It started with a 4 am Alarm and a 2.5-hour drive to Falmouth, like my day wasn’t going to be long enough already!
A reasonable forecast of predominantly NW F4+ winds, occasional F3, the bottom end of the acceptable wind range.
My Brother and wingman, Brian helping to set things up to get me underway.
I was equipped with solar-powered compass, digital battery powered speedo from Rooster and a GPS to do my own navigation, along with enough nutrients and fluids for 48 hours
The all-new ‘Allen’ blocks, tackle and lines were checked for smooth running. There really was no need to check!
09:10 and I was underway into the rainy Falmouth River. It wasn’t until clear of the estuary that the winds developed.
A relatively calm sail to the Eddystome Lighthouse took all day where the Navy were mid-exercise with their new aircraft carrier.
Past the Eddystone Lighthouse, I was graced with so many dolphins, all vowing for a place under the bow of my small dinghy!
I pushed my hand into the water with my GoPro firmly gripped, unsure of what I would capture……….
Into the evening and getting further offshore, the sea state increased as did the winds, giving speed surfing down a confused 6ft sea.
Given that I had been sailing deep downwind, the risk of capsizing in the dark was such that I opted not to maintain my South Easterly course and headed due South, keeping the winds safely just aft of the beam.
Although I was not cold in the crisp night air, I put this down to my Rooster base layer, hat and gloves. My safety team onboard the support vessel were never more than 100 metres away keeping a close eye.
As day broke, so the wind faded away. It was just unfortunate that I was upon the approaches to the Eastbound shipping lanes that had 5 large container ships inbound. Creeping along at just 2-3 knots, I broke out the paddle to increase boat speed and out of the path the never-ending stream of ships pouring into the channel.
It was good to be clear and with the sight of a squally rain cloud approaching. When it finally reached us, it brought just 20 knots but was truly exhilarating surfing a now 8ft rolling swell at up to 10 knots!
Alas, the winds faded again as the rain cloud moved away and never built above 8 knots which meant progress was slow with boat speeds only reaching 1-4knots and the use of the paddle once more as the speed dropped low.
My second day at sea was slow and long with winds lighter than forecast.
It seemed to take forever to reach the Hanois lighthouse at the South Western point of Guernsey as dusk drew in.
As night engulfed us for another time, the wind faded to nothing.
With just a couple of hours of favourable tide left, there was no possibility of reaching St Peter Port under sail for some time and the ebbing tide due to sweep us back West and further away from my destination. After 143.2 miles, I took the last resort of taking a tow to the finish, just 10 miles away.
The tow was interesting in that sleep deprivation had a strong grasp of me and it was a struggle to remain awake. Hallucinations were bizarre. Seeing cows and goats rolling in the wake of the towing vessel and then a cascade of glistening gold coins flowing from the towboat cockpit doorway where my Brother stood keeping a close eye on me, aware of my state.
Inside the harbour and close to shore, I cast the tow line and paddled to the creening hard, a place to beach. At 1 am there was a small gathering of friends and well-wishers.
I jumped off the boat and into the shallow water but could not stand, only stagger. I was assisted with beaching the challenge dinghy then promptly showered with bubbly to mark the achievement. It was done.
This discomfort of squatting in on the back quarter of the laser combined with sleep deprivation was considerable to the point that I vowed never to put myself through that again!!!!
However, a day later………..
I rigged the dinghy once more for press photos and thought to check and see how the ‘Allen’ gear had done. It was with no surprise, as new!
Currently, I have raised over 7k of charitable donations for Les Bourgs Hospice, to find out more please go to www.epicsailing.com
Best Regards
Dave Birch
RS Feva Rigging Guide With World Champion
Team Allen Sailor and RS Feva World Champion, Ben Hutton-Penman, was at Allen HQ giving his boat some TLC. We took the opportunity to make a basic rigging guide. Highlighting key points to check out when first setting up the boat. If you’re new to the RS Feva or Asymmetric sailing, this quick video will show you some of Ben’s top tips for rigging up.
Allen Sponsored Supernova Nationals
The weekend of 6, 7 and 8 July 2018 saw 100+ Supernovas descend on the Plas Heli centre at Pwllheli for their National Championships. It was the third year in a row that the class has managed a 100+ entry maintaining the momentum in this exciting class.
Each arrival was greeted with a custom t-shirt for their buddy group where each group of four were provided with some excellent support from their Gold Fleet representative. Some of the discussions were informal, where as others included full checking and adjustment of rig setup.
The weather gods were kind with wall to wall sunshine at high 20s temperatures from arrival to departure. The wind even played ball (just) to allow us to get in the ten planned races. The format of the championship has been the same for a number of years and continues to be well regarded with a relaxed feel balanced with racing.
It was great to see a significant increase in the number of female sailors, up from three last year to seven, potentially due to the improvements in the official small sail (although no small sails were needed!). Great news for the Class and we hope for an even higher female turnout in 2019.
There was some uncertainty in the dinghy park as the fleet included four new members in borrowed boats. The Supernova Class has an excellent track record of these members going out to buy their own boat (for example defending champion Alex Horlock) after sampling the Supernova.
Day 1
Four races were held in a good F2/3 on the Friday afternoon and there were four different winners! Race 1 was won by Inland Champion and joint all time leader of the national championship table, Cliff Milliner. In the building wind, race 2 was won by the giant figure of Mark Hartley, also joint all time leader of the national championship table.
However, in race 3 there was a new name at the front, Sam Knight – he hadn’t been outside of the top three all day. Then a further new name at the front with Alistair Goodwin taking the fourth race.
Overnight leaders were Sam Knight, Ed Higson and Alastair Goodwin.
There was some excellent racing by all through the fleet and all of the competitors were smiling all the way to the bar in the evening. There was then a great social on the Friday night, with Class Chairman, Chris Hawley, hosting a fun game for the different buddy groups. Everyone was very included, even the “plus 1s” who were supporting.
Day 2
The plan for day 2 was four races, but that was not to be and just three were fitted in slightly lighter breeze.
It was Cliff Milliner again who was first out of the blocks winning race 5. Sam Knight struck back hard though win wins in races 6 and 7.
Alistair Goodwin had a great day with a 2, 3, 3 moving him to second overall behind Sam Knight. Ed Gibson slipping to overnight third place.
A further social was held on the Saturday night – a slightly smarter affair with great food, banter and sailing war stories.
Day 3
Those with sore heads were comforted that the 9am launch looked set to be deferred until lunchtime. However, the PRO got to the course on time and there was wind! Panic stations with everyone rushing to launch – one guy was seen launching whilst eating a bacon sandwich!
The wind held up for races 8 and 9 being won by Alistair Goodwin and Mark Platt. Race 10 saw a monster (65 degree) windshift mid way through, which some massive gains and losses – Sam Knight took the win.
Overall Sam had done enough to defend his overnight lead and finished on 20 points. Alistair Goodwin fought hard and finished with 27 points. Cliff Milliner made up the podium with 34 points.
In his victory speech Sam acknowledged the friendly nature of the Supernova Class and said he was made to feel very welcome from arrival and thanked all of the members for their support. We will see Sam again in the future, probably at Paignton on 28, 29 and 30 June 2019!
Some event photographs to purchase are available:Â greensea.zenfolio.com/p582618418Â More photos will be available through our Facebook page in the coming days and weeks.
Team Prize – Bartley Sailing Club Family Prize – The Critchley Brothers Ladies Champion – Ellen Clancy (Cotswold) – followed by: Amie King, Serena Stewardason Youth Champion – Ed Higson (Bartley) Masters Champion – Mark Platt (Bolton) – followed by: Mike Critchley, Richard Pakes, Mike Gibson Veterans Champion – Steve Mitchell (Hooe Point) – followed by: Bob Horlock, Tom Chadfield, Geoff Turner Mark 1 Champion – Geoff Turner (Fishguard) – followed by: Clive Brown, Will Willett Bronze fleet Champion – Warren Mitchell (Snettisham Beach) – followed by: Paul Bates, Rachel Vaughan Jones, Richard Hawson, Nigel Davies Silver fleet Champion – Steve Mitchell (Hooe Point) – followed by: Ray Workman, Garry Butterfield, Ian Moodie, James Gerwat
To find out more about this exciting singlehander please visit our website:Â www.supernovadinghy.org
Or for the latest news follow us on Facebook (Supernova Dinghy Class Association)
After a good few years building up their fleet Carrickfergus Sailing Club decided it was time to host an Irish 2.4mR National Championship. Seventeen boats made the trip from far and wide across the Irish Sea, from North and South, and even Germany. Special mention to George and Ann Taylor for organising and making everything happen.
It was so nice to get back on open water and Belfast Loch didn’t disappoint with the weather. After a rather complicated briefing which included disappearing marks the fleet left the dock in bright sunshine and a nice 9 to 13 knots. Everyone settled into the tidal conditions of the first race with most heading up the shore. Local John Patrick mixing it up from the first mark with the old hands of Ulli Libor, Steve Bullmore and Megan Pascoe. Megan and Ulli escaped from the fleet with Kate Hedley reeling in Steve. These two spent the next few races stuck together at the finish even with a tie in the last race.
The fleet was tight for the following two races with Nev Millard joining the party with 2 second places. Adam Billany back in the boat after his A levels ended the day with a 3rd.
The fleet retired to the club for the evening with a great meal and spectacular view. Sunday despite a light forecast the fleet woke to a 12 knot Northerly. It was great to see quite a few sailors under the age of 20 and a mix of able bodied and disabled.
The Irish fleet has some new sailors in the fleet. Especially great to see Kevin Conway in his pretty blue boat which was getting faster and faster as the weekend went on.
Sunday decided the prizes. Ulli and Nev were battling it out with few points to split them in the shifty conditions. There was little gap from the front of the fleet to the back with everyone having really good racing.
The weekend ended with a barbecue on the club lawn and prizes. Megan won the event, Ulli held onto 2nd and Nev picked up his first major podium in 3rd. John Patrick won the Irish National trophy in 7th. Georgina Griffin was first Irish disabled in a hotly contested battle. Gina is also off to compete for Ireland at the Disabled World Championships later in the year.
The fleet had a great time at Carrickfergus SC, true Irish hospitality and a perfect piece of sailing water. Thanks to everyone who volunteered for the event, definitely one of the best venues I’ve been to in a long time. Now with the inauguration of an Irish class association 2019 Nationals look like being held in Kinsale.
Overall Results:
Pos
Sail No
Helm
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
Pts
1st
GBR 163
Megan Pascoe
‑1
1
1
1
1
1
5
2nd
GER 6
Ulli Libor
2
3
‑4
2
3
2
12
3rd
GBR 144
Nev Millard
‑7
2
2
4
2
3
13
4th
GBR 143
Kate Hedley
3
‑5
5
3
5
4.5
20.5
5th
GBR 159
Steve Bullmore
4
4
‑6
5
4
4.5
21.5
6th
GBR 155
Adam Bilany
5
‑7
3
6
7
6
27
7th
GBR 121
John Patrick
6
‑8
7
7
8
8
36
8th
GBR 161
Jonny Barker
10
6
10
‑13
6
7
39
9th
SWE 315
Kevin Conway
8
10
9
8
9
‑13
44
10th
IRL 906
Georgina Griffin
‑14
13
8
10
12
11
54
11th
IRL 906
Judy Moynihan
9
‑15
14
9
13
9
54
12th
GBR 30
Garry Crothers
‑13
12
12
11
10
10
55
13th
GBR 137
Kerry Mussen
15
9
13
12
14
(DNS)
63
14th
IRL 601
Patrick Hassett
12
14
‑15
14
11
12
63
15th
GBR 54
Jonny Harvey
11
11
11
(DNC)
DNC
DNC
69
16th
GBR 695
Sean McCullagh
‑17
16
16
15
15
14
76
17th
IRL 1
Shane Barker
16
‑17
17
16
16
15
80
Nick Evans Euros Blog
Unfortunately, we lost two training days because of too much wind. Instead, we did lots of theory and fitness training, including a 5km run, stretches/yoga and swimming. We did go out on the last day of training and tried to get used to the wavy, choppy and tidal conditions. The waves were especially big that day, following the storms of the previous days. Not only was it hard to get good boat speed but there was lots of tide.
The next day (Sunday) was one of the best, even though we didn’t sail. We saw the finish of the Volvo Ocean Race and Dongfeng winning by a tight margin. We could see the boats from miles away as they were huge. Later in the week, we were lucky enough to sail beside some of the VOR boats while we launched and came back in.
And now to the racing: it was really, really tough! Every boat there had incredible speed and tactics. On the first day, the lightest day, I got a 30th and 50th, so a solid start. On the next day which was the longest day (we got back in at 7.30pm having launched at 10 am) we did three races and I got 52nd, 19th and 37th, which I was pleased with. On the third day, the final day of qualifying racing I got a 38th and a 14th, a good finish to the series putting me in 66th overall (out of 150 boats) and in Gold, so I was really pleased.
On the fourth day of racing there was 14 knots and sun, perfect sailing conditions. I got a 44th and 69th an okay start to Gold fleet. We only did one race on the final day of racing and I finished 60th which I was disappointed with, as at one stage I was coming 40th but then I missed a shift and lost 20 places so quickly. At the end of the event, I finished 67th – and 55th European!!
Overall the team did really well. Six of us made it to Gold fleet which everyone says is a great achievement. It was an amazing experience. Tough but exciting racing in which I learnt a lot. I also met loads of sailors from some of the 44 countries represented at the event. I want to thank Allen for the great blocks, especially the new AutoRatchet, my parents for giving me the opportunity and my head teacher for giving me the time off school.
Christmas Opening Hours
Please be advised that Allen Brothers will close at 15:00 on 20th December and reopen on 6th January.
Orders placed during this period will be processed upon our return.
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
