Racing again, lessons learned in the Lonely Rock Race
Then my boat was a beloved but slightly rag tag, Superbigou. Now it is the super smart Medallia, still loved as much and in fine form.
The Lonely Rock Race is a completely new event sailing the original Fastnet course, starting off at Ryde Pier and finishing in Plymouth. With most racing cancelled at the beginning of this year it was fortuitous that this race was created, and it provided an ideal opportunity for us to put Medallia through its paces post refit. Testing in a race environment is always going to be tougher than on training days.
We started the race in light winds, which turned to drifting conditions, we nursed Medallia out past the Needles Lighthouse then used the light breeze to ghost our way past Portland Bill on the last of the west going tide. As the sun dropped so did the wind and through the first night, we were almost becalmed. The sea in Lyme Bay was like an oily slick, broken only by the reflection of the moon and the occasional dolphin leaving a con trail of phosphorescence in its wake. These moments, with the sails hanging lifeless and the back of the boat slapping the water can be the most challenging to an offshore sailor. We need to move and the feeling of inertia builds anxiety and frustration which can be harder to deal with than the adrenaline of big breeze. Paul, Mikey and I took it in turns to make the boat go, one person on deck while the others slept to maintain energy for later in the race. All through the night we crept along, never stopping, paying every attention to detail to keep Medallia inching along.
The biggest frustration about these conditions was that all the while we knew there was a huge low-pressure system building in the Atlantic, aiming to land on the Irish coast on Wednesday or Thursday with winds up to 40 knots. All the while we were drifting across the bay, the storm was coming closer and it was becoming more likely we would encounter it on our way back from the Fastnet Rock.
If you followed the race earlier this week on the live tracker you’ll know that the course was shortened and we never made it to the Fastnet. As the wind filled in on Monday, we sailed our way past Plymouth, Medallia was going well, we were enjoying the wind (and the rain) and we started to split from the fleet, as one would naturally expect for the biggest boat in the race. I had been watching the weather intensely scrutinising the path of the Atlantic low that was threatening us.
There were in fact two systems, and the forecast on Monday showed them joining together, intensifying now with winds up to 50 knots at the apex of the storm. It looked like Medallia would make it around the course before the worst of the weather came over, but on the trip back from the Fastnet we could have encountered 35 knot head winds, which would be pretty awful conditions. However, the rest of the fleet now some 40 miles behind us would be sailing across the St George’s Channel, just when the worst of the storm would hit.
Watching this develop it seemed pretty evident the course would be shortened. As the fleet had not yet passed Lands End and headed out across open water, there was still an opportunity for us to race around a mark to the west of Plymouth and then finish early in safe conditions, allowing everyone to finish the first edition of the Lonely Rock Race in safety. Sure enough the committee made the decision to shorten the course at 1800 on Monday, we were to round Wolf Rock, off Lands End and head for home. At this point Medallia was just 14 miles from Wolf Rock, so we sailed on for two hours, rounded the rock at sunset, skimming the lighthouse as close as we dared, then set the spinnaker and headed for home.
We arrived in Plymouth at 0400, having gained line honours (sailing talk for first past the post) in the race and genuinely happy with Medallia’s performance.
I’ve been asked whether the shorter course was disappointing and the answer is no. While naturally we wanted to sail the whole course, sailing is about adapting, changing and responding to weather conditions. You have to take the rough with the smooth and make the most of the circumstances you have.
Though I have sailed the route many times, the course around the Fastnet Rock is never the same, you never know what you’re going to get. I do want to sail the boat in big breeze, but this race wasn’t just about me – it was about every single person and the decision (to shorten the race course) was the right decision for the whole fleet. There were winds of 60knots in the centre of the storm and those are the kind of conditions I’ll be trying to avoid in the Southern Ocean.
While you always want to test yourself when you’re on the water, you don’t go out actively looking for dangerous conditions. There will be other opportunities to test the boat and I’ll be looking out for them over the coming months in the lead up to the Vendee Globe.
Racing is always the icing on the cake for me, it’s why I put my self through hard work, pain and graft - I love it. And this race was an amazing experience. It was brilliant sailing with Paul Larsen and Mikey Fergusen. Paul is always looking for ways to improve, that’s just how his mind works, always wondering how we could do things better, so it’s great to sail with somebody who’s that focused on progressing and making advances and improving performance. And it’s the same with Mikey – he has great experience of sailing other IMOCAs and is always looking at different techniques, so it was a real learning experience, we moved my campaign on, and we came away with ideas.
We’re really happy with all of the upgrades that’ve made during my refit. The improvements to the battery power have been outstanding, everyone’s really impressed with how well the batteries performed and the new autopilot is excellent compared to what I struggled with last year.
