The last supper

Had a great meal last night - we're a lot happiet than this - honestly!
Trev

A grim find...

Sat eve
How kind of the nice peole who chartered the yacht before us, to leave 3 packs of bread rolls tucked in under the seats, above the water tanks. Unfortunately, that was three weeks ago and they are now a little past their best. Sadly, I fear we will have to chuck them...
Trev

Getting ready...

Sat eve
All getting shipshape - just making sure we can hoist the storm jib and trysail, which RORC require us to use whilst registering tomorrow...then off for a hearty meal at the Royal Southern YC.
Trev

Almost there now!!

Well, only two days to go!!
The preparations are going well, with most of the food bought – Emily has done a superb job of calculating our needs and organising everybody – she should be an army logistician!!
We’re planning to gather at Ocean Village throughout Saturday – some of the crew have very important, pressing commitments, so will not be there until late (enjoy the rugby, Dan!). There is quite a big job-list, prepping the boat and checking all the gear from top to bottom, stem to stern.
Those nice people at MECSail have got Blue Juice in good order for the race – she was one of the boats selected for inspection by RORC and passed with flying colours.
As well as all the expedition meals, we have eight x 2L bottles of water, currently on Cardice, which will keep them at -40C until we sail – they should provide effective freezer-packs in the fridge!
Nick and I go to Cowes on Saturday afternoon, to pick up the “Skipper’s pack”, decals, flags and tracker and hear the briefing from the RORC Race Officer. Then back to the boat to fit the bits, followed by a hearty meal at the Royal Southampton.
Trev

Two Weeks to Go!

There are only two weeks to go til this year's Fastnet and full attention is being given to that most important important aspect of offshore racing - the grub! With ten hungry mouths to feed and not that much space to put it, and of course no fridge-freezer, this needs careful attention. But help is at hand and Emily has a spreadsheet with a column for calories. We're going a bit hi-tech this time as a result of Trevor's experiences on the Round Britain and Ireland race - boil in the bag expedition food will make up a large part of our hot food.

Watch this space.

Nick

Manic Myth

The CSORC Fastnet Crew have now completed their third RORC race of the season on Blue Juice - the Myth of Malham race held over the late May Bank Holiday weekend. We now have sufficient miles under our belt to meet the Fastnet qualifying criteria and what a way to get there. It was easily the most challenging two days of sailing that most of us have experienced.

We prepared for the race in our customary manner; meeting up in Ocean Village on Thursday evening and pre-positioning ourselves in Cowes for the early morning start. On the way across, we made the discovery that the main sail had a small tear on the luff just above the first reefing point. We repaired with tape after arriving in Cowes and, fortunately, it held up to everything the elements threw at us. This left just enough time for a pint and a bite to eat in the Anchor before retiring for the night.

Friday morning arrived with unpromising conditions that proved to be a portent for what was eventually to come - dark grey skies and a fresh NW breeze. After ablutions and breakfast we motored out to register, raised sails and then joined the other yachts jockeying for position at the upwind end of the start line. After a conservative start with one reef in our main, we started the long tack sailing best course to windward all the way to Start Point. This was punctuated by lowering the jib to insert forgotten battens and a makeshift repair to the upper wire of the port guard rail. Equipment failures were to become a recurring theme for the weekend, although the problems we had on Blue Juice were minor compared to some of our competitors. There was one dismasting, one retirement due to a cracked mast, one man overboard - thankfully recovered safely - and several head injuries from swinging booms reported over the VHF as conditions deteriorated on day 2 of the race.

As Friday wore on and we passed Portland Bill the weather improved greatly. The threatened showers did not materialise - except for an impromptu salt water shower for those of us hiking on the windward rail - and by late afternoon we had clear blue skies, albeit with the wind dipping to force 3 Westerly. Our spirits were heartened by Nick's excellent lamb casserole and the magnificent sight of over 60 yachts in our field of view. Start Point was reached around midnight in a freshening breeze, followed by a frustratingly slow beat down to Eddystone in a now choppy sea.

We rounded Eddystone at 06:30 and began the long run home under white sails whilst we got accustomed to the change in conditions and with every intention of raising the spinnaker after gybing round Start Point. The following waves proved to be tricky and wearying for the helm and, by the time we arrived at Start Point the wind had risen to force 6 before eventually peak at force 7 gusting force 8. Discretion prevailed at this point and the kite was returned to the forepeak - a decision that many others arrived at very soon after us.

Arrival at Start Point also demanded a tactical decision; stand on into Lyme Bay to avoid the worst of the opposing tide or gybe out and ride the bigger waves. We went for the Lyme Bay option, gybing when east of Torquay.

Notwithstanding this, we were still proceeding with gritted teeth in very tough conditions and helms were changed regularly as exhaustion took its toll. Special note must go to Trevor for achieving a top speed of 16 knots when surfing a particularly large wave and Brian (pictured top) for dipping the end of the boom into the drink without broaching the boat.

Swanage was passed in early evening and, after gybing into shelter, we fortified our constitutions with some beef stew that had very nearly ended up all over the saloon during preparation. We were all delighted and relieved to reach the finish line at 21:17 in a creditable 85th place out of 113 finishers and sparing a thought for the 11 Did Not Finish entrants.

Andy (bottom picture - awake)

De Guingand Bowl - Greenwich LV and Back

Crew: Trevor Drew, Nick Bowles, Alan Voysey, Andy Lapsley, Dan Groves, David Balding, Emily Shrosbree, Jonathan Law.

Friday evening saw us gathering excitedly at Ocean Village for our second race with Blue Juice. We headed across to East Cowes to berth for the night, around which we chased some wild geese for a good half hour before finally locating some chop suey and chips. Perhaps not the most nourishing of pre-race suppers, but very welcome nonetheless.

Saturday morning brought sunshine and a modest force 4 for our 08:40 start. We headed west out of the Solent and rounded Bridge, witnessing some very slick spinnaker hoists from our competition [Bob and Tonnere de Breskens!].

We experimented with our own novel spinnaker-hoisting technique (sideways), but soon resorted to more conventional methods and successfully managed our first gybe as a crew. Things then got a bit fruity and having witnessed several boats getting into difficulties we decided it was best to get the jib up and the kite down before we got into any trouble. Not quite soon enough though, as we broached and had to rescue the kite from the water.

Once things had settled down, we dug into some exotic elk meat salami and some rather less exotic regulation ham and cheese rolls to soak up the adrenalin. We continued to keep good pace under white sails, surfing along in beautiful seas to the tune of a planing hull. We rounded the Greenwich Light Ship in lovely evening light, briefly dipping our toes into the eastern hemisphere before starting the long overnight upwind leg.

Two AM saw us bathing in dramatic yellow moonlight as we zig-zagged west towards the entrance to the Solent coming in between No Man's Land and Horse Sand forts. We crossed the line just in time for breakfast, with a further 170 qualifying miles under our lifebelts and a 43^rd placing overall in IRC – a great race!

Emily