NAVIGATION BRIEFING

TOM CHENEY ON RACING ACROSS THE CHANNEL

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The UK has many active offshore racing fleets, spanning from the west coast of Scotland on the Clyde to Essex and Kent in the North Sea, but the largest and most competitive racing is undoubtedly based on the south coast in the Solent.

Both the JOG (Junior Offshore Group) and RORC (Royal Ocean Racing Club) calendars have a great selection of summertime coastal racing in the English channel, most of which start in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. These races are a perfect introduction to offshore sailing, and are a good proving ground for teams who want to build up to a bigger goal such as next year’s Rolex Fastnet Race.

These Category 3 and 4 races vary in length from the 35-mile Lonely Tower Race to the more challenging 175-mile Cowes-St Malo race. The shorter races are just a long day on the water, whereas the longer ones mean spending a night (or more) at sea and take up a whole weekend.

THE START

Nearly all of these races start from fixed lines off the seafront in Cowes, with the landward end of the line being a yacht club flag pole ashore and a fixed outer distance mark (ODM). The ODM is sometimes not positioned on the line – there might instead be lights marking a transit and/ or a bearing defining the line. This might seem quite alien if you’re used to a classic committee boat starting sequence. As with all racing, being prepared and reading (and understanding) the sailing instructions is absolutely essential.