Icom Support Laser Dinghy Sailor in Irish Sea Challenge June 1, 2012

Icom UK recently supported David Summerville of Phoenix Marine who took on the personal challenge by sailing a Laser dinghy across the Irish Sea from Dublin to Southport, England, a distance of 115 nautical miles.  David used this challenge to raise vital funds for leading mental health charity Mind and the John Merricks Sailing Trust.  In his attempt, David used an Icom IC-M23 as his VHF radio and primary means of communication with his support vessel.

David takes up the story, ’Monday 14^th of May 2012 was the day I’d dreamed about since the age of 16. In 1975 I purchased my first Laser from Richard Robinson at Perry’s of Liverpool, for the princely sum of £315. Richard went on to become twice UK Laser National Champion, and it was always a pleasure to do business with a dealer who knew the boat, and knew sailing.

I had learnt to sail on the Marine Lake at Southport, and moved into the Laser from the 2 man Graduate class. At West Lancashire Yacht Club we raced on the sea every two weeks, and it was here that I fell in love with sailing in waves, using the Laser as a sit-in surfboard. I often wondered what it would be like to sail downwind all the way from Dublin, with a brisk Force 4 –5 Westerly and a lumpy following sea. However, a young family and a nomadic career in the oil & gas industry put paid to that ambition, at least for a while.

A chance discussion in 2007 with Andy Byrne, another Laser Radial sailor who is from Dublin revealed that he shared the same dream, and a plan was formulated. This in turn led to the creation of the Irish Sea Challenge, with a plan to sail Laser Radial dinghies from Dublin to Southport. Having been diagnosed in 1997 with bipolar disorder, which is classified as a severe mental illness, I decided to use the Irish Sea Challenge as a means of raising awareness of mental health issues, and raising funds for two named charities that are very close to my heart, namely Mind, and the John Merricks Sailing Trust.

Steve Cockerill of Rooster Sailing came onboard during early 2011, and he added additional impetus to the project. By August 2011 we had the website running and all the major goods and services sponsors were in place. In the event we didn’t have suitable meteorology during the remainder of 2011, and the Irish Sea Challenge rolled over into 2012. We were fully prepared and ready to go from 12^th April, the first suitable window in terms of tidal conditions and daylight hours, and were now waiting for a perfect 15 – 20 knots in the SW to NW sector.

By 9^th May I felt that the days around the 13^th / 14^th May were looking interesting, and this was confirmed by Roger Williams, retired meteorologist, and fellow Laser Masters sailor. By Friday 11^th May it was looking like a go, and Tom Smith, the skipper of the support vessel “Wild”, a 36ft Cat, was flying home from a business trip to Hong Kong, and planning to depart Kip Marina on the West coast of Scotland sometime on Saturday. Myself and Adventure Media cameraman Ben Wright took a ferry from Liverpool, to be in Dublin early Sunday, and to head to Howth where we prepared the boat, spare rig, foils, etc., and took care of some logistical issues. Sadly Steve Cockerill couldn’t make it for the crossing due to an ongoing viral infection, which meant that the support vessel would only be watching out for one Laser, possibly a blessing in disguise given the ensuing conditions.

The Friday forecast for Monday 14^th was Westerly 15 – 18 knots, gusting 22 – 28 knots. The Saturday forecast for Monday 14^th became 18 knots with gusts of 30 knots, and we decided to go on this.

Monday 14^th I was up at 04:00, having had a decent night’s sleep. Eating as much fruit and smoothie as I could manage, I was ready to launch by 05:00, and actually launched at 05:19. Within the boat I had food and liquid supplies for the day, including energy bars and gels, our Icom VHF hand-held radio, hand held GPS, Yellowbrick tracker which enabled tracking of my progress over the internet, hand-held distress flare and some light sticks.

Leaving Howth I could sense the adventure ahead of me, and sailing in a WNW in flat water and 18 knots I was making good progress, with the support vessel struggling a little to keep up with me, until they corrected their sail combination and used a bit of motoring at times. By around 07:00 the wind had increased to around 22 knots with gusts of around 26 knots, and the waves were making it quite a tricky sail, with the threat of a broken top section always at the top of my list of concerns. I tried to sail conservatively through this sector, in order to keep the boat in one piece and save my energy for later. I did manage to capsize to windward once, with a San Francisco roll required to recover, and the fact that I had now been immersed annoyed me, having stayed dry thus far. With the cold sea and air temperature, getting too cold was always a major concern over such a long period in the boat. That was to be my only capsize though, thankfully.

By 10:00 the wind was consistently over 20 knots, and with the substantially bigger 8 ft waves I was now experiencing it became impossible to sail deep downwind, and the subsequent angles required were slowing our progress in terms of VMG to the destination of Southport. On two occasions there were light spots which lasted for 20 minutes or so, a chance to get some respite from the battering I was receiving, but also a bit of a concern in terms of speed towards Southport. By 15:00 we realised that Southport would not be an achievable goal, and made a decision to alter course to starboard and head for Holyhead. During this period we were hit by two squalls, accompanied by a sky of black cloud and winds in the region of 35 knots. It was virtually impossible to sail downwind, and I managed by sailing a close reach with not too much vang, and not allowing the sail to flog too much. Holyhead mountain became visible around 3 hours out and was a tantalising sight. Progress was steady over this period with around 18 knots of breeze from WNW. My fluids and food had lasted me well and the planning in this area appeared to be paying off. I had made the boat itself fairly bullet-proof, and I was pleased that no breakages or other problems had occurred.

By 17:00 we were 2 hours from Holyhead and the wind increased again to the lower 20 knot range. Progress was very rapid now and with a perfect wind and wave combination it became very pleasant sailing indeed. Psychologically, the middle of the crossing had seen me a bit down, particularly with the realisation that I wouldn’t be able to make Southport at a practical hour, but now I was really enjoying the conditions. In the event the wind did increase drastically after sunset so we would undoubtedly have been in serious trouble had we proceeded towards Southport.

On the other hand I was now relishing the sail, and sailing flat out to get to Holyhead as soon as possible. Once I sailed around the harbour wall at Holyhead I knew that I was safe and that nothing could stop me from being the first to achieve this crossing in a single-handed dinghy. Arriving on the beach at Holyhead Sailing Club at 18:56 I was greeted by a smiling face, who asked me if I was joining the club, and which club had I sailed from. When I said Dublin he looked in amazement and began calling all his friends in the area. He was also a Laser sailor, and soon a bit of a crowd had gathered, soon to be joined by the crew of “Wild”. We had a great meal that evening, followed by a great sleep.

Would I do it again? Probably not that particular crossing, but perhaps something in warmer water. For 2014 I am planning a relay race down the Nile in Lasers, from Aswan to Cairo, with a European Team and a Middle Eastern Team competing. The objective is to assist the tourism industry within the country, which has been severely impacted by the revolution of 2011.

We have obtained some unique photographs and video footage from both onboard the Laser and also the support vessel, and I am planning to use this as a basis for after dinner talks at sailing clubs and other institutions, as a means of additional fundraising for the charities.

If anybody has interest in such a talk, please contact me through our website:-

www.phoenixmarine.co.uk

Full details on the Irish Sea Challenge can be found here:- www.roostersailing.com/isc

Donations can be made here:-

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=rsisc

Track can be seen here:-

http://www.roostersailing.com/isc/?page_id=39