Round the island
After doing a little bit of sailing I've seen one or two yachts but the Farr 45 was something totally different. Stepping down below I saw that it was stripped to the bare hull inside. Two guys were jacking up the mast and putting spacers below it in order to change the sail profile. The head consisted of a bucket, sails filled up most of the space below decks and each crewmember is allocated a tiny locker for their stuff. Gin and tonic sailing it was not.We had been invited by Volvo to join them on the annual round the island race. They took us out on the Saturday to get the newbies like us used to the boat and make sure we knew how to keep out of the way while they got on with the real sailing. It was the following morning at oh Christ hundred hours when we were among the first boats to leave port. In the freezing grey dawn, the fog made life slightly more interesting as we tacked back and forth just short of the start line. We were in the first group to start, and as the boats gathered, it grew more and more chaotic. The skipper was very experienced, and I couldn't believe just how late the crew were leaving it before tacking - we came within a few feet of boats, and there were lots of shouts of 'starboard!'.
The first leg to the needles was upwind, so there was a lot of clambering up or down the deck which was heeling at a crazy angle. By the time we got to the needlers the field had thinned somewhat and the sun had come out. Past the needles and we hit the Atlantic swell, which soon took its toll on Aurora who due to a medical condition (ahem) was not able to take the seasickness tablets I had been gobbling. Only those who have experienced seasickness know how miserable it is. Knowing that there is no respite for another 5 hours is not much fun. In the mean time I was having a whale of a time - getting a workout flying the spinnaker, and we managed about 20 knots at one point which is pretty quick.
The crew had noticed the rip in the main when we went round the needles. The sail costs some obscene amount of money, but because it's basically made of kevlar and plastic, although it's very light, it doesn't last more than a few races, and because you can't reef it, when the wind picks up all you can do is flatten it with the hand-operated hydraulic pump which tightens the backhaul.
They readied the trysail (the only other main on board) but luckily the sail held all the way home, and we finished 16th out of 1600.
