Below is a plot of the route taken by Stuart Brown sailing Blaze 713 in the Isle of Sheppey race, 1st September 2007. Speed is indicated in colour - see the legend in the image (bottom left). The GPS used was a Garmin GPSMAP 60C and the results were plotted using www.gpsvisualizer.com/map .

See the images below for a plot of the route and the trip summary on the Garmin for the race. After the finish I had to sail around for 5 minutes waiting for a space on the slipway, therefore averages and distance are not quite right. These however are given in the report at the bottom of the page.  Maximum speed was 12.3 knots.

Results of the race can be seen here.

Isle of Sheppey Race 2007

 There were four starts at half hour intervals and the Blazes were in the second, the medium handicap, starting at 11am. Of the 94 starters, there were 5 Blazes - all from Burghfield.  For the first half of the race winds were a a gentle westerly of around Force 2-3. On rounding the eastern tip of Sheppey the wind picked up to around Force 4 ocassionally gusting 5. 

With the start at Sheerness, the first part of the race was a run down the north east coast against the tide. 

As we rounded the end of the island we were able to go into a reach - though the wind then dropped away for a while and the two leading Blazes at the time - Mike Lyons and Paul Taylor - were able to take advantage of the fresh breeze coming in, pulling out a lead of a few hundred yards over the other Blazes. 

The Swale turned into a long hard beat, but with the tide this time. The trick was to play the quite large shifts and also stay in the channels - though not clearly marked - and avoid running aground!

As always, an interesting feature of the race is the capsize required to get your dinghy under the railway bridge to the south west of the island.

Final results for the Blazes were an improvement on last year. Mike was the leading Blaze, with the only other monohull in front of him being an International canoe. I managed to catch up on Mike, finishing a minute behind him. Pete Barlow followed with his job (on same handicap as the Blazes without a jib!) and then Paul Taylor. Dave Angwin, as a Sheppey Virgin, followed up mid-fleet.

As last year - I thoroughly enjoyed myself!

Stuart Brown

Blaze 713

S.C.Brown at reading.ac.uk