Unlike almost any other Arrow Trophy I can remember, we were blessed with stunning weather throughout the weekend albeit there was not enough wind for racing on Sunday. As usual, most of us gathered on Thursday evening to store ship and eat steaks in a Hamble pub. Some of our more experienced crew were away on mid-Oct holidays but we were joined by a friend of Andy Roy's family: Ed van Reenen shared stories of racing Optimists amongst great white sharks off the coast of South Africa when he was 8. He proved to be a font of sailing knowledge and a rock of calmness over the weekend. The other crew comprised the Prime Ministerial Rohan Batra (Hon Treasurer), Ed Nation (Slops), Tom Bendon (Wardroom Wine Steward) and Ed Nash. With too many Eds, the latter was rechristened 'Roger the Cabin Boy' and the rest of the crew thank him for providing an endless stream of sandwiches, chocolate and hot beverages whenever we were under way.

On Friday we were joined by Andrew Gilruth and we sailing for a day's practice. The white sails were hoisted and by late morning we were starting to wrestle with the slightly mysterious ways of the asymetric spinnaker. This was interrupted by lunch and a swim at anchor in Osbourne Bay and then an easy beat back up wind and tide to Cowes. Waiting for us at the Royal Yacht Squadron, our berth for the next two days, was the OPYC Support Squadron. More select than usual, this included Commodore Jeremy Owen's Dulce Vita and Andy Roy's Swan 46 Troubadour (currently for sale if anyone is interested!). We enjoyed a delicious dinner in Tonino's where we were joined by the final member of our crew and in fact the only newbie, David Hughes; his lack of racing experience more than compensated for by his sartorial elegance and great company. Many thanks to the OPYC Committee Member who footed the bill.

Saturday dawned with a 15-20 knot South Westerly and a flooding tide.  The fast description of our four races is that we were quite often the winning boat; but never when we actually crossed the line. If you are not into racing then skip the next paragraph.

We were racing in the B fleet and therefore in Oceanis 37.8s against nine other boats from the same Fairview stable. The course was set in the North Channel between Bramble Bank and the mainland and comprised  a top mark with spreader approx 1.5NM to windward, of the start, down to a gate at the bottom of the course, upwind through the start line, repeated and finishing upwind through the start line. On the first race we had a perfect start at the pin end and thanks to Ed van R had made the right choice to stay on starboard, splitting from the rest of the fleet to take advantage of the weaker tide over the bank. We were comfortably first past the top and bottom marks and by the end of the race due to the friction of spinnaker hoists and drops crossed the line in third position (although there was a suspicious lack of beeping from the committee boat). Race 2 saw a similarly good start but a bad gybe lost us many places and then we realised that we had not followed the right course in nthe previous race (we had missed going through the start line on the upwind leg). We ducked back but finished 9th. Races 3 and 4 were much better. Good starts and first or second around the first top mark losing a couple of places either at the bottom mark or when we had to give way to a parade of leeward boats.  We came third in both races. The result - disqualified in the first race, almost last and then two good results to 7th overall. We had had great starts, good tactical decision making and good boat speed. We were let down initially by our spinnaker handling but had this down to a fine art by the end of the day. Now we just need a skipper who can read the sailing instructions - always a problem when one is leading the fleet!

We motored back to Cowes on Saturday afternoon, happy that we led the fleet at certain moments and that everyone had contributed to a great crew spirit! In the evening Parapacinis were dusted off and we dined with all the other crews at the Sugar Store - a delicious evening organised by Peter Kewish. Given the next morning's complete calm weather forecast and the earnest attempts to avoid dehyration, there was a huge cheer when Peter announced he was postponing the next morning's briefing from 0830 to 1000. On our boat, we had already agreed to turn the day into a cruise rather than a race. On Sunday morning we motored across a glassy Solent to Lymington. Here we dropped off David Hughes and his many bags to join OP Peter Troup who kindly stood us a pint and then took David off for a waterski.

So - another Arrow Trophy over and done with. Thank you to Rohan and Ed for their sterling work on the foredeck, Andy, Dave and Ed for grinding in the sheets, Tom for some fabulous wine and photography and Roger for all the sustenance. I don't remember a time when we felt so consistently in touch with the front of the racing although this is not really reflected in our overall position. More importantly, all had a fine time and, I think, remain excited about next year. 

NB: The Arrow Trophy started as the Eton Harrow yacht race and now includes teams from up to 27 public schools old pupil yacht clubs.  The event is run by a different school every three years and it is currently run by Pangbourne and specifically by Peter Kewish.  

The next race for the OPYC will probably be the Belvidere Cup – match racing the RTYC’s keel boats on the Queen Mary Reservoir.  Please get in touch of you are interested in getting involved.