SIPR 2014

[marisca]

My condolences to Contender and her crew. Marisca's secret weapon is 4 young people who are simply awesome and respectful enough to let their aged skipper sleep for 6 hours at a time while sailing in silly seas and winds. As for the runners - huge respect for their ridiculously fast times - our 2 wee gurls were the fastest of all over Goatfell but even that couldn't compensate for Marisca's lack of speed so 2nd in Class 3 for the 3rd year running.

As Geoff found out, the race depends hugely on hitting tidal gates and missing one means not only a 6 hour wait but probably totally different wind conditions when you finally get through. We rigged the yuloh once off Insh but never actually used it and apart from a wee patch of dearth after MoK the wind, usually enough for reefs, blew. We were a couple of hours early for Fladda and played snakes and ladders with the tide till it changed; just made MoK by the skin of our teeth - I swear the tide changed more than an hour early. It got to the point when the wind dropped while still west of Sanda that we were retreating at over 2 kts and I was on the foredeck preparing to drop 50m of chain and 60m of warp into 40m of water. Another couple of minutes and I'd have been in a hell of a mess when the southeasterly clicked in at about 25kts.

The large number of retirals surprised us. Yes, the MoK was bouncy, even a Contessa slammed a couple of times when she found a hole but it never felt dangerous - the really uncomfortable bit was wallowing when the wind dropped. Or maybe it's because the girls seem to trust the sailors and the sailors are feart to let down the runners. Luckily, apart from a bit of queeziness, we didn't suffer from sickness unlike quite a few other boats.

50 hours from start to finish is not a lot of my life but as to whether I'll do it next year - we'll see.

On a technical note - the absence of a wind gauge has left me with a sore neck from watching the Windex. A Nasa tricolour illuminates the windex beautifully. Not knowing what the wind speed is is good!

[claymore]

Good effort, well done.
When I last did the race, in 1984 all was won (and lost) at Pladda. We were there in about 3rd place and the leading boat just squeezed through then crept down the Scarba shore and away into the distance - never to be seen again.we sat and watched the fleet catch us as we sat anchored within spitting distance of one of the islands. Very interesting anchoring with the spinnaker drawing fully and zero sog!

[ParaHandy]

Good effort, well done.
When I last did the race, in 1984 all was won (and lost) at Pladda. We were there in about 3rd place and the leading boat just squeezed through then crept down the Scarba shore and away into the distance - never to be seen again.we sat and watched the fleet catch us as we sat anchored within spitting distance of one of the islands. Very interesting anchoring with the spinnaker drawing fully and zero sog!

Ah, those were the days. Not like now? ... erm ...... 0 kns .....

[claymore]

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