Our Round The Island race rescue. Warning, may show strange Island people!

[ash2020]

Our Round The Island Race didn't quite go according to plan on North Star (Jaguar 23).
With two new sails, this was going to be the year that we got a reasonableplacing! However, just before St Catherine's Point our rudder broke
dramatically, with a noise like a shotgun going off! I was downstairs making a cuppa and thought something had hit us.
The bottom bracket on the aluminium rudder casing had sheared off. Thankfully we didn't lose the whole thing.
The boys in orange were on the scene in less than 5 minutes. We then had an hour long white knuckle ride back to Yarmouth, being towed at 12 knots
behind the Lymington lifeboat. They even rescued my shoe, which fell overboard in the commotion.
End of our race, but we do have the distinction of doing the RTI and the Old Gaffers festival beer tent on the same day!
We managed to find an old piece of girder in a skip and fashioned a jury rudder which gave us a lovely sail back to Poole on the Sunday.
Here's our video of the event.

http://youtu.be/EBtHwSsbyXk

Andrew Holder

 

[josephmoore]

You were right near us at the Needles - in fact, we're the boat to the right of the broken Jenneau at 0:36

The placing of the washboard at 3:40 made me chuckle

 

[A1Sailor]

I guess you won't need the hull pressure washed at lift out then?
12 knots!!!!!

 

[Houleaux]

How was the tow secured? I'm surprised no deck fittings were pulled out at that speed!

And what were you towing?

 

[ash2020]

You were right near us at the Needles - in fact, we're the boat to the right of the broken Jenneau at 0:36

The placing of the washboard at 3:40 made me chuckle

Haha! out of so many, what a coincidence. I hope you did well.
Nobody thought about the washboards until the cabin was sloshing!

 

[ash2020]

I guess you won't need the hull pressure washed at lift out then?
12 knots!!!!!

That's right, we were definitely planing!

 

[ash2020]

How was the tow secured? I'm surprised no deck fittings were pulled out at that speed!

And what were you towing?

I think we certainly would have lost the front cleat had we used it. We made a bridle from the front right back to the main genoa winches figuring they were the strongest point, it was OK. The lifeboat gave us a drogue to tow which was about the size of a 2 foot bucket with no bottom to it. It was the Lymington RIB that towed us and when we saw the Yarmouth guys later they rolled their eyes when I told them what speed we'd been doing!

 

[Pinnacle]

Great vid - thks for posting!

 

[ash2020]

Thanks for watching!

 

[andy59]

Nice video , thanks for posting . Couldn't have picked a nicer day to break the rudder .

 

[Iliade]

Is it just me or do we all think that the blue and yellow boats delight in taking little yotties for as fast a drag as they can achieve without actually drowning them?

Is there an unwritten prize for the fastest they can go with something in tow?


B.T.W... :0)

 

[Houleaux]

I think we certainly would have lost the front cleat had we used it. We made a bridle from the front right back to the main genoa winches figuring they were the strongest point, it was OK. The lifeboat gave us a drogue to tow which was about the size of a 2 foot bucket with no bottom to it. It was the Lymington RIB that towed us and when we saw the Yarmouth guys later they rolled their eyes when I told them what speed we'd been doing!

Thanks for the info.

And I forgot to say, great video!

 

[ash2020]

Absolutely, it was a cracking weekend

 

[ash2020]

Haha! I do believe that might be the case. They were certainly going for it.

Is it just me or do we all think that the blue and yellow boats delight in taking little yotties for as fast a drag as they can achieve without actually drowning them?

Is there an unwritten prize for the fastest they can go with something in tow?


B.T.W... :0)

 

[Talbot]

Interesting experience I am sure, but why did you need any assistance?

The same thing happened in a yacht I was in in mid channel a few years ago. We took a washboard, drilled a few holes through it, and attached it to the spinnaker pole with cable ties. Used this as the rudder to get back to Portsmouth under engine power.

Were you forced to have assistance by RNLI?

 

[ash2020]

Hi there. Once you've called the coastguard, they pretty much insist on you being taken to a safe haven. I wanted to be towed and left by the beach, with a rising tide and an offshore wind (little danger in my mind) to finish our repair, but they wouldn't do it.

We could have used any number of ways to get home, a bucket on a rope would have done for a rudder. However, to struggle without proper steering in the middle of lots of other boats, in the middle of a race, would have been foolhardy. Also, imagine a jury rudder giving way going past the Needles against the tide in a stiff breeze! I decided the safest course of action for me and my two crew was to call for help.

Interesting experience I am sure, but why did you need any assistance?

The same thing happened in a yacht I was in in mid channel a few years ago. We took a washboard, drilled a few holes through it, and attached it to the spinnaker pole with cable ties. Used this as the rudder to get back to Portsmouth under engine power.

Were you forced to have assistance by RNLI?

 

[Talbot]

Good point.

Your explanation about the tow and expecting that bow cleat to go, is a excellent one that more people need to understand. I have heavily reinforced points on my bows designed for parachute anchor that would also be suitable for this.

I really need to get the emergency tiller out and see if it actually fits in the hole!

 

[GBGaffer]

Haha! I do believe that might be the case. They were certainly going for it.

No.

And without wishing to detract from your story, you might want to factor the tidal stream rate in the Needles Channel before claiming your 12 knots over the ground bragging rights. Even so 9ish knots on your boat is a bit excessive, but in deference to the Lymington crew's decision they had been out there since 05:30, and were probably wanting to go and have a beer like you were able to when you had been brought in to harbour.

 

[ash2020]

Thanks for that. As you can see in the video, the GPS was measuring 11.6 over the ground. I've already factored in that we were about 5 hours after HW Portsmouth so the tide had just turned against us and was probably about 0.3 knots in Freshwater Bay. So we were doing about 12 through the water, 11.6 over the ground. Not that it matters, the important thing was that the guys from Lymington know exactly how fast they can go without causing damage, they've done it often enough.
Interestingly, I asked Simon, the one on our boat, whether it was the worst day or the best day of the year for them and he said they loved it. He was having a great time.

No.

And without wishing to detract from your story, you might want to factor the tidal stream rate in the Needles Channel before claiming your 12 knots over the ground bragging rights. Even so 9ish knots on your boat is a bit excessive, but in deference to the Lymington crew's decision they had been out there since 05:30, and were probably wanting to go and have a beer like you were able to when you had been brought in to harbour.

 

[GBGaffer]

Not wishing to be contentious, but the segment of the video showing the gps SOG of 11.5 puts you between Hatherwood point and Fort Victoria in the Needles channel where the tide would have been flooding from about 11:00. Given that position is 12 plus miles from where you were taken under tow (initially by Bumblebee at, presumably, a speed somewhat slower than Lymington ILB), I still maintain you would have had a good 2 knots under you at that point in the passage back to Yarmouth.