Yachting News 10th June

Jun 10th 2009
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Sail into Fishguard

The events of yesterday’s sail seem have been greatly exaggerated and, in some cases, incorrectly reported. We sailed from Milford Haven for Fishguard. On Thursday we had come over to Fishguard to talk to the coxswain of the RNLI. He was extremely generous with his time and knowledge and we talked about our planned route in some detail, although not to the level of precise waypoints! He offered to come out to escort us in and we took up his very kind offer to use the inshore lifeboat to transfer me from my boat to the shore as it was the only practical way of bringing me ashore.

We had a good sail to St David’s Head, but about 2 miles off “Scrumble Head” the wind picked up and I contacted the support crew to ask for someone to come and put the final reef in the sail. This was done successfully, but 10 minutes later the weather had deteriorated and I made the decision to drop the sails and ask for a tow. This is what I would do in any situation where the weather conditions demanded it – so far this year it has been because there has not been enough wind. We were in an area which is notoriously difficult for VHF (marine radio) communications. As the wave height picked up I made the decision to contact the Coast Guard and ask for assistance from Fishguard Lifeboat. We had not received any of their transmissions which I now understand they had been making for some time at the request of the lifeboat coxswain as we were overdue. Once communication was established we were able to talk to the Coast Guard and listen to conversations between them, my support vessel and the lifeboat. The lifeboat arrived extremely promptly and various plans were made to transfer me and the support crew member on board Arty into the warm and dry lifeboat. It would appear that most of these plans were considered to be inappropriate at the time. With the help of the Stenna Vessel “Stenna Europe” an attempt was made to get close to the Artemis, but it just wasn’t practical.

After this attempt the lifeboat crew stood by and tried to protect us from the worst of the swell whilst my support vessel towed us straight into Fishguard harbour. It was a pretty horrible experience – both myself and the crew member got very wet and cold. We were concerned that I might become hypothermic as I am unable to control my own body temperature and don’t know whether I’m cold or not! The lifeboat crew had already organised an ambulance to stand by at the lifeboat station. It was a huge relief to get behind the breakwater and the inshore lifeboat team did a great job transfering both my support crew member and me from my seat into their boat – not an easy job as my seat has been specially moulded around me!

The inshore lifeboat is able to be winched up a steep slip. The cold and wet conditions had taken their toll on my breathing and I needed a couple of breaths from my carer once we reached the top. This can be quite alarming to watch, but usually it gets me going again. They transferred me into the waiting ambulance, where we had time to strip me off as water had got down into my clothing through my neck. I was cold and wet and the crew gave me oxygen as a precautionary measure, but they realised immediately that I was not hypothermic. I spent a couple of hours in Withthybush hospital being warmed up, but was conscious and asking to go home from the moment I got into the ambulance!

Sailing is a sport which will occasionally catch the most experienced yachtsman out in the weather. We are trying to achieve something which has never been done using new technology for people as disabled as I am. This means tackling difficult sails, as any sailor who want to progress must eventually do. This is why I sail with a support boat. I would just like to thank them for their professionalism under difficult circumstances and also thank the part of the crew who remain on land for making sure that everything ran smoothly once we reached Fishguard.

We are all extremely grateful for the assistance of the Coxswain, Relief Coxswain and crew of the Fishguard lifeboat for their help and support. It was a huge relief to see them in the dark and to know that they were standing by should there be any difficulty.

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From Mike Perham

I soon fell asleep. When I opened my eyes next the boat was leaning right over on it’s side, pinned right down to the water. My first thought was that this really is an odd angle, one I’ve never quite experienced before – not for more than a few seconds anyway. The boat was literally right over on her side with the first set of spreaders about a foot off the water.

While I was sleeping the wind dropped off so much that the pilot couldn’t cope and so it took us head on into the wind and then into a position where all the sails were backed up against the boat. This wouldn’t have been so bad but then a sudden squall decided to grace us with 25knots of wind – the combination of that, the ballast on the wrong side and the genneker and main pinned up against the rig put Totallymoney.com right on her side. The great thing about Open 50′s is that they’re just so light and so the water wasn’t even anywhere near touching the cockpit, and I was pleased to see that only a small amount of water had gotten inside.

I quickly threw on my harness and made my way out into the completely wrong angled cockpit. Shame it was at night as it would have made a cracking photo! I stood on the edge of the cockpit and eased off the sheet of the genneker with the winch above my head and I slowly came a bit more upright into a slightly more sane position. After this I bunged on my running backstay, eased off the other one and eased the main out too and finally we reached a normal angle.

The sails were flogging and so I immediately furled the genneker in, bunged out my solent and with that I was able to catch the wind that took me round and off downwind.

In my rush to get the genneker away as quickly as possible to prevent it tearing in half and also damaging the rig I had managed to do a bit of a bodge job and it was threatening to half unfurl itself again at the top of the sail, which is a nightmare to deal with.

“Stuff it,” I thought, I couldn’t afford for it to unfurl in these conditions and wreck the sail and so I decided to blow the halyard and shove the furled sail down into the sail locker – albeit in a rather untidy way, I have to admit.

Can’t Be Beaten

05 06 09

Today I’ve continued to plod along northeast as the wind is right on my nose. Sailing Totallymoney.com upwind in 26knots of breeze with a lumpy sea really isn’t pleasant. She comes down with a big loud slap every time her bow launches off a wave, due to her flat hull. Because of this, I can’t quite bring myself to fully beat against the wind, so I’ve eased off by a few more degrees to an angle of around 54degrees apparent to the wind angle as it’s a little more comfortable on Totallymoney.com and I can go a little faster too.

The wind is going to continue to back round to the north within 24hours and then once I tack, I’ll be able to crack the sheets off a fair bit more and head off east. A tropical low which we’ve been following is going to be saying ‘hi’ to us tomorrow and then we’ll be riding its north westerly winds for a little while, which will be good fun. At the moment it doesn’t look too bad with winds up to 45knots – so I’m looking forward to a bit more surfing!

This evening I put on a CD and sat outside on the edge of the cockpit, taking everything in. It was raining, dark, cold and pretty miserable but I couldn’t give a damn, I’m thoroughly enjoying being out here. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of Totallymoney.com moving purposely across the sea; the feeling I get from seeing the water continually rushing past her hull can’t really be beaten.

©MikePerham2009

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Who wants to fly?

ERICSSON 4 LEG EIGHT DAY 4 QFB:

received 09.06.09 1251 GMT

Without offending anyone who lives to the east of the Greenwich meridian line I have to say how much I dislike sailing in the North Sea and always have.

As soon as we passed through the Dover Straits the sea changed colour and became extremely choppy, a very uncomfortable slamming choppy which is near impossible for the lads to drive through without shaking a few of those old fillings loose.

At times you wonder how the mast stays aloft – it’s not the wind strength but purely the boiling seaway – I think that the North Sea is best represented by any five year old’s picture of a ship at sea – where there are almost five waves per length of the vessel and each one shaped like a shark’s fin.

It was a tough night onboard Ericsson 4 as we made our way through the constant changing maze of ships and wind shifts (and did I mention the choppy waters?)
I think I have seen less tacks in the tightest of fought match races – rest was impossible.

For this whole race I have won Ericsson 4s highly coveted ‘Golden Blanket’ award – it hasn’t been the easiest of feats I can assure you - but dogged determination and perseverance has seen me fight off some very tough competition. This leg however I thought I would step aside and allow one of the other chaps onboard to live the glory.
So here I am with only three short naps under my belt over the last 30 hrs totalling no more than four hrs sleep and through no fault of my own I am still the leader in the sleep stakes. The rest of the lads are living off less than 2hrs rest for the same time period – such has been conditions for the last day or so.

It certainly has been the tough sprint we have all guessed it would be and there have been some really hard duels within the fleet and once again it’s an honour to be in the lead – but for how long who knows as the positions have been changing more than ever.

The boys were so busy this morning getting ready for our Rotterdam flyby that they couldn’t even get down for the sub-standard prison gruel (porridge) that I had prepared for them! They are however now tucking into a ‘wild game casserole’ for lunch – although the smell of cheese coming from the dish is a little worrying!

I was surprised to see just how many boats were out to watch our circuit off Holland this morning, I don’t know that I would have been out in the dreary cold and grey Tuesday morning that has been following us for the last day, given the choice. It was great to see
the people waving and cheering and it was a nice break from the norm as we reached up and down the short 1.6 mile course – it was all over very quickly and there were three boats including us on the circuit at the same time. You could see the rest of the fleet like planes lining up to land at an airport – it’s surprising how close we all are to be honest – I have seen bigger margins in a one design fleet on a day race.

At present we are running with mastheads on in a ………choppy seaway ( surprise surprise) and are ticking the miles off. The boat has suddenly become very wet inside and so the usual squalor is back – the wet feet and the painstaking hours of trying to keep all electrical equipment dry. Trying to operate is tricky with the constant bouncing and jarring as we bounce over the waves – it’s almost worse that the sea is so short and sharp than the big rollers of past legs. Getting out of the wet weather gear to climb into the scratcher (bunk) is a long lost memory as sleep is far more important than a dry place to sleep – plus the fact that we are gybing our way up the coast – so being on call is critical

I hope the dentists of Marstrand are ready – they may have 77 new customers looking for amalgam replacements!

Guy Salter MCM

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