After racing around the demanding coastal course from Lymington to Plymouth via Wolfe Rock and battling every weather condition Mother Nature could throw at us, Nikki Curwen and I finished the 290 mile course on Wednesday 8th May at 09:37 BST. We finished 2nd in the double-handed Series class, and 4th overall; a little disappointing as we had been battling in first place with Pip Hare, but having drifted off to the south in a patch of no breeze off Anvil Point, I had certainly learnt a lot throughout the race!
More importantly, the end of the race marked Nikki’s qualification for the 4020nm Mini Transat in October. Having now accumulated the full 1000 race miles and completed her solo qualifying passage, she joins the waiting list before being allocated a place on the start line.
© Artemis Offshore Academy
One of the best moments of the race was the tacking duel that we had with Pip Hare; doing over 100 tacks, we danced the whole way down the south-east of the Isle of Wight. At points we were aiming right for the beach- quite literally- until we lost our nerves (with a constant eye on the depth) to tack back out again into deeper water.
At times during the race we had no more than 2.5 knots of breeze, which made it difficult to keep the boat moving. I remember during the second night popping the big kite up and sailing closer inshore to get out of the strongest tide- pulling ahead of Dianne Reid (One Girls' Ocean challenge) as we made our way to Wolfe Rock.
The last night saw 22 - 30 knots on the nose, making for a game of Buckaroo on the tiny 21 foot boat. I had to literally hang on to the guard rails and tiller extension just to stay on the side of the boat, as waves crashed over the bow. Water surged down the collar of my jacket (apparently no longer waterproof), and come the morning I had some big salt sores thanks to the collar rubbing my chin! It was pretty exciting, even with the two reefs in the main and one in the jib. It seems sailing a Mini is at times a game of survival!
After finishing the race we have spent a couple of days in Plymouth preparing for the UK Mini Fastnet, to start at 1200 on Sunday 12th May. The 561 mile course will be my second Mini race and I cannot wait to get started.
Powering downwind
Sailing past Ryde
The boys on Yellow Fin
Sailing past Portland Bill - punching a strong tide!
Boat name/Skipper/Finishing time
1. Yellow Fin/Tom Webb/06:20
2.Artemis/Nikki Curwen/06:37
3. One Girls Challenge/10:21
UK Solent 6.50 results overall
Boat name/Skipper/Class/Finishing time
1.The Potting Shed/Pip Hare/Solo Series/03:23
2. Mad Dog/Jake Jefferis/Solo Proto/05:10
3. Yellow Fin/Tom Webb/Double-handed Series/06:20
4 Artemis/Nikki Curwen/Double-handed Series/09:37
5. One Girls Challenge/Double-handed Series/10:21
6. Blue One/Giles Grant/Double-handed Proto/to finish
7. Seanrgy/Katrina Ham/Solo Series/DNF
8. Dialoulic/Yannick Le Clech/Solo Series/DNF