Banks Sails : Banks > Reports and results

Cowes-Yarmouth JOG Race

A Cheerful Skipper in Barmouth

The Start off Barmouth

View from the Spreaders

Veto & Crew after the Race at Corpach, Fort William

NEW: 7.7
Banks Sails in the 2004 Magellan 3 Peaks Race
by Major A M Britton RTR

The Magellan 3 Peaks Yacht Race from Barmouth to Fort William is one of those truly classic events which everyone seems to have heard of. It is a true feat of seamanship, endurance and mountain running, that has been widely copied across the world.

This race is the original, real McCoy and genuine article; 389 miles of difficult coastal sailing, 30 miles of cycling, 72 miles of running and 17,000 feet of climbing, and was to prove an immense challenge to the five Majors drawn from the DTC MA/MSc courses at RMCS Shrivenham.

There is much to be said for the DTC MA course at RMCS. Hours and hours spent in the Lefroy lecture theatre are conducive to dreaming of new challenges and adventures away from the environs of not-so-sunny Swindon. As running and sailing are my two key sports, I thought it natural to combine them in one extreme event and fortunately persuaded Jason Hones RE, Dominic Rutherford STAFFORDS, Rob Thomson RE, and Jonathan Parrott RA to join me. We decided to enter the Tilman trophy, where 4 of the crew of 5 have to complete at least one mountain; generally the larger boats had 3 dedicated sailors and just 2 runners.

Preparation for the event included sailing a couple of Junior Offshore Group (JOG) races around the solent and plenty of long distance running, with mixed success. We found that when the wind actually blew we could be competitive, as long as we followed the right course!

We elected to raise money for Cancer Research following the recent loss of the mother of one of the team. Any donations to this worthy cause through the author will be most welcome. The other key aspect to our preparation was to negotiate sponsorship from British Gas to the tune of £5k. This was to prove critical in upgrading the speed of the boat- a very competitive new main and a couple of genoas from Bruce Banks Sails of Southampton were the result. The sponsorship also allowed the team to buy all the necessary safety equipment without completely bankrupting the skipper.

The Project phases of our respective courses allowed some flexibility in our working programme and allowed us time to deliver the yacht to Barmouth just in time for the start. This was done in two legs; the first leg from Gosport to Falmouth was completed in glorious weather, pleasant Force 3-4 winds and hot sunshine. The second leg from Falmouth to Barmouth was more problematic with the team racing the boat ahead of a full gale that blew hot on our heels, and having to divert into Aberystwith to avoid foundering on the infamous sand bar off Barmouth. This leg, in a steady force 7 gusting occasionally 8 proved the durability of the yacht and the crew.

The race started on Saturday 26th June 2004 at 1500. The previous night had seen the crew attempt to scupper notably the teetotal Israelis and Ryde Harriers teams and prove that a healthy hangover does make yachts sail faster. We were lead out of the harbour by the lifeboat and cheered on by crowds of spectators off the mole in what was a remarkable, special atmosphere, a mixture of elation at being there and some dread of the trials still to come.

The first leg from Barmouth to Canaerfon was initially a fast reach out to Bardsey island, followed by a swing North and a run up to Canaerfon bar and into the harbour to drop off the two sappers who were to run Snowdon (26 miles, 3000 feet). The prevailing advice was not to attempt the bar outside the period HW-3/+3. We actually went over at HW+4.5 with a healthy 1.5 metres of water under the keel, under the excellent pilotage of the navigator, former RN officer Major Jon Parrott RA. This was a good tactical move that brought us in contact with the race leaders. This was capped off by a stunning performance on Snowdon by the two sappers which moved us up to 4th place as we left Canaerfon to tackle the next hurdle, the Menai straits and the infamous “Swellies”.

The “Swellies” is the stretch of water between Brittania and Menai bridges where the tide can race at up to 8 knots in each direction, and there are numerous underwater rocks and spots to go aground. This was exciting racing as Five Girls in a Boat (semi-professional team, X332) caught us up in their faster yacht, as we struggled to row clear in the strong 5 knot adverse tide. Finally deploying the spinnaker had the desired effect as we pulled away from them and we built up a 45 minute lead over the rest of the fleet behind us. Now we had to try and catch the leaders- Hellefix (Dutch entry, X412, including Rob Barel, former world triathlon champion), Ryde Harriers (very experienced, Reflex 38), and Sealion (Royal Navy team, arch rivals, Westerly Typhoon 37). Over the final 100 miles of this leg up to Whitehaven there was some close racing and we locked in to the harbour in company of 4 other boats in 7th place overall.

The author and Major Dom Rutherford then debussed to meet their bicycles and complete the Scafell Pike leg. After 10 hours and 25 minutes, having covered 30 miles by bike, and ran 18 miles with 7000 feet of climbing mostly in the dark and mist, the pair returned to the boat, with Dom carrying a knee injury. We slipped Whitehaven again in 7th place.

The next leg was the longest sailing leg with 220 miles to cover and some tricky navigation, including rounding the Mull of Kintyre, a maze of islands and patchy winds, and finally the Corran narrows. By midday on the Tuesday with 60 miles to go we had caught up two places and were just ahead of Sealion in 5th place, with much banter between boats and the crew doing whatever we could to put water between us and the RN.

As we took different routes through the islands, with 20 miles to go to Fort William they appeared ahead of us in company with Chilli Nomads, a team which we had been ahead of since the start. As we did our all to catch them up, fast reaching under the spinnaker, a strong 25 knot gust blew in and caused the boat to broach, and during the resulting flogging the corner was ripped off the spinnaker- disaster! Fortunately we could recover it below without having to slash the halyard or send anyone aloft. This now meant we had little chance of catching Sealion or Chilli Nomads but we did our best, rowing the yacht like 10 men in the lulls and making the most of our sail area left to try and keep up. It turned out that Sealion had also blown out their spinnaker in the tricky gusts off the islands.

As we drifted and rowed in to Corpach next to Fort William at 0030 Wednesday morning in 7th place spirits were at a low ebb; it had been raining continuously for 12 hours and we had run out of gas 24 hours ago (key lesson- take 2 canisters next time!). The two sappers left to do Ben Nevis with one literally exhausted before he even started. In a triumph of mind over matter the pair ran the mountain in just over 5 hours, a respectable time which gave us 7th place overall, and second place in the coveted Tilman trophy. The winners beat us by only 35 minutes, after 3 days and 14 hours of close, hard fought racing over sea and mountain.

The team are now licking their wounds and considering their options for next year. If any readers have made it this far through the article and are inspired to have a go, then we hope to see them on the 20th June 2005 in Barmouth. See www.threepeaksyachtrace.co.uk for more details.

Thanks must go firstly to Hannah Moon, formerly of Centrica/British Gas, Paul Worswick and Hugh Myers of Banks Sails, Lt Col Darren Bowyer RE and Wing Commander Pat Roberts RAF of RMCS, Peter Chartres of the Junior Offshore Group, and our wives and families for putting up with our long absences.