We like getting race stories and we've had some good ones from Hot n Tot before. This time however they were the winners so congratulations to Peter and Andy.
Hot'n'Tot had her worst racing start ever (as in: ever!), crossing the line several minutes late. Mark had had fuel starvation in Eland's engine after Largs Regatta the previous Sunday and Peter and Andy, having cleared the problem midweek, felt obliged to accompany the Elan on the trip down from Kip, just in case… Unfortunately, having left Kip in what normally passes for 'good time', they failed to take account of the difference in passage time motoring straight into the wind, given the Elan's 18 hp and the Moody's 35 hp. The first time they checked (casually, initially!) it was 15 minutes before the Class 1 start and they were still off Largs pier. That's taking the 'stay well out of trouble at the start of a long race' thing several stages too far. With the engine off at the prep signal, it took several tacks to beat up to the line and only in time to cross with the tail-enders of Class 2.
Once over the line, we were able to free off to a fetch in about 15 knots apparent and didn't return to close-hauled for the rest of the race. In the shadow of the Wee Cumbrae, the Tann was quiet, and quieter still for the boats which inexplicably sailed right under the cliffs; we stayed out. Pacing ourselves against the Class 2s ahead and the faster of the 3s behind, we were holding our own, which meant we were going well on corrected time. Shortly after leaving Garroch Head behind, the start deficit was reeled in when the wind freed and we carried Hot'n'Tot's heavy spinnaker on a brisk, and only just controllable, high speed reach to the Cock of Arran whilst the Class 1 competition, a mile or two ahead, were still under white sails. By the time they were off Lochranza, the wind had gone light and Hot'n'Tot sailed through the fleet to the front of the pack (despite being by far the slowest boat in handicap terms). At this point, (alongside FT$E in fact) Peter and Andy peeled to their bigger 0.9 oz spinnaker; "Hi, guys, there's more to come!" Hot'n'Tot managed to stay with the faster boats in the very light winds and flat water until passing Dougarie where she encountered choppier conditions coupled with a quarter mile band of almost still air which, combined with the resistance to the waves of her bluffer bows, left the Moody underpowered. The fleet split. We decided to hold the Arran shore but the boats which headed out won the new wind first. Fortunately, a breeze filled in steadily from the North and all the boats enjoyed a fast comfortable run down the Kilbrannan Sound to the turning point and half-way mark at Iron Rock Ledges. Hot'n'Tot's crew timed the others round the Ledges buoy and figured they were in front, leading the nearest competitors, two-time winners Fergus and Neil Crawford on their 'new' Sigma 33, Rascal, by 10 minutes on handicap.
Ledges to Pladda was a fast beam reach, still with the medium weight spinnaker, with approaching 20 knots of wind close to the Arran shore for Hot'n'Tot, but all the other boats ran further off, ending, in most cases, two or three miles South of the lighthouse and having to beat back up into a building foul tide and rapidly dying breeze. On this leg, past winners, Jonathan Anderson and Playing FT$E, lost their spinnaker to a horrendous wrap which saw the crew at the masthead for half an hour; after recovering the situation, they plugged on gamely under white sails for a while before retiring to Ardrossan. Hot'n'Tot was first boat in the fleet to round Pladda despite, with the sun setting and the dying wind, struggling to punch - ghost more like - through the 1.5 knot tide at the corner, still carrying the kite in the wind which had backed by now. Rascal, two miles to the South, reached out to the mid-firth on her own.
Off Whiting Bay, the wind fell light briefly again allowing the fleet to catch up with the Moody. Rascal's gamble was paying off, however, and she was clearly making steady progress in better wind a few miles offshore. At this point, the fleet split again and several boats, including the J-109 Tigh Soluis and the Mini-Transat, Autograph, both with bowsprits and large asymmetric kites, chose to make an attempt to reach out to join the Sigma. Hot'n'Tot's crew elected to play the safer odds and stayed in touch with the larger portion of the fleet sailing the direct course to the Cumbrae Elbow. A moderate breeze, now from the South-west, produced a straightforward drag-race from Holy Isle to the finish. The boats which took the mid-firth option gained significantly, Rascal pulling back from tail-ender to be third boat home, while Autograph won the trophy for fastest boat on the water, only four minutes ahead of Tigh Soluis. Hot'n'Tot's spinnaker collapsed, agonisingly and for about the only time in the race, 50 yards short of the line but she very slowly coasted over, finishing forty minutes behind the lead boat, but this was enough to give her a comfortable victory on handicap.
[Did the Moody fluke it? Hot'n'Tot was: 4th in 2005, 4% away from 1st place, 2% off 2nd,; 9th in 2004 (and still only 4% away from 1st!); has a 50/50 record over 5 years against three-times winner Sloop John T in Arran YC races; and was fastest on the water of 53 boats over the Mull-Jura leg in this year's Peaks Race (and for the fifth time, fastest sailing time Oban-Troon in her class overall). Her very low aspect ratio rig is, in fact, significantly more efficient from a fetch backwards than a rig optimised for beating (see Marchaj, Sail Performance, Ch10); large elements of races like this tend to be off the wind. Also, important in 2-handed work, there's no need for fat guys on the rail when the breeze gets up. And when it isn't, we know how to keep her moving as long as we've flat water.]
Results:-
1) Hot'n'Tot, Moody 33 (P MacKenzie/A McLaren), Elapsed 16:03:02/ Corrected 11:03:02
2) Rascal, Sigma 33 (F & N Crawford) 15:29:15 / 11:33:13
3) Little Warrior, Sunfast 32i (E Morrison / B Whyte) 15:58:38 / 12:15:16
