|
|
....... |
Race 4 Autumn Series. Long Offshore. Friday 21st November
Wind 5-10 Southerly becoming North Easterly 12 - 17
Due to the long offshore today it's an early start with a 9:00 briefing for a 10:30 start, but first we have to motor through the channel from BYC past the reef out to the Mina Salman approaches. It's not exactly 'offshore' but full of oil tankers, US Navy gunships and floating slurry pumped from ships' tanks. To the north of our race area lies the Asry shipyard with its supertanker drydocks; to the west is the GPIC bulk tanker terminal and in the middle of the area is us - dwarfed by thousands of tonnes of floating steel hulks. It's a bit industrial out here, but to add contrast the dolphins are everywhere, snorting and venting along the channel as we speed through with the tide.
Bob and Andy have gorged themselves on breakfast so Jackal feels a little sluggish as we position for the start transit, but in ultra light air we creep up to speed settling for 2.5 knots at our fastest. Just after the start the wind gives up completely leaving a glassy, oily surface to the sea. We fiddle with the trim, constantly trying to get moving faster forwards than we actually are sideways with the tide, but all too soon there's a call to us (out in front as usual). Race cancelled!
Desperate pleading of "look, let's just wait half an hour as we're sure the wind's going to kick in, and we got up early and we've come all the way through the channel as well and we were really looking forward to this one" fall on deaf ears, so somewhat dejected we head back to the channel, bunched together with the fleet under engine, to reconvene at the clubhouse. This time through the dolphins put on a spectacular show. There seems like dozens of them, riding the pressure waves of our bunched-together boats, leaping and diving... And just when we get back through the channel, the wind comes up!
After a quick steak pie ashore, and a new briefing, finding that Ken's decided to run a short inshore, we're off out again. Bob and Andy consume a vast chicken curry each while I explain that the wind is slight and we don't need that much weight on the rail. Hamish has a second pie. They all tell their skipper to shut up and stop whining.
Start time this time is 14:30. At 14:25 the wind dies again, but there's just enough to race. We start on starboard, back in the fleet but build boat speed to hit the line running, slip our way upwind of the boat in front pinching furiously to get through and hoping he won't luff up. Having learnt from the last race, this time we tack more frequently, working the slight slivers of wind up to East Bouy, the top mark. First round, we then reach westward and after a couple of hundred metres hoist the bitch to lay Pumphouse Port on our downwind leg. We pull away from the others, round the mark and harden up to get back to East Bouy, noticing that we are about 25 minutes ahead already. Things are looking up, but the wind is patchy, so anything could happen.
Around East Bouy to Port, across to the Green/White beacon we head south to West Pole flying the bitch once again, still pulling well ahead. Around to port and heading back up to East Bouy we realise that we won't finish before course shortening time, so I call Trevor to ask: "Course shortening, yes please" he pleads over the mobile. So we oblige, taking our time at 16:03:50 there, rather than carrying on down to West Pole for a full race finish transit.
For some reason this race seems uneventful, even though we realise we've finished some 40 minutes ahead on the water over an hour and a half of racing, which must surely put us in first?
But sure enough, after the usual replenishment of lost liquid, we find we've come first on both PYR and Personal at the debrief, although Ken takes great delight in telling us that "your PER's going to take an f-ing hammering with this result boy!". However he finally shuts up when we present him with a pewter tankard for his efforts at being a complete Hitler as Sailing Secretary. He seems pleased, despite my speech - and rings the bell on the bar, shouting everyone a drink. Maybe he'll forget to make the horrendous negative PER adjustment we probably deserve....but we don't think he will, even after all the bribes, tankards and suchlike....
|
