Holms Race

RobF

RobF

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I submitted my entry today and will probably be one of the smaller vessels taking part at 20feet.

Anyway, I thought it appropriate to start a thread on the race, encourage entries etc. Are we allowed / encouraged / willing to share tips & tricks?
 
I'm intrigued - what was last year's debacle?

I'm assuming (having never done the race before) that the main skill is ascertaining when to cross the start line. I'm also assuming the following:
- will have to tack down to Flatholm. Will then reach to Steepholm and a run back to the finish line (assuming prevailing South Westerlies prevail).
- therefore need to time it so that I arrive at Steepholm at the time the tide turns.
- tacking is about 0.7 slower than normal sailing (but depends how many tacks you get to put in)

All other thoughts or corrections on the above would be gratefully received.
 
RobF said:
I'm intrigued - what was last year's debacle?

I'm assuming (having never done the race before) that the main skill is ascertaining when to cross the start line. I'm also assuming the following:
- will have to tack down to Flatholm. Will then reach to Steepholm and a run back to the finish line (assuming prevailing South Westerlies prevail).
- therefore need to time it so that I arrive at Steepholm at the time the tide turns.
- tacking is about 0.7 slower than normal sailing (but depends how many tacks you get to put in)

All other thoughts or corrections on the above would be gratefully received.
Click to expand...

That just about sums it up, and my personal debacle last year was to start too late. Tacking into a 3 knot foul tide at Flat Holm is not fast.
 
So in the spirit of cooperation, approx how long would you expect it to take to get down to the holms in say a F3 SW? :rolleyes:

We are planning to do it as well, entry is in so all good. Only minor setback is likely to be the fact it's a scratch crew in a new boat (to us).

Any clues, tips trade secrets or other assistance therefore gratefully received....:D
 
You would be a fool if you set any store by the advice I can give you. I'm not attempting to calculate my starting time this year: I've just worked out which boat I'm going to follow.:rolleyes:

All I can suggest is that you take a look at the tide information. It will be getting close to springs so there will be 4 knots of tide covering quite a large part of the course.
 
trapezeartist said:
You would be a fool if you set any store by the advice I can give you. I'm not attempting to calculate my starting time this year: I've just worked out which boat I'm going to follow.:rolleyes:

All I can suggest is that you take a look at the tide information. It will be getting close to springs so there will be 4 knots of tide covering quite a large part of the course.
Click to expand...

i have worked out the tide times and directions, and the strength. The problem is I have never been that far with the boat so i dont know if it will take 2 hours to get there or 4 hours!!

I was hoping there would be a few responses so I could work out who to follow !! :D
 
Ok, so.

We have a plan. It is basically " don't go to early, really don't go too late, and try not to hit any underwater rocks you can't see".

Sounds pretty simple really. :eek:

Can I follow you? :D
 
There are no underwater rocks to hit (except Monkstone, and Wolves, and the shallow area on the far side of Flat Holm). Plenty of underwater mud though.

Can you follow me? You surely are not that desperate. :eek:
 
On Monday Windguru was predicting winds of 1kt gusting 1kt for Sunday at Cold Knapp. At that time I decided to leave really early and hope nobody else made it to Steep Holm before the tide turned. At those wind speeds I think Friday morning would have been about right! It's now predicting a little more but still not enough for my heavy boat, Chausey, to get much speed. I think, at present, I'll be sticking to an early start.
There could also be an issue with getting the right lockout time.
Allan
 
Allan said:
On Monday Windguru was predicting winds of 1kt gusting 1kt for Sunday at Cold Knapp. At that time I decided to leave really early and hope nobody else made it to Steep Holm before the tide turned. At those wind speeds I think Friday morning would have been about right! It's now predicting a little more but still not enough for my heavy boat, Chausey, to get much speed. I think, at present, I'll be sticking to an early start.
There could also be an issue with getting the right lockout time.
Allan
Click to expand...

I spoke to Portishead marina earlier in the week. The following lock times were booked up...
08:30
09:00
09:30

I managed to book myself into the 08:00 lock. Considering the winds, this might suit quite well (my boat also goes much better in heavier winds).

BBC Weather currently showing 5mph at start and 10mph on the way home. Doesn't look like my spinnaker will blow out :D
 
It was a great day out. I think most of the fleet overtook us at Flatholm (however I think we were the smallest boat in the fleet). I definitely need to practise my spinnaker hoists!

Was good to meet TrapezeArtist (with his astonishing memory of forum posts!).
 
Well it was definitely fun and we managed two of our three goals - we didn't go too late and we didn't hit any underwater rocks!

Some debate from the team on the too early though.:D

It was certainly a great day out and it was nice to see so many boats taking part - not so nice to see them all trying to get back into the marina thought. :eek:

Credit to the marina crew for getting them all in eventually, that was a bit of a marathon task to acomplish.

Looking forward to next year now. We have a year to practice and a really long Christmas list of upgrades before then......:rolleyes:
 
Allan said:
I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.
Allan
Click to expand...

I enjoyed every part of it except the announcement of the results. :(
Congratulations to the winners, the marina crew for getting us all back in, and to Best Endeavour for providing the schadenfreude. Commiserations to Zigizoo who got wallopped by a port-tacker who had better remain nameless.
It was quite fun being the first boat round Flat Holm and the first boat around Steep Holm. Unfortunately that says more about how early we started than how well we sailed. More :(.
 
Hmmm, 52 out of 65. Really must practice with that spinnaker as I suspect I lost quite a lot of time going round the islands. On the positive side, I wasn't last.
 
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