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Last JOG race of 2009 sees J/109 Just So take her fourth win of the year. |
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Thursday, 01 October 2009 |
The main concern before the start of the JOG race to Cherbourg last weekend (25 September) was whether there would be enough wind for the fleet to reach the finish or would competitors have to retire after drifting in mid channel for most of Saturday with forecast winds of 9 knots decreasing to 4 knots, starting West or South West and veering North East during the night? The weather was sunny with clear skies and as the fleet gathered for the start in the Solent on Friday evening there was a gentle SW 9 knots blowing. As the start time approached, the wind gusted up to 14 knots. An orderly start by Class 4 at 6.20 pm in perfect conditions was followed by a beat down the Solent as the sun was setting. The J/109 Just So (David & Mary McGough) who has had a fantastic JOG season, took an early lead as they tried to find favourable wind bands on the way to Hurst. The wind started to veer and it seemed that it might be a light spinnaker once past Hurst, but they had to wait to pass Bridge buoy to hoist the asymmetric at around 8.30 pm. Their plan was to go west initially with the last of the tide whilst sailing the right angle with the changing wind conditions. The night was clear with amazing visibility, the stars were out and there was a multitude of shooting stars around. The moon gave some help to spinnaker trimming as the J/109 continued to lead the fleet towards France. At around 1.30 am with France clearly in sight but still a good distance away Just So gybed to try to ensure that they were sufficiently East to avoid being against the tide off Cherbourg if the wind dropped. It was a difficult call and they could not see any boats, although there were lights to the East, so presumed they were on the right hand side of the fleet. The wind was predicted to veer further, having already gone west and then slightly east of north, but it remained a variable Northerly on the approach to Cherbourg. About 10 miles off, the J/109 gybed back onto starboard in about 9 knots of true wind and saw one boat coming from the east ahead of us; we gybed back 2 miles off and then managed to pass through the Western entrance of the harbour, gybing for the line and crossing just after 6 am with 7 knots of breeze. As they entered the marina, there was only one boat, ahead of Just So, Floating Voter, a MAT 12; that was a good sign. J/109 Just So won the class by more than 1hour 40mins on the water and by more than 1 hour on corrected time. With the best 6 races of the year to count, Just So has won Class 4, counting a 3rd at the beginning of the season in the race from Cherbourg to Cowes, 2nd St Vaast, and wins in the races to Alderney, Le Havre, Dartmouth and the final race of the season to Cherbourg. In the 2-handed Offshore Class 4 J/109 Jangada Too (Richard Palmer) finished 2nd and in the Inshore 2-handed Class 4 J/109 J2Eau (Steve Maine & Jody Windmiller) finished 3rd. | Class 4 | 15 | | Started at | 18:20:00 | Elapsed | Corrected | Position | | | GBR529R | Just So | E | 1.031 | 1 | 06:08:21 | 11:48:21 | 12:10:19 | 1 | | | GBR3897T | Blustery Day | E | 0.983 | 1 | 07:50:20 | 13:30:20 | 13:16:33 | 2 | | | GBR815 | Longue Pierre | E | 0.980 | 1 | 08:14:01 | 13:54:01 | 13:37:20 | 3 | |
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