bay area sailors in the fastnet

Bay Area sailors Harmon Shragge, Mike Crandall and Dustin Wanco competed in this year's Rolex Fastnet Race aboard the VO65 Sisi, owned by the Austrian Ocean Race Project. The boat was arguing with each other about not letting each country's sailors touch foot in the other's country (the race began off We said, "Of course." He dropped us off; I got a beer and met a Clipper Race friend. Within three minutes I received a call that we had to get off the island right away. The water taxi was returning to pick us up immediately. I finished my beer and ran madly to meet the tender, which waited for me. We got back to the boat, and luckily we did not get in trouble. At least I got a beer.

Kraken Travel in England brought together a crew of 13 (five Americans, three Italians, one Swiss, German, Austrian, Irish and a Swede; three of them women) and put them under the leadership of Sisi's supervising crew of three (skipper Gerwin Jensen, first mate Oliver Kobale and bowman Daniel Gaw).

Mike Crandall was ecstatic with the professionalism and all-around great attitude of the supervising crew. "Beginning with our first day of practice, we all gelled right away and the crew gave us the confidence to get right to work and to sail the boat to our highest ability. We were allowed to participate in any way we could, including helming, sail trim and changes. But when the boat's head got clogged, you know who we called."

Helming a VO65 and taking her to a

'Sisi', photographed from a helicopter on the second day of the race, passing the Lizard Lighthouse and Land's End. August 7 in the English Channel, transiting from Cherbourg, France, to Cowes on the Isle of Wight, when the waves and the weather hit.

christened after the extremely popular Austrian Queen Elizabeth, who went by the nickname 'Sisi' and reigned in the late 1800s. Sisi (the boat) was the former Vestas in the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18. This is not the hull that ran aground in the Indian Ocean; it's the one that collided with a fishing boat outside Hong Kong.

Readers may remember that Mike and I (Harmon) were in the process of sailing from Subic Bay to Seattle with the Clipper Round the World Race in March 2020 when we were quarantined and the race was aborted.

The Fastnet is the biggest offshore race in the world (this year marked the 49th biennial edition), and it was not about to be canceled due to COVID. Pre-Delta variant craziness, 450 boats were registered. By the time France and England stopped Cowes, UK, and finished in Cherbourg, France), starters were whittled down to just under 350. Due to heavy weather during the first 24 hours of the race, fewer than 180 boats completed the extended 695-mile course. I did set foot in Cowes. We left Cherbourg at noon the Saturday before the race and arrived in Cowes by 4 p.m. We moored the boat, and the skipper said we could take a water taxi to Cowes. The French and British had just made a deal to relax the restrictions and would allow English sailors to set foot in France. But those restrictions would be lifted Sunday morning. Of course, we thought that Saturday night would be OK. So the water taxi pulled up, and six of us headed into Cowes. The water taxi driver knew we had just come from France and asked us if we had permission to go onto land in England.

Left to right: Dustin Wanco of Reno, NV, Harmon Shragge of San Francisco, and Mike Crandall of Auburn.

fine-reach speed of 21.5 knots was an amazing feeling. Sisi is a beautiful racing machine. She is strong, well maintained and responsive to a light touch on the wheel. The interior, almost all black carbon fiber, felt more like the space station

than a sailboat. We ate freeze-dried food that we prepared ourselves and slept on the high side. Many of us did not use the one head on board and took the advice of Daniel Gaw when he told us to "Go to the stern." (No further explanation necessary!)

At race start shortly after 12 noon on August 8, we took a defensive position on the outside of the pack. No need to mix it up in the confines of the Solent, especially with wind blowing 20, with plenty of wind waves and currents that would make San Francisco Bay blush. We kept our distance from the maxis and the beautiful Ultime trimarans. We brushed elbows with the IMOCA 60s, but steered clear of the Class 40s.

Shortly after the start, the wind hit 30 and the seas picked up to 8 feet as we passed the Needles and entered the English Channel with wind against current. There was cross swell that would make a washing machine proud. The water felt surprisingly warm as it washed aboard.

Six of our crew of 13 were noticeably seasick, with two of them passed out for almost 48 hours. We made Land's End (the westernmost tip of England) by late morning. We decided to go inside the Traffic Separation Zone (TSS). Dustin (a veteran of several Big Boat Series) loved the changing conditions. Beating upwind for 36 hours, much of it in rain, wasn't something I looked forward to, but approaching Land's End at daybreak at the end of my watch was spectacular. In the dark of night we navigated toward the

No one on our watch wanted to give up the helm.

lighthouse, being as careful as we could to avoid container ships, rock islands and the TSS. Rambler 88, which received line honors in the last Fastnet, did not miss the TSS this race and finished NSC because they "did not sail the course."

By the time we entered the Irish (Celtic) Sea on the afternoon of the 9th, the rain had stopped, the sun came out, and the seas settled down. Our two sickest crew crawled out from their bunks and joined their watches for the first time since the start (although one got sick again and retreated to their bunk for another 24 hours).

We rounded the Fastnet at 6:30 the next morning with all hands on deck. We came about one last time and skirted the rock, coming within 100 meters of its edge. The sun was rising, the main was full, and we raised the J3 along with the MOH (our masthead Code Zero). We pointed a fine reach toward Cherbourg, and our plotter indicated that with about 350 miles to go, we could cross the finish in time for dinner and a hot shower the night after next.

The sailing was steady for the next 12 hours. None on our watch wanted to give up the helm, as conditions could not have been better. We were sailing 15 knots in 15 knots of true windspeed. We were triple-headed (three sails up) with a wind angle of 130° to 135° (we learned you never sail deeper than 135° triple-headed).

Harmon Shragge and Mike Crandall work the aft coffee grinder, powering the main sheet.

Fastnet Rock, the turning mark, just after rounding on August 10.

Life was great, even as we saw the IMOCA 60s gradually pulling ahead of us. Our major tactical error of the race was getting becalmed for one hour off the rocky coast of St. Anne Island off Guernsey at 10 a.m. the next day. Fortunately the current swept us past the rocks toward Cherbourg, but we watched helplessly as the Hugo Boss IMOCA crept past us toward the fi nish. We crossed the fi nish line at 12:49 on August 11, the 16th boat over the line right behind Hugo Boss. I was especially proud of fi nishing ninth in our division and 44th overall. We were the fi rst 'Corinthian' crew over the fi nish — it was only professionals in front of us. We beat Skorpios (the brand-new Swan 125), which fi nished 11th in the division and 70th overall — but in fairness, it was their fi rst race. (It was my fi rst Fastnet as well.) The race village in Cherbourg was fun and accommodating. You had to show proof of vaccination to enter. In Cowes there had been dancing, music, food, crowds — it was packed and a real scene. Cherbourg was quiet as a kitten: The race village had just opened that morning and was not even close to being in full swing — and it never was. They set aside a massive awards area that could hold a couple of thousand, but I never saw more than 30 people there at a time. We all missed our British sailing friends and competitors, most of whom crossed the fi nish line in France and then set sail directly for Cowes, never setting foot in Cherbourg. Let's face it — France has incredible food and wine, and their sailors are world famous and absolutely insane. But there is nothing like a pint of bitters with your mates in a Cowes pub before and after the race. — harmon shragge

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