The PowerBar Three Peaks Yacht Race
Comings and Goings
Rob Howard / 25.06.2007
For the team on Lightning Reflex there was probably a mix of fear and relief at seeing Whitehaven come into sight as they surfed in at high speed with no motor! Skipper Geoff West had steered them back through the fleet after losing so much time going aground and now managed to get into the sea lock, from where he was allowed a tow to a pontoon. (And one back out again later on.)
Fortunately they arrived when there was enough water to get in. Others had to anchor in the outer harbour and wait it out in the rough seas, though the winds and sea state did ease as the day went on. In the middle of the day there was a ‘queue’ waiting to come in, but it was not first to arrive who went in first, it was those with the shallowest depth of keel.
Confusion and Fat Boys came in first, and the crew on Confusion did not look ready to go up any mountains. Their 8m yacht has a only a small cabin with two berths and so there had been little opportunity to shelter from the bad weather they’d been through. They’d also ripped out the sliders on the mainsail. “Everything on this boat is wet,� said Bill Tipper and like all the team he looked haggard and hollow eyed. The team decided to head for B&B’s to recover for the night and make a decision on whether to continue in the morning.
SleepMonsters
