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Articles

Sagitta Race Reports

Report of the 1992 PASAB
THE 130 mile PASAB, or Penzance Around the Scillies and Back Race, has been run for the last fifteen years by the very friendly Penzance Sailing Club. We hadn't done the race for eight years which is a great shame as it is an interesting race with friendly competitors in an excellent sailing area.

The race traditionally starts on a Friday evening with a night sail to the Scillies. As usual the monohulls started first and in the light following wind it was clear that not everyone was out to win for several boats did not set spinnakers The first mark was five miles downwind and Joke the Peg (nee Quest, the 53ft tri that Mike Birch sailed to third place in the Transat en Double) rounded first, closely followed by our Sagitta and Ace (nee Tom Bombadil, the UK's top 30ft raceboat).

Other monos in contention were a First 32s5 and a Jouet 950 The wind was 15kn apparent at the start of the 50 mile beat to the Scillies and the first three monos began to pull away until, as dusk fell, the wind dropped and the multis clawed back lost ground. This was very encouraging as we have written before about the problems of sailing multihulls fast to windward in light winds.

We slowly beat out to the Wolf Rock, occasionally confused by the lights, for at times twenty ships were in sight, all changing course as they rounded Lands End, and it was hard to keep track of the other yachts. Around midnight the wind picked up and freed and it began to rain. Never mind, we could now point the Scillies and were sailing at 8kn. At dawn we could see Jake finishing about four miles ahead, incredibly, just behind us Ace appeared, we had obviously overtaken her in a rain squall and had never seen her lights.

One beauty of multihulls is their shoal draft and we were able to get in close to the shore and so avoid the worst of the congestion in St Mary's. Some aluminium French boats were even closer in, one actually aground on some rocks! The trimaran Zamaran finished three hours after us, but the last monohull not until 1500, not surprisingly Saturday is a rest day! On corrected time Sagitta won, followed by Ace, Jake was fifth and Zamaran eighth.

 

On Sunday the course was 'around the islands and all out-lying rocks' We had been to the Scillies twice before, both times in calm conditions and thick fog, so we were glad that this time the forecast was for good visibility, but we were less happy to hear about a SW 5-6.

The weather at the Scillies is hard to predict as lows can go up either the Irish Sea or the English Channel. This time the forecasters were wrong, the wind was light and visibility poor. Jake and Sagitta soon overtook all the monos except Ace as we beat out to the Bishop Rock in a very lumpy sea (often the sails would go aback in the troughs only to fill with a bang on the crests).

After rounding the Bishop we should have had a good spinnaker run, but the wind was still light and the swell meant that the kite kept collapsing - one of the times when a pole would help. At the north end of the islands the promised wind arrived and Sagitta quickly closed the gap on Ace and rounded the top of the island almost level with no boats in sight behind.

On the beat back the wind was rarely below 24kn and once reached 31. In flat water both Jake and Sagitta carried full sail, Ace was forced to change to Solent jib and then reefed. Jake was ideally suited to the conditions, long and heavy and despite original very tired sails, finished fifteen minutes ahead of us with Ace fourteen minutes later.

Thus on a five mile beat the 3Oft Sagitta had taken ten minutes from what is/was the fastest 3Oft monohull in the UK. Clearly windage does not make as much difference as some arm
chair theorists think (Sagitta is 6m x 2m, Ace 3m x 1m ) Never mind the monohull doubters who still think that multihulls don't go to windward. On corrected time Sagitta and Ace were again first and second, Jake third and Zamaran fifth.

 

Most of the first two legs had been on the wind, yet multihulls still won. The third leg back to Penzance was to be perfect multihull weather, a NW 5, sun and a good swell. But disaster struck Jake at the start, the longest boat in the fleet and drawing 8ft, they discovered the committee boat was anchored in 7ft of water!

The resulting bang badly damaged the board and case so the crew sailed cautiously with no spinnaker and as a result rounded the Wolf Rock neck and neck with Sagitta, the monohulls almost out of sight astern. Close to the cliffs off Lands End the wind increased and although we were doing a steady 14kn, Jake finished ten minutes ahead. Their leak was rather worse than they expected for, at the finish, there was eighteen inches of water in the boat.

Despite this obvious handicap Joke finished just inside the course record of 41/2 hours for the 45 mile race. On Sagitta we did not want to lose the wind, so only stopped in Penzance long enough to hand in our declaration, then we were off back to Plymouth under spinnaker alone.

We were halfway to the Lizard before the first monohull finished. Not surprisingly, Sagitta and Jake came first and second on handicap, Zaraman was again fifth, Ace was well down at thirteenth. On Sagitta a successful race was followed by a glorious sail back to Plymouth, 98 miles in twelve hours, nearly all under autopilot and spinnaker.

And so to the prize giving. Some years ago MOCRA organised a regatta with thousands of pounds of sponsors' money and MOCRA became known as 'Multiple Opportunities for Cash Remuneration for All' We had won every leg, were first multihull and overall winners, but we still did not expect to win eleven prizes. It seemed that everyone won something, so we re-named the PASAB - 'Plenty of Attractive Silverware for All Boats"

 

Report on the 1992 Round the Island race by a Yachts and Yachting reporter

RICHARD WOODS AND STUART FISHER were my companions for the Round the Isle of Wight Race, held over the same weekend as the Round Texel. After two non-finishes on board a John Shuttleworth one-off (a big hole in the port hull when the daggerboard folded) and Richard Carter's 'Jasper' (mainsheet traveller explosion off Hurst Castle), I opted for the relative security of Richard's 30' 'Sagitta', now into its third season with over 3,000 miles on the log.  It's not only fast, handsome (if you like bright yellow) and innovative, but it boasts what is possibly the most handsome, user-friendly galley on any 30 footer.

Richard and Stuart had sailed the boat up from Plymouth specially for the event, overnighting at Swanage and then motoring on to Calshot where we made use of an unoccupied mooring to spend the pre-race night in somewhat unlovely surroundings in a rising gale with lashings of rain. The wind had moderated for the gloomy 5.45am start, but still seemed strong enough for two  reefs in the main, ready for the customary windward bash up the Solent. Having started a little too late and a little too far out into the Solent, we at first had a fairly lonely race before being swallowed up by some of the bigger monos, giving away just a little too much in pointing and speed until we shook the reefs out.

A close reach from Hurst Castle to the Needles let 'Sagitta' pull back lost ground on the monos, but much of the advantage was lost on the long run down the back of the island in ever lightening winds. Once past St Catherine's, hardening up for an 80 degree spinnaker reach from Bembridge to the forts allowed 'Sagitta' to romp ahead in impressive fashion, and even though our speeds may not have been setting the race on fire we were still dicing with some mean looking 40ft and 50ft monos and level pegging with a splendid Swan 65. We were also within sight of three trimarans - an unidentified F-27, the F-25 'Arlette', and the unmistakable one-off 'Ozone' which was totally dwarfed by the monos at this 'not very far from the front' end of the fleet.

With the wind going lighter and lighter the loose luff drifter was brought into use for the final beat back to Cowes, losing pointability but gaining speed to buck the tide all the way up the Solent with the satisfaction of seeing occasional monos run aground. 'Sagitta' eventually finished in a time of eight hours, nine minutes and 18 seconds - she was the 17th multi and the first boat in the fleet to finish with its tender (solid, not rubber) hung in davits off the transom, a comfortable way to go racing !

Once over the finish line, there was little respite for the well travelled duo of Woods and Fisher. They opted to drop me at Calshot as arranged, and then head direct for Swanage without a break en route to Plymouth, making the most of the ebb tide and the wind which by then had swung north to make it a convenient reach all the way.

But first the business of dropping me off posed a few problems. The well barnacled pier at Calshot looked uninviting with the northerly blowing onto it, which gave Richard a chance to show off one of the brilliant aspects of multis which monohullers miss out on. Lifting the twin daggerboards, we motored into the protected lagoon behind Calshot Spit, where bemused windsurfers stood waist-deep by their boards. Richard then nudged the bows right up to the shingle beach, allowing me to jump off straight down onto dry land. It's a  neat way to go sailing.

And then.... 31 years later!

The Round the Island race is the UK's most prestigious and popular race, there were 1100 starters this year, making it the fourth largest sporting event in the UK. See more here

 
The race goes anticlockwise around the Isle of Wight, starting and finishing at Cowes. It's 50 miles measured round the shoreline, but most boats sail 60-70 miles, allowing for tacking and staying in deep water.
 
All boats over 18ft are allowed, around 45 multihulls entered, sadly no monster trimarans this year, the largest/fastest was a Gunboat 66, which unfortunately was to capsize after breaking a rudder somewhere south of the Island.
 
I played it safe on my 30ft Sagitta catamaran and entered the multihull cruiser class. Not only were we 20% slower than the next slowest racing boat but we were definitely lacking in experience. Although I had crewed on a trimaran in 2019 I hadn't raced my own boat in the RtheI for over 20 years. Joe had his first ever sail on a multihull just four days earlier. Shaun had never used a spinnaker and his catamaran experience was limited to our sail/motor up from Plymouth. Otherwise he's only sailed dinghies. Lawrie is only 14 and no relation, so we had an extra duty of care. Thus no spinnaker, instead we would use our masthead screecher - goosewinged if necessary.
 
The forecast was not promising - although maybe it was actually a "typical English summer day" - SW winds of 20-25 knots plus higher gusts. And so it proved to be. And that meant it was likely to be a big/fast boat race. Again, as it proved. In contrast, in 2019 winds were light and the overall winner was a 50 year old 18ft keelboat, and the first monohull to finish was 168th on corrected time. Multihulls and big boats always start first. Which, later in the race, makes it kind of fun to look back at 1000+ spinnakers.
 
The tides in the Solent and round the IOW can be strong, 3-4 knots in places. To help competitors the race starts just before HW so boats get "flushed" out of the Solent and past the Needles, even though this usually means smaller, slower boats are fighting the tide on the south side of the island. The tide races out at the Needles, as it's funnelled by the Shingle Bank, Hurst Castle on the mainland, and the Needles themselves. So, with a strong wind and against the tide, it's a tricky, uncomfortable few miles.
 
We did well beating down the Solent, initially staying close in to the mainland shore to keep out of the still flooding tide. Then, once the gps/log indicated the tide had turned, we kept in mid channel. Surprisingly not many used the same tactic, so with few other boats around we had clear air, and we were well up with much faster boats as we approached the Needles.
Far off in the distance to windward we could see Poole disappear in a storm cloud, one we knew was heading our way. So, unlike some of the less attentive, we were prepared for rain and a big squall just as we got to the roughest part of the Needles channel. This photo shows what happened first.
 
 
Had David Harding taken another photo a few seconds later he'd have caught us disappearing into the back of the next wave. Fortunately it was not my bunk that got wet. So a good thing we were playing safe and taking it easy!
 
Others were more unlucky, if not foolhardy. We saw a number of monohull keel bulbs, at least three broken masts and, most scary of all, there were apparently 16 MOBs during that same squall.
 
Once past Tennyson Down (named after the famous poet) the rule is to keep as close to the shore as you dare for the next 20 miles or so. So we tried to stay on the shore side of the innermost pot buoys along the south of the island, which meant running on the 5m depth mark. Even so a Swan 43 sailed inshore of us and overtook many who were playing it safe. It really does pay to stay as close to the shore as you can to keep out of the tide.
 
Ryde Sands are notorious for catching the unwary, as the shallow water extends much further than many expect. We had "cased the joint" a few days before and had a safe track on our chartplotter. Even so I asked one daggerboard to be partly raised when the depth dropped alarmingly to 1.6m - we draw 1.5m with boards down.
 
Despite the squall off the Needles and the near grounding the worst part of the race was at the finish. Some very rude monohull sailors who didn't know the rules. One large Dragonfly trimaran, sailing just behind us, must have been close to panicking when they called for water off Norris Castle and no one tacked away. It even looked like they may have been forced aground.
The finish line was a short one - even by dinghy standards. So when six of us crossed it in under a minute, to windward and against a very strong flooding tide there was, to say the least, a lot of shouting.
 
But we made it - 124th boat over line, and easily first in the multihull cruiser class. Boats were still finishing long after we had sailed back to our marina and we were having a celebratory meal.
Finally a special mention to one of my other designs, the 30 year old, home built 9m Skua "Mawhiti" which finished 39th over the line and 14th in the multihull racing class. It had crossed the Atlantic back in 2003 when I was sailing my Eclipse in the Caribbean - I sailed it in Bequia - although it has been much modified since then.