Oh Paul, what would you
have done?
At the weather mark (point A on the map below) our 'heroes' eventually
find themselves lying around 5-6 from the end (!) in the 95
boat strong fleet of 505s.
During the first windward leg the wind had swung more or less 45 degrees
anti clockwise, thus turning the first leg of the reach into a dead
run. So, now the whole 505 fleet were lying there on 'the reach'
more drifting than
sailing and with sagging spinnakers.
Oh Paul, what would you
have done?
In a situation like this feelings of despair and thoughts of
retirement naturally
popped up in the minds of our crew, but they decided that 'throwing
in the towel' would be showing bad sportmanship.
So, as they were sailing on the home waters of Paul Elvström
it felt natural to ask themselves;
what would Paul have done in a situation like this?
He would have stood up and looked for wind!
And so our helmsman stood up and looked for wind. Almost in the
middle of Öresund, halfway to Sweden he could spot a few faint
streaks of wind. Our crew that was left with no alternatives that
substantially could improve their position with the current
conditions decided to go for the little wind they could see some
500 metres away.
Wow, we´re moving!
By luffing the spinnaker suddenly carried and although our brave crew
was sailing away from the rest of the fleet in a no doubt ridicolous
direction they at least made way. After a little while they reached
the first little wind
streak and all of a sudden they could bear off and still make 2-4 knots
speed (B). At the same time they could see the spinnakers of the whole
505 fleet some 4-500 metres to leeward suddenly fill only to collapse
a moment later. At that moment our crew felt that they still got a chance
to overtake a fair number of boats although the leading boats
already had started to round the reaching mark for the second
very tight leg (C).
Critical seconds
Keeping the dinghy within the wind streaks,
thus making fair speed our crew then chose the right moment
to jibe for the reaching mark in which position
they were suddenly in front of the major bulk of the fleet.
At this moment the wind gradually came back from behind, spinnakers
started to fill everywhere thus condensing the fleet of running
505s to a depth of only a few hundred metres. Our crew suddenly felt
that time
was very scarce indeed if they were not going to end up were they
started off and a few very nervous minutes followed.
However, luck decided to favour our 'heroes' and with only a
margin of maybe 5-10 seconds they managed to
squeeze in around the reaching mark in 8th position,
just in front of the huge bunch of
505s now crashing in on the mark at virtually the same time.
The leaders in the race that at the same time were just about to
round the weather mark for the run, had the whole second beat
sailed against an increasing wind that had swung back to its original
direction (D).
This suited our crew perfect and after overtaking a few more boats
in a now steady Force 3 wind that blew for the remainder of the race our
team finished 4th - not a bad recovery!
Fighting it out in strong winds
Our next story also comes from from Copenhagen and again from a
European Champion, namely the 1966 one.
Being caught by a capsized 505 at the weather mark in the start of
this heavy weather race that was held in Force 6 winds, our team to
follow found no way out, thus first cutting the main sail of the capsized
dinghy in front of them
in two and then subsequently capsizing themselves.
Having sorted things out for nearly five minutes our 'heroes' were finally
on their way to the windward mark way behind the rest of the 80 boat
strong fleet of 505´s.
Our helmsman was furious over having a perfect start destroyed as he and
his forward hand started the chase for the others in front.
At the weather mark they´d already caught a few competitiors
and despite nobody in front of them dared to hoist the
spinnaker in the strong wind our crew did!
Capsizing again
Shooting like a rocket through the back of the main body of
the fleet our team overtook some 30 boats on the first leg
of the reach only to capsize at the jybe mark. Despite the
extra hazzle with the spinnaker they somehow managed to get
the dinghy upright and sailing again on the second reach in
only minutes.
Spinnaker up again with a second rocketeering through the
the fleet and a subsequent capsize again
while taking the shute down.
After another fairly quick recovery our forward hand, now being
completely exhausted, had to ask his helmsman not to tack for at
least five minutes, thus enabling him to regain his strength.
Our team now suddenly found themselves in contact with the fleet.
Sailing like fury to windward our crew reaches the windward mark and they suddenly asks themselves: - Where are everybody? (as it later turned out they had passed over 50 boats on the second beat!)
And again.....!
Spinnaker up again on the run, with yet another capsize! Despite this 4th incident they still moved up a few places in the scattered top end of the fleet. Our team kept on sailing as if in trance, caught a few more boats on the third beat, last reach (no spinnaker) and final beat and found themselves finishing 6th only two hundred metres behind the winning boat (the Farrant brothers).
Conclusion
What we learn from these two stories, both from Copenhagen, is that
you must never give up no matter how bad things may look. With the right
attitude of the crew there is always a chance to recover
from a poor position.