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The night was long for some, however the facilities of RORC with fluffy towels, flannels and shower gels soon cleared our heads. Some member had slept ashore as space on Troubadour is at a premium so we took longer than planned with last minute supplies. The favourable promised wind was building as we sorted out our storm sails.
You might ask why Storm sails for a light wind start. The answer was to ensure that all starters were prepared for possible bad weather that wreaked havoc in the fleet 40 years ago.
We left our berth later than planned, which did not give us enough time to reconnoiter the starting area to pick best end to start. As it turned out we failed to see the inshore end of the line would have the strongest favourable current when the tide turned.
We made a good start and set our asymmetrical spinnaker, matching speed with the yachts around us, but losing out to those upwind. Towards The Needles we were forced to tack to avoid the shingles bank which cost us time as those on the Island side drew ahead.
Heading towards Portland we set a course to make the best of the current, being aware that there was an area of light winds we needed to cross during the night. We were happy with our boat speed slowly clawing our way through the fleet and passing a few rivals in our class.
David Ogden Trimmer and Helm
2019 Fastnet Finisher - Troubadour
