I've just got back from a few days at Raid England in Plymouth with Matthew. As usual, it was very well organised (thank you Peter, Murray and Geoff) and great fun. There were 23 boats, 11 of which were Swallows. Each day we set out from our base at Mount Batten for a race to a new destination. The BayRaiders (a 17 and several 20's) excelled as usual, with first, second and/or third places on all three racing days. There was no need for any rowing.
The race to and especially from the River Yealm (out of the harbour and turn left) was particularly exciting. I recorded 28 knots of apparent wind from the East at one stage and we were all heavily reefed and (eventually) ballasted. My GPS data for the downhill return shows one data point with a speed over ground of 14 knots, albeit preceded by something a lot slower, presumably because the boat was waggling around so much amongst the big waves. The chart of the speed data averages these things out and shows (below) a maximum of 10.3 knots. We all got wet - see photo 2 of Curlew's laundry. But we also managed a bit of relaxation between races - photo 3. There aren't many boats of this size that can perform so well and yet allow you to get so comfortable.
The organisers are thinking of next year's event already, which will probably be somewhere different again. I'll be signing up.
