JOG St Peter Port Race
by Peter Cover 30 Aug 2017 23:51 PDT
25-26 August 2017
Crews were studying forecasts all week before the first start at 19:00 on Friday 25th August for the traditional JOG race to ever-popular St Peter Port. Only the very optimistic could have predicted anything but a slow race with the channel in the middle of a high pressure area across the bank holiday weekend.
Despite this 23 boats were on the JOG Cowes line and the race officers wisely switched to east out of the Solent with the tide due to change to east-going shortly thereafter. It was a beautiful warm evening as the four classes made good progress under spinnakers to the forts then onto Bembridge Ledge.
Then the big slow set in as the fleet made headway against the new tide although remarkable progress was made by some who managed more easily than others to get away from the south side of the island. At this stage a few opted for retirement but others had a stunning night's light air sail with breeze seeming to range from 4 to 10 knots on a very close reach to the shipping lanes. Not the best place for the breeze to switch off but generally forward momentum continued for those pressing on.
Front-runners got to the Casquets around early evening on Saturday and accelerated into the south going tide towards Guernsey where the tide turned against in the Little Russell. When it turns it really turns around there so anchors were deployed although not all were recovered despite best efforts!
Sadly the drinks do and prizes at the Guernsey Yacht Club had long gone and Jangada the first finisher crossed the line off Castle Cornet at 22:43 on Saturday night after a mere 27 hours and 13 minutes. The remaining finishers were in by 01:50 on Sunday morning and were rewarded with a night's sleep and breakfast in St Peter Port.
A big well done to the boats that made it – great skills and perseverance especially the two-handers.
Race reports are on the JOG website, www.jog.org.uk for those with an appetite for more coverage!
Overall Results:
Class 3
1st Prime Suspect, Mills 36, Andy Hill
2nd J Fever, J 120, Tim and Frances Lester
3rd Assassin, Prima 38, Mark Brown and Justin Leese
Class 4
1st Jangada, JPK 1010, Richard Palmer
2nd Arcsine, Arcona 370, Kathy Claydon
Class 5
1st Longue Pierre, Dehler 38, David Cooper & Paul England
2nd Double Trouble, SJ320, David Thompson
Class 6
No finishers
Double-Handed
1st Double Trouble, SJ320, David Thompson
2nd Arcsine, Arcona 37, Kathy Claydon
Next JOG event:
Cowes-Poole via St Cats Saturday 9th Sept and Poole-Cowes Sunday 10th Sept.
Please contact the secretary if you have any questions about the route into racing with JOG.
www.jog.org.uk