Well we did it - after 608 nautical Course-Miles, approx 750 nautical Track Miles over the Ground and 810 nautical Track Miles through the Sea, the crew of Wight Spirit made landfall at Plymouth early on Saturday morning 15 Aug 2009.
During the 6 days of racing we saw porpoises and whales, we changes headsails in heavy seas and we went up and down the mast to fix issues 4 times, once at night in our final run in.
In the end we finished 133rd overall (from a field of 300), 23rd in IRC3 (from 59) and 14th in IRC3B (from 30). A very commendable set of race results.
We are all extremely thankful for the generousity of friends and colleagues who have helped us raise the money on this site. We will look forward to handing over a cheque to the Bembridge Lifeboat Station in due course.
Yours sincerely - The Crew of Wight Spirit,
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"The Bembridge All Weather Lifeboat was launched 02/09/06 at 20.35 hrs to assist a dismasted Yacht Wight Spirit, 11 miles south of the Nab Tower, the lifeboat made best speed to the casualty’s updated position but we were unable to DF it at five miles or pick it up on radar, at three miles we could DF it, but still nothing on radar, so on nearing the position at a range of a mile and a half with Solent’s permission the casualty fired off a white collision flare which was seen and on us nearing the casualty we could just make out the stern light. Arriving on scene we found the casualty laying broadside to the weather, the mast had broken in two places and was strewn over the deck and down over the starboard side, two of the five man crew were trying to pull the mast up and secure it to the deck which took some time but they achieved it.
The Lifeboat stood up weather and supplied the illumination. On completion of that the skipper thought he would be able to motor under his own power if we could check out astern as to whether any lines were trailing in the water, It was not possible see without getting too close and there was a chance that if there wasn’t already some over the side, they could be possible washed over at a later stage, after consultation with the coastguards it was decided to tow the casualty to which they agreed, but we would have to stand off whilst the crew rigged a bridle. So for some minutes the Lifeboat again stood up sea and illuminated the vessel, once completed the Lifeboat was brought up from a position ahead of the casualty and was manoeuvred across sea towards the bow once in range the heaving was thrown onboard, it was pulled in and once the tow line was onboard it was secured to the bridle, the Lifeboat was slowly manoeuvred away whilst the two crewmen returned to the cockpit and the tow commenced. The weather was on the port beam for the tow back but went well and on nearing the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour the casualty was informed that we would be shortening the tow to enter the channel and once inside the casualty would be brought up along our starboard side and manoeuvred into the berth at Haslar marina, this was completed the casualty was secured alongside and was passed over to the local Coastguards. The Lifeboat returned to station was rehoused and made ready for service again by 04:00."This citation describes events on a blustery dark night in September 2006 when on the return passage from Honfleur, Wight Spirit was dismasted. The crew will always be grateful to the Bembridge Lifeboat for their assistance that night.
In 2009, fully repaired Wight Spirit is ready to compete in the gruelling Rolex Fastnet Race.
The crew of Wight Spirit would like to invite you to join them in making a donation to the Bembridge Lifeboat Appeal.
A £1M appeal to help fund a new lifeboat station, boathouse and lifeboat in Bembridge was launched in 2008.
The two-year appeal aims to raise £1M towards the rebuilding of Bembridge lifeboat station and a replacement boathouse. It will also go towards the cost of the new Tamar class lifeboat which will come into service in a couple of years time.
To this end, the lifeboat station’s volunteer crew members and the Isle of Wight’s RNLI fundraisers are hoping to enlist the help of supporters, schools and businesses in raising the money, to ensure the crew have the best facilities possible to continue saving lives at sea.
‘The current lifeboat, the Max Aitken III, is due to be retired in 2010 and will be replaced by the latest, most advanced lifeboat class, the Tamar. The Tamar is more powerful than the Tyne and is also higher, heavier and wider.’
In addition, very few of today’s volunteer lifeboat crew members work in a maritime-related job and therefore need to change into appropriate clothing before going to sea. The cramped conditions at Bembridge mean that there is very little room to store the clothing, which stays damp and never dries out properly, hence the need for improved facilities.
Thanks for taking the time to visit the Wight Spirit JustGiving page.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - We raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now.
