I set off to Gosport for my 4th and final training week excited to be back on the boats but a little worried about what, or more to the point who I might find. Level 4 is the first time you train on your actual boat (despite all 10 boats being in theory the same, they have a lot of little individual quirks and the same boats in the last few races have finished towards the front and towards the back despite different skippers and crew - the fleet are fondly described as "identical except for the differences"), with your race Skipper and some of your race crew. These would be the people I'd be spending 32 days with next March and how I got on with them will largely dictate how enjoyable the experience would be. Although we'd got on brilliantly with the vast majority of people we'd met on board so far, there's always a niggling doubt about encountering one or more "problem people" and of course if the skipper himself fit into that category it would be nothing short of a disaster. I arrived on wednesday evening, collected my race kit (over £1000 of heavy weight waterproof outer layers and a variety of other stuff), checked into the B&B and then met up with one of our round-the-worlders, Lizzie "2 Bottles" for a bite to eat and a few beers. We were joined by Rich, our first-mate from Level 3 and had a very pleasant and sensibly early night ahead of the start of training the next day.
Skipper Mark looking all serious and skipper-like - thankfully in reality he's a wonderfully relaxed character.
We arrived at the boat nice and early and soon met our race skipper, Mark. He immediately seemed a very relaxed man with no ego whatsoever - at nearly 40 he's one of the oldest skippers in the race and perhaps this maturity explained his lack of ego. And we soon met the rest of our crew - there'd be 10 of us in total for Level 4, 8 of which would be sailing the Pacific next March. As soon as the boat was rigged we headed off to perform some refresher manoeuvres and it quickly became apparently that this was a very competent crew - everyone knew what they were doing, there was no need for anyone shouting instruction - it augured well for the practice races ahead. Although you would hope people would be competent as they headed into their final week of training, in reality we had only spent about 14 days at sea in total and I can assure you that not everyone on their Level 4 was as good as this lot. After an afternoon of sailing around we spent the first night at anchor and on the morning of day 2 practised a series of drills with another boat - towing each other, passing supplies from one boat to another, transferring people etc - all very useful to have seen and done before ever needing to perform them in earnest.
Practising drills before the serious business of racing begins.
And then, the reason we were there - the practice race. It was great seeing all 9 boats (one was missing due to engine problems followed by an injury to their skipper) lined up for the start and as is typical in such scenarios, we made our only mistake of the whole week right on the start line and set off in a disappointing 8th position. However it's was marathon not a sprint and after some fairly relentless trimming (tiny and continuous adjustments to the sails to get 100% out of them) we soon caught the fleet and became one of 3 boats to break away from the others - the race was on. Despite a weather forecast of very light winds we certainly had enough to race with and as dusk arrived the 3 boats clear in the lead rounded Beachy Head (near Brighton) and headed towards the first checkpoint. Sailing is really not a great spectator sport as there are so many routes and tactics boats can take that it's only at each checkpoint (usually 3 per race) that you really have any idea on who's coming where. And in quite spectacular fashion on the stroke of midnight we rounded the buoy first, no more than a boats length ahead of second and the same again to third. The race was very much still on.
"Trim, trim and trim again" - hours spent looking at the sails from this angle and making tiny and continuous adjustments are ultimately what make the boat go faster.
We headed off watch for a well deserved 4 hours sleep (we were on a 4hours on/4 hours off watch pattern) leading the field into the second stage of the race. I woke after a great sleep and was soon on deck (no heavy weather gear needed in this weather which made things a lot easier) to find us dead in the water bobbing up and down in 6th place with not a breath of wind in sight. How the weather can change.
It's hard work looking this relaxed. When the wind dies (yes that blue glass-like thing in the top left is the English channel) there's nothing to do but sit back and relax.
The other boats had initially got ahead of us as we were missing our lightweight spinaker (huge sail used to sail downwind in light winds which we hadn't yet received ahead of the race) and then the race had stopped dead. And with the tide soon to turn against us the decision was made to abandon the race and regroup south of the Isle of Wight. After a little more sailing there we anchored overnight and prepared for the second race, round the Isle of Wight. This time, all 10 boats made it to the start line and, with no mistakes on the start line, we powered into the lead and reached the first checkpoint a long, long way in the lead (see photo below - believe it or not we were in the same race as this lot!).
Yes, those boats in the distance (behind us!) were in the same race as us believe it or not.
But once again, as we turned downwind, our lack of the right sail (yes I know, bad workmen and all that) meant that we were slowly and simply run down (sailed down?) by the rest of the fleet and by the time we reached the second checkpoint we were down in 5th and as the wind dropped to pretty much zero again, our skipper made the executive decision that the race would soon be abandoned so we motored to Cowes to catch a last orders of fish and chips before a late return to Gosport. We arrived back in at midnight but the call had already been put through to the local pub that we were coming so a lock-in until 2.30am was organised. It's hard to describe the scene as over 100 very tired but very thirsty sailors arrived in the pub trying to drink a week's worth of alcohol in 2 hours. For the hardcore (I think almost all our boat made it), the party continued in the car park with some pretty awful wine and even worse singing until 5.30am - job done. There was a lot of comparing notes with other crews on what a good few days we'd had despite the light winds. Apparently the rumour going around was that we had a secret engine on board to make us go so fast into the wind - a compliment indeed.
If nothing else, by the end of Level 4 we've learnt how to look very sailor-like at least.
And after the last day of putting the boat to bed, crew debriefs etc Level 4 was done. It was a wonderful week of sailing - without a doubt the best week of training so far despite some pretty amazing experiences on previous training levels already. The skipper and crew were a really nice bunch and the boat was very fast - nothing like the thrill of winning to keep everyone interested! It's amazing really to think how much we've all learnt in less than 20 days sailing. What started as an alien, intimidating and slightly scary environment now felt like a wonderful place to be. Yes, the fact we were sailing in warm weather made it all a bit more gentle, but we now know these boats like the back of our hands. And another important part of this training was getting used to life on board - it was the first time we'd spent 5 days at sea (having re-read the above I seem to have lost a day, not to worry!) and really got used to the watch systems and just living on board. Joys such as "wet-wipe showers" went surprisingly well - don't worry, I won't go into further details in case anyone is eating while reading this.
Derry crew complete with standard issue pink sunglasses (to match the pink hull of our boat
So it was with mixed emotions that we headed home - relief that it went so well, excitement at the race starting in just 4 weeks but for me and Sparkey, just a little sadness that "our race" won't be for another 8 months. We said our goodbyes - some of these people we will possibly never see again, and for 6 of the lucky ones we'll be sharing 32 days of our lives in the Pacific next March. Between now and then there'll be the race start at the end of July (sadly I can't make it but it's meant to be the mother of all parties!), hopefully a refresher week training for us towards the end of the year and then we head off late February for Qingdao, China. I'll send out all the links for those interested in following the race online - there's even a race simulator - the equivalent of Fantasy Football - for those interested.
