Brixham trawler race
There was a great buzz of excitement in the air at Brixham in the run up to the trawler race – the town quay was packed with classic boats of all sizes spruced up to look their best and flying colourful streams of flags and bunting from the rigging.
Our crew of fifteen arrived in dribs and drabs throughout the morning, and most of us turned up to the ‘skippers’ briefing’ to learn the race course and rules – basically 3 laps of a 5-mile triangular course in Torbay. We then decided to fortify ourselves with a big breakfast, a decision we soon regetted after nearly an hour’s wait in the local café.
Eventually, we let go the ropes and headed out into Torbay for a quick practice and some warm-up tacks before the real race. The wind was blowing a good force 6 to 7 and most boats were well reefed down with not a topsail in sight. This was a big disappointment to us after having spent two hours the night before painting up our new topsail with the boat’s name.
There was plenty of wind to get us going and we were storming along at over 7 knots with the boat heeling well over when disaster struck. Ten minutes before the start of the race, the shackle on the peak halyard block (right at the top!) broke and we had to start the engine and lower the mainsail. Miraculously, Dom managed to clamber up and lash it together with rope, we reset the sails and reached the start line just eight minutes late.
We were extremely pleased with the way ‘Ros Ailither’ performed. We overtook five boats in total, touched nearly 8 knots top speed and pointed as hard on to the wind as the other gaffers. We managed to tack and gybe successfully, although having a dedicated crewmember for each rope obviously made a huge difference!
Unfortunately, it all went wrong at the finish line. We couldn’t point far enough to clear the finish mark so had to tack back, at which stage the roller furler refused to furl and we found ourselves sailing along the finish line (without actually crossing it) right in the way of the winning vessel, the Brixham trawler ‘Vigilance’, who was about to lap us. After a near miss and a moment of indecision, we managed to gybe round and cross the finish to the firing of a gun.
We didn’t win any prizes but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and learnt a lot in the process. We are even tempted to take part in the forthcoming Looe Lugger race on the weekend of the 10th – 12th June.
Our crew of fifteen arrived in dribs and drabs throughout the morning, and most of us turned up to the ‘skippers’ briefing’ to learn the race course and rules – basically 3 laps of a 5-mile triangular course in Torbay. We then decided to fortify ourselves with a big breakfast, a decision we soon regetted after nearly an hour’s wait in the local café.
Eventually, we let go the ropes and headed out into Torbay for a quick practice and some warm-up tacks before the real race. The wind was blowing a good force 6 to 7 and most boats were well reefed down with not a topsail in sight. This was a big disappointment to us after having spent two hours the night before painting up our new topsail with the boat’s name.
There was plenty of wind to get us going and we were storming along at over 7 knots with the boat heeling well over when disaster struck. Ten minutes before the start of the race, the shackle on the peak halyard block (right at the top!) broke and we had to start the engine and lower the mainsail. Miraculously, Dom managed to clamber up and lash it together with rope, we reset the sails and reached the start line just eight minutes late.
We were extremely pleased with the way ‘Ros Ailither’ performed. We overtook five boats in total, touched nearly 8 knots top speed and pointed as hard on to the wind as the other gaffers. We managed to tack and gybe successfully, although having a dedicated crewmember for each rope obviously made a huge difference!
Unfortunately, it all went wrong at the finish line. We couldn’t point far enough to clear the finish mark so had to tack back, at which stage the roller furler refused to furl and we found ourselves sailing along the finish line (without actually crossing it) right in the way of the winning vessel, the Brixham trawler ‘Vigilance’, who was about to lap us. After a near miss and a moment of indecision, we managed to gybe round and cross the finish to the firing of a gun.
We didn’t win any prizes but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and learnt a lot in the process. We are even tempted to take part in the forthcoming Looe Lugger race on the weekend of the 10th – 12th June.
posted by Katie at 1:27 PM
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