Round the Island Race 2014

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hotstonp
Posts: 78
Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2014 8:54 pm
Location: Southampton

Round the Island Race 2014

Post by hotstonp »

Last weekend was the 2014 Round the Island Race - A race around the Isle of Wight (You know the same area that the UK lost the Americas Cup at the first time!)

Any way it was nice to see a Freedom 25 doing very nicely. I was not in my F33 but in a friends Dehler 34 and came a respectable 24th out of the 1584 starters.... BUT the Freedom came 2nd!

She is called Squirrel and I raise my virtual glass to her.

Next Year I shall have a go in Feronia.
Feronia - 1986 Freedom 33 Cat Sloop (UK Hoyt), Hull # 001, Aluminium Needlespar rig, shoal keel.

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VeloFellow
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Joined: Tue Dec 24, 2013 9:41 pm

Re: Round the Island Race 2014

Post by VeloFellow »

Good report. Obviously a very well sailed Freedom 25 with the right sea wind combination. Nice to hear.
Mike
s/v Clave'
1981Freedom 28 #112
Currently sailing Tampa Bay
Buit by Fairways Marine Hamble England
cat ketch, centerboard , wishbone booms, tides track slides
yanmar 2ym15 2blade prop

GrahamF25
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Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2013 9:19 am

Re: Round the Island Race 2014

Post by GrahamF25 »

Hi all,
I am the owner of 'Squirrel', and have to say it gave me huge pleasure to do so well in my old Freedom 25.
It was a very light wind day with a flat sea, I did not realise just how well she could go to windward in flat water, I went much further out than the fleet when rounding the Needles, this ment taking a bit of a hit early on, but it payed off because we avoided all the congestion inshore, we probably passed 300 or 500 boats by staying out on that leg and keeping clear air. on the next leg up went the kite through Sandown bay, in about 6kts of wind with the kite, 'Squirrel' was able to keep pace with much larger yachts for the next 15 miles, consolidating our position.
We managed to hold the kite on a fine reach till Seaview, then taking a chance we cut further inshore than the fleet when passing over Ryde sands.
The depth gauge went down to 6' as we cut as much of the corner as we dare, being inshore also ment we had clear air for much of the beat home.
Off Ryde pier we were probably winning the race, but the wind went on the nose and built to about 10kts, with the flood tide under us the classic short Solent chop developed and the advantage went to the larger boats, We just lost out to a well sailed Dehler 35, who beat us by 5 min on corected time.
It was a great day's racing and one I shall never forget, Squirrel was the 'star'
Graham.

unfetteredalexandria
Posts: 128
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:57 pm

Re: Round the Island Race 2014

Post by unfetteredalexandria »

Wondering how you're rigged, what you rate, and what system you are rated under. We are pretty much stuck with PHRF here on Chesapeake Bay. If you're curious, "Unfettered" is a round-mast standard 1984 Freedom 25, with Chesapeake PHRF rating of just under 200; I think it's 197 or something like that. I "won" the one and only time we raced her, but the only other boat in our class DNF'd.

GrahamF25
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Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2013 9:19 am

Re: Round the Island Race 2014

Post by GrahamF25 »

HI,
With regard to rig, 'Squirrel' has her original dacron mainsail, circa 1985 !, original spinnaker, gun mounted, and a small high aspect 80 sq ft mylar jib, now at least 15 years old,
Squirrel has an aluminium round section mast and 10 hp outboard motor.

With regard to ratings, I have only raced Squirrel for a year and there are very few F25s in the UK.
The ratings I have are, Island Sailing club rating, 0.931 TCF and Royal Southamption YC double handed rating, 0.890.

Suggest you take a look at the results page for JP Morgan round the Island 2014 for a comparison with other yachts
Regards.

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hotstonp
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Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2014 8:54 pm
Location: Southampton

Re: Round the Island Race 2014

Post by hotstonp »

Hi Graham

Nice to see you out again during this years round the island race too. I took part in my F33 this time and for a first time out had a reasonable mid field result for my class. I see you do the double hander series and I fancy giving that a go next year so hope to see you out in the Solent.

Keep well
Peter
Feronia - 1986 Freedom 33 Cat Sloop (UK Hoyt), Hull # 001, Aluminium Needlespar rig, shoal keel.

GrahamF25
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Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2013 9:19 am

Re: Round the Island Race 2014

Post by GrahamF25 »

Hi Peter,

I think I may have caught sight of your Freedom in the Solent a couple of times this year.
We might have even exchanged a wave just before the start of the RTIR. Pleased you had a good race, a bit to much wind on the beat for my F25, but we did better than I expected given the conditions.

I can highly recommend the Double Handed series with the Royal Southampton YC. Well organised and lots of fun.

You should do quite well in the passage races, especially when there is a long ‘off wind’ leg.


Does your boat have a fully battened jib ? Are you in the Hamble river ?

Very best regards,
Graham

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hotstonp
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Location: Southampton

Re: Round the Island Race 2014

Post by hotstonp »

Hi Graham

Yes I did wave hello at the start of this years RTIR.

Feronia is based in Ocean Village along with Crossjack. I think she was originally kept in the Hamble though. I bought her nearly two years ago and at that time she was out of the water at Mercury.

Her jib is partially battened in that she has a range of battens in the jib but not full length. She is normally sailed by myself and my 9 year old daughter. The sight of a small girl at the helm causes quite a few strange looks but she loves it providing we are not heeled too much. She doesn't have long enough legs to stand with one foot on each side of the cockpit sole.

Feronia is coming out of the water this week for this years TLC.

I am looking forward to next years sailing already. I think next year I will keep her in the water for the winter and maybe do a frostbite.

See you on the water.

Keep well
Peter
Feronia - 1986 Freedom 33 Cat Sloop (UK Hoyt), Hull # 001, Aluminium Needlespar rig, shoal keel.

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