|
Highlights:
Rain in Bahrain out on the water, slightly etherial. Making 3 knots with virtually no wind and a glassy, greasy calm. The usual howling at other boats especially just before a start.
Downers:
Finally finding out exactly where the transit is for Al Bander Port beacons, figuring out which tack to start on and then having the race cancelled and a new course issued. Our handicap takes another hammering.
Result:
1st on PYR and Personal. Despite a -20 on PER last week. The series is ours!
Lessons Learnt:
Never, ever believe the weather forecast in times like this. If they come out with stuff about "8-12 variable becoming 10-17" read: "We're not really too sure because the weather is a bit unsettled". Get on with sailing it regardless.
|
|
....... |
Race 5 Autumn Series. Medium Inshore. Friday 5th December
Wind 8-12 Variable becoming 10-17 with warning of thunderstorms and gusts of up to 35 knots.
It's a 10:00 briefing for a start an hour later today. The 'variable wind' forecast hasn't happened at all yet, but it looks like it might be a south-easterly, although nobody's too sure. Ken sets the course accordingly, we synchronise watches and get out on the water to cruise out to East Bouy and back testing the southerly start transit of Al Bander Port poles. It starts to rain heavily. Andy pulls out the most horribly un-image-friendly, nylon, multicoloured, jogging suit kind of spray jacket, claiming that 'he's not going to get wet and miserable'. But all to no avail. Ken's feeling the rain too and due to a lack of wind postpones the race (five minutes from the start) until 13:00. So off we head, back to the club, for a late breakfast, and Andy takes the horrible thing off.
Coffee and luke-warm Steak & Kidney pie with baked beans are wolfed down by everyone, while Ken frets about the wind through a couple of pints of cider and eventually decides to recommence at 13:00 regardless of the wind strength, setting a new race course for a north-easterly (as it seems to be by now).
Out at West Pole we have a good start on Starboard, slightly down from the fleet, but at full speed right on the line and right on the nail we slide upwind, past the others, making our way up to the top mark, East Bouy. Rounding this we head west for Pumphouse Port and set the bitch for the run. All's well until we try to gybe in very light airs and acheive a perfect figure-eight which costs us a good few boat lengths. This leg is not a good point of sail for us, dead downwind, in about 4 knots of breeze, so we have to snake our way on down-wind angles to the mark. Finally rounding this to Port we point straight to the next mark on a broad reach down to Earth Station still carrying our spinnaker and pulling away from the others.
The crew are giving me a lot of lip today. I'm obviously not working them nearly hard enough so I try to redirect the idle conversation and girly chitter-chatter to matters of sail trim, VMG and relative gain. But it's a lonely, thankless task...
Rounding Earth Station we head back up the course to East Bouy at the top end. The wind now thinks its a north-easterly, though it's hardly a wind, as we creep along at about 3 knots. We get up to the mark with little real effort and head back down for the run to Earth Station again while the wind continues to die completely. It's almost as if it's going to spring up from the south, with little puffs sometimes coming at us on the wrong side of the spinnaker. But we make it eventually, down the spinnaker and harden up around the mark for the finish leg, recording our time around in case course-shortening requires it. Creeping our way back up to the finish transit takes an age at just over 1.5 knots (tide against us as well) and we cross the finish at 16:06:20 (if my memory serves me correctly) 59 minutes ahead of Yella Belly, the only other boat to finish. The rest wisely decide to get back to the Club to commence the old Cruiser Fleet ritual of liquid replenishment.
Debriefing sees Ken reading the results, with a statement that is becoming slightly repetetive: "your PER's going to take another f-ing hammering". Ah well, them's the breaks. The way he's going, we'll have to finish before we start - bit like going to work from a cardboard box.
But it seems we've won the series! From six races we have four double firsts and a fourth. You get to scratch two races for the final tally.... So it's probably champagne all round, and at the very least I'll have to buy the crew a small, tacky gift each. Perhaps one to share amongst them might do. In any event, they've done well. Starting as a disorganised, unruly rabble they've progressed rapidly to become a totally organised unruly rabble. This is good in some ways but bad in others, because now that they know they're good, the unruly aspect is becoming louder with each race.
I really must find a good book about methods of discipline at sea. Written by an authority. With illustrations. 'Sailing for Dummies' is far too politically correct in that area.
|
