The Hoya Round the
Isle of Wight Race June 2002
Will Sunnucks Tornado 405
The race started at 8.30am in a South Westerly force 4-5. Fifty mutlihulls lined up on port tack as close to the Island shore as they could get. As the gun went the fast trimaran Rexona Men (the course record holder sailed by Rodney Pattison) stormed off dramatically with two hulls flying, the crew sitting on the windward hull looking down on a long drop to the water.
At the other end of the line the huge Maiden II started cautiously on port tack, clearly not wanting to risk a starboard hail at the crowded island end of the line. She towered above all the other yachts on the Solent, and sailed with her windward hull barely lifting. She didn’t look as if she was moving fast, but the results tell the true story.
As the fleet tacked up the Western Solent it became clear that the mainland side was paying. This surprised me as I had expected a lift on the island shore. After a cautious “spectator boat” start we began to slip through the Multihull Class A and B boats, and soon found ourselves crossing Maiden II on starbard tack. We started ducking her with 1/4 mile to go, anticipating her wind shadow: but nothing could prepare us for the huge vortex behind her sail which knocked our little Tornado around like a feather.
By the time we reached the Needles Maiden II had disappeared in front, Rexona Men had retired and we were lying behind Gleam and just in front of Provu. The reach from the Needles to St. Catherine’s point was too fine for the spinnaker, and the big waves coming from the South West hit our beams, making us wet and uncomfortable. Salt in the eyes was a major problem. Provu slipped through us to leeward.
At St. Catherine’s point the waves piled up even more but the Tornado seemed to handle them well, and soon the kite was up. We kept inshore looking for flatter water and less adverse tide, and managed to stay in touch with the two big cats, but we couldn’t catch them. Nothing behind was even in sight.
At Bembridge ledge we caught Provu as her crew struggled to pull the spinnaker out of the water, but she overtook us again on the fast reach to the forts. The last leg, from the Forts to the finish at last demonstrated the port tack lift against the island shore, and we were able to enjoy the flat water to overtake both Gleam and Provu. As we politely ducked the finish line, Gleam was about 1 minute behind.
Our “observation” of the Hoya race has to be one of the most pleasurable sails of the year. We get the chance to see many famous yachts in action, and compare our speed. It is also good practice for the Thames Water Round the Island race organised by Datchet Water SC on 13th July.