Sailors do the biz in Menai Straits

The EADS Innovation Works have done us proud in the Menia Straits. We were 15th into Caernarfon, 9th out and now we've made it out into open water, beyond the Straits, we are currently in 4th place and doing about 7 knots. It's great to be back in the race.

The Menai Straits are a pretty technical place to sail. There are loads of rocks around, wind shadows and tidal eddies. There was a real sense of conentration amongst the crew as they nuanced there way around the rocks: there was hardly time to eat bacon butties! As I worked in the galley, I could see other boats slip by behind us through the window: one was even going backwards.

We're now in for the long haul up to Whitehaven. The sailors reckon this passage might take us 15 to 20 hours. I suspect we're in for the long haul as the wind drops. The thing I need to do now is to get some good sleep before the next big run.

A game of three halves

We'd been getting nowhere in Bardsey Sound, finding it impossible to get through a tide race at the northern tip of the Lleyn peninsula. We thus gambled on going around the west side of Bardsey - along with a few other boats. This gamble didn't work. Once we'd rounded the island, there were maybe 15 stern lights ahead of us. Maybe they'd caught a gust of wind at just the right time to push them round...

And so we raced up the north side of the Lleyn peninsula in the dark with our light spinnaker up, slowly reeling in the rest of the fleet. The Martins slept, ready for what would almost certainly be a fast Snowdon leg. We docked at 7:30, "jumped" off the boat, got kit checked and then set off.

I make a plan at the start of all these Three Peaks runs. The classic plan for Snowdon is: an hour to Snowdon Ranger, an hour up, 40 minutes down and an hour back. This would give us a time of 3h40m which should be pretty hard to beat.

I'm not a road runner. I don't claim to either be particularly good at it or to particularly enjoy it (the Chippenham to Stanton run excepting). There's 8 miles of road to the Snowdon Ranger path. My GPS counted the miles down for me: I ran. 58 minutes to Snowdon Ranger: ahead of schedule - good job. A surprising thing about the run in was that we overtook no-one: showing just how much time we'd lost at Bardsey.

I never navigate with GPS: it just counts down the miles for me. We navigated up Snowdon by map alone in generally good visibility. The navigation was spot on (for the first time in the Three Peaks Yacht Race for us): it was like a work of art. 1h58m at the summit: ahead of schedule.

If the navigation on the way up was like a work of art, nav on the way down was a dream. It's down the Llanberis path so you can't get lost, but the devil's in the detail and we had the detail right. We had recced running down the railway, but the organisers were really not up for this, so we were on the main path all the way. Running down the railway is pointless: the path's quicker. 2h36 to Llanberis: right on time.

The 8 mile road run back to Caernarfon was purgatory. Martin was dragging me along as the GPS counted down the miles. Despite some unpleasant clearing at Llanberis, the weather settled into a perfect refreshing incessant drizzle. We couldn't have asked for better. We were tired when we got back to Caernarfon quay (to see EADS Innovation Works gliding along to pick us up). Our time of 3h35m was ahead of schedule and much faster than I'd managed in previous years. We couldn't have asked for more from ourselves.

We're now sailing slowly up the Menai Straits at low water. There is a vicious tide against us and we are almost stationary. The sailors look wet on deck. I'll be making bacon butties in a minute. There are 9 boats ahead of us, but they're all in the Straits, stopped by the tide. This is good for us. In essence, the race restarts in an hour's time when the tide turns.

Our run seems to have kept us in the overall race. We've learnt that the GFT runners beat us by 6 minutes in 3h29m: an excellent effort. We are not despondent though: we show good courage. If we'd done last year's time of 4h06m, we'd be out of the running for the King of the Mountains. As it is, we're right in there. I still think we've got a good chance. Our best mountain is to come. If we have some luck with the weather, and we can play to our strengths, I still think we can pull something out of the bag on Scafell Pike.

We're committed to it, the sailors are committed to it. We've got a race on our hands. We lost the first leg, but it's a game of three halves and there's everything still to play for. Bring it on!

The whites of their eyes

I was lying in my berth trying to sleep. The sea was getting bumpier which the mariner in me said that we were in the Bardsey tide race. "Watch out Piers" meant we were asking Hazard Chase to give way. We were probably in the lead now. The sea went calm which probably meant we were round. I got out on deck to check how we were getting on. There were five boats ahead of us and we were going backwards in no wind.

We had got to the north western tip of the Lleyn peninsula in the lead and the tide just took us and shot us a mile back behind the fleet in no time. We rowed back towards the shore, picked up the wind and started sailing again.

The cliffs above us were looming higher. The lights of onlookers on the headland seemed to be waving at us as if to warn us off. I could see the waves breaking white on the rocks by the light of the moon. When I could almost have jumped ashore, we tacked and headed to safety. There can be eddies close inshore and our skipper, Geoff, was trying to take advantage of one of these.

We tried to make progress closer to the shore, but with the tide strengthening, this was futile. As EADS Innovation Works pointed north west, we tracked south west out of the sound between Bardsey Island and the Lleyn peninsula. There was a fascinating view of Bardsey lighthouse up close, but that's not what we're here for.

A significant proportion of the fleet now seems to be stuck in Bardsey Sound as we sail around the outside of Bardsey Island. It's a bit of a gamble, but if the conditions stay like this, they'll be there all night. In a couple of hours we'll find out if our gamble has paid off.

In Geoff we trust!

Whatever happens, we'll be going up Snowdon in daylight now: hopefully after a good night's rest.

Sailing at last

We're underway at last. This race (And the old county tops) has really been the focus of the first half of the year for me so it feels good to be racing at last. I am pretty nervous too: when you invest a lot of emotional energy in something and it doesn't go to plan, it can hurt.

We drove up last night and stayed at the Climbers' Club hut in the Llanberis pass. This let us acclimatise ourselves to the rain and cloud and allowed us a drive by recce of the road sections of the Snowdon leg. There's a lot of road running to do and I'm glad that I've got a nice new pair of bouncy trail shoes to run in.

There was a race briefing at 11am and we made this with minutes to spare. Looking around the room, it's pretty clear that there are some good runners around. We're going to have to run well to get the result we want. I look forward to having a race on our hands.

The day was spent shopping, eating, chatting to other crews and to friends and family. The Three Peaks Yacht Race seems to be the major annual event in Barmouth and there were loads of people at the harbourside to see us off: and a great drum band.

We got out to the yacht about 4pm and then spent an hour manically packing and stowing. All the yachts motored out of the harbour with hundreds of people and the drum band on the breakwater: a great send off for the teams. Best of all, my nieces were there to cheer me off.

The start was all a bit fraught with loads of very expensive yachts passing very close by at speed. They all seem to have this etiquette, knowing who should be tacking out of the way and whether they'll hit or not. I just try to keep out of the way when all this bacchanal is going on around me.

We got a good start and were in the top 5 on the line. We're now sailing along nicely. I think we're either in the lead or pretty close. The sailors are all switched on and we don't seem to have put a foot wrong yet. From up on deck, I can hear discussion of Journeymaker's progress. I think we're doing well. We're going to get our first really good idea about how the race is shaping up for us when we get to Caernarfon: maybe in 8 hours time.....

Live Three Peaks Yacht Race blog updates

We're hoping to be sending live updates from the Three Peaks Yacht Race to the Team Vasque blog. This requires three things to work in our favour:

1. we work out how to get Martin's phone to send emails
2. we have mobile phone coverage
3. we have the energy (and the phone has batteries)

Update: Martin's worked out how to use the phone so now we just need mobile coverage and energy. Yippee!

Fingers crossed!

Three Peaks Yacht Race ahoy!

The countdown to the Three Peaks Yacht Race is well underway. In under 3 days time, the Team Vasque Martins are going to be setting sail on EADS Innovation Works (aka Lightning Reflex).

The focus at the moment is on getting well rested, getting the kit together and most of all getting psyched for it. We are having nervous glances at the weather forecast. It looks like we'll be getting some light winds. This should make the seas quite kind for us runners (fingers crossed), but we don't know how well Lightning Reflex will respond. One of my worries is that we'll have to do quite a bit of rowing at times to make up for the lack of winds.

So, what of our preparation for the race? I think we've been doing pretty well. We've won three races together as a team: Wuthering Hike (pairs event), Calderdale Hike and Castles and Islands Challenge (in slightly unusual circumstances described in a previous post). We've had good detailed recces of the Snowdon and Scafell Pike legs and I'm pretty sure that I'll have the navigation wired this year. We've been out doing quite a bit of sailing (the Nab Tower race in Lightning Reflex and the Castles and Islands Challenge) and seem to be able to handle that side of things.

The Three Peaks Yacht Race isn't just about preparation though: you have to ride your luck. We didn't do this in 2008: we lost the race ten times over with little things that went wrong. Hopefully we will be attuned to these problems and avoid them this year (for one, I shall be more careful on my Snowdon navigation and I've got some much warmer sleeping kit).

It's time to get nervous. I think we're running well. I'd like a different result to last time. I guess we've just got to go for it and give it our best shot. I'm looking forward to it: it's a great race. I just need to get some sleep now!

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The race is being tracked on www.sleepmonsters.co.uk and www.threepeaksyachtrace.co.uk. Team Vasque are racing with EADS Innovation Works.

Castles and Islands Challenge

Yachts anchored off Low Newton in the Castles and Islands race

There have traditionally been two significant running and sailing races in the UK: the Scottish Islands Peaks Race and the big daddy of them all - the Three Peaks Yacht Race (that I know well and will reacquaint myself with on Saturday). The Universal 500 is being resurrected this year as the South Coast Yacht Race: Team Vasque are entered (Martin Beale and Tim Laney). The new kid on the block is the Castles and Islands Race.

The Castles and Islands Race is organised by the Coquet Yacht Club in the far northern reaches of Northumberland (it's far enough north that you get to see the "Newcastle, The South" signs on the A1). The Northumberland coast is notable for a profusion of castles and islands (not to mention miles of sandy beaches, large sand dunes and quaint little harbours). The Castles and Islands links these castles and islands. The idea is to sail round the islands (Coquet Island and the Farne Islands), to run round Holy Island and to run to five of the major castles: Alnwick, Warkworth, Lindisfarne, Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh.

The race comprises the following legs:

• [run] Alnwick via Warkworth castle to Amble (where the yachts are met)
• [sail] round Coquet Island then up to Holy Island via Staple Sound (between the Farne Islands)
• [run] round the perimeter of Holy Island, taking in Lindisfarne castle
• [sail] via the Inner Sound of the Farne Islands to Seahouses
• [run] along the beach and round Bamburgh castle
• [sail] to Low Newton
• [run] to Dunstanburgh Castle
• [sail] to Amble and the finish
• [drink] sailing races always end up with a celebratory reception at the yacht club for the parched sailors and the Castles and Islands is no exception

You're actually allowed to do the runs in any order, but the above order seems to be generally adopted. The yachts have to drop their runners off via a dinghy (this is basically a big rubber inflatable boat - a grown up version of those inflatable boats that kids play in at the seaside) and are expressly not allowed to motor while their runners are on board. The rules state that the runners need to be on board from start to finish: this is an all round test of sailing and running ability. The runners need to run each leg together.

The Team Vasque Martins had done the Castles and Islands race in 2008 and were back for more in 2009. We were back as part of the Flying Pig team with sailors Rob (skipper and owner), Mike and Alex. Flying Pig is a Wharram Tiki catamaran. While being a veteran of the Scottish Islands Peaks Race, she looks like she belongs in the pacific islands, her lines having been inspired by those of the polynesian outrigger boats. She is spacious and fast in strong winds, though slows down in light headwinds. We had light headwinds for much of the 2009 race.

Flying Pig under full sail

I had been sailing my yacht, Cervisia, the week beforehand. While this had made me akin to life on the ocean wave, my distinct lack of sleep suggested that I might not be running at the standard I would usually ask of myself (that's the excuses dealt with).

At 7:30pm, we were at Alnwick castle ready for the start. We got a really good start, leading for the first two miles (despite a navigational error on my behalf: the competition were mainly local to Northumberland and knew the route: we were running on mapwork). We settled in behind a couple of Morpeth Harriers and chased them along paths and tracks through the Northumbrian countryside towards Warkworth castle and the coast. With a loop of Warkworth castle, there was just a mile to go and we finished with a blast along the coast road to Flying Pig. We managed the undulating 8.8 mile run in just under an hour in second place (an average pace of 6m47s / mile). I was happy with this, though I had clearly been holding Martin back.

We ran along the pontoon, jumped onto Flying Pig and then we were off on the main sailing leg. As we slipped out of the Coquet River at Amble, we could see the rest of the fleet coming out behind us. Sailing round Coquet Island, we watched spinnakers being raised in the evening sun as Flying Pig was being buzzed by puffins (truly beautiful birds).

A Northumberland sunset: running into Amble

Flying Pig and Team Vasque leaving Amble after the first running leg

I am unable to write anything about the sail from Amble to Holy Island, apart from to report that Flying Pig is a perfect boat for a tired runner to sleep on, being both spacious and stable. I was out for the count, snuggled into my sleeping bag, under my duvet. I was woken at 2am as we approached Holy Island.

I managed 10 hours of blissful sleep during the race

We were bleary eyed as we got into a cold dinghy and Mike rowed us to the shore. As Mike put the effort in, we could see the peaceful sight of the yachts' anchor lights in the Holy Island anchorage as our thoughts were focussed on the navigational challenge of running through the Holy Island sand dunes in the dark. Mike dropped us off at the slipway (entailing getting salty wet feet: I don't count myself as a prima donna, but I don't like getting salty wet feet and then running - you have to be prepared to suffer in these sailing and running races).

There are four checkpoints on Holy Island and you can visit them in any order. The traditional circuit is clockwise, but we elected to take an anticlockwise route as we felt this would aid navigation. Finding the castle (SE point) and Emmanuel Head (NE point) was easy (this is the reason we went anticlockwise: Emmanuel Head is easier to find from the south east). We then ran west onto a broad Northumberland beach in the the dead of night. Leaving the beach, we were lucky to find a good path through the dunes to another beach. Another cut through the sand dunes would lead us to a third beach. This passage was more trying as the paths died out and we were left in a sea of sand dunes on a dark night with only our compass to guide us. After wallowing around in the dunes for a while, we cut our losses, turned north straight for the beach and were then able to run along good firm sand towards the NW checkpoint (Snook old light) which Martin spotted in the first light of dawn. A blast along the causeway road then saw us back to Mike and the dinghy at the slipway.

Mike rowed us back into a sea of anchor lights, searching for Flying Pig. It was a relief to catch sight of her polynesian outriggers and then haul ourselves on board and straight into our bunks for a much needed rest.

Rob helming Flying Pig as I head down to my berth

The sailors did a good job of sailing us to the next harbour, Seahouses, in a strengthening headwind. We were dropped off in the dinghy with Mike, close to the harbour entrance and were rowed ashore once more, clambering up ladders onto the harbour wall. The run started at the landward end of the harbour wall and we knew we had to put in a good performance round Bamburgh Castle against the Morpeth Harriers (who we felt we had reeled in on Holy Island). I find this run to be a real test. It is fast in places (when on the wet sand exposed at lower tide or on land sections) and is slow through powdery shifting sand dunes or the dry beach sand at high tide. The run was really telling on me as we hit the drier and softer sand near the castle, but I put everything into it. We made a slight navigational error around the castle (you can't tell from the map where the good paths exist: only local knowledge helps), but generally navigated better than in 2008. This is an out and back leg. This is painful. If you find the run out to be hard work, then you are guaranteed to find the run back even harder: this is how things panned out. We put a creditable performance in on this leg, though by this stage, it was clear that I was holding Martin back. A very tired Team Vasque met Mike and the dinghy at the harbour wall for the row back to Flying Pig and our hardworking sailors who had been up all night (the runs are too short to give the sailors any real rest).

We sailed in the morning sunshine a few miles south to Low Newton and the drop off point for the final run to Dunstanburgh Castle. It was here that we were met by a sight that was both incredible and dreadful: the Morpeth Harriers were aground on the rocks, their beautiful long keeled yacht heeling over and being pounded by the (thankfully gentle) sea. The inshore lifeboat was out to help recover the yacht and was later followed by a Mersey class lifeboat. I knew how these guys felt: we had run aground in the Three Peaks Yacht Race in 2008: all that effort that you put in as a runner can come to nought due to a small navigational mistake or the whim of the tide. For a runner, a navigational mistake can mean floundering through sand dunes. For a yacht, the consequences can be more severe....

The grounded Morpeth Harriers at Low Newton as Flying Pig enters stage left

Rescuers stand by as the Morpeth Harriers' yacht is rescued (Flying Pig exits stage right)

The rescue of the stricken Morpeth Harriers' yacht continues as a dinghy stands by to disembark the runners (the race goes on...)

Mike rowed us ashore onto a sandy beach and Team Vasque started the final 5 mile run to Dunstanburgh Castle. We ran inland, across footpaths and the golf course in the heat of the morning sun. We touched the gates of Dunstanburgh Castle after nearly 20 minutes and set off back. The run back was pure purgatory for me. The previous week of little sleep was exacting a heavy price on my running ability and I was clearly slowing Martin down by this stage. I just focussed on the finish and got on with it: the harder I ran, the sooner it would be over. I collapsed into the dinghy at the finish for Mike to row us back to Flying Pig. With my last ounces of strength, I hauled myself onto Flying Pig's deck and crawled off to bed.

Runners paddle back to their yacht after the Dunstanburgh castle leg. These Advanced Elements inflatable kayaks are the business: all the other runners were totally jealous of this kit

I knew little of the final sail back to Amble, save to say that it was into a light headwind and took quite some time (all of which I slept). As we crossed the finish line (15 hours after the start), the wind suddenly picked up and just for the fun of it, we careered off downwind, letting Flying Pig show us what she was capable of.

By 5pm, we were moored up at Coquet Yacht Club and touched land once more (which seemed to be rocking back and forth gently!). By 8pm, the finish party was well underway and at 9:30pm, the prizes were handed out. Team Vasque were handed the running trophy (and Flying Pig won the multihull trophy). It was a somewhat bittersweet "victory" for us. The Morpeth Harriers were 4 minutes faster overall, but as their yacht had not completed the whole course, they were disqualified from the running prize. My heart went out to them. They had done everything required of them and a twist of fate had conspired against them. They've vowed to come back again in 2010 and right the wrong. Team Vasque will be back, in a rested state, for the rematch.

Martin Beale / Martin Indge: Team Vasque