At the beginning of 2023, Tigris Youth Program opened its applications to
U25 sailors looking to start double handed racing. Gavin, who runs the project,
provides a boat for a RORC offshore race with a female and male pairing for the
event. I was lucky enough to go sailing with Charlie, a friend from previous
sailing, in the RORC St Malo.

Excited to start, double handed racing has been something I have wanted to
start for a while, but the fear of not having the knowledge and skills to race
made me reluctant to start. The Tigris program allowed me to put aside my
excuses and attempt a double handed race without the expectations of a result
and to build experience to race double handed in the future.

Double handed sailing seems like the perfect discipline to be in as a young
female offshore sailor, with the UK class growing stronger every year. It
kickstarted properly after the rumours of a double handed offshore class for
the Paris 2024 Olympics, which requiring a mixed pair, allowed for an influx of
sailors to move to double handed. For me its the perfect opportunity to prove
that I am capable of offshore sailing and allows a sailor to test solo sailing
while knowing there is support of the other on board.

Overall, I had a fantastic time, despite difficulties in the race and
enjoyed pushing my navigating skills with charts and tidal atlases around the
ripping currents of the Channel Islands. Here is the race report written after
the event.

“Race report – RORC St Malo on Wavetrain

Starting off the Squadron line with 10-11 knot easterly, we were set up for a downwind start with tide under us.

Aiming towards the south end of the line to allow for clear air and a good lane down the Solent, we had our first ever kite hoist on Wavetrain and ended up leading the 50 boat fleet down the Solent. The breeze gradually shifted forward as we reached Hurst, so the kite was dropped and we headed out of the needles on a close hauled course, with an early kite drop allowing gains for the close reach out of the Needles channel.

Entering the channel, the next key tactical challenge was to decide how much westing to put in to account for the east going tide we expected near the TSS. The fleet split with half of the fleet staying high and maintaining a more southerly course, with the other half hoisting codes and kites to head west, chasing the expected front and southerly breeze. Given the breeze was now 14 knots we were unable to hoist the code, so we chased boat speed with the jib and main holding course in the middle of the fleet.

Overnight the breeze steadily built to 18 knots, staying east longer than predicted. We reached the TSS and Casquets in record time in around 10 hours after our start. As the boat became over powered we decided to put a reef in, resulting in better boat control in channel swell and no loss in boat speed overall.

Passing Casquets, the wind finally shifted south west as forecasted and we headed up against foul tide towards Guernsey. To make the most of the tide bending round Guernsey, we hugged the coast and tacked close inshore to pass Les Hanois lighthouse. Thinking we would benefit from the tidal shunt round the south coast of Guernsey, we continued south east on starboard tack. With the benefit of hindsight this pushed us too far east, sailing extra distance and missing out on the southerly tide, which, although weaker, provided better VMG towards the next mark. This was to be the most significant tactical loss of the race, pushing us further back in the fleet.

Slowly the wind dropped and as we got used to the boat, we found a groove and started regaining lost distance. With the tide lee-bowing us to the next mark, we made our way past the Minquiers.

As we rounded, we noticed an unusual cyclonic weather system forming accompanied with thunder clouds. As it approached, the wind switched 90 then almost 180 degrees aft, leaving us with a downwind leg to St Malo.

Hoisting the kite was accelerated by a too close for comfort lighting strike and so we set off down wind towards the finish. Pushing tide and with split gybes towards St Malo we elected to head inshore towards the French coastline, gybing onto a hotter angle to reach the finish. This choice provided some gains on the final leg especially with the decreasing wind strength.

Overall, we enjoyed our first ever double-handed race and learnt a lot from the challenge of navigating the tricky tides around the channel islands. Thanks a lot to Gavin for providing the support and the boat for the race.”