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Highlights:
We CAN fly the bitch with only three onboard!.
Downers:
Rapscallion sailing past us. It hasn't happened before and it bloody well isn't going to hasppen again..
Result:
5th and then 4th on Club Handicap. Well, come on, we were short handed. Plus it's a short race, which we DON't like
Lessons Learnt:
Bravery. Fortitude. Not allowing Rapscallion to gain any degree of competyetive edge. (Can't have them thinking they can just trounce us willy nilly)..
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Winter Series Race 3 and 4. Friday 3 March
Wind 10-15 knots, North Westerly, becoming 15 - 20 knots at times.
Two races today, with a horribly early 09:00 briefing. Mike's just got back from Cyprus, so it's a bit 'on the edge' at briefing. Hurried, frenetic. Not quite 'in the groove'. But he pulls it off, mainly on account of the whiteboard; the diagrams and the incredibly official style. So we're out there racing, obedient to instruction as usual...
All divisions start at 10:00 for this morning's race. But Teamjackal is short. Short of crew.
Bob has stuffed up completely, not realising that this is a race weekend, committing this Friday to yet another round of Thesis writing and Andy, as usual, is too busy at work. So it's me, Hamish and our relative novice, Neil. Just the three of us, and no chance of flying the spinnaker. Not enough hands to ropes. Can't be done.
So, race one, we're out there with a good start, upwind of the fleet, beating up to Green and White spar on a short race course. Around this to Starboard and onto a reach we head for East Bouy - ahead of the fleet. We round, gybe and settle for a downwind leg. Rapscallion, incredibly slow to raise their spinnaker, finally do so - and then sail straight past us. We sit, all on the weather rail; all with bottom lips protruding. Hamish says the 'F' word. This just won't do,
They cannot get away with being in front. This is NOT sportsmanship. This is NOT how things work out here. We think thoughts that include more 'F' words. We round the bottom mark, head up to a beat and gain again. "Right, we're flying the bitch, come broach or whatever" we all agree. Nerves of steel. Trembling skipper.....
But we do it: Raise her; fly her; gybe her; and then down her. All without mishap. On the remaining two downwind legs. A brilliant - and really rather brave - performance.
OK, so we come 5th. But we have a moral victory.
Race two, after a stop for lunch, sees much the same frenetic (and still rather brave) action. We're flying the bitch shorthanded; keeping Rapscallion at bay. We're confident, sailing upwind really quite well, though we could do with Bob's weight on the rail in the fresher breeze; starboarding Rapscallion twice on the beat!.... The race is going in our favour - although its a very short course (which we hate) but we're reasonably ahead, and almost at the finish when, WHAM, during a really, really simple gybe, 'she' (our spinnaker) decides to misbehave and kicks us into a full-on broach - 20 metres from the finish - scrubbing at least a minute off our race time!
Calm control and nerves of steel see us pop out of the broach without major mishap (we're just so used to it) and continue on our way to the finish, taking line honours thank goodness, but not really that far ahead. (Did I say earler that I hate short courses)?
Well short course to hell, we're short-handed today. Brave. Impetuous perhaps. Foolhardy. But we raised her; sailed her and even managed all gybes but one without mishap.
Hamish and Neil are now officially TeamJackal stars. What a crew. Bloody shame they have to give me so much lip while racing. Otherwise, I might just have to congratulate them on a job very well done. Even though our handicap result was horrible. But what's handicap? Just a way of making poor performers feel good.
Someone told me that it's harder to sail a racing yacht to handicap than it is to do the same with a cruising yacht. I know the feeling.
We're convinced that we're the stars of today - at least that's what we think. And lets face it, we need all the convincing we can get! Even if our result says otherwise.
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