Alistair Tyrrell

19 April 2015 A northeasterly F5 was blowing first thing this morning as various crews began to assemble for today's race. Stuart and Georgia were with me and we went out around 1015 with a reefed mainsail and unrolled about 2/3 of the genoa when we got out to the start area. A line start off the committee boat, with flag signals and hoots 5, 4, 1, 0 and away, about a minute late across the line and beating hard to the east for the Steel Can mark. Quite close to several boats including the commodore's yacht. Making good progress as we were slightly ahead of the tide turning, we were around Steel Can after 22 mins and bearing away out to the Weather Station, on a broad reach, Georgia taking the helm while Stuart balanced the boat from the foredeck. Nice bright sunshine and the wind began to drop back towards F3, we were considering shaking out the reef and going to full sail but we knew we'd have a long beat back shortly so we left the decision for a...

5th April 2015 Having not sailed since October, and having had the sails off and cleaned and then re-fitted them, I was pleased to see a kind weather forecast for light winds today. Stuart and I were at the boat nice and early to check everything was OK and we left the berth at 1100 for the 1200 start out at sea. I, and others, have been working hard over the winter to encourage more skippers to come racing and that seemed to have paid off (helped by the forecast) as 8 boats turned out. The race officer took time to explain the start process over the radio several times to make sure all were clear then we were off at 1200 on the dot. Gentle but slightly chilly SE breeze about force 2 and we all set off beating to the East. The newly cleaned sails with new telltales seemed to set quite well and we were pleased with the speed, and with the pointing-ness. Elsa was well balanced, light on the helm, almost sailing herself in that light wind and flat sea. We were close to other boats a...

21 March 2015 I put new lettering on the back of the boat last week - she used to have Poole, now she has Arun Y C. A day before crane-in I'd taken the rudder and the engine down to the boat and re-fitted them to the stern. Quite heavy items so I was keen to avoid carrying them down to the water and hanging them on the back whilst afloat. So Elsa was all ready and looking smart with a newly painted bottom.  Crane-in day on Saturday started early. The cranes were already in place when I arrived at 0800 and the drivers were being fed their usual hearty breakfast while we waited for the tide to come in. Then about 0930 it all kicked off and it's quite a rush to get all the boats in before the tide turns. Mine was one of the last to go in so I spent all morning helping the others - when a boat descends from the sky into the river it takes 3 or 4 blokes to catch the lines, swing the boat round to the correct alignment, hold it away from the pontoon while the lifting st...

5th March 2015 Some pictures of Elsa's iron keel in various stages of preparation and painting. Firstly, how it looked when she was lifted out late last year - pale blue remnants of old antifouling paint, some rusty patches (not surprising after over 40 years in the sea). Secondly, after a scrub and a few weeks to dry out and then going over with a stiff wire brush to remove as much flaky stuff as I could. Two coats of underwater primer and then two coats of new dark blue antifouling paint: I am pleased with this even though it's completely invisible when she's afloat!

1 March 2015 Elsa is ashore and scrubbed ready for antifouling. She seems to have been fine over the winter, on five props and a metal bandstand with the keel lowered and resting on a wooden pallet to reduce the load on the hull. Sprayhood off, sails gone for servicing, engine in the shed at home.  I'll do a summary of maintenance activities later in the month before crane-in on 21st. I took a moment to review the logbook for 2014 to see what we did. The log shows I left the berth 14 times during the year, half of the trips were races, half were pottering around. Adding up the GPS trip records it shows 100.7 NM total travelled. I did a further 32 NM on Johanna when we did the Owers Race. Plus of course countless times sat on the boat doing nothing!

26 Oct 2014 The last race today. Four cruisers turned out for the final race of the Len Nolan Handicap series. I’ve been leading the series up till now - we’ve had lots of races cancelled due to weather and lack of turnout, only 2 races have been run up to today, and with my two 3rd place results I was in the lead. I knew the other guys weren’t going to let me get away with that though and sure enough they were there today! An 1100 start and wind forecast F4-5, Stuart and I debated putting a reef in to the mainsail but Stuart’s a laser sailor and  is always tweaking the mainsheet and we decided we’d go with full main and just let it go if we were over-pressed. Once outside the river we nearly changed our minds but settled on unrolling about 2/3rds of the genoa and leaving the main full. The swell was a little high and the wind was at the top end of F4. The gate start procedure has the lead boat drawing a line behind himself to a fixed mark for 2 minutes as...

4 Oct 2014 The Owers Buoy is a south cardinal mark about 10nm south of Littlehampton, past Selsey Bill into the English Channel. The Owers race is an annual event, a long distance cruiser race, and unlike most races there is no defined start time. The trick is to get to Owers and back via Pagham as quick as you can, each skipper has to look at the tide and wind conditions and decide for himself when to set off. Usually you'd want to go round Owers just as the tidal current turns so you get the tide helping you both ways.Knowing your own boat speed and taking the weather into account you decide when to set off. I was with Tim and Debbie on their boat Johanna. I have mentioned her many times before as a race rival. She's about the same as Elsa on handicap but is 26' long and much heavier. One day I will take Elsa to the Owers but this was not the weekend to do that. The conditions were a bit challenging with winds F4-F6 and forecast to change direction in the middle ...