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Highlights:
Starboard at the top mark - with Blue Chip on port.
Downers:
Hmmm. Lack of reliable crew.
Result:
4th. Well, it's not THAT bad really.
Lessons Learnt:
Crew that have no fear of flogging should be kept under close supervision the night preceeding a race.Start sailing to win again. Come back, Andy. Japan must be starting to bore by now.
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Hamish replaces his clothing after yet another debauched barbeque
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2nd Autumn Series - Short Inshore. Friday 15th October
Wind 3-8, later 8 - 13 north easterly. But they're not sure again.
Whew, after a week of e-mails and heated handicap argument following the recent protest at our Regatta, we're out on the water again! Today the wind is virtually non-existent, and instead of the 'long-offshore' planned Trevor, our Cruiser Fleet Captain, opts for a 'Short Inshore' race.
Despite getting to the Club early feeling slightly rough from the wine of the night before; despite getting Jackal set up and despite attending the briefing on time, something's missing. Hamish, our bowman, has gone AWOL. Not answering his cell phone can only mean one thing: The party that he was seen just heading off to at an astonishing 12:50 am the night before has obviously got the better of him, and if by chance it hasn't, he's 'lying in the lee' of some new female conquest. Just hope she's a stunner, because missing a race is a serious, serious affair. Flogging isn't really an option, not because I'm a modern kind of skipper but because he quite likes it.
Luckily Jim Cracco has come along, as has our regular reservist, Freddy Sherman. So we have three. But it's not enough to fly the Bitch, so we contend with the large jib and hope, by some miracle, that everybody else will suddenly have complete mental abberations and either sail straight into the reef or get the course totally wrong.
We forget that these are particular Jackal traits of seamanship.... but we are slightly vindicated at the sight of Polly sailing straight into the exact same patch of reef over which Jackal has claimed ownership. But they get off again before we can calculate a suitable ground rent.
It's not all 'misery without Hamish' though as, slightly late for the start by a few seconds (dammit), we manage to really mess up Blue Chip (on port) right on the windward mark, approaching from starboard and forcing her to give way. Frustrated at the minus-hamish-factor of our day out, we can't set the bitch on the downwinds (Jim hasn't raced before and we really need four anyway). Our course takes us around the marks of West Pole, Green & White Spar, Pumphouse Port and East Bouy, finishing at West Pole after just an hour and 20 minutes of racing. Not much of a race really, but fun anyway - and a lot less terrifying with the old 'hamish isn't here so we can't fly the Bitch' excuse.
We finish at 12:20:40. Just an hour and a bit, and to think I crawled out of bed earlier than I do during the working week for this...
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