Falmouth – Cascais 18 August 2004

At a magnificent dinner held in Cascais on the night of, Tuesday 24th August and sponsored by Dom Pedro Hotels, Jean-Philippe Chomette’s prototype SOLUNE received the Lekeitio Cup for Best Corrected Time in the Cascais race.

The RORC fleet had left Falmouth on Wednesday 18 August setting out into what was to be a tough race with strong winds through the Bay of Biscay.   

Jean-Philippe Chomette commenting on the race said “We had very strong winds which were gusting 30 knots before the Lizard we were going to the west to find the end of depression.  What was interesting was that at the Scillies we had 2 hours of no wind, sitting in the middle of the depression not knowing where the wind was coming from.  We had a lot of waves and it was very uncomfortable.  I think we were the most western of all boats as we are a lot faster and we wanted to control the right side of course.

Once we passed the centre of the depression and at the Scillies we started heading 210/ 215 with the course 205.  We were hoping that the wind would keep on going right so that we would be a little less upwind and find the right route.  We put the gennaker up and that is when we started planning and going much faster.  We kept the gennaker until midway between Ushant and Finisterre.  We were 350 miles into the race still under gennaker with a barber hauler, off the wind and fast. The wind was 250, 260, 270 so it was gennaker all the way to Finisterre. The wind backed and there was a lot of it so we were fairly fast.  We put the spinnaker up 150 miles before the line.  We never had less than 12 knots of wind except for the eye of the depression where there was nothing.  Over the course of the race there was a 180 degree wind shift; at start it was almost due south and at finish almost due north. It was tricky near the finishing line with wind shifts which were bigger than we expected.”

For the rest of the fleet there were many frustrations especially for those caught in the wind gate off Cape Finisterre which saw some of the them parked up for 24 hours.
It was a race which required stamina in the strong winds and big seas or deep concentration in the in light and fickle winds.  Gear failure added to the difficulties for some.

Solune was the first boat home arriving on Saturday 21st at 1208 with the fleet spread out over the next four days.   The 2 handed, Sweden C38, Equilibrium finished at 1741 on Tuesday 24th just in time for the prizegiving.  Looking remarkably fresh when the arrived Graham Whitehouse said that when conditions had allowed they had managed to shower and shave!  This had certainly not been the case on the Mountgay 30, Hot Doris (Dominic Hurndall), as the crew described doing 18 knots just before the finish and feeling that we were on a submarine.  “Very wet” was a description used by many. 

Arriving in Cascais competitors were delighted to find a 24 hour beer tent, again sponsored by Dom Pedro Hotels.  Local assistance from the Clube Naval de Cascais and the marina was much appreciated.  In particular, Luis Serpa of Make Fast, became the “Mr Fixit” of the event arranging everything from gear repairs, to rounds of golf for those who stayed to enjoyed the location. 

Jean-Philippe Chomette said at the prizegiving that he would like to see the race become a “classic” in the alternative years to the Rolex Fastnet.  He thought that for people on their way to the Rolex Middle Race and the Med it would be a natural way to go.

The Manager of the Dom Pedro Hotel, Lisbon, confirmed he would be happy to support the race again.

Although the fleet had spread out along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts after the varying conditions through the Bay of Biscay, there was still a close battle between Groupe Partouche, Christophe Coatnoan’s A 40 and Cutting Edge, R Lutener / P James / M Elwood’s Mills 3, with only 13 minutes separating the 2 yachts after 740 miles of racing.  On the water Groupe Partouche lead in at 10:35 on the 23rd ahead of Cutting Edge at 10:48.  Cutting Edge’s lower TCC would however place them above Groupe Partouche on corrected time.

Nearing the finish almost all the yachts found the same conditions as Solune, giving their ETA to the finish to Ocean One from 5 miles off, only to find a “Black hole” just around the corner.  Even Hot Doris , finishing in a gale, and having just reefed found the “Black hole” still existed, bringing them almost to a standstill, before punching back out into the tempest.

As Monday evening approached 4 boats were still to finish and the questions were being asked by the race team as to where they were and when would they reach Cascais?  A chance meeting with Joaquim Manuel Conde Marques da Silva, the local RORC Ratings representative would solve the problem.  He suggested contacting Lisbon Radio and asking them to transmit on VHF to the remaining yachts to report their positions.  This he kindly arranged and within a few hours the information was passed to the race team.

Falmouth to Cascais Race Weather Summary

Starting on Wednesday 18th August, the fleet were between two low pressure systems giving them SW force 5-6 headwinds as they set off for the first passing point of Ushant.  Beating through big seas progress was to be wet and uncomfortable for the smaller yachts in the fleet, however Solune would revel in the conditions.

By 19th August Solune had made their way into the Bay of Biscay where they were enjoying the 22kt wind from the south west.  The rest of the fleet were still battling the heavy seas to round Ushant.

With the depression moving NE the front runners were able to take advantage of the 25kt NE as they reached Finisterre as the tail end of Hurricane Charlie compressed the Azores High on Friday 20th August.  For those further back in the Bay of Biscay they would find that the weather was about to change from one extreme to another.

A very light southerly breeze from the south would greet the slower yachts as they approached Finisterre on the 21st, with the occasional large ‘hole’.  At least the sun would come out!  Once round Finisterre the fleet should have encountered the seasonal northerly breeze which generally builds as they progress down the coast, however this year would prove to be a different case.  Those at the back would find themselves with a headwind nearly all the way to the finish.

Just to add even more frustration for the competitors they would find a ‘Black Hole’ 3 miles short of the finish.  This was even evident during the early hours of Monday

Trophy Winners

Lekeito Cup – BCT IRC SOLUNE Jean-Philippe Chomette

RORC Medallion – IRC Super Zero SOLUNE Jean-Philippe Chomette

Gordon Greville Trophy – IRC Zero JAZZ Chris Bull

Henage Ogilvie – IRC 1 LONGBOW Anderson/Smith ASA

Gay Gannet – IRC 2  HOT DORIS  Dominic Hurndall

Sawyer-Guillois – IRC 3 DOMAINE Chris Burbidge

Rebel Maid Trophy – BCT IRM  BOUNDER C G Little

Brunskill Trophy – 2 Handed Division   EQUILIBRIUM     Graham Whitehouse & David Mitchener

Adrian Mencarelli Memorial Trophy –     1st Boat Home    SOLUNE Jean-Philippe Chomette

Seahorse Division  SPIRIT OF MERTICE Formula 1 Sailing