Rough Ride in the North Sea

Following our mini launch on Thursday it was back to the “business” side of things and getting involved in some offshore racing! The race in mind was the RORC North Sea Race, a race that promised a wide variety of competition in the form of a gaggle of competitors from the Netherlands, in addition to a plethora of Fastnet race entrants who were using the race as a qualifying passage.

In addition to getting HotSocks back into race mode, the race for us was an opportunity to deliver the boat to Scheveningen for the start of the 1000 mile race which begins on the 16^th June. Surely it couldn't be more perfect?

The answer inevitably is “yes”. It was with horror that I watched the forecast in the build up to the start of the race. Weeks earlier, Matt and I had commented that, “as long as we don't have North Easterlies, we should have an awesome race.”

You guessed it. North Easterlies. Thirty Knots at that. To summarise… a 60 mile beat to the turning mark off Lowestoft, before a slightly faster fetch across the North Sea and (finally) an all too short downwind sprint to the finish line.



Kate Moss, Matthew Lingley and Katie Miller



With new sails to try before the race we headed out early to the start line with a guest crew member – Kate Moss. No, not the super model, nor the author, but one of International Paint’s own. After an uninspiring start, we began the slow steady slog to the first mark. Having overcome a potentially disastrous Port/Starboard collision with another competitor, some rather too enthusiastic advice was issued to the other vessel regarding the use of a lookout while sailing on port. As we readjusted to life at 45 degrees, waves breaking over decks and kept a particularly alert lookout, we began to accept that the next ten hours were not going to be the most comfortable, nor unfortunately the fastest. It was additionally frustrating to watch the bigger boats break ahead a build up a lead ahead of us on the upwind leg… an inevitability. We just had to hope that the slightly freer penultimate legs gave us enough time to catch up.



Slipping into watches around dusk, we anticipated rounding Smith Knoll at around 0200 hours and did so, having dodged a ferry and tanker heading into shore. Having slept through the sunset, I found myself on the graveyard shift at sunrise, having enjoyed some of the clearest night’s skies I have seen for a long time. As we rounded boat speeds increased from the 6 knot average we had seen all night to a slightly more positive 7.5. Now was the time to begin reeling in the yachts ahead that had enjoyed a windward advantage, and it wasn't long before we were passing yachts left and right. At MCP buoy it was a 90 degree ease and time to pop the spinnaker for a tight reach down to the finish. The last 26 miles sailed at 10 knots were certainly the best 3 hours of sailing, and it was at this point we would have wished the race to be a bit longer, particularly as oilies were beginning to dry out in the 26 degree heat that has been unnoticeable in thirty knots of north easterly breeze.

Surfing over the finish line at twelve knots was certainly a little more inspiring than the beginning of the race, plus the feeling that we had arrived with some fairly large boats. Finishing mid fleet was not too bad a result given the conditions, although needless to say we were rather disappointed!  Still, we had arrived in Scheveningen in one piece (just!) without breaking anything and still friends!



Novel sleeping position at 11 knots, as demonstrated by Kate Moss.





Now it is back to work for ten days before heading back out to Holland for the start of the 1000 mile race. Needless to say, North Easterlies would not be welcome here either, as we head north to Bergen (the wettest city in Europe we learnt) and West to Lerwick. I have begun the wind dance in preparation. South westerly 30 knots would be perfect, but anything with a North in would be unwelcome! Wind dances can be found online using any good generic search engine. Any help would be gratefully received!