|
Highlights:
Hussain. Our new crew member, worrying because he hasn't read 'Sailing for Dummies', and working like a trooper - though the expression on his face suggests that he's not sure where he is or what's actually going on.
Beer. We had beer on board (See downers).
Downers:
Thinking that we were right with regard to course-shortening rules. Beer: The abuse of it on board caused us to forget racing and concentrate on peeing over the stern, pre-start, instead. Plus, (a bit of a worry) it was only Amstel 'light' God help us if we had consumed real beer..
Result:
A 2nd and then a 3rd place.
Lessons Learnt:
I am not going to discuss course-shortening issues ever again. Plus that bloody 'Touch 'n' Go' got us on the first race. We give him 9 bloody minutes an hour on IRC. I never realised it was that bad.....
|
 
|
....... |
Winter Series Races 2 and 3. Friday 30th March
Wind 5 - 12 knots North?
It's been a long, long time. Whiling away the winter, working fit to bust and wishing that the bloody weather would just, please, revert to being more akin to a desert island in the Arabian Gulf than a Western Hebridean outpost of grey, squally misery. But, hey, we're finally here. Out on the water, racing. Or so we think....
We're rusty. Decidedly so.
We last sailed before 'National Day' - December 15th. In between we've been to New Zealand, visiting family and enjoyed a river cruise down the Nile (getting ripped off by Egytian touts). Racing commenced a while ago, but all but one race has been postponeed due to appalling weather. Thus, TeamJackal (now that the weather is slightly better) have decided to re-join the fleet, dispense with all that "let's-race-only-for-it-to-be-cancelled' routine and show them a thing or two, once again. At least, that's the plan.
So, it's a two-race day. Two short inshores, and we do mean short. Hardly enough time to raise the Bitch, let alone perform our usual crushing victory. So we adopt a laid-back attitude. "We're out here. we're sailing. Cruising. We don't mind. Whatever."...
First race sees a start in hardly any wind. And it's blowing totally the wrong way. We hold back from the line, tricky nervous timing to raise the spinnaker, gather speed and overtake everyone. But we nearly do. We raise 'her', sail down, pass several and aim for East Bouy at a slightly tighter reaching angle. Around this we gybe (first massive hourglass of the year) and, finally untangling, reach slightly tighter down to Green and White Beacon before coming off for a run to Pumphouse. It's a very short race though, and, as usual on downwinds, we're not pulling away from the 'Rapper' as we would like. But, having rounded Pumhouse, on a beat up to West Pole, we tear shreds off her and start to begin to enjoy the race again. It's good seeing her suffer.
Up to Green and White again we turn for a rather short run to West Pole, before heading for a final square of East Bouy, Green and White, Pumhouse and up to the supposed finish at West Pole (transit to Pumphouse). But we're too late. We miss the course shortening mark by 10 seconds, call 'Race Sec' to confirm and have to turn and aim for the finish line, without completing the circuit, and without having enough time v distance to place a margin between us and the others. Result: First place. Or so we believe. Not too shabby for a rather shabby on-water performance.... Until we're told later that "Touch'n'Go" have had us. Nine bloody minutes an hour, we give hime. Nine. I never realised it was so horrible...
Race two, delayed from 13:30 to 14:30 finally starts, by which time we're so involved with having a pee over the stern (see next paragraph), sailing in the opposite direction to the start line, that we realise finally that (despite furled headsails on other boats) the start is actually the 'real' start, that it isn't delayed again, and that we are about six to seven minutes late.
This, gentle reader, is all because our intrepid bowman, Hamish, has decided to break with tradition and smuggle beer on board. Too chicken to admit this earlier, he produces it sheepishly after the first race. Amstel light. Not even the full-strength stuff. And, like an idiot, I don't make him throw it overboard.
"Bloody hell, get the bitch up" I yell, astonished at my rusty crew's responsivenesss in light of all that beer. Up she goes and we sail down on our running (but very, very late) start. The wind has come up a bit, and I think we're in for a better race this time. But it dies just as quickly as it came up, leaving us still six or even eight bloody minutes late!
We do catch up a bit, but the 'Rapper' is ahead and remains so for four complete legs. And just when we think we're catching her, she messes about, sailing wide and not rounding West Pole in timely manner. "What the hell is he doing?" Mucking about. "Why isn't he rounding?". Throwing the race on purpose. "We'll have him then". "Four letter words".
We'll have him indeed. We round, set the bitch very smartly and then hear the 'Rapper' yelling behind us "Course Shortening". Course Shortnening? It's meant to be at 16:00, not 15:30. Should be one and a half hours after the start, just like the morning. "How the hell can he call course shortening, just like that?". We call Paul, our race secretary. "No, he's wrong. Course-shortening is at 16:00" he answers. So we, determined and valiant, continue around the course.
Everyone else takes their time at the shortened course mark.
The result? Oh yeah, sure: We protest and get upheld. The entire fleet gets DSQ'd and TeamJackal are the only ones to be awarded a place.... I don't think so..... I'm not that brave in a protest... Given the circumstances, we're quite relieved to get a third place. Mike, bless him, took our time for us around the course-shortened mark. We were obviously too stupid to stop racing at that point.
Which just goes to prove that course-shortening should be set for a finite time, planned from the time of the actual start. So if the start is delayed, so too should course-shortening. That's TeamJackal's view. A unanimous one, just for once.
But hell, it's good to be out on the water again. Even if we did concentrate on our bladders just a bit too much this time.
|
