‘No one else would hear the transmission'

In stormy weather during the AZAB Race, Phil Pryor and his skipper James Moore found themselves needing to respond to a dismasting

Of the three Contessa 32s that took part in this year’s Mailasail Azores and back (AZAB) race, Katisha and her motley crew had to contend with the most minimal preparation time.

Skipper and owner James Moore and I have raced two handed aboard Katisha in many offshore races. The boat is well set up for it and, with thousands of miles sailed together, so are we. We achieved little sailing together before the start, however, and James had to single hand from Plymouth to Falmouth due to my work commitments, but it didn’t matter. We knew the boat and ourselves intimately in the offshore environment. A tried-and-trusted team of three.

A mediocre start in light airs wasn’t very exciting but we soon found ourselves level with Govert in Saphier, and Stuart and Kris in Spirit of Taranto. The three Contessas remained in a line for some time and it became apparent that we were all similarly matched. This was going to be a close race.

As we settled into the pattern of the first few days we found the weather was far from predictable and we found ourselves bouncing between light airs and full gales almost daily.