MPSC Yachting Championships 2010

29th Sept - 1st October 2010

METROPOLITAN POLICE SAILING CLUB OFFSHORE CHAMPIONSHIPS – 2010

30th September/ 1st October 2010

In The Solent

Possibly for the first time in the history of the MPSC Offshore Championships, they were won this year by a non-police team. The 2010 champions were the London Fire & Rescue team led by Peter Crowther, sailing a Sunsail 37. They only won one of the four races held, but a 2nd and 3rd place in two other races was good enough to win them the title. The runner-up was the Met Police team led by Andy Robinson, who won race 4 in grand style. 3rd place went to another Met Police team led by Roger Glass. See the result list at the end of this report for other placings. All four races were won by different teams.

This year’s championships were held in very contrasting weather. The 20–strong fleet (predominantly Sunsail 37s) spent whole morning of Thursday 30th September trying to sail in very little wind (race 1 was eventually abandoned), and then waiting for the wind to fill in with enough strength to stem the tide. It was not until 12:30 that the wind was strong enough and suitable racing conditions prevailed. Three races were then held during the afternoon, in winds varying between 7 and 10 knots. At the end of race 3 the fleet was let loose to make its way to Cowes, and then up the Medina to the Folly Inn, for the evening social gathering.

In contrast to Thursday’s weather, the forecast for Friday was a scary one, with high winds and lots of rain. Sure enough, that forecast was an accurate one, and the southerly wind began to show its teeth during Thursday night, making the moored yachts rock and the rigging hum, with additional furious rattling coming from any loose flag or halyard. It also brought pelting rain. So it was a very grey, wet and windy day that greeted the crews as they opened their bleary eyes on Friday morning. Many crews were reluctant to move at all until they were assured that racing would be held in those extremely windy conditions. So it was the job of Dave Nicholls, the race officer, and his intrepid crew to venture out of the sheltered waters of the Medina into the windswept vastness of The Solent to judge the conditions, and then radio back his findings and his decision whether to race or not. He found the average winds to be between 20 and 24 knots, with gusts up to 30 knots. He felt that could be quite tricky for the less experienced crew members in the fleet. But the saving grace was that the sea state was fairly flat. Dave made the decision that racing would be held, but it would be up to each skipper, knowing the limitations of his crew, to make the final decision whether or not to take part. However, it was the recommendation of the race officer that the two yachts crewed by cadets should not race. Dave stressed to all crews that flag “Y” would be flying on the committee boat (life jackets compulsory). It was a credit to the courage and determination of the competitors that 18 of the 20 yachts taking part in the championships came to the start line for that 4th race. All yachts were well reefed and no team ventured to use their spinnaker. Only one team retired during the race. Most of the crews seemed to revel in the challenging conditions.

The Metpol fleet appeared to have the Cowes’ section of The Solent to themselves, well almost! Only one other sailing yacht, much bigger than the Sunsail 37s, was seen out on the water, creaming through the broken waves, well heeled to leeward. The only other vessels to be seen were the large commercial ships heading for, or coming away from, Southampton. They immerged from the gloom like mobile blocks of flats. The skippers of those ships must have scratched their heads and questioned the sanity of the British sailors manning the Sunsail fleet, as they carved their way between the comparatively tiny craft.

Having that fourth race meant that the discard rule would apply, and that each team could discard its worst result. That made a big difference to the resulting positions that prevailed at the end of day one (see the list of results).

The competitors taking part at this year’s MPSC Offshore Championships gathered for the briefing on Wednesday night at a very noisy Gunwharf Quay, in Portsmouth Harbour. The following morning, with the permission of the Queen’s Harbour Master, they left there and made their way out into Spithead, and then around Gillkicker Point to the rendezvous point at Browndown.

Race 1 had a clean start at 08:30 from Browndown in very light winds, with the fleet of 20 yachts tacking off towards the windward mark at East Bramble. The majority of the fleet headed for Ryde Bank, but two yachts broke away and headed for the north shore. But the breeze remained very light and the fleet was making hardly any headway. One hour passed and nobody had reached East Bramble, so the race officer decided to abandon racing and move further west in search of more wind.

The committee boat led the fleet towards Calshot and chose to hover around at East Knoll. The sun shone out of a bright blue sky, criss-crossed with the vapour trails of high-flying airliners and light cloud. The Fawley Oil Refinery and the entrance to Southampton Water were hidden by a heavy mist. The haunting sound of fog horns could be heard coming from that direction. The prospect for more wind seemed to be far off. Many of the teams lowered their anchors and took their ease, relaxing in the sunshine.

However, more wind had been forecast, but it did not fill in until about 12:30. The race officer then set up a start line for the re-run of race 1 at Simon Vigar, and announced the course to be a triangular one using the marks East Knoll, Hill Head and Simon Vigar. All marks to port. The fleet got away to a clean start at 12:45 in 7.5 knots of wind, blowing from the southwest. It was the London Fire & Rescue team (sail number 26), led by Peter Crowther, that reached the windward mark first, closely followed by a trio of Met Police teams led by Stuart Jenkins, Roger Glass and Ross Elliston (in sail numbers 19, 5 and 25). On the reaches and runs The Solent was lit up by the bright colours of the spinnakers - dark blue, light blue, yellow, orange and white, with the red smiley faces on. At the end of the first triangle it was the light blue spinnaker of Peter Crowther’s yacht that headed the fleet. He was followed by four Metpol teams led by Andy Robinson (yacht 15), Stuart Jenkins (yacht 19), Roger Glass (yacht 5) and Ross Elliston (yacht 25) respectively, then the Sussex Police team (yacht 8), led by Stephen Rigby. The race was finished at the end of the second triangle, with Peter Crowther’s fire fighters taking line honours. The second place was contested very strongly by Met teams Roger Glass and Andy Robinson (with Graham cook at the helm). They had a very boisterous luffing match on the approach to the finish line, which Roger won by a whisker. 33 seconds later Team Stuart Jenkins crossed the line in 4th place closely followed by Ross Elliston and his team of pensioners in yacht 25. The 6th and 7th places were closely contested between the Met team (yacht 16) led by Mathew Davis, and the Sussex Police team (yacht 8), led by Stephen Rigby. They crossed the line side by side with the Met boys ahead by a fraction. There was similar battle going on further down the fleet between the City of London Police team (Yacht 13), led by Alan Slater, the Global Crossing team (Yacht 3), led by Will Hodgson, and the Metpol team (yacht 14), led by Stuart Davis. They headed for the finish in line abreast, and crossed the line in the above order only a few feet apart, in 13th, 14th and 15th place.

Race 2 was started at Simon Vigar at 14:40 in 9 knots of wind. The windward mark was East Knoll to port; followed by Hill Head to port; William to starboard; Royal Southern to starboard; with the finish at East Knoll. This race was notable for the flying start made by the “Saga Express” – Ross Elliston’s yacht 25 – extremely close to the committee boat. After just 54 minutes of sailing it was Stuart Jenkins’ Metpol team (yacht 19) that took line honours. Just over a minute later the Sussex Police team (Yacht 8) stormed over the line in 2nd place, a fraction over a minute in front of the Metpol teams of Roger Glass and Andy Robinson, who finished just 4 seconds apart, in that order. In 6th place was Mathew Davis’ Metpol team. 7th place went to the Metpol pensioners in yacht 25. The whole fleet finished within 19 minutes of each other.

Race 3 was started at Hill Head at 16:30 in 10 knots of wind, with the windward mark at Air Canada to port; followed by Flying Fish to port; Hill Head to starboard; Fastnet Insurance to starboard; with the finish at Gales HSB. The confidence and competitive spirit of many of the teams was on a high for the start of this race, which inevitably led to a General Recall. But the fleet got away to a clean start on the second go. It was the on-form London Fire & Rescue team (yacht 26) that led the fleet early on. They were followed by the Metpol teams of Mason King (yacht 10) and Andy Robinson (yacht 15). But after 1 hour and 23 minutes of sailing, it was Mason King’s CO19 Firearm Specialists that took line honours in yacht 10. They finished 1.5 minutes ahead of Peter Crowther and his firemen in yacht 26. 3rd place went to Roger Glass’ Met boys in yacht 5. 4th was team Andy Robinson in yacht 15. And the Sussex Police romped home in 5th place sailing yacht 8. Further down the line the Metpol team of Stuart Jenkins in yacht 19 had a close battle with the Hertfordshire Police team of Stan Thingsaker in yacht 17, and they finished only 10 seconds apart, in 7th and 8th places respectively. Whilst the Met teams of Claire Johnston and Ross Elliston also had a close tussle, finishing just 5 seconds apart, in that order, in 9th and 10th places. The Metpol cadet team from Islington, north London, led by Karoline George in yacht 36, finished a creditable 15th. Seeing the jubilation on board their boat at beating their cadet rivals from Hackney in yacht 35, you would have thought they had won the race. The whole fleet finished within 24 minutes. Both cadet teams were to be commended for their cheerfulness and enthusiasm throughout this event.

There was no more racing held on Thursday, and the teams were free to make their way to the Folly Inn on the Medina River for the evening social. Mine hosts – Andy and Cheryl – treated us to their usual warm welcome and high quality and quantity of food. The noisy annual raffle is always a popular event, and this year it raised over £800 for a children’s charity.

Race 4 was held on Friday morning in wet and windy conditions described by one of leading skippers as atrocious. The race officer and his team, aboard the committee boat Sovereign, made their way out of the Medina to Air Canada to set up a start line. It took all the anchor chain available to hold the craft in place. Once it was known that the racing was on, the rest of the fleet emerged from the shelter of Cowes. Most of the yachts motored to the starting area under bare poles. When they did make sail, it was with a well-reefed mainsail. 18 yachts came to the line for the 09:40 start in 22 knots of wind. It was a clean one, and all yachts stormed off to the south to the windward mark – Gales HSB – just off Old Castle Point. The other marks of the course were Fastnet Insurance to port, Peel Bank to starboard, NE Ryde Middle to starboard, with a long beat to the finish at Craftinsure.com. As the Met Offshores fleet zigzagged backwards and forwards across The Solent through the wind and rain, sometimes in sight and sometimes hidden in the gloom, it became evident that Andy Robinson’s team in yacht 15, with Graham Cook helming, was in its element. They were going like a train, and soon pulled out a convincing lead on all the other yachts, and held it right to the end. They stormed across the finish line after 1 hour and 39 minutes of sailing, almost 3 minutes ahead of the next yacht. The close battle for the 2nd place was between Ross Elliston’s Met pensioners in yacht 25 and Peter Crowther’s London Fire & Rescue boys in yacht 26. They approached the finish line on different tacks and it was hard to tell who would win, but it was Ross that beat Peter across the line by a mere 4 seconds. 4th place was also hotly contested between Stuart Jenkins’ and Roger Glass’ Metpol teams, in yachts 19 and 5. It was Stuart that won that contest by just 6 seconds. 6th place went to Mason King’s police ‘shootists’ in yacht 10. Only one team retired from racing. The other 17 yachts finished within 30 minutes of each other. The two London Cadet teams, manning yachts 35 and 36, did not start. On finishing, the teams were informed that there would be no more racing that day. Then, still under sail, the yachts all stormed off towards Portsmouth Harbour, soon disappearing into the gloom. Their destination was Port Solent, where the prize-giving was held later in the day. See the list of prize winners below.

L.G.

Contact/Organiser 2010:
Edward Piggin
18 Meadow Lane, Hamble, Hants. SO31 4RD
Home: -02380 454862
Mobile: -07712232690
Email:- E.piggin@sky.com