CS Sailing October 2021

Fastnet 2021 The Offshore Racing division’s flagship event is one of the toughest offshore races. Grab a comfy spot on the rail and settle down to read about CSORC’s 2021 Fastnet campaign: a tale of storm sails, shooting stars and cetaceans.

CSORC once again entered a crew into the iconic Fastnet race. We were again on Merlin, a First 40 that we have chartered for the past three Fastnet campaigns.

Our skipper was Simon Zavad, and this was his fourth time skippering the race for CSORC. Many of the crew had previously competed in the race but true to the Club’s objectives we also had some who were new to both offshore racing and the Fastnet. Covid meant that the first time the crew met was at the end of June for the de Guingand Bowl, merely six weeks before the start of the big one. Such a compressed training schedule gave our scratch crew limited time to learn how to work together and the first time we actually sailed as a full crew of 10 was the Fastnet itself. The qualifying races were extremely valuable, each challenging in their own way and providing great opportunities to develop as a racing crew.

The start of the main race on Sunday 8 August was brutal - strong winds (35kts with gusts above that) and wind over tide creating big seas even in the Solent. Conditions were harsh enough that a good portion of the fleet started the race with their storm sails up and there were many retirements during the first 24 hours. We had our mainsail rigged to reef three, with our smallest headsail. Somewhere around Yarmouth, we suffered our first gear failure. The port hand jib car completely broke. It could have been race-ending, but we managed to jury rig a fix.

The solution didn’t allow us to trim the sail perfectly, but it was sufficient to sail and would prove sturdy enough to last the remainder of the race.

We rounded Hurst and the full force of Mother Nature was evident; winds still well above 30kts 8