RWYC TWO-HANDED ROUND BRITAIN & IRELAND RACE IN A MAXI 1100
by Guy Warner

It was perhaps not surprising that our results in the RSYC’s two-handed races were poor. A longer race was needed to show Blue Demon’s true potential and so, rather rashly, I entered the RWYC two-handed RBI – clockwise from Plymouth leaving Great Britain & Ireland to starboard (except for Rockall) with 4 compulsory 48 hour stops at Kinsale, Barra, Lerwick & Lowestoft. A 300M qualifier had to be completed by 1 May. Suitably chastened by the roller coaster experience in a F6-8 but heartened by the superb performance of my co-skipper Nicki Crutchfield, Blue Demon duly arrived at Queen Ann’s Battery Marina on Tue 6 June to prepare for the start at noon on Sun 11 June.
There were 40 entries ranging from lightweight catamarans/trimarans, through Open 40s and J109s to a few souped up cruising yachts. They all had one thing in common – they were light and fast.
My competitors were mostly experienced long distance racers (including Pete Goss) who all moaned about having to carry a dinghy – the stop at Barra necessitated having to anchor in Castlebay and get ashore by one’s own means. We were the only yacht with a sprayhood and dodgers – the sprayhood is down in the photo but I left the dodgers up throughout the race! There were 6 classes – 2 multihulls, 1 open 40 and 3 IRC. We were in IRC class 2 with a handicap of 1.014. We should have been in class 3 (under 1.000) but I was carrying both the 105% jib & the 143% genoa as well as a self-tacking staysail on an inner forestay.

The following day it blew F10 through the bay causing havoc among the yachts with one badly damaged after having to be pulled off rocks by the local lifeboat who did a sterling job. Blue Demon dragged her anchor as well but we took refuge in an adjoining bay which was less crowded. Most yachts stayed in harbour even though they were due to sail. One brave Dutch crew left only to be pitchpoled off St Kilda and rescued by the lifeboat.

The North Sea leg was a long one for us with the lightish wind bang on the nose throughout. We covered 726M from Wed 28 Jun (0208) to Mon 3 Jul (1639). It was a frustrating sail dodging the many oil rigs and hoping for a wind shift. In retrospect we would have done better with the 105% jib up and more hand steering! We did this on the last leg starting at 0208 on Wed 5 Jul but the wind was again on the nose and shifted from S to SW as we went through the Dover Strait. However, my radar was very useful in avoiding the numerous ships encountered; I think we were the only yacht to carry it!
We finally made Plymouth at 0544 on Sun 9 Jul having had to battle through a F8 off Start Point.
We had raced over 2500M in 4 weeks with 4 stops of 2 days each. Our average speed was about 5.5 kts which reflects the predominantly very light winds. Our overall position was 30th out of 40 although there were 4 retirements. The boat performed superbly in all the variety of conditions we faced and there were only a few minor defects. Moreover, it proved to me that the Maxi 1100 is a very capable offshore yacht able to undertake ocean passages in most weathers without problems.
Reprinted from Maxi News, Autumn 2006
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