It's a pretty cool thing to be able to launch your own boat in the water behind a standard car for the first time, tie it up to the dock, go grab a take away curry and then jump on and rattle of a 300 mile qualifying passage in 24 hours with so little fuss. It was a great eye opener for both Pete and myself on what we had let ourselves in for by entering the two-handed Round Britain and Ireland race on the SeaCart 30.
Sure it's a quick boat. By now most people reading this would have seen pictures and video of the boat hooning about at crazy angles but then all this has been done in daylight hours in lovely flat waters. The question remains as to whether or not this boat can be realistically called an offshore boat.
When Pete first suggested the RBI after his initial sail I drew in a long breath. I think that I know Pete well enough to know that if I say "sure, it'll be fine" that things will happen in such a way that I will most likely find out first hand. Some day (or typically night...usually around 1-2 AM) I will find out just how suitable this particular boat is for the rigours of offshore racing. Fair enough. We are the UK dealers of the SeaCart so it's only right that we find out ourselves before recommending it to others. A lightweight 30' multihull can be a bit of an enigma. Is it a small yacht or a maxi-dinghy? Flying around Portland harbour is great fun but how cocky will you be dog-tired in the middle of the night in 30 plus knots and large waves beating around some stubborn headland. It's an exciting prospect, a real challenge. What's more it is all set to be played out in one of this World’s truly classic races.
The 300 mile qualifier was set to give us a taste of what was to come.
The three of us (Helena, Pete and I) standing on the dock in the dark that night had worked very hard over the previous week to get the boat as ready as possible for it's qualifier as this trip was also set to serve as a shakedown run for many of the systems that we were hoping would make the race both faster and safer for us onboard. We had fitted the water ballast system and with much appreciated help from James at Merlin Equipment and Tacktick, a full electronics package complete with a small tiller pilot, solar panels, wireless instruments, GPS chart plotter 12 V outlets, LED nav lights etc etc. We wanted everything to be working and not just thrown together. She looked new. She looked great. My mum suggested in an e-mail to Pete that we call the boat 'Mary' because of the Peter, Paul and... thing. It has sort of stuck.
We pulled on the most essential piece of kit one could have in this endeavour, the Musto HPX one-piece suit and headed out of Portland Harbour. I love these suits. Once you have correctly trimmed all the neck-seals and straps to your own dimensions you know that you are wearing the best there is - and that you will be as dry and comfortable as it is possible to be. To those of you who haven't had the pleasure this may appear a shameless plug. To those who have, well you know what I'm talking about.
Now there are many cool little additions to this boat. Helena came up with a great solution to the problem of compass lights. We have 'sikka'd' on two Silva compasses outboard and it seemed such a waste to run cables all the way out there just to power a tiny little compass light when one little LED and battery would last the entire race. With a little plastic U-clamp, some more Sikkaflex and a six quid key light...voila. Problem solved and the light can be turned on and off at the compass. Works beautifully too. With these lights glowing red (thanks to a permanent marker) we made a course out around the Shambles bank off Portland Bill and out into the English channel. Despite it being nearly full moon, it was still quite dark thanks to the heavy overcast. We had a conservative sail-plan up which didn't give the boat much feel but then the idea was to start cautiously and ease into it.
The forecast had a SE wind swinging into the SW later the following day, so we decided to go reaching off west and then when it goes SW, come reaching back. Perfect world, hey? It was obvious pretty quickly that the previous week had taken its toll and our own batteries were low.
Sleeping below decks is not an option at this stage of the game. The boat is set up to give the helmsman a lot of control at his or her fingertips. The steering is so sharp that it gives you plenty of 'get-out' options very quickly without a sheet being touched, but we also have all the sheets at our feet with large Harken cam cleats mounted outboard to hold the tails of the bigger headsails straight off the winches. Getting it all off happens in mere seconds, but getting it back on is another thing - and you need someone there to do the trimming. The helmsman pretty much sits, steers and calls the trim. They are solely committed to keeping the boat under control. This is a multihull and a lightweight, powerful one at that. There is always the possibility that it could capsize in an instant if you don't pay attention. You do walk a line on a multihull. The closer you walk to that line the more you are rewarded but unlike a mono-hull, there is no safety net. She won't pop back up. It's all part of the challenge and something that is always part of the situational awareness of sailing these fantastic boats.
In fact it is our biggest challenge and perhaps the essence of our race, Can we walk the line and release the potential of this pocket-sized rocket ship whilst battling wild weather and fatigue without actually putting it in? It could all end so quickly.
It finally happened in Sweden last weekend and they capsized a SeaCart just prior to racing in Stockholm. In very strong and gusty conditions she went over in a classic pitchpole. Now I've been beside a Trimaran that did a similar thing in the Solent one windy day in the Clarkson Cup and that ended up costing alot of time and money, which included a whole new rig. Twenty five minutes after the capsize in Sweden, the Seacart 30 was crossing the start line after being pulled upright by a powerful RIB and went on to complete the race... sans winch handles! Their advice for others planning to push hard on 'woolly' days, " shut the hatches because all your ‘phones and shoes will float out if you make a mistake. Now that is super cool. They tied a bridle around the fwd beam to hull connections, all stood at the back and then the RIB motored into the wind and the SeaCart just tripped over its own transom and was pulled upright facing head to wind without so much as a broken batten.
We all know that this is a very rapid and super strong boat capable of punching well above its weight, but then lightweight fliers can fall by the wayside pretty quickly when things start to get rough. The more familiar I get with this boat the more confident I get. This is not a flimsy boat... in fact it is without a doubt the stiffest multihull I have ever sailed on, thanks to the way it has been built (the whole damned thing has been cooked in an autoclave which means that all the structure has been pressed together at 50-70 tons of pressure per square metre! It's only 10 tons at best for a standard vacuum bagged boat). The beam is conservative, and the beam stays effectively mean that there is no bending involved in the beams themselves - just compression and tension. As I cut out the holes for the water ballast and transducers I was constantly surprised by the thickness of the laminates. She is built to take a pounding. Many times we tensed thinking we had hit something as the tips of waves slapped the bottom of the windward float. It sounds almost metallic.
We cracked off in a SW direction, shook a reef out and put up the Code '0'. Confidence quickly built as the boat came alive. It was obvious that we were both dog-tired from the previous week’s long days of preparation. We have no watch system, we just keep rotating and moving so that the helm is always alert. If everything is cool and fast then you can head off to the HPX Hotel. You go in to the ankle deep cockpit, pull the collar all the way up and the hood all the way down until barely a slit exists across your face, Blow the sealed suit up a little so you are in a little yellow bubble tent, lay down in the comfy 'U' shaped floor and try and grab 10-15 minutes of sleep. Twenty minutes later you will be back on the helm feeling surprisingly better for it. You don't want to push yourself into the hallucinatory fatigue here... remember no safety net. Don't sit around and wait to get tired. No heroes, get sleep when you can and try and stay ahead. Being alert is very fast - so comfort and warmth is truly important.
For some reason the GPS chart plotter wasn't picking up a signal, so we relied on a good ol’ paper chart and hand held GPS. Pete kept coming up with progress reports and it was obvious that we were banging off the miles despite not pushing very hard at the start. We began to really relax and enjoy the boat. As we became more comfortable the speed seemed to just keep coming automatically. It really is the beauty of this boat that it retains Dinghy like qualities. The steering is just so precise. It is something you lose on bigger boats. It's a sheer joy to play with the helm and toy with the power on tap. The wind began its move into the SW and we changed to one reef, jib and then reefed jib as we had a problem with the jib blocks. The boat loved this configuration and the enigma continued. She began to truck along feeling more like a small yacht than an overpowered dinghy. This was good. With the feel of the helm and the correct setting of the sails the boat would lock into a fast groove that wasn't on the edge. It soaked up the swell that was developing and just ripped along. Our smiles grew. We passed Plymouth... and then Falmouth in the low cloud and occasional fog. As we approached the Scillies we decided to head back to Weymouth instead of Plymouth so I could continue working on the job-list. A quick tack around and we peeled off the wrappers on the new North gennaker and hoisted it for the first time. It was pretty much downhill all the way back to Weymouth surfing along in really not that much wind at 14-17 knots.
As dark approached we gybed off France and three hours later we were back in Lyme bay. By now we were pushing the boat quite hard and the average was steadily climbing to 15 knots for the whole trip. Considering we started quite leisurely, had a few stops and slow sail changes... this was pretty good. We could now drive the boat hard by feel alone - we could carry on a conversation and look around barely noticing or worrying that the leeward bow was being pushed hard down waves. The ability to blow off the gennaker with the mere flick of a finger is pretty handy. We slipped into the sleep routine well because as we became more tired, so the catnaps became more intense. You could genuinely put your head down for 15 minutes and get some solid sleep including a little dream. You are always prepared to be interrupted though as little things need tweaking or checking but then you are pretty in tune with what is going on by lying out there in the thick of it all. Great ocean views from the HPX Hotel!
It's a little surreal to go below decks when you are living above them. It's a whole new world and a large and spacious one at that. What the hell is all this space doing on this boat? Where did it come from? You forget it's there as it would seem more suitable to have a poky little black hole, not a large, light and very dry space with heaps of room. It's a bit of a 'Tardis' this boat. Great, why not?
We belted up along Chesil Beach in the dark and rain, leaving a small coastal ship in our wake and surfed in around the overfalls off Portland Bill. That's it, 300 miles under our belt but we actually did more like 370 on the water as the 15 knot average on the GPS testified.
So it would be pretty easy to rattle of daily runs deep into 400 mile territory.
This boat is a weapon and Marc Lombard has designed something that is rapidly climbing my all time favourite list. Both Pete and I got back into Portland Harbour a little after midnight more exhilarated than tired. The boat just felt like she was fizzing at the bungs for more action. It is hard work sailing like this, but it is exhilarating and rewarding because the boat makes it so. We can't wait to line up against the bigger boats and see what happens.
There is no doubt in my mind that this is a benchmark boat against which all others in this class will be judged for a long time. It will be a success not because of smart selling or flashy brochures but because the boat itself is just so good that it will sell itself. It represents a very bright light for the future of multihull sailing in this country.
The next morning we put it on the trailer, pulled it out behind the ol' Renault and hosed it off. It really blows me away that offshore sailing can be this simple, fun and accessible. On reflection, what we just did was pretty extreme in many ways. It felt like we were out for days and yet it was all sort of automatic.
The boat is not outright, top-end fast as it is not extreme in its design concept... what it is, is incredibly good at is belting out very high VMG's in all conditions. In light winds it feels like a lake-racer and in medium conditions it still trucks. We are yet to try it in real rough stuff, but then I am fully confident in the structure, rig and sails so the rest will be up to us, the sailors, and that is what makes it fun. It really pushes the sailors and it won't go fast by itself or even look after itself for very long. It's a good horse and rider relationship.
We tried out a lot of the systems on the boat and it all seemed to work fine. The 240 litres of water ballast filled up in a few minutes but we didn't push it with this in as this was still only a shakedown sail and certain things need to be checked and re-tensioned before we fully power up. The job list has taken on a new form but it is all manageable.
So what's next? Well, we keep ticking off the jobs, get a rating certificate and get ready for the Round the Island race where there should be three SeaCarts on the starting line. All great stuff. |
