My AWB achieved Hull Speed - What did I do right?

[Concerto]

We have club cruises in company & have done for some years now. There is regularly 4 hours difference between first & last on an 88 mile channel crossing with 5-6 boats. A couple of hours spread from Bradwell to Ramsgate is not unusual. So it would be interesting to see how your definition of "almost" fits into that. I would put it to you that it does not.
As for training for racing being unsportsmanlike- What planet are you on?
A club engaging in such activities encourages more participants & yachts to enter racing. Is that really unsportsmanlike.
Next you will tell us it is unsportsmanlike for our club to teach our cadets how to race.
It is being able to compete that gives all classes of sailors confidence to continue. Surely you realise that if someone turns up, then performs hopelessly, is far less likely to carry on, if some are so much better. You may be happy just cruising slowly. many are. No problem with that. But some of us have always wanted to strive to improve.
Surely it is good if those better ones give their time to help the slower ones.
Or are you one of those comprehensive school types- Give 'em a prize wherever they come But whatever you do , do not have winners.

Back in 1970 when we started racing on the EAORA circuit in our Northerny 34 (Holman long keel design similar to a Twister but with a counter transom), we raced from Harwich to Ostend. My father kept close to the rhum line and as we approached the Belgium coast the wind dropped. We had been running under spinnaker and we felt a zephyr from ahead, so we dropped the spinnaker and set the genoa. The wind then filled in and we started charging to the finish line. The regular wind had been cancelled by a stronger offshore breeze after the sun had set. As we entered the North Sea Yacht Club harbour, we could not believe we were 4th boat in the harbour. We had beaten the 2 Hustler 35's that should have been in a long time before us. What had happened was when the majority of the fleet lost the wind they were down tide and pushed further along the coast. Despite being 4th boat in, we came 10th overall out of about 70 boats. At the prize giving we were surprised to receive a prize for the most meritorious unrewarded yacht. We were a family crew sailing the first long keel yacht. This prize motivated us to become more competitive and change the boat.

 

[jimi]

Yes, I was supporting you. Never got the chance to do it in the Bavaria, but yes, 11 hours would be generous, although in reality rarely get a decent wind going south and my best passages have always been the return.

Poole to Cherbourg is usually a good wind angle on the prevailing sw, I used to come out the Needles rather than Bembridge when I was in the Solent to get a better wind angle.

 

[Daydream believer]

Yes, I was supporting you.

Sorry. I had the feeling that you might not be. Hence the tone. Not necessary under the circumstances

 

[Daydream believer]

Back in 1970 when we started racing on the EAORA circuit in our Northerny 34 (Holman long keel design similar to a Twister but with a counter transom), we raced from Harwich to Ostend. My father kept close to the rhum line and as we approached the Belgium coast the wind dropped. We had been running under spinnaker and we felt a zephyr from ahead, so we dropped the spinnaker and set the genoa. The wind then filled in and we started charging to the finish line. The regular wind had been cancelled by a stronger offshore breeze after the sun had set. As we entered the North Sea Yacht Club harbour, we could not believe we were 4th boat in the harbour. We had beaten the 2 Hustler 35's that should have been in a long time before us. What had happened was when the majority of the fleet lost the wind they were down tide and pushed further along the coast. Despite being 4th boat in, we came 10th overall out of about 70 boats. At the prize giving we were surprised to receive a prize for the most meritorious unrewarded yacht. We were a family crew sailing the first long keel yacht. This prize motivated us to become more competitive and change the boat.

I only did one Ostend EAORA about 1980, as a crew back then (Ufo 34) & was so sea sick on the way back that I never did another. I recall being stretched out on the lee seat in 2 inches of water all the way to LS Head,thence Burnham, as a UFO is similar in design to a submarine when pushed.

 

[bluerm166]

The original post mentions the reefed main (x3) and genoa (x1) .I find that the genoa setting in particular is crucial in hitting best combined air flow and wonder if the sheet block position happened to be correct for the single reef on this occasion,perhaps less so on others ? .