Cow down the mine

The crew of the Mumm 30 Mad Cow Hyde talk of their exhilirating day on the Solent

Darren and Georgie Baker and the crew of Mad Cow Hyde described how their day went in the blustery and black Solent on board their Mumm 30.

After missing out on yesterday's Cowes adventures due to hitting the mud and having to retire with a slightly battered keel, today's extreme boat speed more than made up for a day out of the racing. The Mad Cow team were supping ale in Cowes Yacht Haven with very big fat grins. They had obviously enjoyed themselves.

Crewman Sean Barber said: "today was absolutely wild, one of the best days sailing I can remember. The boat just flew and even tried swimming at one point".

Sean went on to account the race saying "we had an okay start and were lying fourth as we tacked along the mainland side of the course to the first run. The fleet went low and we fired things up and went high with good speed and took one place. When we settled into the beat towards Yarmouth Sardonyx was leading by miles and there were no real position changes".

The Mad Cow team by this point were just bursting to describe their account of the last downwind leg home. Darren and Georgie Baker said "we started the run home with a massive broach and ended up with a flogging kite and had lost all sheets and guys so we had to turn round to get the kite back on deck, rethread the strings and rehoist. We only lost about three minutes". They added: "once we settled down we were just off and fully charged doing 15-18 knots with all the crew on the transom. Then we went down the mine big style. The bow went under water past the mast and as far as the hatch,so then we wiped out big time again".

Despite all the fun Mad Cow were still lying third and decided to head into the tide but thought the stronger breeze would get them to the finish line quicker. Mad Cow and Bite the Bullet were screaming down towards the squadron. Pogo Bogo then took a flattening and so the results were Sardonyx Vl first, Bite the Bullet second and Mad Cow Hyde in third.