Fall 2011.indd - Annapolis Yacht Club

Tenacious racing in the AYC Fall Series two months after the Fastnet storm.
west out the Solent, along the south coast of England,
past Lands' End, across the Irish Sea to Fastnet Rock,
about 8 miles south of Cork, Ireland, passing south of
the Scilly Islands and finishing in Plymouth. As we
approached the rock, the wind was blowing about 25
knots. Our spinnaker was up. This was in the days before
race trackers, so we guessed that we were in good shape
against our competitors. And, there were a lot of good
ones. Peter Blake was racing Condor, Dennis Conner
was racing Williwaw, and Steve Colgate had his boat,
Sleuth, there. In fact, 303 boats started the race.
The weather forecast was late as we approached
Fastnet Rock. When the broadcast finally came over the
VHS radio Peter Bowker wrote down every word. His
report to the crew on deck was ominous. “The winds are
forecasted to build to Force 8 or 9, and possibly up to
Force 10!” Ted's comment was frightening, “Oh my God,
20 people are going to die tonight!” We had just finished
a roast dinner cooked by Jane Potts. We rounded the
Rock and hoisted a No. 2 headsail. At 2000 hours I was
on deck as watch captain. At 51 degrees North, the sky
was still light. The wind built and I called for a change to
the No. 3. One hour later we changed down to the No. 4
working jib. At one point, Ted yelled from below for me
to take my hat off so I could feel the wind better. It was
blowing over 40 knots! I could feel the wind through my
foul weather gear. After dark, Courtney Jenkins used a
flashlight to read the compass. The waves were gigantic.
I had never seen anything like this. I wondered how I
would describe the race when I returned to Annapolis.
By Midnight the wind was howling. Ted took
over the wheel. I had steered four hours straight. About
an hour later, Ted called for the mainsail to come all
the way down. The crew was heroic wrestling the heavy
Dacron sail below decks. The wind was well over 50
and still building. The waves were 35 feet tall. All of
us were seasick. Tenacious was a sturdy 61-foot boat
designed by Olin Stephens, who also designed the 12
meter Courageous. We had great faith in Olin and his
engineering.
At 0400 it was my time to go back on deck. I spent
four more hours steering. We only had the No. 4 headsail
set. I would see a green light on the bow and then a red
light. It was tough changing course. When dawn started
to brighten the sky, we set the storm trysail. That made
steering easier. By 0600 the wind was back down to 50
knots and shifting to the west. Tenacious was now reaching.
When we crossed the finish line later that night, the wind
was down to 15 knots. On shore, it was bedlam.
Little did we know that CBS news anchor,
Walter Cronkite, had reported Tenacious as “missing.”
There were hundreds of news reporters on the docks. We
VOLUME 3, NO. 2
AYC BEACON
11