Richard Hewson

Date Friday 10 May 2013 Position South France

We sail close hauled throughout the night in a nice breeze. The day drifting off Cosica has cost us a lot of time, and it dosnt look like we will be breaking any records. Strong headwinds are forecasted later in the day along the coast of France until we can round Ille de Porguralles. Once clear of the French coast we will enter a building Mistral and could expect some very strong winds. I check over the boat at every opportunity and secure everything down below as Im expecting a rough 48 hours.

0430 Position 43 21N 007 41E The RG650 sails herself beautifully in low groove for a few hours allowing me to rest before the big day ahead.
It is now getting quite choppy, and the boat tosses around unconfortably. Its a bit like being a rodeo bull rider at times as we smash into the chop.
0540 Position 43 21N 007 31E Sunrise – Sun obscured by cloud
1000 Position 43 19n 006 59E Wind is steady but its still choppy. Overcast sky not good for charging batteries and its quite cold on deck.
1200 Wind building
1600 Position 43 05N 006 30E Wind builds through afternoon, 2 reefs in the mainsail and 2 reefs in the solent. The wind becomes a bit shifty, as we round the corner from the Bay of St Tropez and head towards Ille de Porguralles. Im not sure what side of the channel seems best. There are lighter winds to the north, but I get lifted more to the south. In these strong winds it is a mission to tack as everything down below must be re-stacked tothe windward side or we just slide sideways. My taking angles in these strong winds and choppy conditions are very poor as the RG650 punches to windwards. Mini 650’s are defiantly not designed to sail to windward! Due to the strong winds there is only a couple of other yachts out in the bay. A 40ft cat is close by, so we race each other tack for tack until he has had enough and turns for shelter.
1900 Posiiton 43 02N 006 16E Water water everywhere. We are getting a lot of water over the deck and the wind is very gusty. I have rounded the north western corner of Ille de Porguralles, the last mark of the qualification course. As the sun sets the GPS sat reception is disturbed, poor dilution of precision and so I can not take a photo of the GPS as required by Classe Mini. I take out my emergency hand held GPS and take a photo of that instead.. camera battery go’s flat.. its not my day! I do a bit of filming with the GoPro to hopefully prove my location and rounding.

1930 Cold front and wind increases to an estimated 35kts. 3 reefs in main 2 in solent. Pilot tripped – No rudder indicator. GPS working intermitantly, I fear water damage. I try to call Brett from Katabatic Sailing for a weather update but we are already out of phone range. I go below to find the problem with the pilot, and find a loose connection in the bottom of the processor. I come up on deck to find a large ferry 1nm away and closing fast on collision course. I try to radio the ferry with no responce. I alter my course and sail hard on the wind when the ferry is 300m away, and sail only 50m clear of his stern. Too close for comfort. I ease the sails and alter couse to the SW then go below to re-set the pilot, investigate the GPS and make some coffee.
1945 Position 42 54N 006 04E I come up on deck to find the running backsatay loose. I figure the jammer may have come undone, but then find the deck fitting that holds the backstay in place has broken. This is a week area in this boat and has subsiquently been strengthened for the other RG650’s in the building process, but that dosnt help me now. I secure the running backstay to the spinnaker block to avoid loosing the mast then poke some spectra through the hole in the deck and crawl down to the back quarter of the boat and fit a 8mm bolt through the spectra to form a bolt to hold the backstay in place and increase surface area on the deck. I go on deck and in the roaring wind I secure the running backstay to its new fitting. A quick check of the mast shows no sign of bending or damage. I will give the rig a full inspection in the morning.
2020 Change some wiring for the instruments and get them working again. This will be a job high on my priority list when I return to Palma and re-fit the boat.
2030 Position 42 48N 006 01E Weather reports sent by Brett reports expected gusts to 57kts from NNE but barometer and wind steady so Im not too stressed. I estimate the gusts up to 40kts, and replace the solent with the tiny fluro orange storm jib. Boat speed up to 15kts surfing down waves.. rough, wet but lots of fun!