ICAP Leopard Round Britain and Ireland
Publié le 24 / 08 / 2010

At 14.00 on Monday the 23rd of August I set off on ICAP Leopard to race the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland race.

We had met on board at 10am to go through the race strategy, weather and safety procedures. Just before leaving the dock, Mike Slade and skipper Chris Sherlock presented me with a birthday cake and a birthday cup of Earl Grey tea which we all devoured pretty quickly – everyone was going to need the energy!

The race start was pretty hectic as we had only one hour to pass through a safety gate with our storm jib and trysail set, then get them packed up and our race sails up which, in those conditions (30 knots of wind,) was a bit tight for a 105’ maxi!

However we had a great start – first boat over the line in the best position – with Mike at the helm wearing a huge grin! We shot out the solent, despite the adverse tide, and soon found ourselves in huge seas once out of the shelter of the Isle of Wight.

After 40 minutes or so, Guillermo took the helm. The wind and waves were building and so was our boatspeed which was frequently above 30 knots! It was a wet and wild ride but everyone was enjoying it and ICAP Leopard was in her element! The wettest spots were the trimming position (to leeward, in order to see the sails) and the bow. The bowmen had a tough job on their hands as we had to change from the R2 to the A5 as we rounded the Owers and bore away. At one point I saw Louis surf a wave from the stem all the way to the mast, passing Freddy who was hanging on for dear life to the inner forestay!

After the sail change at the Owers we discovered that one of the upper battens in the mainsail had popped off the batten car, so Louis was sent up the rig to lash it in to prevent eventual damage to the rig. He did a great job, whilst Guillermo tried to keep the boat stable to help him as he was 40m above the deck!

My job for this first, busy, day (before we got into our watch system) was to back up Hugh Agnew on the nav, and collect as much weather information as possible to help us make our decisions on sail choices and our immediate route strategy. I spent a fair amount of time at the nav station downloading weather files, but I did manage to spend enough time on deck (tucked away at the back trying to avoid the huge waves crashing over the deck!) to enjoy the ride! We were FLYING along, but totally in control.

We were running deep and we had the traffic separation zone coming up quickly. Maritime law states that everyone must keep clear of these shipping lanes (unless crossing at 90°) so to comply to this we had to put in several gybes to pass between the coast and the Northern limit of the west-going lane.

As we headed into the first gybe I was down below getting in the forecast. The gybe felt great – totally in control and smooth (surprisingly for these pretty full-on conditions). As I felt the boat pass through the wind there was a bang and then I felt the power come off and immediately knew something was wrong. The boom had broken just aft of the gooseneck. We now had a big job on – we were heading towards the cliffs at Beachy Head with ICAP Leopard disabled. We had to find a way to get the main down without damaging the rig or the sails and without risking injuring anyone if the boom broke loose. We had 20 minutes before we hit the shore and the conditions were worsening.

Quick thinking from Chris Sherlock and his crew followed by good teamwork got the situation under control and within 10 minutes the mainsail was safely down and lashed into the boom, with the boom secured solid.

We turned around and limped back to Southampton upwind under headsail only. A disappointed crew, not only is it frustrating to have gear failure, we were saying goodbye to our chance to get the record and what is turning out to be an epic and exhilarating race.

However, we must look on the positive side. Nobody was hurt and we saved the sails and rig from further damage. We were also not far from home – it would have been worse had that happened north of the Shetland Isles!

So, I think that Dee, Miranda, Alex and I will be saying goodbye to our record in a couple of days time – Groupama and Telefonica should beat it. We’d kept it for a year which isn’t too bad! I HOPE that Mike has got a taste for that record as ICAP Leopard is certainly capable of beating it and if he does decide to have an attempt on breaking the record I will be the first to volunteer as crew!

I had a great time on board. It is strange being one of 20 when I am used to sailing alone. I think it is valuable learning for a solo sailor to go out and race with top-level crew like that as it keeps us on our toes. The Leopard crew are a great bunch and I was really looking forward to spending 6 days together on that amazing yacht!

Video is on my official Facebook fan page (click on the link on the right)

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