Tess and Jenno joined the crew to get their sealegs sorted ready for Sundays delivery trip and for next Saturdays Regatta. New recruit Lesley came to check out the boat and have a crack at yacht racing. Lesley manned the Pit which is a great spot to watch the crew at work ....a stepup from her dinghy sailing days. Ruth played the main like a champion, whilst Jenno provided the horsepower on the winches in the gusty 20-25 knot Souwesterly breeze. Tess trimmed, said we spoke in nautical tongues and pleaded all race to go swimming.
The course took us twice around Salamander, Wedding Cake and Middle Island. With a reaching start we all looked for the edge of the dead patch behind the Point. Anneliese made the start first taking the bottle of Red, but was quickly overtaken by the superfast Melges 24 sportsboat. RW was third over the line and made quick work of Anneliese half way to the first mark. Things were looking very nice indeed and RW was humming. Even the BIG Benneteau 46 Champagne on Ice took two legs to edge ahead of us which made for some great close quarters passing. We managed to keep her in check until the last leg. Meanwhile, Tess wouldn't let up and was still asking to go for a swim.
On the final leg, a tight port reach to the line RW decided Tess and Lesley could go fo a swim. The crew were watching Champagne on Ice do a beautiful roundup just ahead, that old skip did not see from his helm position. Just before Ruth could dump the main we got smashed by a big gust that rounded RW up...and up.....and up.....but the main was still powered up so we kept going....and going......and going to the point of no return. The icing on the cake was when the genoa backwinded whilst cleated and RW lay hard over with water well over the port gunwale. Tess finally had her swim as she and Lesley were sitting high and dry on the port rail one minute and then up to their thighs in water the next....funny stuff!!
Thanks to my crew for a great day and I think they all learned something new which is important. For Ruth it was the little red button will activate the rachet!!
Results for Race 12 were:
1st: Thief of Time (S80)
2nd: Rogue Wave (Sigma 36)
3rd: it will come to me...promise!
1 comment:
I had lots of fun, working on my arm strength in the gym! thank you for the opportunity looking forward to coming out again :) yes! very different to my old sailing days, not used to staying so dry, will bring a spare pair of shoes and socks next time :)
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