Scorpio is my Hanse 342. She was bought new in December 2006 to provide a bit more comfort than our previous yacht, Skybird, and to also allow us to go a bit further afield. Even at that time I suggested the AZAB was a possibility.

Scorpio, like her predecessor, is rigged with a big main and a small self tacking jib making her well suited to short handed sailing. Usage is a mix of cruising with my wife, Karen, and racing in the Royal Southampton Yacht Club Double Handed Series.

I always need a project to get my teeth into. Having bought Scorpio and largely got her how I want her after two seasons, I felt the need for a new challenge. So I resurrected the idea of AZAB. Karen doesn't do racing and realistically is not sufficiently experienced so I needed a crew - in fact I needed two crew - one for each leg of the AZAB.

I turned to my local club - Yateley Offshore Sailing Club and posted the following in the December Newsletter and on the announcements section of the club web site:

AZAB - Azores and Back

Are you slightly bonkers and do you fancy an adventure?

The AZAB - Azores and Back - is a two leg race which runs every four years. The next edition is in 2011. The course is from Falmouth to, as it says on the tin, the Azores and back to Falmouth. It is a double handed or single handed race and the crew can change for each of the two legs. Each leg is about 1200NM and usually take seven to ten days. There is a space between the legs in Ponta Delgada of about a week. Full details of the event including the recently published Notice of Race can be found on the web at http://www.azab.co.uk/.

Fool that I am, I am seriously considering entering Scorpio, my two year old Hanse 342. Scorpio was purchased and set up with short handed sailing in mind. Constructionally she is already compliant with ISAF Offshore Special Regulations Sections 1 to 3 at Category 2 and only needs an additional water tank to bring her to the required Category 1. Some equipment and supplies will be necessary to make her compliant with Section 4 and 5 and the crew will need to undertake Sea Survival and First Aid training necessary to comply with Section 6. See http://www.isaf.org/specialregulations.php for the full nitty gritty.

I view this race entry as more Corinthian than out and out competitive although Scorpio can be very competitive - she won her class in the Royal Southampton Double Handed Inshore series in 2006 and was second in class in the overall series. 2007 was less successful, we missed one race and one was abandoned - we were third overall in class in the Series. I have been sailing for over 40 years and have owned my own yacht for the past seven, sailing on average 1000NM per year, split 50/50 between cruising and racing.

I am looking for crew to join me for either one or both legs of AZAB 2011. I am looking for one or two people to join this venture - it calls for commitment to sail on Scorpio over the coming two seasons. Two handed racing calls for experience and a detailed knowledge of the boat as you have to be capable of doing everything single handed should something happen to the other crew thus I am looking for someone prepared to make the time commitment and to helping prepare Scorpio. Preparation would have to include participating in the necessary 500 mile qualifier. Every two years Royal Southampton run a two handed race across Biscay. The next edition of this race - the Biscay Challenge - is in June 2009. Details at http://www.biscaychallenge.com. I propose to use this race (and possibly the return from it) as AZAB qualifiers if Scorpio can be ready in time. The Biscay Challenge normally has a qualifier itself, usually a non stop passage of about 120NM.

If you are a reasonably fit, practical, experienced sailor who, critically, has a sense of humour and you fancy an adventure please give Ed Essery a call or drop an e-mail to ed at essery dot net and we can arrange to meet up and discuss it.

Finally if you, or anyone, has ideas about how we can package the whole thing up to raise money for charity, I'd love to hear them.

Regards,

Ed Essery

Scorpio - GBR9824T

Hanse 342 - Solent Based

This call to arms resulted in three club members expressing interest. They, along with one of my nephews who is also interested, will be getting to know Scorpio and me over the coming weeks as we figure out whether we could go to sea for ten days together and get off safely at the other end having been through whatever is thrown at us, enjoyed it and, importantly, still be on speaking terms.

I intend that this blog will form a record of our journey as we progress through preparation, qualifiers and the race itself and as a record of Scorpio's travels for any friends, family and others interested in how things progress.

Enjoy! I certainly hope we will...

Monday 5th January 2009 08:38:40
And so the other thing begins...

07:58 to Waterloo

What is it about this country? First day back at work for most people, a few millimeters of snow and the whole transport system falls apart. No staff at Farnborough so free reign for the freeloaders, 07:46 cancelled because it's broken. 07:58 packed as a result. The guy behind me on the platform at Farnborough was standing so close anybody would have thought he was my siamese twin! Not a single person on train is smiling. New ticket barriers at Waterloo are reported operational - should make for some interesting chaos...

Time to pack it in and go sailing me thinks! Talk at YOSC tonight from some guy who came back across Atlantic via Azores - should be interesting.

Ed Essery

(from my mobile)

Sunday 11th January 2009 19:38:15
Some breeze!

Southampton Water (50:51.69N 1:21.41W)

11th January 2008

Seemed like a balmy day after the cold snap. Spent a few pleasurable hours reaching up and down Southampton Water in a 20Kn TWS South Westerly. Certainly helped blow the final Christmas cobwebs away.

The cold snap had snapped the transom shower head resulting in a bucketful of fresh water being dumped in the bilges whilst we figured out why the water pump was running and searched for the leak. Luckily the Chandlery had a replacement. I think we got off lightly - it would have been much tougher if a pipe had burst. Thanks to Ken and Chris for mopping up!

Hope it's even nicer on the planned weekend out in two weeks...

Monday 19th January 2009 20:18:09
Committed now...

Sandhurst - 18th January 2009

I'm committed now (or I should be). I've paid the non refundable deposit which guarantees one of the 70 places in the 2011 AZAB. The Royal Cornwall Yacht Club (the organisers) have confirmed the Royal Southampton Biscay Challenge race and a non stop return passage from Hondarribia to the Solent are acceptable qualifiers. So that's sorted...

The article published at the end of last year in the YOSC newsletter resulted in three club members expressing interest, one of whom has subsequently said he cannot commit the time at present. The remaining three of us had a first sail together on Scorpio last Sunday. It was blowing a steady Force 5 which gave them a chance to see how Scorpio goes but ruled out any downwind sails. We've got further trips planned out over the coming weeks so more to come.

Having researched various options, I have decided to use MailASail for e-mail, tracking and keeping a diary. We will be e-mailable at "Scorpio at mailasail dot com" throughout the campaign and will endeavour to keep a blog/diary going at http://blog.mailasail.com/scorpio.

The audit of equipment is now complete and an overall budget has been put together and agreed with the necessary authorities(!). A new Code 3 asymmetric and a heavy weather trysail have been ordered from Hyde Sails for delivery in late March. I am gathering quotations from riggers to put a track on the mast for the Trysail. Ken has found somewhere we should be able to hire an Iridium phone. It seems one thing I am going to have to upgrade is my life raft, thus the for sale notice below. The Royal Southampton won't accept my current liferaft as it is not ISAF or ISO9650 compliant although it does meet the older RORC standard.

Anybody know where I can buy an ISO9650-1 liferaft at a good price? The search is on...

For Sale

Seago 4 man Offshore Liferaft in canister. Full specification available here: http://www.seagoyachting.co.uk/images/pdf/offshore_raft.pdf. This model was best on test in a 2007 PBO Review. I bought this Liferaft new in June 2005. It has a 12 year life with three year service intervals. It was serviced in March 2008 at which time I saw it inflated. The service certificate is available. The next service is due in March 2011.

Although this liferaft is not fully ISAF compatible, it is perfectly adequate for coastal cruising and channel crossing and is compliant with the old RORC (post Fastnet) standard. Personally I would have no qualms about crossing Biscay with it but I am being forced to upgrade by the race regulations/authorities.

The current price for this Liferaft new is £499. This one is all yours for £250 ono

Please call Ed Essery on 01344 777663 if you are interested.

Oh, and I've bought a Biscay passage chart...

More soon. Have a great week!

Tuesday 10th March 2009 21:15:00
On Standby...

Sandhurst - 10th March 2009

Much progress has been made leading to the point where we are on standby, looking for an appropriate window in the weather when Ken and I are free, to do the 150NM Biscay Challenge Qualifier.

We have had approval from RSYC for our three proposed courses all of which are between 150NM and 155NM on the rhumb line:

Course 1: Hamble Spit South Cardinal, Forts, Ocean Safety RORC Race Mark (50 32.00N 000 30.00W), East Shambles Cardinal, Needles Channel, Hamble Spit South Cardinal
Course 2: Hamble Spit South Cardinal, Needles Channel, CH1 Cherbourg Fairway Buoy, Bembridge Ledge, Forts, Hamble Spit South Cardinal (or reverse)
Course 3: Hamble Spit South Cardinal, Forts, Ocean Safety, St Catherine's, Poole Bar No. 1 Buoy, St Catherine's, Nab Tower, Forts, Hamble Spit South Cardinal

Since the last update the old liferaft has been sold (Thanks Graham - hope you never need it!) and the new one delivered. We also have so much other safety equipment I'm beginning to wonder if we'll need a barge to tow it along behind.

Ken and I went out for a sail last Saturday to work out some sail handling routines and to try the new Code 3 Asymmetric for the first time. What a sail! In between 10 and 12 knots of true breeze we managed to carry it as high as 50 apparent and almost down to a dead run. At one point we were doing over 8 knots with it up.

All we need now is the right wind, ideally a Southerly Force 4 and we'll be off to try and qualify.

Thursday 19th March 2009 17:37:37
Ready, steady...

Waterloo Station, Thursday 19th March 17:10

Having opted out out of not doing our qualifier last weekend because of the light forecast winds on Sunday, we were disappointed at the prospect of the same happening this weekend.

Originally we planned to leave on our 150NM (nautical mile) non stop qualifying passage on Friday evening but changed our plans due to the light winds forecast for Saturday and Sunday.

Frustrated by missing the perfect wind forecast through to Friday evening, we have brought our plans forward by 24 hours hoping to ride the Easterly Force 4 that is blowing in the Channel now!

Planned departure circa 21:00. Planned course: Southampton, East Solent Forts, Bembridge Ledge, Cherbourg Fairway buoy, Needles Channel, Southampton. It will probably take 20 to 30 hours - hopefully nearer 20 as the wind is forecast to start dying in the Solent at 18:00 tomorrow.

More later at http://blog.mailasail.com/scorpio

As a trial of doing updates for our longer passage, I intend to try and do blog updates along the way and post them when we get a mobile signal.

Enjoy!

Ed & Ken

Monday 19th January 2009 21:25:37
Abort!

Shamrock Quay - Thursday 19th March 21:15

Abort!

I spoke too soon. Unfortunately Ken is feeling unwell and we have concluded that it would not be wise to set of into the night after both working all day with one of us having an upset stomach. Discretion (and a nearby flushing toilet) are the better part of valour!

So...

We are going on standby for next weekend. Let's hope for some decent wind and weather.

Never mind! That's why we mapped out several possible qualification weekends.

More soon!

Thursday 21st May 2009 23:19:17
The wind gods and the impending axe...

Well it seems the sailing/wind gods are against us this season.

Every time we've been planning to do the Biscay Qualifier either something has come up at the last minute to prevent the trip or it's been blowing a gale or been a near calm. To cap that, the economic woes in Financial Services are going to result in the axe falling on my shoulders in the autumn. Ed's will roll! This means that available vacation in 2009 needs to be used carefully in order to help soften the period of time I'm not working. As a result we have decided to forgo the Biscay Challenge and do the AZAB qualifiers in 2010.

Meantime, to get some sailing in and build some miles with Ken and Chris, all three of us are going to do RSYC Channel Triangle.

And it's the Cherbourg Double this weekend - all we need is some wind...

Chilled - but in need of some sailing...

Hopefully the next post will be from out on the water!

Saturday 13th June 2009 18:07:06
Newtown not Hondarribia...

Saw 22 boats head off to Hondarribia. Not us - job difficulties and lack of time to qualify ruled it out for this year. In Newtown Creek (50 43.49N 1 24.27W) instead listening to birds compete to see can be loudest. Very peaceful... (and surprisingly few boats). AZAB qualifying will have to wait until 2010 when I expect to have much more time.

Monday 22nd June 2009 14:22:55
Slow boat across Biscay...

According to the Race Report (http://www.biscaychallenge.com) the 2009 Biscay Challenge was a slow and frustrating race with much light airs and drifting, particularly off Ushant - eight finishers out of 10 starters in Class 1 with three of those arriving immediately before the race dinner on Friday. In Class 2, where Scorpio would have been, there were only two finishers out of ten starters one of whom arrived during the race dinner (to great applause) and the second in the early hours of the following morning after six and half day's sailing.

All credit to the Race Committee for meeting every boat with a cold beer and a hand to take lines whether they arrived in the middle of the day, the middle of the night or the middle of the race dinner!

My particular admiration goes to the competitors who completed the course for their perseverance, determination and grit. I fear Ken and I would have been amongst those who threw the towel in at Ushant - neither of us are fans of light air sailing - we would probably have been tearing our hair out!

Scorpio will have to wait for another year for her Biscay crossing.

Meanwhile back in the Channel - there's a triangle somewhere....

Monday 22nd June 2009 14:32:08
Scorpio prepares for the Channel Triangle

Southampton Water (50:51.69N 1:21.41W)

22nd June 2009

Every two years the Royal Southampton Yacht Club (RSYC) runs the "Channel Triangle" - a series of three passage races over the course of a week from Southampton to Deauville, Deauville to St Peter Port and St Peter Port to Southampton.

At this point eleven boats are entered, each with a minimum of two and a maximum of four crew, all racing under RSYC Club Handicap.

Following the withdrawal from the Biscay Challenge, I have entered Scorpio and will be racing with fellow Yateley Offshore Sailing Club (YOSC) members Ken and Chris. Old rivals Faze 3, Ellie, Bedouin are all entered, amongst others. I just hope we can sail to our handicap of 1.025 - a significant hike over the last two years when it was 1.005 and 1.000 respectively.

Leg 1 to Deauville starts at 10am on Saturday 27th June; Leg 2 from Deauville on the afternoon of Tuesday 30th and Leg 3 from St Peter Port on the afternoon of 3rd July. Each leg will last about 24 hours which gives plenty of time in Deauville and St Peter Port for recovery and socialising including a race dinner in each port.

Between beers, trimming, helming, navigating and cooking, it's my intention to endeavour to post regular updates as the week progresses.

The craic should be good. All we need is some wind and some sun!

In St Peter Port there is talk of an Optimist race - *that* should be interesting...

Friday 26th June 2009 14:59:37
Boat ready...

Shamrock Quay 26th June, 15:00

Stores stowed, Engine checks done (hopefully we won't need it too much), fueled up, water tanks emptied (we don't want that weight up front - we'll use bottled water at sea). Scorpio is ready!

Just need to do some navigation, load the GPS and wait for Ken and Chris. Shame the sun isn't shining!

Race briefing at club at 19:00.

More later...

Friday 26th June 2009 22:21:54
Crew ready and briefed...

Shamrock Quay, 22:15

...and prepared for the off at 07:30 in the morning.

Ken arrived about 16.30. We completed the Nav and then headed off for the briefing. Met folks off Faze 3, Bedouin, Pi Squared, Moondog - it looks like this week may be injurious to the liver!

Chris just arrived.

All we need now is some wind - fingers crossed.

More tomorrow.

Saturday 27th June 2009 08:52:18
Underway...

Southampton Water, 08:45
50 51.65N 1 21.28W

Motoring down Southampton Water to start.

8 to 10 knots wind. Bit grey and overcast but it looks like it will clear.

Photo of Chris and Ken with Hound (Committee/Start Boat) behind.

More later...

Saturday 27th June 2009 13:39:34
Good news and bad news...

Saturday 13:30

50 41.98N 001 00.04W

The sun is shining = good news

The wind has died and what little there is from 165M to 175M which means we can't lay (sail towards) the finish off Deauville which is 87 nautical miles away. Currently we're headed for somewhere between Fecamp and Le Havre and we won't get there for 48 hours! Bad news!

Hopefully the wind will fill in and veer to be something more like the SW by W Force 3 or 4 that was forecast.

We had clean start despite a J133 that decided to motorsail the length of the line in the final minute before the start! He was not even aware of what was happening around him until I yelled at him - some people have no situational awareness.

Wind just filled in to 8 knots and boat speed up to 4 knots at 50 apparent as I write.

We came down East Solent with Code 3 Asymmetric in 4 to 8 knots carried on the full strength of the tide. Between the forts and Bembridge the wind backed and we changed to the full symmetric for about 45 minutes before the wind went too far forward for it.

Need to go - being called on deck to get the Code 3 up.

More later...

Saturday 27th June 2009 14:40:00
Leaving coverage...

14:30 50 37.44N 000 52.23

Just about to lose phone coverage.

Wind filled in. Currently 12 knots from 240 Magnetic. To far forward for Code 3 but making 6.5 knots under main and self tacking jib on direct course to Deauville.

Saturday 27th June 2009 18:16:48
AIS is awesome...

27-June 17:50

50 20.39N 000 39.89W

Wind dropped away and then filled in. Now making a steady in 5.5 or 6.0 knots in 10 knots of breeze at 270M.

Visibility mixed - it's clear to North and West but murky to South and East. Visibility keeps closing down and then opening out. Minimum has been about 0.5NM. Bit of a bummer as we have just crossed the down Channel shipping lane where the ships are coming at us from the East. We can see them on the AIS system. We have it set so that the alarm goes if anything comes nearer to us than two miles. It's gone off several times and we have seen the ship.

We got particularly concerned about one called Blue Bay (MIMS 304519000) which looked like it was heading straight at us. As the visibility was poor we held our course on the assumption he could see us on radar. The AIS tells us the ship's name, her position, SOG (Speed over the Ground), COG (Course over the Ground) and Heading. At about a mile out we saw her alter course to starboard by about 20 degrees to go behind us. All on the AIS - we couldn't see her physically. At about half a mile out she appeared out of the murk on the port quarter behind us. We called her up on the radio to thank her for altering course for us and to try and establish how far out she could see us on her radio. Answer was four nautical miles which is pretty good considering we're mostly plastic and have a fairly small radar reflector. We reckon if we're painting a big enough target at 4NM for people to alter for us we're pretty safe.

We're now in the "central reservation" between the down channel shipping lane and up channel lane to the south of us. (Ships drive on the right). With the AIS on 16 mile range I can see four ships north of us going down channel and five south of us going up channel.

If the wind holds (it's eased to 7.5 knots whilst I've been writing this), we should have crossed the up channel land and be well clear of the shipping lanes before it gets dark. Then we'll have to start thinking about traffic in and out of Le Havre.

Current ETA at Deauville is 06:00 tomorrow. If we arrive then we'll miss the lock and have to anchor off. We shall see.

More later...

Saturday 27th June 2009 20:37:16
Drifting into the night...

Saturday 27th 20:30

50 08.27N 000 38.78W

Wind dropping on a calm and sunny evening. We almost across the up channel shipping lane. AIS has no ships within 4 miles of us and those further out are to the north.

Had pasta with chicken and cheese in a tomato sauce for supper followed by fruit (we don't want any scurvy!).

Now just starting the night watch pattern of four hours on two off. Ken has his head down first.

Let's hope some wind holds up through the night.

Sunday 28th June 2009 09:25:11
More good news and more bad news...

Sunday 28th 09:00

49 44.16N 000 21.11W

We have two chances to get through the lock at Deauville - between 12:30 and 18:00 this afternoon or between 00:45 and 06:15 in the early hours of Monday morning.

After a totally windless night in which we progressed the grand total of 21NM between 20:00 and 05:00 most of which was due east in the tide, it looked like we would not even make it in time for the Monday morning opening.

We listened to the 05:20 Shipping Forecast on Radio 4 long wave (RIP Sailing By) and it held no good fortune for us. At 06:00 we took the decision to retire from leg one and motor sail because by doing so then (still with 40NM to go) we should be able to get in to Deauville on this afternoon's lock.

We don't think that we are the only one - at about midnight a yacht which had been about three miles behind us all through yesterday afternoon and evening fired up his streaming light and passed us under power about half a mile to leeward. If he was one of ours it seems a strange thing to have done as he will have got to Deauville before the lock was open and had to anchor off until lunch time. He didn't start motoring early enough to have made it in the early hours of this morning.

The good news? The glory of a beautiful sunrise at 04:55. Note the oily calm and lack of wind!

Sunrise 04:55 - Mid Channel

LAND HO!

Sunday 28th June 2009 22:23:32
In the east...

Sunday 28th June 21:55 BST (22:55 Frog Local)

Quai de la Gare, Bassin Morny, Deauville 49 21.71N 000 04.88E

Here we are in Deauville. We arrived at 13:50 BST after motoring for nearly 8 hours. Scorpio's first time east of the Greenwich Meridian.

As we arrived off the entrance several boats were finishing the race under sail - Faze 3, Miss Chatelaine, Moondog and H2Eau. Transpires they were in last night's wind hole for less than the six hours we were and they found more wind than us closer to the coast between Cap D'Antifer and Le Havre.

We found that the boat that was behind us and retired during the night was Ellie - they went to Le Havre had showers and breakfast and motored on here arriving at 16:00. We were relieved that we were not only boats to retire - Salamander (Sigma 33) and Sylvie (Feeling 326) also retired. We don't know the results yet - we find those out at tomorrow night's dinner. The first boat to arrive was apparently Pi Squared (First 47.7) which arrived at 09:30 and anchored off waiting for the tide to come up enough for the lock to open. The last to arrive was Bedouin (our old friend Ian Ward in his Moody 29) who arrived shortly after 16:00.

The Royal Southampton Boats in Bassin Morny (far side) - Scorpio with two white and two black fenders

Scorpio rafted outside the Sweden 370 Miss Chatelaine

Deauville approach channel an hour before low water this evening.

The entrance to Bassin Morny (between the red lights) at low water.

On arrival our first mission was to pay our harbour dues if only to establish the entry code for the shower block. We also acquired more milk - an essential ingredient for Ken's intravenous drip of tea. We then repaired to the boat to collect towels and wash kit for the long anticipated shower.

A short stroll around Deauville came next before meeting up with several other boats for dinner in Trouville. Then back to Scorpio for coffee and blogging.

More tomorrow (which is a big day for one of us) when we have had time to further explore. Results and crew dinner for all tomorrow evening.

Until then...

Monday 29th June 2009 15:55:32
Hot, dang hot...

Deauville

Monday 29th June 16:00 BST

It's a scorcher!

Deauville Yacht Club from our berth.

Everybody had a solid nights sleep. With all the hatches open and the washboards out it was just about cool enough. After a light breakfast on board we tidied up and did a bit of cleaning (thanks Ken) before going for a stroll out to Deauville promenade which we found very pleasant.

Villas on Deauville font

The promenade where all the beach huts/changing rooms are named after film stars

We stopped for a coffee (or two) and a snack whilst watching the world go by.

A film crew we found on the promenade a bit beyond our coffee stop

Recognise anybody? We didn't. We reckon it was probably the French version of Coronation Street!?

We then headed into the town centre past a very posh looking casino.

Deauville Casino - €50 for a nuit compris!

In the town centre there were numerous cafés, restaurants and bars to choose. We chose one across the street from the Mairie for our lunch stop.

Beer and galletes for lunch.

The town is very smart with a number of designer shops including Lacoste, Gucci etc. plus some more one offs including this ring shop...

Give us a ring!

After lunch Chris went for a walk to Trouville across the river and Ken and I returned to Scorpio for a siesta and to plan our passage to St Peter Port.

Earlier in the day there was a nice offshore breeze which kept things pleasant but as the afternoon has worn on the sea breeze has started to kick in and is killing the gradient wind and making it stickier by the moment. We have the wind scoop up to catch whatever breeze there is to keep the boat cool.

Tomorrow we leave at 15:00 BST for St Peter Port on Guernsey which is 115NM. The first 55NM is across Baie de la Seine to Barfleur on the eastern end of the Cherbourg peninsula. We need to be there by midnight or else the tide will turn strongly against us. We then need to creep inshore along the top of the Cherbourg peninsula to Cap de la Hague where the tide turns in our favour down the Alderney tidal race at 06:30 - being neaps it will only be 3.2 knots not like the 8 knots it is at springs!

We just hope there is sufficient wind for us to maintain the boat speed to make the tidal gate at Barfleur. The wind looks like it will be F3 E or NE so it is likely to be spinnaker all the way.

This evening we have the results for Leg 1 at 17:30 followed by the brief for Leg 2 and then the dinner for everybody at a hotel in Trouville.

More later...

Tuesday 30th June 2009 11:42:02
A town in two acts and a race in three acts...

Tuesday 30th June 11:15 BST

Deauville - another scorcher.

Yesterday the results were announced in Deauville Yacht Club at 17:30 followed by the briefing for Leg 2. The results were pretty much as expected - Moondog (Laser 28) won and Bedouin (Moody 29 and last boat to arrive) was second on corrected time. Pi Squared (the big First 47.7) which arrived first was 5th on corrected time. Four boats (out of 11), including us, retired. Moral of the story small 25 year old boats costing less than £20K can completely stuff up big new boats costing over ten times as much!

The briefing went as follows: "The warning signal will be at 15:00 BST at Semoy buoy (two miles offshore) - the lock opens at 14:23 BST so be ready to go - we're not going to wait."

Following this everybody went across the bridge to the Central Hotel & Brasserie in Trouville for an excellent meal - highly recommended if you ever come here. On returning to the boat at about 23:00 it was a lot cooler so we all went for showers before bed.

Deauville/Trouville are two towns one on each side of the river built as holiday resorts for the Parisienne gentry who kept their wives in big villas in Deauville and their mistresses in Trouville. Deauville appears to have suffered badly in the war and whilst it has been rebuilt in a traditional style it is obvious that a lot of the buildings are post war. In contrast Trouville is much more traditionally French in comparison to chic Deauville.

Following a light breakfast on the boat we went into Trouville for an explore, coffee and croissants and some shopping.

The two towns are joined by a road bridge but when the tide is out during the day they lower this rickety "passerelle" bridge across the river. It costs €0.50 per person to cross but was a more direct route back to the boat. The river runs at a phenomenal rate.

The "Passerelle" between Trouville and Deauville.

Back on the boat, we are finishing up the navigation planning for leg 2 to St. Peter Port and having a snooze. We plan to have lunch before we slip.

Leg 2 is going to be a race in three acts: Act I - Deauville to Barfleur Point, Act II along the top of the Cherbourg peninsula to the Alderney Race and Act III down the Alderney Race to the Little Russell channel and into St Peter Port. The race is going to be all about getting the 55NM to Barfleur before the tide turns against us at midnight and then Act II will be rock hopping in the dark and against the foul tide to be at the Alderney Race at 06:00 when the tide turns south. If we can do that we should be in St Peter Port waiting for the lock by mid morning tomorrow (Wednesday). That's the ideal but then there are many other scenarios...

Until later...

Tuesday 30th June 2009 16:21:01
Act I, Scene 1 - The Start

Tuesday 30th June 16:15

Baie de la Seine 49N 26.88 000 06.30W

Back in the west!

About one hour after the start we are power reaching in 16 knots of true wind at 70 degrees off the starboard bow. The boat is creaming along at 7 to 7.5 knots. Ken is on the helm whooping with joy!

We're just hoping that this modified sea breeze we are sailing in holds well into the evening. We have three or four other boats within a couple of hundred metres - all racing hard.

It's clouded over with high cirrus and the temperature has dropped making it much cooler thankfully.

More later...

Wednesday 1st July 2009 04:38:37
Act I, Scene ii - How long is that piece of string

Wednesday 1st July 04:30

Barfleur Point 49 43.59N 001 10.09W

We didn't make it round Barfleur before the tide turned. As we approached the wind steadily dropped and we made slower and slower progress.

When it got to the point that whatever direction we sailed, we were going East in the tide that was building against us, we dropped our kedge anchor. Normally ones uses an anchor chain/warp that is a minimum of three times the depth of water you are anchoring in. We anchored in 47 metres depth. Scorpio's kedge anchor warp is 50m long so we tied the 50m emergency towing rope to it and flung it all over. The boat stopped dead in seconds and sat there registering a speed of 3.5knots as the tide flooded past. That was at 02:00. The tide is now flowing at under half a knot and will turn in about half an hour in the direction we want to go.

We're going to have a cup of tea and then take our morning exercise getting the anchor up. Under the racing rules it must be done by hand.

All credit to Chris who kept an anchor watch whilst Ken and I got some kip. This was especially cruel for him as he had to watch Start Point in a similar way from a race yacht a few weeks ago.

More later...

Wednesday 1st July 2009 11:39:02
Act II...

... was slow, sloppy, directly downhill (down wind) and boring.

Anchor up at 05:00. Entered Alderney Race (at 49 44.94N 001 56.93W) and started Act III at 11:00.

Ed

Wednesday 1st July 2009 16:04:00
Act III, Scene ii - The beginning of the end...

Off Little Russel Channel 16:00
49 31.48N 002 27.371W

Drifting at 4 knots in 7 knots of wind. About 5 miles to go. Lots of fellow competitors around us - sadly mostly in front.

We have missed the lock into the marina and will therefore have to go on waiting pontoon until we can get over the cill at about 01:00.

More when we get in.

Wednesday 1st July 2009 16:04:00
Act III, Final Scene - Rock hopping to the finish

St Peter Port, Guernsey

Wednesday 1st July 23:00

Act III consisted of 40NM down the Alderney Race across to Guernsey and then down the Little Russel channel to St. Peter Port. As we progressed we picked out several other boats who were sailing around us in the heat haze. The wind was light and it was a dead run so we tried to optimise our performance by gybing between broad reaches. Starboard was our favoured gybe as the cockpit was in the shade from the mainsail.

When we got to the top of the Little Russel with the final five miles to go, nine out of the eleven boats in the race all converged as they tried to stem the foul tide running downwind in about 5 knots or less - this wind was a big disappointment after the 15/16 knots we had seen in the Alderney Race.

The Little Russell is strewn with rocks but most were well covered as it is neap tides this week so we decided to take Scorpio rock hopping to keep in the shallow water and out of the foul tide. As we entered the Little Russell we were in last but one place - our rock hopping tactics picked us up at least three or four places.

In the last quarter mile, the wind all but died and we managed to raise our game and adopt light airs dinghy racing tactics which paid off. We finished at 17:58:59. After nearly 27 hours of racing we were one of six boats that finished within about ten minutes of each other. We will need to wait until tomorrow to get the formal elapsed and corrected time results. It seems to have been a race that favoured smaller boats - we are hopeful we have beaten all the boats that are handicapped as faster than us on corrected time.

Until tomorrow which will be a day of R & R and Optimist racing

Thursday 2nd July 2009 11:31:04
Night moves and unrelenting heat...

Victoria Marina, St Peter Port, Guernsey

Thursday 2nd July 11:30

49 27.32N 002 32.07W

Our arrival yesterday was too late to get over the cill into the Marina. We had a choice of moving in at 00:50 this morning or early in the afternoon. We went ashore by water taxi to have a shower and find a pub for a rehydrating beer and something to heat. When we got back to the boat at 22:45 we had our second wind and it was a beautiful evening so we decided to sit up and move the boat in when we could so that we had walk ashore access all day today.

The cill - we had to wait for the tide to come in and give 2m depth over this before we could get in at 00:50

When the cill had 2m over it Scorpio, Ellie and Bedouin moved into Victoria Marina and rafted up together. We then sat in the cockpit drinking beer and coffee and chatting until 02:30 before finally all crashing out.

Woke up to another sticky, hot day today. Unfortunately it's also heavily overcast and pretty murky so the spectacular views across the Little Russel from St Peter Port are missing. As I type I can hear the foghorn on the pier head. There were showers earlier on I'm told, but I was totally unaware of them.

We went ashore for full breakfast at the Terrace Cafe before returning to chill and rinse Scorpio's decks. They won't stay that way long with crews of Ellie and Bedouin trampling all over them as they come and go!

Now starting to think about planning the passage home and, more importantly, how we cheat in the Oppie racing!

More later..

Friday 3rd July 2009 12:30:24
Oppie racing, fines and the prospects for Leg 3...

St Peter Port

Friday 3rd July, Midday

Yesterday's Oppie Racing was uncontrolled anarchy. It started with a team race between arbitrarily selected teams of four. The goal was to get the team's Oppie and all four members of the team round a buoy at the end of the boating lake and back again. It could be one person at once with the boat going four times in a relay or all four at once in the Oppie. There were no rules other than that. It took about a microsecond to work out that as the lake was only just over knee deep, you didn't actually need to be in the Oppie. On our team two were charged with getting the Oppie round the course and two with preventing others doing the same. I forget where we came but everybody was very wet at the end! Then came the more serious single handed racing - three heats with the top two in each heat going through to the final.

This picture was taken in Heat One moments before people realised that, again, there was no reason to be actually in the boat and that it would be quicker to push! Thereafter chaos ensued. All members of Scorpio's crew were in Heat 2 which, by dint of smart tactics (getting to the first buoy in the lead, stealing it and then exchanging it with the guy who stole the second buoy), I would have won. I was so far in the lead I decided to sail the last 20 metres at which point Karen, skipper on Ellie, got past me so I was second and in the final. The final was supposed to be sailed but I cheated outrageously and was disqualified which, in the round, was probably fair and also less tiring.

We then all went for showers before returning for the dinner at Guernsey Yacht Club which has recently been extended and now has a superb dining room overlooking the outer harbour. All 36 of us sat down to dinner. The food, company and ambience was superb. Through a series of fines we raised over £150 for Guernsey Sailing Trust who had lent us their Oppies free of charge.

After dinner the results for Leg 2 were announced - as expected Bedouin the Moody 29 won. The results were exactly in order of the handicap with the slowest boats on handicap doing best and the fastest coming last. We were seventh beating the JOD 35 H2Eau and the Bavaria 44 Faze 3. In elapsed time all boats that finished did so within 70 minutes of each other with no less than five of the nine finishers completing between 17:56 and 18:02. This after 115NM and 27 hours of racing - it was incredible.

This morning we have stocked up on food for Leg 3. We are starting slightly earlier than planned at 15:15 and hope to be back in Shamrock Quay late on Saturday evening. The question is how much wind is there going to be. Some forecasts are for Force 3s and 4s and even a bit of 5 which would make a perfect sail. Some forecasts have a lot less wind which would make it another drift.

We'll see what we are dealt. At the moment there's a good breeze.

More when we are under way...

Friday 3rd July 2009 17:34:33
Sloppiness and Asymmetric sheets...

49 35.12N 002 24.51W

3rd July 17:15

Well here we are slopping around again in virtually no wind :-( north of Guernsey and south of Alderney.

We had an excellent breeze in the Little Russel channel for the start. With 4 knots of tide under us pushing north we saw 10.5 knots over the ground at times. Unfortunately it didn't last. As soon as we cleared the Little Russel, the tide weakened and the land effect on the breeze (funnelling between the islands and the sea breeze) disappeared to leave us rolling around in the slop.

At the start we decided to go for the big purple asymmetric. It went up well and then after about five minutes the sheet decided to trip itself of it so we had to get it down but the snuffer jammed so it had to come down by hand and be stuffed down the forehatch. Yes, Karen, the racing cover is on our cabin mattress!! This little debacle left us at the back of the fleet. We put the Code 3 asymmetric up and had caught up the back markers by the time we left the Little Russel. Slowly we are making progress through the fleet with Ken on the helm. We are well positioned on the windward side of most of the others.

The question is will we get through the Alderney Race before the tide turns at 19:30 or will we have to go west around Alderney and the Casquet rocks.

We shall see later. Time for my spell on the helm.

This may be the last entry before lose phone coverage.

Friday 3rd July 2009 21:42:21
Into another slow sloppy night...

49 50.07N 002 21.85W

Went west of Alderney and Casquets and now out into Channel and approaching shipping lanes.

Looks like another slow sail. 10 knots of wind from directly behind giving low apparent wind speeds and therefore slow progress.

More from UK waters tomorrow when we are back in coverage.

Saturday 4th July 2009 11:41:06
Requesting clearance...

50 36.18N 001 38.30W

4th July 11:30

About half an hour from the Needles channel where we are going to have to plug a couple of hours of foul tide. The only time all week we have been early for a tidal gate!

Can see what we think is Ellie behind us. We need to finish about an hour ahead of her to beat her. The race is on!

Suspect rest of fleet has gone in eastern end of Solent which could make it interesting.

Q is flying. More later when we have finished, cleared customs and showered etc.

Saturday 4th July 2009 23:02:10
Finished!

Coronation Buoy, Central Solent 50 49.55N 001 17.62W

Saturday 4th July 16:01:50

We finished the final 100NM leg after 24 hours 56 minutes and 50 seconds. Ellie made the tactical move we discussed and went into the west Solent through North Channel accepting additional distance for weaker contrary tides. It paid. She got through Hurst narrows into the Solent proper ahead of us and Bedouin who we had converged with at the Needles.

Meeting Bedouin again after our sail in company west of Casquets earlier in the race was unexpected as, to be frank, we had not given it our all through the night after the frightful slop around the Casquets and because of the weaker winds. For a long time through the evening we ran with main alone and then I put the Code 3 back up as darkness fell. After about two hours it really needed gybing to be able to sail the optimum angle for the Needles. We were all tired, it was sloppy and I was not prepared to go on the foredeck in the dark under these circumstances and I wasn't prepared to let Ken or Chris go either - there was just too much risk of a man overboard in the dark in the middle of the Channel so we spent the hours of darkness sailing suboptimally. At dawn the wind changed and filled in making the manoeuvre unnecessary and giving us a thrilling sail in to the Needles.

Scorpio and Bedouin went up the Needles Channel against the tide neck and neck on a very shy reach us with the red Code 3 and them with a huge spinnaker. It was quite gusty and each time a gust came through we broached (rounded up into the wind out of control with the sails flogging). It eventually got to the point we were broaching more than sailing so down came the Code 3 and out came the small self tacking jib - we only dropped a half knot in speed but were much more stable. We chose to cross the North Channel and go into the Solent on the Hurst Castle side of the narrows - I nearly put the boat aground on a shallow patch known as "The Trap" in my desire to stay out of the tide. That would have been an unfortunate end to the week. We continued close inshore up the Hampshire shore sailing through several dinghy and dayboat racing fleets in the process at least one of which objected to our presence and asked us to go out into deeper water (and more contrary tide). They shut up when we pointed out we were racing too - something which should have been obvious to them.

Bedouin had worked over to the Isle of Wight shore and went up that side so we lost touch with them given all the boats in the west Solent on a sunny Saturday afternoon in July. They hailed us on the VHF radio and appeared just behind us at Lepe Spit thereafter we were neck and neck again until Ian took Bedouin straight across the top of Calshot spit in a manner which both Ken and I thought impossible and suicidal. I have no idea how he got away with it!

We'll have to wait until tomorrow lunchtime for the final results on corrected time. We won't have done well but we weren't completely out of the running either.

We got back to Shamrock Quay about 17:30, cleared customs (Guernsey is not in the EU), cleaned the boats and had very welcome showers.

Final Channel Triangle blog when we know the results

Sunday 5th July 2009 18:43:42
Home and reflecting...

Sandhurst, 5th July 2009 18:30

Our casual sail through Friday evening and decision not to gybe in the dark was paid for in the results of Leg 3. We were 8th. We may not have had the best results - Retired, 7th and 8th giving us 9th overall - but they do not detract from some great sailing, great company and camaraderie and fantastic weather. We also learnt a huge amount about Scorpio and each other.

We'll be back another year!

Scorpio Out (for the time being).

Monday 10th August 2009 21:10:15
Summer Cruise - Leg 1

Monday 10th August 21:00

Weymouth 50 36.65N 002 27.43W

So here we are in Weymouth Marina at the end of the first leg of Scorpio's Summer Cruise 2009. We arrived here at 20.30 on Sunday just in time for the final bridge lift at 21:00. We left Southampton at 11:00 that day having fuelled up, which was just as well as we ended up motoring the whole way. The winds were pretty light and on the nose. Every time we turned a corner (Needles, Anvil Point & St. Alban's Head) we hoped we'd get a better angle and some possibility of a sail - not to be - each time the wind "turned" as well and stayed resolutely on the nose.

Our sailing holiday looks more like a motoring one at this stage! We had planned to stay in Weymouth two nights before making the long haul across Lyme Bay to Torquay or Dartmouth but events have rather taken over and it looks like we will be here until the end of the week. By then there is little point in going further west as we will have to turn and start heading back almost as soon as we get there.

We will probably head back east from here close inshore along the Jurassic coast possibly stopping at Lulworth Cove or Chapman's Pool before heading into Poole Harbour or Studland Bay for a night or two. We'll decide later in the week depending how the weather and things develop.

Meanwhile I know with certainty that Summer has really arrived - in Weymouth and it's cold, grey and raining...

Sunday 8th November 2009 12:00:00
And so it ends...

...the 2009 Sailing Season that is... (oh and gainful employment)!

Sailing-wise 2009 has proved a mixed year. The disappointments of a summer cruise and holiday to the west country being cut short by illness and the frustrations of our inability to make Scorpio perform in IRC against all the out and out racers was at least offset by the glorious weather and huge fun of the Channel Triangle.

As long foretold the axe of redundancy fell at the end of October and with it came the decision to take a year out for a long overdue sabbatical/gap year which will enable me to take an extended cruise to new horizons. More to follow on that one...