SORC goes West – and East!
The end of May saw the latest events of the SORC calendar. With many regular SORC competitors entered in the RCYC Yachting Monthly Celtic Triangle starting from Falmouth, a series of offshore races was set to provide a feeder to Falmouth as well as a return for those not doing the Triangle. So, we started with Offshore Race 3: Solent to Dartmouth, followed by a choice of Channel Week Race 1: Dartmouth to Falmouth and Offshore Race 4: Dartmouth to Solent.
After a period of sustained easterlies in May, normal service had been resumed with the prevailing southwesterly. The afternoon of Saturday 31 May saw the fleet start off Cowes with the wind forecast for 12-18 knots with stronger gusts up to 25 knots for Portland Bill. The full 6 hours of favourable tide was sufficient to pass the Needles, Anvil Point and St Albans – but not Portland. The earlier boats on the water neared the headland at last light and bravely(?) chose the inshore passage, spending an hour short tacking with a SOG of around 1 knot, hoping to miss the lobster pots. Later boats made a seamanlike decision to go wide and were seen approaching the shipping lanes on their way to France. When the fleet finally came together, the inshore route had paid off, with Encore (Nigel Colley) just pipping Amy Lou (Gary Heward) for line honours, and Amy Lou safely clinching a win on handicap. After an afternoon nap, a pontoon prize giving was held in Dartmouth, Kate Cope (Purple Mist) unexpectedly appeared with a bucket containing a large crab for a boat with a big enough pan.
An early start was planned for Monday, to allow the west-bound fleet to clear Start Point on the tide and the east-bound fleet to get in ahead of strong winds forecast for Monday night. For those of us going west, the leg from Dartmouth to Prawle provided a welcome break from beating, with spinnakers making their only appearance of the weekend, with the exception of Nympheas, having lost the furler halyard. After Prawle, the forecast wind hole appeared, requiring focussed concentration to keep moving in any sort of useful direction, before the SW wind reappeared.
With 10 miles of beating still to go, on Pyxis I received declarations from the east-bound fleet: ‘What a difference a day and change in direction make’; ‘We had real champagne sailing’, ‘Cracking sail back – you all went the wrong way!!!’. Given that Pyxis logged 220 nm over ground in the weekend, maybe they had a point. Meantime, Azora (Steve Thomas) was dealing with the crab. When the numbers were crunched, Solan Goose (Ed Sneddon) pipped Jester (Chris Morton) by under 3 minutes on the line, with IRC victory going to Kitty (David Bright) by <2 minutes – close racing all the way.
Back in the western channel, all the fleet made it in ahead of the overnight strong winds. This time Encore just held handicap victory over Amy Lou.
The next event is back inshore, Round the Isle of Wight. RIOW has grown into a classic short-handed event. Scoring towards the UKDHOS as well as SORC, it attracts many double-handed as well as solo boats and fierce competition.
Kirsteen Donaldson
Pyxis