TeamSnell Completes Myth of Malham race and Successfully Qualifies for the RORC Rolex 2013 Fastnet in August 2013
June 23, 2013 by Ivan Snell · Leave a Comment
At 08:57 am on Monday 27th May TeamSnell crossed the Myth of Malham race finish line off Hurst Castle at the entrance to the approaches to the Western Solent. This gave TeamSnell its final two hundred nautical miles, completed in one day and twenty-three hours, towards a total of three hundred nautical miles that TeamSnell has to achieve in offshore races this summer to qualify for the RORC Rolex Fastnet 2013 race in August this year.
Organised by RORC, in association with the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS), the Myth of Trophy race started on Saturday 25th May from the RYS line taking the fleet of one hundred and twenty yachts two hundred and thirty nautical miles West along the south coast, round the Eddystone Rock lighthouse, Plymouth, before returning to the Solent.
Initially TeamSnell, racing its’ Beneteau First 40.7 yacht Parallel Blue, had a good start and kept pace with the other thirty yachts in its’ IRC Class II. A tactical error unfortunately saw TeamSnell sail ten nautical miles further offshore during Saturday night than the rest of the fleet. Everyone was becalmed over night for six hours and once a sea breeze kicked in the majority of Class II, whom had stayed inshore, benefited from the more direct rhumb line to Eddystone Rock lighthouse.
During the return leg back to the Solent, TeamSnell were without electronics due to a faulty battery calling on navigator Richard Clarke’s old school navigational skills to navigate Parallel Blue to the finish line. Without instruments and the yacht’s chart plotter TeamSnell made good boat speed downwind back to Hurst Castle flying its no.3 kite in twenty to twenty-five knots of breeze.
Skipper Ivan Snell commented after the race: “the campaign has gone really well. Better than I thought actually. We have qualified with one training week end and only two RORC races”. ”This has really reduced the pressure now. TeamSnell can look forward to our final preparation for the Fastnet which will be a few races around the cans in the Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes week in August without the concern of having to enter another qualifying race to gain the necessary miles” he concluded.