Stowaways

"It was a dark and stormy night said Sir Admiral......" So how did the penguin find himself drinking rum with a pigeon mid-channel?

Some 25 miles south of Portland Bill, this bird flew in to take up station at the "Crows Nest" atop Jangada's mast. He hung on for almost 15 minutes as the mast tip swayed around with the motion of the waves. Finally deciding that we were friendly he flew down to take up station on the "poop deck". Fed tit-bits of flapjack, he seemed to perk up but showed no signs of abandoning his free ride homeward. So George took pity and carefully transferred him to the warmths below. Fortunately I had ticked all the luxury options for the J109 including a bird bath it seems.

Arriving back in the Solent we found out that that our guest was indeed a fellow racer, on his back from France to Croydon. He was provided rest and water overnight, to be freed in the morning to continue his journey home.

19kts on a 5 ton surf board

Surfing the waves at up to 19 kts on a 5 ton surf board in 20-30 kts of wind. Just another Bank Holiday weekend onboard Jangada Too in the RORC race to the Eddystone Light & back.

It was an exciting race with a quick windward leg to Eddystone, taking less than 22 hours to cover the 120nm. And as we rounded and headed home the A2 kite was soon exchanged for the brand new A4 heavy weather kite, fresh out the bag from North Sails. We were quickly impressed by how easy it was to handle as we built up speeds of over 16kts surfing the waves. But the highlight was seeing the log read over 19kts at one point.

The lowest moment was the look of despair on Jeremy's face as a lapse of concentration from me on the helm left the new kite firmly wrapped around the forestay. It seemed as though the game was suddenly over. But we held our nerve, gybe the main over and let mother nature do the rest.

The best moment was the look of disbelief on Jeremy's face as the kite started to unravel itself and pop open on the new gybe - the game was back on.

The return leg took 13 hours to cover the 110nm.

Final position 6th/29 in IRC3 and 7th/25 in the two-handed fleet. Were are very pleased with the result as we know we still have room to improve. And grateful to have completed the race without damage or major incident.

Race to the Edystone Light

Jeremy was at the helm as we got off to a flying start on this RORC race to the Edystone Light & back. With fresh winds we are expecting a quick race covering 235nm in 34 hours.

Island Double podium finish

Jangada Too finishes 3rd in class in the 2010 Island Double race, earning a place on the podium and one of the prizes.

The day started with very light northerly winds off the Squadron start line. We drifted around close to the beach, amongst a number of other boats that also raced around Britain & Ireland recently. Each of the earlier starts had their share of individual recalls, so I was rather line shy when our time came. Much to Jeremy's annoyance we eventually started some four minutes after the gun - sorry Jerry!

As boats headed East and out into the channel to pick up the tide, we took a line closer to the shore and round into Osborne Bay, in close company with Elixir. Compression of the wind along the shore worked to our advantage and allowed us to quickly work our way up the fleet despite being out of the tide.

Whilst many had chosen to head towards the mainland shore our line allowed us to avoid the worst of the turning tide off Ryde Sands and around the forts. Sailing in towards the beach and weaving an intricate course amongst the moorings off Seaview was a novel experience.

It was by this time that we realised we had another J109 to keep us on our toes - Jägerbomb. We had also traded places several times with No Retreat, the eventual winner.

As we approached Bembridge Fort we were gratefull to Lickety Spit, ignominiously marking the location of the nearby rocks.

Those closest to the shore pulled away as a SW seabreeze started to fill in. By the time we rounded Bembridge Ledge the wind was up to 12kts and building, so time to change to the heavy No 3 jib.

As we rounded St Catherines, the tide helping us to reach 10kts over the ground, Jägerbomb was still hot on our tail. But by the time we reached the Needles they had drawn level and rounded just inside us (a previous argument with the Varvassi still fresh in my mind, hence a wide berth).

At this point the two J109s adopted different tactics - we kept south on the Island side to pick up the calmer water and the turn of the tide off Yarmouth. At first it looked to be the better line, but as we progressed up the Western Solent it became clear that Jägerbomb had pulled ahead again, and went on to cross the finish just ahead of us.

An exciting end to a great race. But there was even more excitement to come. As we crossed the channel to Calshot the new spinnaker tackline slipped through the clutch resulting in a spectacular broach. Pinned over with gunnels under and water in the cockpit, the Hamble lifeboat watched in horror at a loss as to what action to take with the Oriana looming large over us. With halyard & sheets blown we managed to drop the kite and trawled it in over the side just in time to clear the channel. The force of the broach and the wiplash at the mast tip had been enough to bend the SeaMe radar antenna mount through 90 degrees.

An agonising wait until Monday for the results to come through - 3rd in IRC Class 1 and only four minutes behind the leader. The same four minutes that we gave away at the start - if only!

Richard

The team behind the scenes

A special mention for those working behind the scenes, who have responded to our ever increasing list of tasks to do on the boat.

To Louise, Matt and the rest of the team at Island Charters for their professional management of Jangada. Really appreciate your efforts over the past nine months.

To Derek and his team at Yachting Sports for keeping the electrics and electronics working. And for the loan of a fishermans anchor for Barra.

To James & Bob at North Sails, for their advice on our sail wardrobe.

To Nick & Graham for the supply and set up of Expedition routing and race navigation software - which has logged 120,000 data points to keep me busy analysing the race over the winter.

To Colm of Dunmast Ltd, Cork for sorting out the comms between B&G and Raymarine instruments - not a single "crash" since.

To Chris of Malakoff, Lerwick for re-engineering the autohelm mounting.

To all the Race Officials and volunteers at the Royal Western Yacht Club, and each port of call, without whom we would not even be on the race track.

And last, but by no means least, to our families for keeping the home fires burning and to our friends for all their encouragement.


Regards

Richard & Trevor

Champagne!

The morning after the night before!

Well done boys

Huge Congratulations from all of us who have been watching you from home in the UK and around the world: Australia, New Zealand, America, Germany ..........

Grace

The Finish

Jangada Too has crossed the finish line at Plymouth to the sound of
cheers from the balcony of the RWYC. 4th in Class 3 and 5th in IRC
overall - a result that has far exceeded our expectations.

The final leg from Lowestoft proved to be one of the most mentally
challenging as a "slack pressure" system left much of the English
Channel without wind. With its many headlands and strong tides there
was plenty of opportunity to make significant gains or losses.

To complete the race is an achievement in itself. Jangada proved more
than capable with the only damage a broken shackle and some chafed
lines. And more importantly no injuries to Trevor & I, apart from a
few bruises. There were times when we deliberately backed off the
pace, surrendering a few places. But this race turned out to be a
marathon with a sprint finish in which the tortoise very nearly beat
the Hare!

Richard