Photo caption : Past Secretary Gp Captain Jonathan Hutchinson, the oldest competitor, having just completed his ARC crossing at 0520 9th December .
Jonathon joined RLymYC as Secretary in October 1985 , serving for 12 years. His two sons, both retired from senior ranks in the Services, suggested a ‘bright idea’ to celebrate his 90th birthday – to join them both on ‘Carrick’ their Rustler 42 for the 2023 ARC – what a fantastic family challenge, how could he refuse?
The Spanish press in Las Palmas were very intrigued and Jonathan featured on a number of interviews as the oldest competitor.
Here is a summary of his summary of their adventure:
Simon kept up a blog throughout using the yacht’s own Yellowbrick tracker (https://my.yb.tl/carrick password Rustler42). At first it was intermittent because our Iridium satellite link was unreliable, but that was cured before we set off from Las Palmas for the Atlantic crossing and it has worked perfectly (if slowly) since. We carried a second tracker across the Atlantic, which the organisers supplied to each participating yacht, to provide a consolidated “howgoesit”, tracking the progress of every participant for public viewing. Both records remain available on the internet.
On the way to the start, we called first at Funchal in Madeira (10 days and 1,200 miles out from Plymouth) where we spent a very pleasant week. Three further days took us to Playa Blanca in southern Lanzarote, where we enjoyed a few more restful days before moving on to Fuerteventura. From there I flew home for a few days to see the ophthalmologists again, while the other three sailed a circuit of Tenerife before I rejoined them in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, for the Atlantic crossing. By that time the yacht had already sailed us 2,200 miles, most of them to windward but in generally benign conditions, which had included two days of glassy calm, motoring across south Biscay.
The ARC proper began on 19th November in light and fluky winds. At first, we (and the rest of the fleet) headed slowly south-south-west in search of the NE trade winds, which we began to pick up when about 50 miles N of the Cape Verde Islands. From there it was a straightish 2,000 mile run west, until we gybed for the last time through the gap between St Lucia and Martinique. From there we reached through the rising dawn of 9th December to the finish off Rodney Bay. It was our 19th day at sea.
Our main problem was that the NE trades were actually more like E or ESE, so the shortest distance lay dead downwind. Sailing dead downwind under spinnaker at night and in big seas is pretty hair-raising, so we set a wind limit of 20 knots, above which we reduced to goosewinged main and Yankee. Carrick’s rig was not built for Solent racing, so to gybe either headsail we had to take it down and re-set it, its boom and all the associated string on the other side. After the third steel tube bowsprit of the year bent through a right angle, we stuck to launching the (asymmetric) spinnaker off its boom. The frightful rolling was much reduced under the spinnaker, and we went faster, but it is a big masthead sail and demands respect.
The other main problem was that after 16 days the autopilot went missing in action (it kept getting into a diverging weave) so we had to hand-steer for the last 450 miles. Makes you realize what a brilliant job it does, without expecting to be fed or paid! Fortunately, the water maker performed flawlessly, so we all got showers every five days or so.
We were the second boat of our class (ie the minnows!) to cross the line, 90 miles ahead of the only other Rustler 42 and in front of quite a lot of larger boats and even some catamarans. We averaged 6.4 knots over the 3,025 miles sailed, achieving one or two seven-knot days (ie 170+ miles The weather was mostly fine until the squalls started in the final week, bringing the odd 40-knot gust. Corrected times will probably put us halfway down the list, but boats are still finishing as I write (3 days after we finished) so we shall have to wait and see.
I wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and see you at the end of December.
Me, I’m off to try another rum punch!