|
|
....... |
7th Cable & Wireless Regatta. Thursday 7th October
Wind 3-8, later 8 - 13 north easterly. But they're not sure.
It seems like an age ago that we actually sailed, let alone raced. Last week was supposed to be the first race of the Autumn Series, but light wind (less than a knot) saw racing postponed to a later date, which unfairly robbed us of any chance of a decent 'practice session' but certainly prevented us from making glaring mistakes in front of the whole fleet.
So here we are, all eager for the Regatta, not having sailed for months... All the usual pre-regatta nerves are cast aside once out on the water and we begin tuning the boat, cruising up and down while trying to sort out our sail trim, balance and boat speed. The speedo's packed up yet again so we'll just have to 'use the force'.
On a brighter note, we are now an 'International Race Team'. Bob has flown up from Dubai especially to be with us today.... I must remember to issue the appropriate press releases and inform the global yachting journalists who probably would like to, but are unable to, attend the event today.
The 10 minute gun finally goes off after a postponement flag but we're starting deep in the windless bay of Pumphouse. The course is set to the wind such as it is, though the Pin end is definately favoured. But there's a whole convoy in there so I opt to start on starboard and gain right of way over the majority of the fleet. Nice plan. Pity about Gambit, the Kuwaiti boat, taking our wind and ruining a flawless tactic. So we duck onto Port under her stern (no other choice) and try to tune up the boat. We make good crawling speed up to the top mark only to find that the bloody wind has shifted and our reach across is now a dead beat. So we stand on to try and lay mark 2 from a distance. We're third on the water and gradually overhaul Gambit, but we all sail into a hole and sit, dead in the water. Kaos has the advantage, catching the new wind before us and we tack to round the second mark still third. This is not going very well. Our supposed 'downhill' is a beam reach and trying to set the bitch we find too much slippage and heel, so (after a horrible hourglass anyway) put the thing away, resuming our course, blaming the wind rather than the snarl-up.
Things start, albeit quietly and slowly, to go really horribly wrong. This is a Windward / Leeward course, but the wind is across it, instead of down it and the marks seem to be in very strange places. I won't bore our fans and many admirers with the detail of these matters but, suffice to say, we become rather confused as to which mark we're supposed to be sailing around.
Well, that's the official reason for our disqualification (Grrrrrrr). We prefer to think that we did our duty on behalf of the rest of the fleet by leading Gambit around the wrong mark as well. But it paid off in free drinks afterwards. Trouble is, they'll be looking for us on the water tomorrow....
7th Cable & Wireless Regatta. Friday 8th October
Wind 3-8, later 8 - 13 north easterly. But they're not sure - yet again.
There are three races today, so we're hoping to do a bit better than our humiliating disqualification of yesterday. Our heads are heavy due to the vast quantities of free drinks received as a result from the rest of the fleet, but we soldier down the pontoon, rig the boat and head up to the Club for a much needed coffee. Light winds and short course do NOT favour us, but Bob, our international crew is here, so we'll be out there regardless, putting a brave face on things.
Sure enough, light winds and short courses are true to form. We enjoy three very short races, good on-water tussles with Gambit, (who certainly are looking out for us today) cross the line first each race (although they nearly get us in one) and finish the Regatta with a reasonably dismal 6th place on handicap. Two out of three starts are not exactly brilliant, while the third isn't either, but our Bitch setting is like greased lightning: 20 feet from the top mark, we have her up and set. Take downs aren't too slouchy either.
We manage to actually sail round the marks in the right order, without too much mishap. And this time, the rest of the fleet check their course notes before following us. They're all learning fast.
Great news, Gambit place third to win a fabulous pewter goblet, inscribed no less. Wish we'd got one. They look really nice. I really, really hate handicaps......
|
