Raid Yaverland August 2011

Raid toward Yaverland - August 2011

Monday

At 9.30am on Monday 9^th August the Thames Raiders set out from Brightlingsea. The target – Yaverland on the Isle of Wight where the F18 National Championship was starting on the Friday. 167 miles across the Thames Estuary, past Dover, Dungeness, Beachy Head and Selsey Bill.

By 12.00 noon we were outside Ramsgate Harbour, after 37 miles of exhiliarating downwind sailing in a Force 5-6 Westerly. Average speed 16 knots, allowing for some doglegs needed to avoid sandbanks in the Thames estuary.

The forecast showed that the wind was due to increase, and we knew how rough the sea gets off Dover in those conditions. So the decision was made to spend the afternoon at the Broadstairs folk festival

Tuesday

All was well as we passed Dover and Dungeness, but the wind died when we got to Hastings, and it became clear that in a headwind the remaining 20 mile trip to Brighton was unrealistic. So we headed for Eastbourne where we met up with ex Hurricane sailor Keith Simmons as we went into the marina lock. Envious eyes fell on his large cruiser, which gave us all a comfortable night.

Eastbourne Marina - a comfortable night aboard Keith Simmons' cruiser

Wednesday

Now we were under pressure, with 60 miles still to go and bad weather forecast for Wednesday afternoon and Thursday. The Westerly direction made it a headwind all the way, and we were one man down after Mike Hare left to attend to family duties. We left at 7am and were around Beachy Head by 8am.

Our first serious problem struck at Brighton when a shroud plate failed on one of the F18s. Luckily Kyle’s sharp eyes spotted this before the mast came down, and he managed to support the mast with trapeze wires while we sailed to Brighton Sailing Club. A two hour repair, aided by Brightlingsea SC member Jack Wills who appeared on the beach saw us off again. But by now the wind was rising fast, the waves were large, the team was tired and the decision was made to pull in to Shoreham and ring Hugo Sunnucks for help with a trailer for the last 30 miles.

Rounding Beachy Head

What did we learn?

We learnt that its better not to try to sail long distances against the prevailing wind. We’ve learnt this twice now, as we had equally hard work heading west down the channel to Alderney in 2009.

But we also demonstrated again that raiding is great fun, and that huge distances can be safely covered in small catamarans with experienced sailors supported by a rib. The format works well, and racing two matched boats against each other is enjoyable even after hours of sailing.

Most importantly we rediscovered the pleasure of the hospitality and assistance afforded to us by those we met along the way. Many thanks to Simon Northrop who acted as shore co-ordinator and looked after us in Ramsgate: to Keith Simmons who allowed us to stay on his yacht in Eastbourne: to Jack Wills who helped us on the stony Beach in front of the Brighton Hilton, and joined the raid as far as Shoreham. And to Chris Lintern who made us feel welcome at Shoreham Sailing club.

William Sunnucks..

August 2011

Jack Wills, Dan Hawkes, Kyle Stoneham, Cherri Farren and Jack's girlfriend at Shoreham packing up the boats.

Round Sheppey race

The Raider's 3.55m wide M20 Vampire had a problem getting round Sheppey in the 2009 Round Sheppey race. The rail bridge linking the island to the mainland is only 3.5m above the water at high water, and unless the Vampire could be there 45 minutes before there was going to be trouble.

With help from spectators William Sunnucks and Ryan Crawford managed to get the boat through with the capsized hull scraping the underside of the bridge.

2009 Archipelago Raid

Raiders William Sunnucks and Simon Farren were third in the Archipelago Raid, an orienteering event in the 100,000 islands between Finland and Sweden. See http://www.archipelagoraid.com/

F18 World Championships

The raid back to England from the F18 World Championships held in Knokke Heist Belgium was cancelled due to strong South Westerly winds. The original plan was to sail to Ramsgate on the Saturday and then on to Brightlingsea on the Sunday accompanied by Dan Hawkes in the 6.3m rib. But force 6-7 SW winds were forecast and the decision was clear.

Raiders sailing in the 180 boat championship fleet included William Sunnucks and Simon Farren (25th), Simon Northrop and Robyn Ford (58th) and Nick Dewhirst (silver fleet).

Ronde om Texel

Raiders Will Sunnucks and Simon Farren took line honours in the 2009 Ronde om Texel race in their M20 Vampire catamaran.

ECPR 2009 - Raiders 1st and 2nd !!!!

The Raiders were sailing this weekend at the annual ECPR the wind was light and fickle all weekend, the main race was very testing and also very nail biting with William and Fraz taking line honours on the M20 Vampire and myself and Finn taking second spot on the water with the "Shocker F18" .
Before the Prizegiving William and I bet that the other had won on corrected time but the winner was revealed and although William won the bet the main ECPR trophy was ours !!!!!

Well done to Finn who stepped in at the last minute and well done to the other Raiders, Hugo finished 24th and n the Colne Point Race Sandy finished a very credible 8th in her catapult in her first ever open on her own !!

2009 Results here http://www.eastcoastpiersrace.com/html/results.htm

Fast Cat Race 2009

Two Raiders teams competed in the 2009 Fast Cat Round the Island Race. Simon Northrop and Robyn Ford took their new Reg White built Shockwave, and William Sunnucks and Simon Farren the new M20 Vampire.