ROLEX FASTNET 2005 RACE Campaign - Summer 2005

Below is the daily log written by the crew, starting on the 7th August 2005. Northern Child is offering individual berths again on the Fastnet 2007, so please contact us should you wish to receive further information.

Northern Child's Fastnet daily log - 7th August 2005

Here's our first Fastnet log from Northern Child; we guess we should set the record straight and say that the views contained within are those of the crew and not the skipper, that's because he is now tied up in the galley. The experiences of today got too much for him and so for his own safety we put him to cooking us all dinner....!

Our day started with waking up to some fantastic blue skies and an unexpected northerly wind. Most of us had a shower followed by a good English breakfast and we managed to slip our berth at 09.30 and headed out into a calm Solent day. The first thing we had to do was to head to the identification gate with our storm sails set to prove to the organisers that the boats are well set up for the race. It is sobering to think that 25 years ago on this race some 23 people lost their lives in the Irish Sea - this is it, the big one, we're not practising anymore.

Having discussed our tactics for the start we sailed along the start line to watch the earlier class starts and to see what everyone else was doing; as we suspected, they all did much the same as we were thinking which totally screwed up our ideas because with so many boats in one area there was insufficient room to get the position we wanted to be in! In the end our timing over the line was cautious but respectable and we headed down the right hand side of the west Solent trying to avoid the adverse tide...the theory worked and at this stage we felt pretty pleased with ourselves. We were flying our big yellow and blue light spinnaker in very hot weather surrounded by about 250 other Fastnet Race boats, a bevy of spectator craft and helicopters overhead.

On the first part of the route out of the Solent we had the delight of being passed by the Class zero boats which are in essence hugely expensive, very light boats which are very, very fast and so don't take long to get past us. You can imagine a chuckle or two when one split his hugely expensive spinnaker right down the middle having just overtaken us.

As we approach Hurst at the western end of the Solent the fleet got closer together as we went through the restricted entrance, half of the fleet deciding to go for the northern channel (right turn) and half going straight on...inevitably the guys on the left wanted to turn right and the guys on the right wanted to go straight on...a bit like a Sunday afternoon drive the wrong way round the M25.

Little did we know but our poor skipper was about to loose it. Our course of going straight on gave us the benefit of the tide but the wind disappeared completely and as a consequence the tide started sweeping us onto the shingles bank; despite us facing and sailing slowly in one direction, east, we were travelling in a competently opposite direction! Despite the navigator, (Mike) giving assurances and the rest of the crew feeding the skipper tablets, the poor chap couldn't work out why we had chosen to attempt this tricky manoeuvre of reversing over the shingles bank as a party piece before continuing with the race. However, our trick was completed with 0.9 metres of depth to spare and we were able to carry on with our scheduled race.

Our course set us out on a south-south west direction to allow the west bound tide to carry us in the desired direction while getting us off shore to pick up the winds. Well, that's our cunning plan anyway. Lynn made a great contribution at this time while helming and totally confused the whole fleet with her tactic of ensuring that nobody knew where we were heading (as a matter of fact neither did we), and eventually we had to ask her to sit in a dark cabin on her own whilst a more experienced member of the crew re- established our general and correct direction of sailing.

ailing a boat on the Fastnet is a 24 hour a day experience and so we have to work in watches; we have been split into two watches who work in a rota system of 6 hours on, 6 hours off in the day, and 4 on and 4 off during the night. A typical watch would be 12 mid day to 6 PM on, followed by a rest from 6 pm to 10 pm , back on watch from 10 to 2am and back off from 2 to 6am and then the whole process continues.

The 2 watches are as follows:

Skipper/cook: Julian – floating - Navigator: Mike- floating

As I finish editing this log (the Skipper writes) dinner has finished and we are settling in for the first night watch taken by team Bravo. It's a beautiful evening with predominantly calm seas, a light to moderate breeze and the sun going down in the west in a clear blue sky. We are about 20 miles off Portland Bill heading south - west at six knots. This is not our optimum course but our cunning plan has got things well under control. Something about an expected wind shift!

That's it for now - we will keep you updated on our progress tomorrow.

Log Update, Northern Child, 0730BST Monday 8th August

If you are now at work, staring at your computer screen or being shouted at by the boss, let me cheer you up by saying that it's been a great night's progress for your friends or loved ones on board Northern Child.

I left you last night as the sun was setting in the west, a beautiful fiery orange sunset reflecting on a layer of cloud way out in the distance. The night passed dry and not too chilly with the wind steadily veering around to the north-west, allowing us to come up onto our correct course out to the west of England . By dawn it had veered all the way around to the north and north east and the call came from the on-deck brain team of John and Jim for the American Spi. This is our running spinnaker and needs 4 or 5 people to keep trimming it, and of course there had to be a sting in the tail – there was: their watch was going off for a sleep for 6 hours, leaving Peewee, Ethan, Lynn, Tina, Trevor and Gavin to play on deck whilst still half asleep from getting up! 

But what a dawn - we are running on a pretty flat sea with about 16 knots of wind from behind with the spinnaker up, the sun starting to warm us all up and the coast of Devon away in the distance on our starboard or right hand side. A master class in spinnaker trim has now been conducted and I leave the boat in the very capable hands of Lynn trimming the spi, Tina on guy and Ethan driving. Mike the nav and Jim's watch are fast asleep so time for me to catch up on some zzzzed's as well. A Bientot, the Skipper.

Log for Northern Child for Monday the 8th of August 2005 - 8pm

The weather and sailing today have been absolutely beautiful. Our speed over the ground has been as high as 9.3 knots and down to a very leisurely speed, in fact the speed was so leisurely that we adopted an America's Cup tactic of getting cheese, biscuits and wine on deck for an early happy hour.

At the time of writing this log we have a last few miles to make to Lands End prior to setting out across the Irish Sea to the Fastnet Rock. This is a critical moment for all board: will we make it or will be kedging until either the wind builds or the tide changes in 6 hours time, (more in part three as they say on TV). The sailing is great - light winds, verging on no wind at all, with flat seas and the great scenery of Land's End and the Liz ard away to our starboard side.

Having sailed for a lot of the day in relative solitary splendour, we are now surrounded by other yachts from the Fastnet Fleet. We think our progress has been okay relative to the competition, as at 18.00 we were very close to "Hope and Glory" which is an ex Admirals Cup boat who owes us quite a lot of time on Handicap. We are not great in light airs as we are some 22 tons in weight, Northern Child now being 21 years old. However, at present we are surrounded by much lighter boats so we are pleased. If you are looking at the RORC website our most immediate competition in terms of type of boat are our sistership, the Swan 51 Grandee GBR 1303 who owe us a little time, the swan 53 Lutine GBR809 who we owe a little time to and the two Army Nicholson 55's, Dasher and the Army Air corps boat who we also owe a little time to, even though the last three are bigger than us. Although a new boat and lighter than us the Trintella 50 Valour AUS 52510 is also interesting to look at as they have exactly the same handicap at 1.100 as ourselves.

We are about to end a fantastic day with clear skies in which the spinnaker has been flying for most of the time with some dinner and onto the night watch system with team "A" who have started their evening watch with a number one Genoa up. We are in the process of changing back to the spinnaker; Tina is helping in the galley and the chilli is on the stove so there is no rest for the wicked. It will be a busy night of tactical sailing against the rest of the boats around us, trying to optimise our speed and direction in ever changing wind strengths and direction. Nothing stays the same for long and sail changes are frequent, noisy and never ending! The forecast for the next 24 hours is light winds as the high pressure over Ireland intensifies and by the time we send tomorrow morning's log we will be tired and frustrated but hopefully a bit closer to the rock! A bientot, the Skipper and Mike.

Daily Log Northern Child – 9th August - 1000 Hours Middle of the Irish Sea

A guest log appearance from Hans, our Swiss crewman:

Weather: tropical sunset, starry night but rather fresh, nice morning with a few streaky clouds and sunny but not as hot as yesterday. Wind from the NNE, 4-10 knots (not very much) and a flat sea with a small Atlantic swell.

Last evening was a suspense party. Would we clear Land's End and dive west into the Celtic Sea before the tide turns, or would a foul tide drag us back into " Mounts Bay " and into the English Channel ? Would we be driven back east for 6 hours or could we make it for a clean tack towards our goal, the famous "Fastnet Rock" and lighthouse at the south-eastern tip of Ireland ?

We worked very hard changing sails with every wind shift at least 3 times in the last half hour surrounded by many other becalmed yachts. Finally at 21.25 hours, a few minutes before the tide would definitely turn against us, we slipped past Land's End headland into the Celtic Sea . We made it with a few other boats, leaving behind many less fortunate!

Now everything is good: a fine night's sail with genoa at medium speed and stars to guide our course; a good sleep for all (off watch), and a classic dawn with a rising sun slowly warming our stiff limbs. We are surrounded by a dozen other yachts in rather light winds and all are sailing smoothly but only at 3-6 knots towards our ROCK which we hope to reach sometime this night.

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you that a school of grey dolphins greeted us good day after breakfast. Hans

Daily Log Northern Child 9th August 2005

With Wolf rock light house on our left we safely crossed the traffic separation scheme which is in effect a one way system round the Scilly Isles, and set out with hope and excitement for a good crossing to the Rock.

The wind stayed good for us and by 06.00hrs we had sailed 60 miles out into the Celtic Sea and were still making a good pace at 6.6 knots speed over the ground and maintaining our position on our planned path, a course of 300 degrees which is the rhumb line to the Fastnet rock.

During the night we got involved in some choreographed moves with a fishing vessel when we couldn't quite make out what he was doing and every time we changed course he seemed to match it; Everyone blamed the helm who happened to be Ethan at the time.

However by about 10 in the morning our good progress was nearing an end, the winds lightened significantly to as low as 3 or 4 knots true and our 20 tonne boat was well on the way to grinding to a halt with the rest of the fleet. Our disappointment with the wind was alleviated by the fantastic scene of 50 or more dolphins swimming towards the boat at a tremendous rate. Clearly the boat was some amusement to them as they swam alongside and under the bow for 10 minutes or so before moving on to attack some innocent shoal of fish.

At 17.30, (the time of writing the log) we are making just 3.5 knots in slightly the wrong direction, with the prospect of the wind going to the north-west which will make our current course un-sailable. We still have just over 60 miles to go to the rock so it probably won't be until tomorrow morning that we finally round the rock. Just to tease us we heard that the first of the big racing yachts has finished and is tied up alongside in Plymouth ; our only consolation on this point is knowing that they will have an incredibly lonely and quiet party in Plymouth as most of the fleet is still with us or behind us.

We have beer and curry for tea tonight and more tales to follow tomorrow. We have been asked to say something very complimentary about Gavin in the log; he is obviously a key member of the crew and we don't know how we would have got this far without him, etc etc.  Mike, the skipper and the crew

PS : Woo woo say whoof to lizzie.

Daily Log Update Northern Child Wednesday 10th August 0945BST

BECALMED! We slowly inched our way up to the Rock overnight until by 0800 we were some 12 miles from the Rock. The wind has now died away completely leaving a mirror like surface on the sea and we are drifting at half a knot away from the Rock!

We have the Irish coastline away on our right hand side and have been visited by quite a few Pilot whales during the morning. We will keep you posted, but at the moment our ETA is around about Christmas - 2006! Bacon rolls care of Tina and Gavin are coming out of the galley to aid us in our hour of need ....

Northern Child Daily Log 10th August 2005

Today has been a day of mixed emotions; some disappointment, lots of good sailing and some opportunities to see some of the wonders of nature.

It would have been a distinct advantage to have had David Attenborough with us today; Today has been named Safari Day by Polly. This morning we saw our almost customary gathering of Dolphins, followed by the appearance of a seal that was obviously confused and was not sure whether he should be defensive or inquisitive! He stayed with us for about 5 minutes looking at us looking at him.

Later we saw a huge shoal of fish swimming in and "on" the water making a great noise, but our undoubted number one "natural world" experience was seeing a number of whales going about their business of the day. During the morning the sea was absolutely flat calm and we saw numerous pilot waves going about their business in the middle distance.

Regretfully, the morning failed to reward the huge effort of the crew during the night and chose to completely deny us any possibility of forward motion and we bobbed around aimlessly while scratching our heads, (which might have looked like sunbathing and reading books to the untrained sailor), for ideas about how to make a 20 tonne boat go forward with no wind and without the aid of the internal combustion engine. So determined were some of the crew that they actually closed their eyes as a result of the intensity of their thinking!

"Good things come to all those who wait" and fortunately the old saying came good and provided us with progressively increasing wind by lunchtime. Just as the prospect of seeing the Fastnet rock was about to turn into a reality we were consumed by a fog bank! On went the radar and we ploughed on in nil visibility. In just as few minutes the fog disappeared as quickly as it had arrived and the Fastnet Rock appeared before our eyes - what a great sight it was, not because of its geologically stunning presence or the aging appearance of the buildings, nor the spectacular backdrop which was provided by Eire, but because we had all worked so hard to reach this great land mark and turning point of the course.

At 14.18 and 50 seconds John helmed the boat around the rock and Mike radioed in to race control to confirm that we were in a position due north of the rock, we had made it! With the lighthouse abeam we tacked round onto close hauled in a fresh and building wind which was to take us to the wing mark designed to separate the incoming and outgoing parts of the fleet before heading back across the Celtic sea. At 15.15 we turned the mark, set a course of 135 degrees and hoisted the spinnaker for a run back to the southern boundaries of the Scilly isles.  It had been pretty good crew work all round during the last few hours and we feel pretty satisfied.

We have been neck and neck racing for the last 8 hours with the new Swan 46 Lowly Worm, although we think that is a stupid name and have re-christened her Wriggly Worm. Brand new this year we do owe her some time on handicap, but she is roughly the same size as us, 20 years younger than us and much lighter which has been an advantage in these light winds: we think she should be ahead of us! Last time we saw her was off the coast of the Liz ard where again we were neck and neck.

With the wind just 10 degrees off our starboard quarter (right hand part of the blunt end of the boat), we entered into a debate as to "do we hold a course tight to the rhumb line(straight line between two points)" or "do we go high and take the advantage of extra speed?" Our decision made we set about making it happen, (we can only tell you tomorrow once we know the outcome whether we made the right decision!). We are now sailing as close as we can to the rhumb line between the Fastnet Rock and the Isles of Scilly and Lowly Worm is still away on our starboard side.

Back to whales; we have just spotted three huge whales breaking the surface, repeatedly blowing and diving away on our starboard side. The incredible thing is that all of the natural spectacles of the day were practically on our doorstep! (Except our American and Swiss crew mates)

The day started with frustration and as we go into the evening we have some fantastic sailing under spinnaker ahead of us. Dinner tonight is Jill's meat stew, (for clarity Jill made it, she's not in it!), and the Alfa crew has just started their watch until 22.00hours. We have 120 miles still to go to the west side of the Scillies and the forecast for tonight is for the wind to drop, so progress by tomorrow morning could be slight....

Our navigator, Mike, tells us that we will be in Plymouth during the early hours of Friday - if only!

Mike, the skipper and crew

Ship's Log Northern Child 11th August 2005

We have had a really fantastic 24 hours sailing since we wrote our last log. Fortunes have been mixed and at times the sailing and weather has been so perfect that we have felt like it is a high speed cruise of the western approaches rather than the Fastnet Race. But it has been perfect sailing conditions.

Overnight the wind died a little and we struggled to make good progress in the small hours. Down to four knots at times, we did however manage to keep going and have not been becalmed unlike on the route out to the Rock. We managed to have a reasonable gybe angle on our next mark, Bishop's Rock and so ran the straight and shortest line to the Silly Islands . Even though it is good weather, even though we are down wind and therefore you don't feel much breeze on you, even though it was a dry night, even though she had every layer on that she has on board, Polly was still cold! We reckon she would be cold in the Caribbean ....

During the morning the breeze picked up a bit and as we closed in on the turning mark at Bishop's Rock the fleet started to appear out of the distance. Lowly, wriggly Worm had managed to sneak slightly ahead in the light airs but we are still in sight of each other after 500 miles. Hope and Glory, who were with us off Land's End on the way out, are alongside us again.

We definitely feel that we are on the homeward leg and our thoughts are turning to our arrival in Plymouth . We have a good forecast for the rest of the race into the finish; a bit light but at least we should be able to hold a spinnaker all the way in. We are pretty close to the time we took to do the race in 2003, but we feel that with the good forecast for the next 12 hours we should be able to take a couple of hours off our previous time.

Today has been a big washing, showering and shaving day as the crew get prepped for Plymouth ! Having left Cowes with the water tanks nearly empty we run the watermaker every day to fill the tanks - it produces roughly 35 litres an hour and it is a joy to be able to replenish our fresh water supplies and not worry about what we are using.

Today has been John's birthday; suitably celebrated with a cake baked by Polly and with presents wrapped in newspaper held together with wool used for packing the spinnakers it was an event not to be missed - not that we had much choice, all being held captive on a 50 foot Swan! 

Now we are back in mobile phone range every spare electrical socket is being used to charge mobiles and Gavin has won the prize for silliest phone ringing tone; as you can imagine, phones keep on going off all the time all over the boat. Sometimes technology might not be the blessing we think it is.

As we finish writing this it is 6 in the evening and we are midway between the Scillies and the Liz ard. It is a great evening with sunshine and blue sky as far as we can see. There is a procession of boats ahead and behind us all with various coloured spinnakers up. Peewee and Polly are in the galley dreaming up dinner for us and the rum and cokes are heading out on deck, Ethan's driving and Trevor, Hans and Tina are trimming the spinnaker. We have had the red, white and blue spi up for over 30 hours now in excellent weather and all are enjoying the experience. There is conversation, banter and laughter all over the boat, it's amazing, but we still all like each other!

Frank Sinatra is on the stereo and the dinner is smelling good. Life's pretty good out here, the only downside being that our arrival time in Plymouth is currently scheduled for about 3 in the morning... based on two years ago, we reckon that the beer tent is a 24 hour operation so we will do the best we can to celebrate our arrival.

Daily Log Northern Child Saturday 13th August 2005

We finally crossed the line at about 0310 on Friday morning - what a great feeling and what a finish!

Our last leg from the Liz ard of 45 miles to the finish off Plymouth breakwater meant that we had to turn slightly to port and harden up with the wind coming on the beam, right on the edge of being able to fly the spinnaker. Perfect conditions - the moon out on a flat sea with 15 knots coming over the beam; the watch on deck really having to work hard to keep the spi flying - good trim equals good boat speed equals getting to the bar quicker! Even Simon and Gavin could appreciate and understand that! By this stage of the game everyone's pretty tired, but excited too - Tina was mistaken for John in the dark!

As we passed Eddystone lighthouse the lights of Plymouth were visible on the bow. We had two boats close behind, real close and we were determined to hold them off to the finish. The spi came down and a quick double headsail change for the last 2 miles to the finish. We were covering the two boats behind us like mad, there was no way we wanted them to slip through. 500 metres to go and we were still in command of them. 50 metres to go, the flashing light on the breakwater hitting the sails once every 10 seconds and we're still covering them, still in control. Everyone looking for the line, our two enemies right behind us, the VHF alive with boats calling in their finish - over 600 miles, four days and we are crossing the line within seconds of two competitors - great stuff. And then, we're there, a cheer and we're across! What a great finish to a great Fastnet - three o'clock in the morning, we're tired but who cares, the adrenaline has woken us up and we've done it. 

As we motor across Plymouth harbour taking our sails down we are all in our own little worlds of thought. What an adventure it's been; all the way from our first meeting on our training weekend way back in June to having completed together one of the major ocean racing events in the world: together we've done it as friends. At times we've been tired, joyful, sick, hungover whatever, a huge range of feelings and experiences have come our way from the Hamble to races to Dartmouth and St Malo, round a rock off Ireland, in fair winds and foul. But throughout we have grown together as a group, we have taken peoples weaknesses and strengths and we have become a team, capable of racing a 51 foot ocean racing boat on the Fastnet race - what an amazing achievement.

There's been the girls - Polly, Tina and Lynn. Polly who has been bought up on boats has been able to teach our bowman a thing or two, and that's not in the pub - willing to help with anything and great in the galley! Lynn, direct, straight to the point, whatever it is, from up North somewhere, a huge learning curve, talking of curve that slightly reminds me of her helming! What a smile. Tina , quiet, civilised, an absolute natural on the helm and utterly trustworthy, keen, laughing with Lynn , the giggle sisters.

Kevin came along as the quiet half of the Lynn/Kevin team and we suspect he was probably told that was what he was doing for his summer holidays! Once he had been taught to trim, he proved to be the most conscientious spinnaker trimmer on board - I used to open an eyelid and look out the hatch at times, and you'd always spot Kevin trimming. 

Friends Simon and Gavin down from London for the adventure. Gavin, running around the boat doing anything as long as he doesn't have to drive and leading the charge on the dance floor - what a mover. Simon, an Aussie who doesn't do cricket and has slept better off watch than he does at home, what a great character to have had on board. Smiles, smiles from both - it's a good thing to be able to remember people for, isn't it?

Hans from Switzerland who has been the senior member of our crew. Keen on trim, on helming, on everything, his enthusiasm is infectious. He has sailed regattas in the UK and France with me, the Atlantic to St Lucia and now he has achieved the Fastnet.

John. John has grown to be a great asset to us on Northern Child . Over the years he has sailed with us he has proved capable from the mast to the back end of the boat. He doesn't do the kettle, but is the first to volunteer for the washing up. He has also evolved to be one our best helmsman, and upwind is the measure of any we have on board.

Trevor signed up for the Fastnet campaign, wondered what he had let himself in for and has been excellent in all aspects of crewing the boat. He has led the charge from the bars in Dartmouth to the night clubs in Plymouth and even been seen nervously chewing Nicorette to try and give up smoking for us.

Ethan flew over from Boston just for the Fastnet Race. He fitted in straight away and showed professionalism and enthusiasm all the way. A great helm, he helmed the start and put energy into every watch he stood. A truly great sailor and person, we were humbled by his experience; thanks for your input and we hope to welcome you on board again.

Mike became our nominated navigator for the Fastnet Race and put up with me offering my opinions for four days. He managed a memorable feat of taking me backwards in the tide over the shingles bank just after the start, and never looked back. Thanks also to Mike for help with the daily logs.

Then there has been the Jim/Peewee double act. They have been with us since Northern Child came into our care four and a half years ago. For the race itself they were nominated as the two watch leaders - I would love to say it was a disaster but can't say anything other than it was an inspired choice. They have worked hard on watch and off - it doesn't make any difference, they are always there for us. They lead, guide, teach, work and most of all they have a great sense of humour, put up with me and never ever lose their cool. I am sure that everyone on board would want me to thank them, I know I do, from the bottom of my heart. We are lucky to have them on board, just don't tell them that. 

Last but not least there is my wife, Magali and myself, Julian. I get the good part of the deal; I get to spend the money on the boat, do the sailing and the fun bits. But without our shore base of Mag to organise us, to remind me of what I am doing, to get the whole thing going, the whole Fastnet wouldn't have happened. I know that she is the most valuable asset the Northern Child venture has and I am a lucky man, very lucky.

You don't want to hear about our 24 hours in Plymouth - suffice to say we had looked forward to it a lot, and it lived up to its' expectations. Ethan had a quick education on a typical night out in a typical rough English city, and no, we didn't go to bed early!

That's it, Fastnet '05, job done, tick in the box. What will we remember, what will go with us all to wherever we go next? The memories of fellow crewmates, of the people we completed our journey with: it's as much an adventure getting to know people as it is about sailing round the Rock. I have enjoyed the sailing, but I've liked the people too, and that's important.

The end! The Skipper

Northern Child completed the Fastnet race in 4 days, 14 hours, 39 minutes and 23 seconds

Last modified: April 13, 2006