I’m so proud of my team.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oXItwWi4Jw
After waking up in Swanwick Marina at 0350 we motored across to the start line at Cowes for our 0640 start. Conditions were pretty tough. We experienced Force 7 most of the day and we sailed with two reefs in the main until the last couple of hours. There was a massive swell at the back of the island – some commentators put it at 20 feet – which made the broad reach a real surfing experience.
Our tactics were “Stay out of trouble” which broadly succeeded! If in doubt, we chickened out.
We raced a Bénéteau Oceanis 43 in the ISC Class 4 Race. 180 boats entered this class but only 132 completed the race. Our time was 9 hours and 36 minutes, placing us 118th on handicap in our class and 25th in our sub-class.
All in all, over 1900 boats entered the race but only 1302 finished. The radio was alive all day with Mayday and Pan calls all day. We saw four boats dismasted and at least two multihull boats capsized. There were two man-overboard incidents. We witnessed four boats aground on Ryde Sands – we only avoided it by 100 yards or so.
Thank you Karen, Jonathan, Subhrendu, Simon C, Simon P, Tony, Robin, Claire and Esmy for helping to make the weekend safe and enjoyable. And thank you to Universal Yachting for letting us borrow their yacht, and of course thanks to the Island Sailing Club for organising it all.
Links: Slideshow from the Official Photographer Videos on YouTube Official Website Emergencies Galore Sailors rescued in rough conditions
(Next year’s race is 30 June!)
Fantastic effort to Team Parker?
Cracking weekend. Not sure what all the fuss is about I thought conditions weren’t too bad although I had my eyes closed most of the time!! Thanks Chris and Karen for a glorious adventure. I’ll post my amateur photos tonight.
Cheers all
Simon.
Just a quick note to thank you both for the fantastic opportunity to join you for the race this weekend,you have some great friends who made it all the more enjoyable. My arms are lifeless and I am still rocking from the boat as I try to focus on work this morning but it was absolutely worth it.
I have quite a lot of photographs and the video footage taken during the race amounting to approx 600mb,I will put them all on a CD and post out later today.
Keep in touch.
Best Regards Simon C
Dear Chris and Karen, Just wanted to say a huge thank you for a fantastic sailing weekend and a safe race. I have to say I’ve not sailed in seas like it but I wasn’t at all phased by it which says a lot about you as a skipper Chris. Hope you got home ok;I was listening to the traffic info about the M3 being closed as I drove up towards Oxford and thought about you all going London. Anyhow,thanks again,hope to see you soon Batty
Well done guys!! Hope to crew up with you next year x
Dear All
Likewise – great to meet everyone new and really enjoyed the weekend,especially the excitement of the race of Saturday and yesterday’s weather. I was extremely impressed by the calm way the whole weekend was skippered and even more impressed by the demonstration of Karen’s loyalty by choosing the highest expected position for Three Sheets in the sweepstake!
Karen – do send me a photo of me on the helm – I need to impress a few people here and really hoping that would work for me……
Sx
Chris and Karen
What a great weekend. Big thanks to both of you for all the time and effort you invested to make it go so smoothly.
See you soon.
Tony
Fantastic photos folks, I will try really hard next week to up load mine – need to get a gadget from Dad! I am a techno phobe. Thank you all so much for an absolutely fabulous time, I really enjoyed it and really want to do more racing. So put me down for any other events. So pleased you managed to get some photos of me smiling too, I frown when I concentrate!