Sail for Charity

A Windy Weekend for Training

Monday, 23 June 2008 at 20:49

The team got together this weekend for a pre-Cowes Week 08 training session on Anticipation. It was nice to get the whole crew together at last - all except Greg, that is, who was still a couple of hundred miles off Lands End on his way back from the Azores on his own boat "Eclipse".

Saturday training went well, with a few moves practiced in the morning, we were entered for the Royal Southern Yacht Club June Regatta, so it was time for our first practice race start ... for real! A very pleasing result at our first attempt, coming first in the 2nd race of the Regatta on corrected time.

Sunday started much windier than forecast, and there was a solid 25kn breeze in the Solent all day, gusting 30+ ... ideal weather for spinnaker practice, really! Still, we entered the 3rd race of the Royal Southern regatta, and managed to come away with line honours, as well as a win on corrected time. The race included a few wet beats, and a couple of exciting spinnaker runs. The delivery back from the race area was a good old thrash to windward, with tactician Ian Massey at the helm - a cracking day's sailing for all.

Full results, including our Anticipation result (IRC Class 1), at:
http://www.rsrn-results.co.uk/Results/2k8/June08_IRC_Results_Overall.htm

Just Giving Site - Cowes 2008 - Goes Live

Sunday, 2 March 2008 at 21:54

Our on-line sponsorship page went live this evening at www.justgiving.com/sailforcharity08

Please sponsor us on-line to raise funds for The Ellen MacArthur Trust. Your money will go straight to the Trust, and help them to help others straight away.

SCW Day 7 - 2nd Overall - Great Result

Friday, 10 August 2007 at 23:47

Friday once again saw delayed starts waiting for wind to arrive - which it did out in the Western Solent in the form of a nice sea breeze from about 2:30pm. On a shortened course, with some quick sail changes we tried our hardest to beat AMEY Love Shack. Keeping them in our sites the whole way, we came close once again, but were unable to take first place away from AMEY on the final spinnaker run into Cowes.

Still, 2nd place on this, sadly the final day of racing for ANTICIPATION, was a great result which makes our 2nd place on the week overall in IRC Class 4 a certainty despite having to discard Saturday's result. Our final position in Black Group overall is still to be finalised, but at the end of Friday stands at 13th, which is a phenomenal result!

What a great team effort by the whole crew - and of course a great job by Skipper Peter Newlands to bring Team Sail for Charity home on HEALTSHURE ANTICIPATION in 2nd place in IRC Class 4.

SCW Day 6 - So Close ...

Thursday, 9 August 2007 at 19:19

With light winds we had to wait a long time before racing could get underway today. But once we did, the breeze filled in nicely for most of the race and we had a good day.

After an exciting start, we got off the line well and made numerous headsail / spinnaker changes on the first leg, keeping fordeck and spinnaker packers busy! We had leading rivals AMEY in our sights the whole day, and by the 5th mark we were ahead. As we approached Gurnard for the final run in to the finish line off the Yacht Squadron the breeze died and AMEY were able to pip us at the post - but it was close!

Finishing 2nd overall in the race, and with our time penalty removed from yesterday, that leaves us in a solid position in the overall results - 2nd in IRC Class 4 and 13th overall in the whole of Black Group (500+ boats). All still to play for tomorrow (Day 7), which will sadly be our last day of racing.

SCW Day 5 - Another Close Finish

Wednesday, 8 August 2007 at 18:49

With Class 2, Class 3 and Class 4 IRC boats all following the same course today, taking us out through the Eastern Solent past Portsmouth, a longer course (33.5 nautical miles) called for a concentrated effort over the 4 and a quarter hours race duration. Variable wind conditions required constant effort to optimise sail choice and trim, as well as shifting the crew around keep the boat in balance.

After an excellent mark rounding at East Bramble buoy (good driving skipper!), the race finished with an exciting spinnaker reach across to Prince Consort buoy, finishing on the squadron line. Close rivals Incognito were in sight throughout - ahead on the approach to East Bramble, but after the drag race to the line, Anticipation finished ahead by just 28 seconds. After time correction for handicap ratings, that leaves only 13 seconds difference!

Currently showing 5th on the Class Results for the day, due to a 1% time penalty being, we believe, incorrectly applied, we are hoping to come up to 2nd on the day once the penalty is cleared up.

2nd on the day would leave HEALTHSURE ANTICIPATION 2nd overall in IRC Class 4 at the end of Day 5, with all very much still to play for in the remaining days' racing.

SCW Day 4 - What a close result!

Tuesday, 7 August 2007 at 20:45

With less than a minute separating the first four places this is probably going to be the closest result of the week. With Anticipation coming in 3rd today, only 26 seconds on corrected time behind Class leaders AMEY Love Shack (based on handicap ratings), this was a great result. Unfortunately, with rivals Incognito winning today's race, they take 2nd place from us in the Class 4 overall results at the end of day 4, pushing us down to 3rd on the basis that they have one race win, despite us being on equal points. All to play for tomorrow!

For more photos of the finishing moments, go to the Photos page.

Tougher 3rd day

Monday, 6 August 2007 at 19:20

Stronger winds today brought new challenges that tested the crew in a fairly tough day that saw 30 knotts plus on the wind instruments. Coming in 4th today was a little disappointing, but still should be regarded as a good result. Still holding on to 2nd overall in IRC Class 4 and looking for a better result tomorrow.