The Wind is the Myth of Malham

Crew of Challenger 3 on deck during Myth of Malham

The training continues, the tactics and race are planned, the crew ready for anything and last weekend in the Myth of Malham everything was thrown at FCS crew on Challenger 3, everything apart from the wind.

The ‘Myth’ is part of the qualifying process for the 2017 Rolex Fastnet and involves a race to the Eddystone lighthouse and back. Departing Sunday and returning Bank Holiday Monday, following crew training Friday/Saturday.

Training and Tactics in the Solent

There was plenty of spinnaker training during Saturday on the Solent and as skipper Ricky Chalmers put it: ”Kite up, gybe, gybe, gybe, gybe, MOB under spinnaker, wool, beat back using Y1 and maybe Genoa.”

Crew of Challenger 3 training for the Rolex Fastnet 2017

Light winds were forecast for Sunday so the plan was “to get as far as we can” but the was a contingency plan for all four Challengers to race around the East Shamble buoy off of Portland and back to finish when North Head Green buoy bears due South.

The Myth of Plan B

Here’s Ricky’s report of the events surrounding the Myth of Malham and a great example of how you can make the most of what you have (or have not) at sea while preparing a crew for the Rolex Fastnet.

“A frustrating weekend, with silly light winds after 11pm on Saturday and no winds today thwarting our race around the Eddystone lighthouse. The Plan B Challenger Race was changed without letting us know, so our tactical positioning inshore to get sling-shotted around the headlands by the tide and making great progress to the turning mark (West Shambles), which worked well, was in vain as the others changed the course to be simply the closest to Eddystone by midnight.

Where’s the wind on the Solent?

Fog during the Myth of Malham

Sailing on the Solent with a little bit of sun

A quick change of plan on our part to put a big losing tack offshore to negate the tide off Portland was again in vain, as the others decided to change the plan again to end at 21:00.

So we ignored the Challenger Plan B and trained in light wind sailing, doing a rapid racing sail change from Yankee 2 to Yankee 1. We then noticed some small rips in the Yankee2, set about repairing them at sea, and did another racing sail change to the Yankee 3 as the wind gusted up again.

Finally, we did a “hoist and hank” racing change to the big Genoa and ghosted along in ever lighter winds. Ultimately after being tided back East for an hour and with the winds now less than 2 knots, we called it a day and retired from the Myth of Malham Race.

The plan of the action during the Myth of Malham

We had a great race start, some fantastic tacking down the Solent and out of the Needles Channel and then some tactical manoeuvring around headlands and ever quicker reefing and racing headsail changes which will all stand us in good stead for the main event, the Fastnet 2017 in August.

Thanks to Kirstie, Keith, Glyn, Bruce, Frias, Paul, Alessandro, Julian, Beth, Nicola, Hillary, Trevor and Adam for some great Spinnaker Training on Friday and some great Race Training yesterday.”

Ricky Chalmers, Skipper, Challenger 3

Learn on the Solent with First Class Sailing

You can learn everything Ricky has mentioned above in our practical and theory RYA course. These are the official courses that will take you from Competent Crew to Day Skipper and all the way up to Yachtmaster.

You could take an intense approach or spread the courses over a year of two, but with our expert skippers and excellent yachts you’ll soon discover the joys of sailing and by learning on the Solent have the right skills, knowledge and experience.

Posted by: First Class Sailing