2 Peaks done, but out of the race, beaten by the weather...

Report by Huw Williams, Co-Skipper, 23rd June 2006

The moment of truth came on Monday evening, 20 miles off the Mull of Galloway, when the beep of the navtex indicated that Gale Force 8 winds were imminent. Faced with the prospoect of being caught out on open waters, in high winds and rough seas we decided to head back for the shelter of Whitehaven. This was particularly gauling given that our Skafell runners Dave and Jeremy had put in a spectacular time for the run/cycle, second fastest overall we believe, pushing us up the leaderboard.... This moment seemed so far away from the start in Barmouth in balmy sunshine and glassy seas.........

Barmouth to Caernarfon and Snowdon

Laura crossed the start line in good order, however light winds forced crews, including Laura, to take to their oars, searching for wind further out. The race flotilla soon split as the racing type yachts with experienced crews found wind sooner and took off for Bardsey Sound. By the time Laura was under sail the race leaders - Vlad, Leopard and Abbeydale were disappearing into the distance.

We cleared Bardsey Sound, against the main tidal flow by using a back eddy close to the mainland shore. Once clear of the tidal race entering the sound, our Snowdon runners Richard and Andrew took to their bunks and we raised our cruising chute and headed out looking for more wind. However, boats taking a line closer to shore picked up more wind and less tidal flow, allowing 3 boats past us in the night sail to Caernarfon Bar. With the light southerly winds, boats with spinnakers (Laura did not have one) had a clear advantage.

We entered Caernarfon Bar at 12.30 and were able to pull up to the jetty in Caernarfon in the eary hours of the morning, dropping off our Snowdon runners, Dick and Andrew . At this point we should mention that during the previous week, Dick had severely dislocated his shoulder after crashing his cycle in the French Alps. After considering pulling out of the race altogether, he bravely decided to continue on with his shoulder strapped up and a cocktail of painkillers. Jen (Halse) and Rachael (Moore) were a welcome sight for the boys in Llanberis with hot tea and cake . Andrew and Dick put in a valliant effort in dark wet and windy conditions and got back to Laura in just over 8 hours. During the night the myself, Jeremy and Dave, the remaining crew on Laura, did not get much sleep either, having to rellocate anchorage twice after dragging in the heavy tidal flow of the straights, with only one bump with a neighbouring vessel. Luckily the fenders were still out on the right side!

Caernarfon to Whitehaven and Skafell Pike

After a brief grounding on route from Caernarfon to Menai under sail (sorry Dick) , Laura navigated the fast tidal flow of the swellies, at about 13.30 on Sunday afternoon, maintaining steerage using the oarpower of Jeremy and Dave. On our way out we passed 'Journey Maker' who had run aground just off Caernarfon - where we nearly did on one of our training runs. The Williams family showed up in force to provide some cheerleeding, following Laura down the straights. Following broaching in heavy gusts off Puffin Island we reefed sails and prepared for a 80 mile long haul over the Irish Sea to Whitehaven. 20-28Knt (F6-7) winds and heavy following seas made for an uncomfortable ride, surfing down long rollers in the night.

Late in the evening the Skafell runners, Jeremy and Dave tried to put their heads down for some sleep, leaving myself, Dick and Andrew to maintain course at a steady 7-8 Knts, past Gas platforms and the occasional ship. Andrew proved to be invaluable with his willingness to man the rockin' & rollin' galley and provide hot food and drinks through the night. No one starved on this trip, thats for certain. St Bees Head lighthouse took an eternity to pass on the starboard beam. Sleep deprivation was taking its toll with Dick and me taking turns on the wheel and we were glad to enter the sea lock in Whitehaven to drop our Skafell Pike runners at approx 4am. Jenny (Stain), Rachel and Anite were on hand with hot tea and the bikes, as this part of the race involved a 32mile cycle and 20mile run!

The weather in the mountains was awfull, with low cload and rain. Despite this Dave and Jeremy kept the pace up and managed to overtake a few other teams including our friends from Huckleberry Friend, and put in a time of approx 10 hours - amongst the best for this race. Well done lads! Other teams had now been encountering difficulties with hypothermia and exhaustion, including the team from the Army, which had already pulled out..

During this time, Dick, Andrew and myself were busy catching up on sleep, preparing the boat for sea again and anxiously looking for up-to-date weather forceasts. Neil Rothwell provided some excellent backup with intenet weather forecasts from home.

Whitehaven to Mull of Galloway

On a forecast of force 4-5 increasing to 6-7 Laura set sail fromWhitehaven on Monday afternoon at approx 2.30pm, following a wait of 45mins for sufficient depth of water to exit the harbour.

The wind had shifted from the south to the west - right on the nose, forcing us to beat into the wind towards the Mull of Galloway. Tacking between the shoreline of South West Scotland and the north coast of the Isle of Man we heading into heavy swells, with the toe rail constantly in the water. At about 21:00 we were alerted by navtex of the deteriorating weather conditions approaching the Irish sea and Malin sea areas and with Gale Force 8 imminent, we had a quick pow wow, weighed up the situation and took the difficult decision to head back for Whitehaven.

Ironically as soon as the decision was made, winds died down, and visibility cleared for a beautifull evening making us wonder if we had made the right decision. We entered Whitehaven harbour again at 3am on Tuesday 20th June, glad of the opportunity for more rest.

We awoke later on Tuesday morning to high winds in the harbour and forecasts of continuing Gale Force 8 and 9 and occasional Storm Force 10 winds for the following 2 days in sea area Malin, fully vindicating our skippers decision to return. We would not have wanted to be out in those potentially life threatening conditions, in an area of coastline notorious for fast tidal streams, few safe ports and in high winds and 6m seas. We decided to retire from the race, knowing it would be unlikely that we would have time to complete the course before the deadline of Saturday, even if we waited for the weather to abate.

In the 29 year history of the race, this year had the highest drop out rate due to weather, with only 9 of the 22 race starters making it all the way to Fort William. Of the three boats that left just before us on Tuesday, Pagets Lady put into Bangour habour in Northern Ireland, now retired. Indian Summer put into the safety of Port Patrick, just north of the Mull of Galloway and made a last minute dash to Fort William, the only cruising type boat to finish, and Journey Maker had a hell of a trip racing ahead of the storm, at speeds in double figures, being knocked down twice in the gulf of corryvrekkan and made Fort William just before the really high winds struck. Magnificent stuff!

Many lessons have been learned on our first attempt at this race. There is always next year.....Dick?