Sigma Inshore

JOG Race 5 Cowes – Yarmouth

Saturday 13th May 2006

By Eddie & Helen Smith – VELA GBR4568

| Cowes Yarmouth | Yarmouth Cowes |

Over the weekend of 13th – 14th May the JOG inshore races to and from Yarmouth took place, with a bumper entry of Sigmas.

Saturday morning’s weather didn’t look as promising as the previous day’s with most forecasts showing rain and building winds up to 20 knots+.

Due to the forecast strong winds and a strong flood tide the JOG Race Officers chose to go with a RADIO course which involved a challenging running start. This year class 5 in JOG has been swelled considerably after adjustments to the rating bands, which has proved extremely successful and now directly pits the Sigma against its more modern rivals the 31.7’s.

A number of Sigmas got an exceptional start including Elandra and Shadowfax, who were trying a Le Mans style start after being a little late to the start line, however they still managed to get the drop on many of Class 5.

As is normal with east going JOG starts the course was to leave Snowdon to starboard, but as a number of boats found (including the authors) Snowdon is further offshore than you think. Vela was racing double handed in this event, and having managed to get inside Prospero and lift the kite, we were somewhat concerned to see Snowdon to port.

After an extremely quick headsail drop, kite drop, gybe, bear away, gybe, kite hoist all in less than 5 minutes we, together with Prospero, who had also almost sailed past the mark, rounded Snowdon to leave it to starboard and began the chase to make up the lost time.

Thankfully the wind was a comfortable 8-12knots, and the boats that went close inshore into Osborne Bay soon lost drive as the headland shadowed them. Coming to the first mark, of the six-strong Sigma ‘fleet’, Shadowfax, Elandra and Heritage were well ahead, but Vela and Prospero had stayed ahead of a couple of 31.7’s and Vela gained the upper hand at the mark rounding clear ahead after a clean kite drop. While closing on the mark the tactical team aboard Vela thought that the wind was sufficiently low to warrant a change up to a number 1 from the number 2 we started with. The first upwind leg was more of a close fetch than a full beat and the power of the Sigma soon showed as Vela and Prospero swallowed up another 31.7. At the next inshore mark “Burgess Salmon” the fleet split with some driving on towards the shore and shallower water (less tide) and those tacking close to the mark and heading offshore into the deep water. The logic should have been that the inshore track should have paid, but Prospero and Vela split at the mark with Prospero heading offshore.

The course then led the fleet close to the Bramble Bank, and it soon became evident that the offshore course had favoured slightly with Prospero and a lone 31.7 nosing ahead of Vela again. When closing on the bank Vela and Tai Pan (31.7) became locked in a close fought battle with the Sigma obviously faster but needing to sail slightly lower than the more modern design

During the long upwind leg across to Lepe Spit the fleet fragmented slightly but it was clear that there were Sigmas at or near the front. The leg from the mainland shore to Gurnard Ledge should have been a tight reach, but watching from astern we were surprised to see kites lifting at the mark, with a Sigma red/white/blue leading the way. Which as it turned out was the wrong way…Shadowfax the leading boat and leading Sigma had a moment, when they headed to Gurnard rather than Gurnard Ledge. They soon realised the error of their ways and retrieving the kite they headed up and drove towards the Island shore.

In the following pack things compressed at the mark, most boats tacking soon after the mark heading out into the deep water. By this time the tide had changed and would soon be fair in the deep water. Unfortunately for Vela and her 2 up crew the Met Office had actually got it right, and the forecast 20 plus knots decided to put in an appearance. After holding a No.1 and a full main up to 25 knots double handed for 20 minutes or so it became obvious a sail change was required. Which is actually easier said than done in 25+ knots of wind double handed on a Sigma with racing sails.

After watching Prospero put in a reef close inshore, we decided to follow suit, so we tacked and heading offshore into open water, and set about the challenge of reefing from a full main while still racing on No.1 in what our instruments showed a 27 knots true. After several attempts and much shouting over the noise of a flogging mainsail, the reef was in and we continued to race on, much flatter and at a higher boat speed.

A point should be made here on the serious side is that the rule of “reef early before you’re over-powered” is extremely true and is much easier particularly when short handed.

Another thing to note is that anyone who sails short handed should find time to practice things such as reefing, head sail changes and believe it or not actually getting the sails down at the end of a race, which is quite different from the days when you have the other 5 pairs on hands onboard.

Someone also had a sense of humour and parked a large green ship right in the path of the beat to the finish and a number of boats found its wind shadow a challenge in the gusty conditions. After several slightly frantic tacks aboard Vela the finish could not come soon enough, and in the confusion and noise of our last tack we were not entirely sure whether we had actually finished as the wind noise made it impossible to hear any sound signals.

Looking behind we were very surprised to see several Class 5 boats still behind us as we blasted down past Yarmouth to get the sails down in open water. When we finally reached the bar, we found Shadowfax had had a close race at the front of the fleet, with Alchemist, Shadowfax and Electra (31.7) sharing the lead for much of the race, and fighting for line honours at the end, with Electra finally winning that particular battle.

The Royal Solent Yacht club did us proud with a fantastic BBQ, and in keeping with JOG and Sigma tradition most crews attempted to drink the bar dry.

 

Extract of Sigma results from JOG class 5 full results can be found on

http://www.jog.org.uk/res06r5.htm

| Cowes Yarmouth | Yarmouth Cowes |