6 knots. It was still bitterly cold and the pilot was doing the bulk of the steering so that the person on watch could sit at the hatch and try to keep a little warmer. To lift our spirits and our core temperatures Jan cooked up some pasta. The wind and sun arrived in unison and our progress towards home and warmth began to speed up again.
24 hours after starting we were tied up in our berth in Suffolk Yacht Harbor, we had travelled a little over 138 nautical miles. Looking at the stats recorded in Expedition we saw a top TWS (True Wind Speed) of 26.7 knots and a top BSP (Boat Speed) of 11.1 knots. Our top SOG (Speed Over the Ground) was 9.3 knots.
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.
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
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)
