MPSC Yachting Championships '09
7th October - 9th October

Update: 12th October, 2009. - Report & Final Results

As can be seen from the result list at the end of this report, 19 Sunsail Jeaneau 37 yachts competed in this year’s Met Police Offshore Championships. Police, Fire and Rescue and civilian teams took part. Five races were planned, but only four were held due to adverse weather conditions. All the teams met up at Gunwharf, Portsmouth, on a very wet Wednesday evening, to be briefed by the organiser, Edward Piggin, and the race officer, David Nicholls.

The undisputed champions for this year were the Met Police team led by Andy Rooke, sailing Sunsail 2. They won three of the four races held. The runners-up was another Met Police team led by Roger Glass, sailing Sunsail 10. Their best result was in race 3, when they came 2nd, and their 3rd place results in races 1 and 2 were good enough for them to come second overall. The third position overall went to the Sussex Police team led by Steve Rigby, sailing Sunsail 15. Their best result came in the very windy race 4, when they finished 2nd. 4th places in races 2 and 3 won them their ‘bronze medal’ result.

The 2008 championships suffered from a lack of wind, but there was no fear of that this year. Thursday’s weather was ideal for sailing, with clear skies, bright sunshine and 10 to 12 knots of wind blowing from the north.

Thursday morning had the whole fleet motoring out of Portsmouth Harbour in the early morning sunlight, and then across Spithead and around Gillkicker Point into The Solent. The Committee boat (MPSC yacht Sovereign of Broadway) led the 19 yachts, like a duck with her ducklings, across to the red navigation mark - Mother Bank, for the start of race one. At 0820 the class flag was lowered on board Sovereign, and the race was on. It was a clear start, with no one crossing the start line prematurely. The race officer had set a good line and it was not long before the fleet split in the beat to the windward mark – the green navigation mark Browndown. The leading yacht took only 15 minutes to get there. Leaving that mark to port the yachts then headed south west on a spinnaker reach for the red navigation mark - Peel Bank. The fleet made a brave sight with the different coloured spinnakers glinting in the sunshine. Leaving Peel Bank to starboard, the fleet then beat north to the yellow racing mark – Mackley Construction, keeping that mark to starboard. Then, to complete the figure-of-eight course, they reached southeast back to Peel Bank. They then had to loop around Peel Bank, leaving it to starboard, head back to Mackley Construction, and then back again to Peel Bank for the finish. After just over 54 minutes of sailing Team Andy Rooke, in Sunsail 2, was the first to cross the line, followed by another Met Police Andy - Andy Robinson – in Sunsail 8. The third boat to finish was Sunsail 10 with Roger Glass at the helm. The most exciting finish in this race was shared by Sunsail 15 and 17, down in 8th and 9th place. They crossed the finish line with the Sussex team only a whisker ahead of Stuart Jenkins and his Met team. All 19 yachts finished within 12 minutes of each other.

For race 2 the committee boat was moved three quarters of a mile west to the yellow racing mark – DAKS, and at 10:00 a well disciplined fleet got away to a clean start on the 2.5 mile beat to the racing mark - Fastnet Insurance. Keeping that mark to port, spinnakers blossomed on the leading yachts as they broad reached west to the red navigation mark – Hill Head. It took one hour for the vanguard to then round that mark and start a run south for Osborne Bay. Again the fleet made a heart-stirring sight with their brightly coloured spinnakers lighting up the grey waters of The Solent. It was the light blue spinnaker of Sunsail 2 (Andy Rooke) that rounded the red navigation mark – Norris, first, closely shadowed by the white spinnaker of Sunsail 17 (Stuart Jenkins) at 11:19 and then started the 1.5 mile beat north to the yellow racing mark – Universal Marina. Team Andy Rooke held their lead to the finish and crossed the line 23 seconds ahead of their Met rivals in Sunsail 17. Roger Glass steered Sunsail 10 across the finish line just over 2 minutes later in 3rd place. There were several close battles further down the fleet with some very close finishes. After 1 hour and 57 minutes of sailing Sunsail 6 and 3 crossed the line only one second apart in 13th and 14th position. And Sunsail 11 and 12 finished only 2 seconds apart in 15th and 16th place. 18 of the yachts finished within 20 minutes of each other.

After a short break for lunch the race officer had the committee boat moved to the yellow racing mark – Air Canada, for the start of race 3. Dave Nicholls then set the longest course of the day (approximately 17 miles) with HW Corporate Finance as the windward mark (port); west to Royal Thames (port); south towards Cowes to Prince Consort; north to Royal Southern; south to Gales HSB; north to Hill Head; and finally south again to Gales HSB for the finish. With most of the teams having gained confidence in the first two races, the start of race 3 was extremely competitive not quite so disciplined. There was a lot of shouting and close calls as the fleet approached the start line. As the class flag came down at 13:00 yachts Sunsail 4 and 15 were over the line and had to be recalled. The rest of the fleet set off on the first long beat towards Hill Head on the mainland. As this race progressed the wind and tides combined to make it more of a challenge than the race officer had appreciated, and the time rapidly passed without the fleet reaching the finish. The sailing instructions designated a 3 hour limit for each race, and that all competing teams had to finish within 45 minutes of the leading yacht. The race officer was worried that this race would have to be abandoned. In order to reduce the sailing time he determined to shorten the course when the vanguard reached Gales HSB for the first time. He had Sovereign anchored there with the “S” flag raised. The race committee then watched with bated breath as Team Alan Slater in Sunsail 13 approached the finish line, urging them on to finish within the time limit. And they did – by just 12 seconds! There was a great cheer from the winning team and from a very relieved race committee. Team Roger Glass in Sunsail 10 was the next to finish 30 seconds later.  The white spinnaker of Sunsail 17 helped to speed team Stuart Jenkins in Sunsail 17 across the line in 3rd place, some 90 seconds later. Earlier on the Met Police cadets in Sunsail 40 got their spinnaker jammed at the top of the mast and retired from racing. But the other 18 yachts finished, well spread out, but within 32 minutes of each other.

Partway through the race the fleet was split by a huge container ship, Don Carlos, that emerged from Southampton water and made its majestic way down The Solent, looking like a block of flats on the move. At the end of race 3 the fleet made its way into Cowes and up the Medina River to the Folly Inn, where a sumptuous supper and a social evening had been organised for everyone concerned with this event.

With the social evening in mind, the organising committee had timed the start of race 4 for 09:30 on Friday morning. Prior to that, the race committee boat, Sovereign, motored out of the shelter of the Medina into a wind swept Solent. The wind over tide conditions made the water very lumpy. Weather conditions had changed from Thursday, and so had the race officer. Due to the exigencies of the police service Dave Nicholls had to return to duty on Friday, and so his position as race officer was taken by National Race Officer, Bev Moss. Bev is from Hayling Island and has done most of his race control in that area. But this was to be his first solo ‘Solent start’. He set up his start line at the red racing mark – Flying Fish. All 19 yachts followed him there, many of them taking the precaution of reefing their mainsail. The flag sequence was started at 0925, and the class flag was lowered at 0930 with no premature starters. The race was on. The wind was blowing at about 20 knots from the north east as the fleet commenced the 1.5 mile beat to Fastnet Insurance. Leaving that to port the vanguard then headed north west to the yellow racing mark – B & G, on a broad reach. In spite of the windy conditions, the braver teams were flying their spinnakers to good effect. However, it was on the third leg of this course – the run from B & G to Air Canada – that the wind speed increased and the leading yachts began to broach in the fierce gusts. The spinnakers were becoming a handicap. It was noticeable from a distance that the Met team in Sunsail 17 were in trouble when their white spinnaker split from top to bottom and started to flap uncontrollably. On board crew member, Steve Coles, was apparently trying to gather in the flapping spinnaker and lower it down the hatch into the cabin. In so doing one of the sheets got wrapped around his leg. A sudden gust then caused the torn spinnaker to fill and Steve was plucked right out of the yacht and into the water. He then found himself being towed along backwards at some considerable speed, and was having great difficulty in breathing. Fortunately for the stricken Steve, his guardian angel was on scene in the form of Yacht Master, Micky Watts, who had been tracking the leading yachts in his large RIB. The RIB was fast enough to get alongside Steve and allow Micky to pluck him out of the waves before he drowned. Even then, Steve looked in a bad way. Other yachts stopped racing and the skippers switched on their engines to help in the rescue, but Mr Watts had the job in hand. Once he had Steve safely on board he rushed him over to Cowes and had him transferred to the nearest hospital. Stuart Jenkins took Sunsail 17 into Cowes and later collected his half drowned crewmember and returned him to Port Solent. The Coastguard helicopter was scrambled and attended the scene of the incident, but took no part in the rescue.

Meanwhile race 4 continued with the yachts rounding Air Canada to port and then reaching south east to Mackley Construction, where the race officer shortened the race and set up a finishing line. The wave conditions were too rough to anchor the committee boat. It had to be held on station by using the engine. The committee boat only just reached Mackley Construction before Team Andy Rooke, in Sunsail 2, stormed up to it. The helmsman seemed to have some confusion as to which way to cross the line. That was after 87 minutes of sailing. However, all the other yachts still racing crossed the line correctly. The second yacht to finish was Sunsail 15 (Sussex Police). The third team was Alan Slater’s in Sunsail 13, followed by Mason King’s team in Sunsail 1. The Met Police Cadets, in Sunsail 40, finished a creditable 10th, their best result of the competition. Several yachts retired. Due to the adverse weather conditions, race 5 was cancelled. So the teams were then free to make their way back to the Sunsail base at Port Solent. The prizegiving was held there that afternoon. Steve Coles attended that ceremony looking none the worse for his traumatic experience.

L.G.

Pictures above taken from the Committee Boat on Day 1 by Len G.

The prizewinners were:-

The MPSC Cup for the MPSC winner = Andy Rooke

Commodore’s Cup for the MPSC runner-up = Roger Glass

Vice Commodore’s Cup for 1st in the Open class = Alan Slater

OCU Cup = Mason King

West Midlands Trophy for the 1st visitor/emergency service = Steve Rigby (Sussex Police)

White Sail Fleet Trophy = Gary Walters

Ian Alexander Trophy for winner of the 1st race = Andy Rooke

Dave McCarthy Memorial Trophy for consistent improvement = Chris James

Duke of York Trophy for the highest Met boat in PSUKs = Dean Ingledew

Next Year the event is provisionally booked for 29th Sept - 1st October, 2010

The 'Championship'09' was raced in six categories:

The “White Sail” category is new this year to encourage crews to participate that would otherwise be put off by flying the spinnaker. This category would not be eligible to qualify for sponsorship to PSUK Championships.
 

Contact/Organiser 2009:
Edward Piggin