Offshore Rally – 22nd September 2012
Getting up at 03.30 to sail to Cowes was not exactly in the publicity for the crew, but the fun to be gained sailing in the dark through Langstone Harbour out into the Solent more than compensated for the early hour. Most of the crew stayed asleep but the prize had to go to the crew member who, after the yacht had moored up to a buoy in Cowes, stuck her head out of her bunk and said ‘Are we ready to go now?’ She had slept through leaving the mooring, running the sails out and clattering around the deck generally. No mean feat.
The day turned out to be a perfectly glorious day for racing around the cans in a force 4 easterly wind. Two fleets competed, the cruising fleet and the One Design sailors who were keen to try out the spinnakers. The fleets had separate courses so that the spinnakers could be deployed for much of the time. Like all previous Offshore Rallies there were lots of fun and quite a few incidents. The yacht with a spinnaker wrap ended up with a sheet around the prop and had to sail into Cowes to disentangle it.
It is always wise to ensure an early arrival so that one can check the course, sadly one yacht had problems getting off its mooring, as it ran aground and sat on the mud for a few hours, while another failed to establish the course but made a plaintive plea over the radio for details. Another, obviously decided that the course was a bit tame, decided to sail one of its own.
Aoleus, the beautiful gaff topsail cutter, brought up the rear of the cruising fleet, until it sailed around the final mark and could not resist putting up a spinnaker; it streaked home flying past all but the leader of the fleet, only to be disqualified for using a non-standard sail.
Line honours went to Rod Eames and, on handicap, the One Design Cup went to James Alsop, Martin Richmond-Coggan received a bottle of champagne for sailing faster than the rest of the fleet (having started 40 minutes after the start thereby having some advantage of slacker water). In the cruising fleet line honours went to Serena Alexander on Watermark hotly pursued by Jeremy Whiting on Brock who won the Offshore Trophy on handicap. Both Trophies will be presented at the Trafalgar Dinner and Laying-up Supper on Friday 19th October.
Results:
White Sails Line Honours – Serena Alexander
Offshore Rally Trophy Winner – Jeremy Whiting
3rd place – John Robbins
Racing Line Honours – Rod Eames
OSR Rally Champion – James Alsop
3rd place – James Frampton
Fastest yacht – Martin Richmond-Coggan
Beverley A Lawrence Beech
Footnote:
At the Laying Up Supper James Alsop was presented with the Nautilus Cup, which was purchased especially for presentation for the OSR Offshore Rally winner and it now has pride of place in the Trophy Cabinet for those who wish to check.  Copyright © London Corinthian Sailing Club, 24 Oct 2012 | 
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