Pactolus Race Day - Friday 11 July 2008
In the days leading up to the Pactolus race I was getting nervous as lows coming in from the Atlantic were rattling the rafters with wind and torrential rainfall, though the forecast promised things would improve enough for us to start on Friday morning. Jason and I had been talking about seeing if we could run Barda short-handed, so when the alarm went off at stupid o'clock there were just myself, Jason and young Rob who fell out of bed and onto Barda.

Martin O'Sullivan as Race Officer was looking after the flags on Shoreham Beach so our thanks go to him for getting us away from the Lancing Line on time, before he himself set off yawning for a day at work. At the start there was a solid force 4 coming from the SW with gusts to 5, so with no weight on the rail to help keep Barda on her feet we went with 2 reefs in the main and the #3. There was also a fair swell running and after a particularly rubbish start we crossed the line 3 minutes behind Moonlight Saunter and Dances with Waves. I'll officially blame the new runner winches for the awful start, but in reality we were not only short-handed but all feeling a bit green behind the gills which really doesn't help concentration.

Steering 169 degrees magnetic for Fecamp entrance some 67 miles away (see picture) we were on a close fetch and stomping along at 8 knots, which soon got us past Brian and Dances with Waves, but David aboard Moonlight Saunter was making the most of his waterline length and keeping us at a distance. To beat the hull speed physics we needed the wind to go round to the west so we could break out the code zero, so with this and the tide on the French coast in mind, we tried to stay to the west and keep whistling for the wind to go round. I'll apologise now for the lack of photos during the race itself, as the camera was handed to young Rob who dutifully sealed it up in a pocket buried many many layers of clothing down. I just didn't have the heart to make him get his lifejacket and everything else off to retrieve it... better that he fought his own wave induced demons down below in relative peace!

There were a few dark clouds bouncing along the channel and despite being threatened a couple of times, Barda managed to dodge the squalls and stay pretty dry. Eventually the sun came out and we shook out first one reef, then another. Finally we dragged up the #2 and with Rob feeling well enough to take the helm, we peeled to the larger sail and got the boatspeed up again. In the distance Moonlight registered our change of gear and did the same, keeping a solid few miles in front and to the east.

With good visibility the shipping lanes presented few challenges with one particularly helpful commercial skipper slowing up his ship to help both David and I wiggle across in front; he got a warm thank you from both of us on CH16. Barda later had to head up and slow to under 5 knts to let a car carrier pass ahead, but even though we could have possibly got in front it just wasn't worth the risk.

Around 15 miles off Fecamp we passed a huge cable ship at anchor which was a useful back marker as we closed the French coast - the tide rips round this bay and the temptation is always to fall down to the east, which was what David seemed to be doing... Was the master going to run out of luck? I wondered, and then watched in surprise as Moonlight found a huge lift close to the coast and sailed right up the tide to cross the line some 22 minutes in front of us. Well done Moonlight Saunter, though if the wind had gone round to the west we'd have got you!

Meanwhile Brian and his crew on Dances With Waves were not finding Le Manche quite so benevolent. It appears that we had outrun the worst of the weather, whilst they had been hunted down by a pack of squalls, and then at around 5 miles out found themselves in over 40 knots of wind, which meant that when they finally crossed the line they were very pleased to be in and at the SRF bar before tumbling into their now stilled bunks.

Final results. Start 07.10 (all times BST)
1st Moonlight Saunter. PY 875. Finishing Time 17:12:10
2nd Barda. PY 845. Finishing Time 17:33:50
3rd Dances with Waves. Finishing Time 21:21:00

Saturday in Fecamp
Karen had driven over to Fecamp via the tunnel to meet Barda, with Rob and I joining her at the cheerful Hotel Embrun on the seafront close to the famous Drakkar Bar. We had a cracking meal at the hotel restaurant Friday night and the Vyse clan made the most of the soft beds upstairs whilst Jason trudged off to spend the night aboard Barda.

After breakfast at the Embrun, Karen and I watched the 505 national fleet set off from SRF towards the open sea for the days racing. I used to race a 505 out of Pevensey Bay Sailing club many years ago and I've still got a warm spot for these fast little ships. Eventually I got the message that Karen was bored stupid listening to me blah blah on about my 505 days, so we made our way up the hill to the Saturday market so she could buy some new shoes. Rob meanwhile was ambushed by some itinerant Red Indians who charged him €15 for a dreadful CD of Sioux chanting - I would have laughed but it turned out is was our money rather than his that he'd spent.

As always in Fecamp we eventually drifted down to the harbourside bars and settled at the Big Ben, where we met up with David and his team from Moonlight Saunter and eventually Brian and his motley crew from Dances with Waves. Many beers were supped in the sun, interspersed with visits to Cave Berigny to order wine , before we slipped away to Fecamp Abbey so Karen could look at a Dali exhibition and Jason could collect a few bottles of first cask Benedictine to take home.

Karen and Rob took the car for an adventure along the coast, whilst Jason and I tidied up the boat and we all managed to get showered in time to join the entire Pactolus party at the Grillard Restaurant where David had arranged a table for all. We had a great meal, many tales were told and it was just a shame there were only three boats there to fly the SYC. burgee. David may have beaten us to Fecamp but despite coaching from young Rob he couldn't get a grip on how the iPod works (picture above).

Sunday - Homeward bound
Moonlight had berthed in the inner harbour so set off first to escape on the tide, followed an hour or so later by Dances with Waves. Jason and I were not so sprightly and didn't clear Fecamp until around 09:30 with just two of us aboard - young Rob had decided to go home on the ferry with his Mum.

The wind was a NW F3 so we set course on port tack motor sailing, though after a couple of hours the donkey suddenly lost revs and power. I had a nose around the engine and decided that adjuster thing on the front of the diesel pump was out of whack. After a bit of fiddling with what tools I had she stopped making quite so much smoke and regained most of the power. I really needed the handbook and the right sized spanners for a proper fix so I'll have to make up the toolbox deficit for the next offshore.

The wind came on with the sunshine and before long we were stripping off jackets in between snoozes, with our auto-helm doing all the pointy work. The wind gradually went round to the west enough for us to hoist the #2 headsail and we picked up to just over 7 knots. A few hours later we overhauled Dances with Waves and took a few photos (see right). A hot pastie lunch followed and with the blue skies now darkening with high cloud we eased the sails to keep driving at 8 knots in the freshening breeze.

By now the engine was pretty much superfluous but before I could go down to turn it off our iron sail coughed and died - following the early problems she'd obviously been drinking more diesel than usual and had drained the tank. Jason wiggled down in to the transom for the spare fuel and by driving off downwind he managed to keep the water off the deck filler long enough for me to get 15 or so litres into the tank, though a lot more was blown away in the wind. Next came the engine itself which needed bleeding right through before I could coax her into life again. I have to say breathing diesel fumes whilst peering in to a dark engine box and being thrown all over the place in a heeled boat is not my idea of fun and I was a paler shade of green by the time I'd finished.

Thankfully the visibility was superb with Beachy Head lighting up the horizon with 26 miles to go, so after dodging around some eastbound commercial traffic we made out Shoreham and came in to the harbour at 19:00 right on schedule to get the 19:30 lock.

What a great sail home to round off a great weekend.

(Picture - Shoreham Harbour Entrance: Jason shows how big the waves were just a few moments ago!)

There are even more pictures of the Pactolus weekend on the Barda gallery pages which can be reached by clicking here >>

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