The specification of S X Girl, an X37, was chosen with the intention of competing in some shorthanded racing. She has a deep 2.3m keel with extra lead and a carbon rig to increase the ballast ratio to compensate for the lack of crew weight. A powerful B & G autopilot with a gyro takes care of the helm. All the spinnakers are asymmetric which are faster and easier to gybe when singlehanded. A conventional carbon pole can be rigged to enable the asymmetrics to run deeper if required.   

The Petit Bateau Solo RIOW race on 26th Apr 2008 was a perfect opportunity to see how S X Girl would match up to some of the specialized solo yachts. Under Petit Bateau the three classes are based on L.O.A.  Class1 35-40ft ,Class2 30- 35ft and Class3 under 35ft.This attracts specialized solo yachts with water ballast etc. which would rate badly under IRC, but there are also prizes for yachts with IRC ratings.  

35 yachts chugged out from Sheppard’s Wharf in Cowes at the first light of dawn early Sat morning to find an encouraging 8 knots of breeze from the south southwest. The start was on the JOG line at Gurnard, heading west to windward with the last few hours of the ebb tide pushing the fleet over the line. The penalty for an early start was severe, so I approached the line with just the mainsail set. When I was certain that I was not going to be early I unfurled the jib and we were off on a port tack. We made a good start with only one yacht ahead, Festina Lente a Sigma 38. With S X Girls exceptional windward ability we soon managed to get ahead and to windward of the whole fleet. In the light winds the best conditions were close to the island shore, with some holes further out in the solent, so pointing ability was important and S X Girls deep keel was paying dividends. A huge hole at Hurst castle allowed the fleet to bunch up a bit so I just covered the fleet whilst drifting on the ebb tide. The wind then filled in again at about 12kts and a couple of tacks saw us passing the needles nicely in the lead. Second round was Malice(HOD) and third was Jbellino (J122).

A reach towards St. Catherine’s Point provided time for breakfast whilst keeping a close eye on the chasing pack. Approaching St. Catherine’s Point the South-westerly was holding up quite nicely so I prepared the 3A spinnaker which I had put into a snuffer for this race. Then of course, the inevitable happened, the wind died completely and the boat speed dropped to zero for a time. There was a very tense moment when Jbellino(J122) which was further offshore picked up some breeze and hoisted her large asymmetric and took the lead. Then the wind filled in under the cliffs at Dunnose and we were off with the 3A pulling nicely. By sailing a shorter distance S X Girl was soon back in the lead.   A few gybes were now needed to maintain the best VMG and to cover the yachts astern. The asymmetric spinnakers are set up with the tack attached to a tack line just forward of the forestay. Both sheets are attached to the clew with the lazy sheet led around the front of the sail for outside gybes. If required to run deeper the pole is clipped onto a guy at the tack and the tack line now becomes a pole downhaul. So to gybe, the pole is removed and the sail is flown from the tack line once again, the sail is then gybed around the outside and then the pole can be reattached when required. This system works well singlehanded and fully crewed.

At Bembridge the order was 1st S X Girl, 2nd Audacious(JOD 35), 3rd GreenFigaro, 4th DingDong (Stuart37). The leg from Bembridge to the Forts became a dead run. S X Girl, with a standard spinnaker pole, now had a distinct advantage over the Sprit Boats which couldn’t run deep and had to gybe every few minutes.

S X Girl was still in the lead at the Forts and the leg to Cowes became a shy spinnaker reach. There were a few anxious moments when some of the chasing pack seemed to be getting bigger but then, approaching Cowes, the wind came ahead and to my relief we were all close hauled all the way to the finish. The second boat across the line, 3 and half minutes behind, was Andy Greenwood in his new Figaro 2. The next IRC Yacht was Paul Peggs in a JOD 35, 6mins 22secs behind on corrected time.

So S X Girl on her Solo debut had set a course best time of 8hours 36 minutes to win overall, Class1 and the IRC prizes.

Once back in Cowes many competitors came aboard S X Girl and expressed surprise that she was a fully fitted out luxury yacht. Items like fridges, ovens and hot showers are unusual on solo race yachts.

John White