After the disappointing race last week it was good to get the bit back between our teeth and put in what we thought was a decent performance.
Our start was down the pin end keeping out of the way of the big boats and our air clear. Draig rolled over the top of us and the boat speed was down but we kept left as I was convinced that this was the only way to go. This was proved when we rounded the windward mark on the transom of Rattler and leaving the two sigmas behind us, a very rare occurrence.
The course was a triangle sausage with the first leg being deemed too shy for a kite hoist in the squally 30 odd knots of the low pressure system, the next leg was a little free-er but the following seas made us take the discretionary white sail route with only 5 on board and some lumpy following seas. We still got quite a few surfs though.
I guess we lost it on the upwind sections as punching back into these seas was a mistake but we followed the fleet in the poor visibiliy due to the rain. We soon realised and tacked back in but perhaps the damage had been done.
The downwing leg from D - J was pure joy. We had the touareg ayso plugged in so thought that we could get pretty deep on it in that wind. A steady 10 knots of boat speed was achieved with "turbo" boosts from the following squall. We were going so fast that we nearly overshot the mark and had to semi-mexican the takedown as I couldn't wait to gybe any longer. It actually was a very slick takedown when it really mattered.
We'd overtaken Snowgoose but not actually in the direction of the mark. She beat us over the line but not by enough. A shame to lose to Rattler by about 30 seconds corrected because we deserved better. The race was only about an hour though and we sailed back in into the teeth of a rain storm. Big winds coming our way this week so I hope FarrOut is tucked in on her mooring safe enough!
Monday 12 December 2011
Monday 5 December 2011
Dreadful Race
This week's race was horrible for us, we just could not seem to get her to go upwind. This was combined with me pushing my luck downwind sailing by the lee which ended in a massive chinese gybe. So that's another spinnaker sheet at the bottom of Weymouth bay. Last. Miserable.
Monday 28 November 2011
Silly Achilles
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| That's the way |
Oh how we smiled, we had dragged another into our web of ayso lunacy. Winter series race 3 was sailed in a dropping force 6 and once again we made a decent show of it. Stuart and Tracy had come back from Australia for a bit so Stuart was able to drive his own boat for a change.
The highlight for the race for me was overtaking the Achilles 9m "Rumrunner" flying the Touareg asymmetric and watching as they were scrabbling around on deck rigging a kite to hoist. We thought that Daddsie had been so upset by us zooming past that he was forcing a kite hoist in high winds at a shy angle. It was only as we went around the gybe mark, having dropped to white sail that we saw the full glory as they hoisted the Melges 24 spinnaker followed by shrieking as it filled and propelled them forward.
I look forward to more of those schenanigans. Daddsie told me later that they'd broken the spinnaker pole on their first hoist and had no choice other than to go for the ayso. Looked to me as though it fitted nicely although I think the drop was quite interesting without a proper tack line!
Thursday 24 November 2011
Winter Series 2
Great race last sunday and again seconds in it proving IRC is definately working for Weymouth's fleet racing. We were OCS and had to go back but other than that an exemplary race even though we were short of Darren. Scoline got into lots of trouble on the deep run and we were able to cut the corner on them by sailing right by the lee as they struggled to sort it out, Adam pulled a slick pole gybe out of the bag. Upwind speed good again in the moderate air.
Chuffed with the performance that gave us a sixth out of eight boats, might have been forth if we hadn't have been over the line. There's no bad teams out there in this series though - the least experience is probably on FarrOut!
You know I was talking about the big crash last week? Well it was a bit like the one at 0.56s in the video below, only we were probably going a bit slower! Still, next boat eh....:
Chuffed with the performance that gave us a sixth out of eight boats, might have been forth if we hadn't have been over the line. There's no bad teams out there in this series though - the least experience is probably on FarrOut!
You know I was talking about the big crash last week? Well it was a bit like the one at 0.56s in the video below, only we were probably going a bit slower! Still, next boat eh....:
Sunday 13 November 2011
Winter Series 1 and a very big crash
Once again we were on the money at the start and long may it continue! We then set about dealing with the large seas that an easterly brings and an average of twenty knots. We chose a sailplan that seemed to give us plenty of drive through the big waves.
Yet again the asymmetric spinnaker stayed in the bag, the runs being deep and a 100 degree reach that had to be a white sail in those conditions. The first hoist was delayed by a trapped halyard but once the kite was up we were flying.
The next spinnaker leg was even deeper and with the large following seas, we screamed past Snow Goose at 10.4 knots only to get caught by a wave and chinese gybe in the most spectacular way, being held down for a long time. Once we got her back going the right way Darren's call suprised even me when we simply gybed back and carried on refilling the spinnaker and shooting off again.
A great performance by the little laser today awarded us a 4th with Excaliber (X99) winning it, followed by Foxed2 (Corby 29) and Wildfire (Beneteau First 36). We weren't far away though and I thought that our speed both upwind and downwind was excellent.
Sunday 6 November 2011
Autumn 6 of 6. RIP white kite!
A blustery 20+ northerly for the finale of the WSC autumn series. Once again the lovely North Sails No. 4 headsail was out of the bag and we were trying to put the reef in pre-start when I decided that we didn't haven't time to do it and went back to full main, probably the right call at the end of the day.
Another decent start and not bad beats, we could have done with one more on the rail. Things improved on the first spinnaker leg when our 9.5-10 knots of boat speed fairly hunted down the white sailing Sigma 33s. Unfortunately neither Sigma finished the race so we were left plugging away at the back of the fleet, trying to catch Rocket and Rattler.
A long deep run across the bay from B to I with a following sea did us lots of favours, but FarrOut was hard to hang onto! On the next spinnaker leg the flogging as we tried to get the old Owen Sails white kite under control in 30 knots put paid to our ambitions as we were left with edge tapes and an empty triangle as the old campaigner burst dying the noble death of a well used race sail. So much more fitting than mouldering in a shed covered in patches. Ho hum - time to get one of those mouldy, patched spinnakers out the shed for next week then...
So a 5th today and 6th overall in the series, finishing just half a point behind Scoline. We have been the only boat to sail all races without a retirement, our young crew are getting better all the time and when you look at the quality of the boats ahead of us I don't think it's been a bad show. It's been a fun series, looking forward to the winter series starting next week.
Another decent start and not bad beats, we could have done with one more on the rail. Things improved on the first spinnaker leg when our 9.5-10 knots of boat speed fairly hunted down the white sailing Sigma 33s. Unfortunately neither Sigma finished the race so we were left plugging away at the back of the fleet, trying to catch Rocket and Rattler.
A long deep run across the bay from B to I with a following sea did us lots of favours, but FarrOut was hard to hang onto! On the next spinnaker leg the flogging as we tried to get the old Owen Sails white kite under control in 30 knots put paid to our ambitions as we were left with edge tapes and an empty triangle as the old campaigner burst dying the noble death of a well used race sail. So much more fitting than mouldering in a shed covered in patches. Ho hum - time to get one of those mouldy, patched spinnakers out the shed for next week then...
So a 5th today and 6th overall in the series, finishing just half a point behind Scoline. We have been the only boat to sail all races without a retirement, our young crew are getting better all the time and when you look at the quality of the boats ahead of us I don't think it's been a bad show. It's been a fun series, looking forward to the winter series starting next week.
Friday 4 November 2011
Fastnet 1979 on board Condor
Just read a really exciting story on the swedish blog Blur.se. Thought I'd share:
http://www.blur.se/2008/03/09/fastnet-1979-ombord-pa-condor/
Especially like it when they get the kite up in 45 knots, oh what a surprise...
http://www.blur.se/2008/03/09/fastnet-1979-ombord-pa-condor/
Especially like it when they get the kite up in 45 knots, oh what a surprise...
Monday 24 October 2011
autumn series race 4 - surf's up
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| Library photo. I wasn't getting my phone out in those conditions! |
When we left the mooring we could already see that it was rough out there so we had the number 4 on the deck and screwed a reef in as we hoisted the mainsail. You could see the wind coming over the stone pier and we were ready for it as RWH and then Draig were clattered by big gusts.
Sailing around pre-start was hard work in itself and there were more boats out there than actually made it to the start line. The Corby 29 Foxed 2 went back in with set-up issues, Draig ripped their mainsail taking a reef amongst others.
One that made the line was the X99 Excalibur and with no reefing points in the main, they didn't have that option. Up by the windward mark (F) they were knocked down by a big wave and it was incredible to see their keel right out of the water. After this I think the gybes down wind might have been a little too much and they headed back in.
FarrOut was loving it though and we surfed downwind (12.7 knots top speed). I'd had the forethought to de-rig the spinnaker gear so it didn't get in the way and so we wouldn't be tempted....only a fool would have hoisted in those conditions ;)
We were short this week, just Steve, Adam, Alice and I so we got Alice to do mainsheet which I think was an experience for her.
Our last beat was dreadful and I was whinging at Steve who was driving, we didn't realise until near the end that the port side rub rail was hanging off in the water, a proper sea anchor! By the end of the race it was completely detached and lashed to the side.
So a couple of things to fix but an exhilirating ride and well done to Andy Gaunt and his team for setting an achievable course in a southerly gale and staying out there on the commitee boat!
We were fourth... Rattler was joint second with Scoline. I loved see Rattler surfing off after Crystal Voyager and overtaking at speed, brilliant.
Tuesday 18 October 2011
Autumn Series Race 3
The forecast was for very light airs for this race so we went with five crew rather than our usual six. As it happened the breeze wasn't as bad as we thought and although light in places we were able to sail quite well.
Another "on the money" start for FarrOut. That's two consecutive weeks of good starts in a fleet where as the slowest boat that should be more difficult, this week with only Draig threatening us to leeward.
The RO had set a triangle sausage course with a laid wing mark. Unfortunately the shifted breeze in between laying this mark and us getting to the windward mark made it too deep for the asymmetric kite choice meaning that we had to sail angles to get there. This probably lost us places in the end, however on the "by the lee" sausage leg we were gaining ground quite nicely on the two Sigma 33s Scoline and Snowgoose.
Again an acceptable performance from FarrOut in this Autumn series IRC fleet. Kind of weird that there's some really fast boats sailing in the PY fleet due to a lack of IRC certs. Hopefully this will be amended for the spring series.
Another "on the money" start for FarrOut. That's two consecutive weeks of good starts in a fleet where as the slowest boat that should be more difficult, this week with only Draig threatening us to leeward.
The RO had set a triangle sausage course with a laid wing mark. Unfortunately the shifted breeze in between laying this mark and us getting to the windward mark made it too deep for the asymmetric kite choice meaning that we had to sail angles to get there. This probably lost us places in the end, however on the "by the lee" sausage leg we were gaining ground quite nicely on the two Sigma 33s Scoline and Snowgoose.
Again an acceptable performance from FarrOut in this Autumn series IRC fleet. Kind of weird that there's some really fast boats sailing in the PY fleet due to a lack of IRC certs. Hopefully this will be amended for the spring series.
Tuesday 11 October 2011
Autumn Series Race 2 - Plenty of wind
Really enjoyed the race on sunday, especially the 10.1 knots of boat speed as we planed our way to Overcombe. FarrOut was fifth but they were well sailed boats (and a lot of money!) in front of us. You can only do what you can do....one of the best starts of the season, we were off the line in front - it didn't last long though.
Nice to have Darren back after his back injury, only to have Adam damage his back and not be able to make the race.
Nice to have Darren back after his back injury, only to have Adam damage his back and not be able to make the race.
Tuesday 4 October 2011
Frustratingly No Wind
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| Alice, Stephen and Adam in the sunshine |
But that was sunday's start to the YCW autumn series, no wind accompanied by a searing sun. Our start was pretty good and we knew which way to go but the lack of a genoa in our sail inventory as well as going hunting for wind that didn't appear was the death knell for the short, fat laser 28. All the boat trim, not using the rudder and twisted sails couldn't make up for the malaise both physically and spititually that we were in as we watched all the faster boats in the IRC fleet and even the PY fleet sail away from us.
You could say that we should concentrate harder on our light airs performance.....I say go fishing or water skiing on a day like sunday, that was no weather for sailors!.....yeah we were last.
Monday 19 September 2011
3rd of the Sunday Series - another 2nd place
Just back in from a lovely week on holiday in southern Brittany, it was a short sleep and down to the boat for the 3rd race of the WSC sunday series. It was raining off and on and blowing quite hard so it was disappointing that there were only three of us, Stephen, Adam and myself. I elected to do the middle of the boat bit with Adam up front hopefully being able to stand up more due to the new "Kiwi Grip" which Stephen has applied.
The course was three rounds of a triangular course with only one leg spinnakerable with a a white sail reaching leg. Bit of a dodgy course maybe but suited us as we could sail the kite leg at about 120 degrees apparent wind with the asymmetric kite which was stable and powerful in the breezy (25 kts+) and gusty conditions under the raining clouds. Our first beat was pretty dreadful but the sailplan that always seems to be fast for us these days (No. 4 and a reef) plus the powerful kite legs gave us a second place on handicap. There's no catching Draig in this series with straight bullets. We'll try and be better opposition next week with more crew, Scoline were double handed this week and Rocket were struggling with getting their ayso to fly..
The course was three rounds of a triangular course with only one leg spinnakerable with a a white sail reaching leg. Bit of a dodgy course maybe but suited us as we could sail the kite leg at about 120 degrees apparent wind with the asymmetric kite which was stable and powerful in the breezy (25 kts+) and gusty conditions under the raining clouds. Our first beat was pretty dreadful but the sailplan that always seems to be fast for us these days (No. 4 and a reef) plus the powerful kite legs gave us a second place on handicap. There's no catching Draig in this series with straight bullets. We'll try and be better opposition next week with more crew, Scoline were double handed this week and Rocket were struggling with getting their ayso to fly..
Friday 2 September 2011
3 Lasers in Weymouth
Hopefully Moondog won't mind me nicking their photo from the JOG Weymouth in July...
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| Moondog, Blazer and FarrOut the other side of the harbour. |
Tuesday 30 August 2011
Melges 24 Spi on a Laser 28 / Autumn Long Distance.
The bank holiday monday finally gave us the opportunity to get down to the boat and mess around with bits of timber. We had been given an old Melges asymmetric at the start of the summer which is bigger than our current SB3 kite. A bit of pythagoras told us that we needed a bowsprit of around 1.25m to fly it.
I searched the yard and found an old bit of mahogany off the marina pontoons and Darren got to work with his saw and drill. We removed all of our constructions before the Autumn long distance race but had some time afterwards to play.
So the result was that the kite flew beautifully in the gentle 10 or so knots, we were really fast. We carried out a series of gybes which were really easy. The prod we made was actually 1m long but 1.25m would be better I think. Eventually it snapped.
Great stuff, but after the test we concluded the following:
Autumn Long Distance
We were late over the line for this race, mostly due to titting around with bits of wood. We selected right hand side of the beat which was the lifting tack. By the second mark we'd overtaken Rocket and were chasing Draig. A disastrous kite call from me saw us lose some ground, however at W mark at Hamm beach Darren pulled off a lovely bow launch whilst holding all the kite in his arms.
A shifty beat back over to B saw us do quite well, one big shift putting us right on the money. We didn't see any results, definately not a win but I'd hope we were up there.
I searched the yard and found an old bit of mahogany off the marina pontoons and Darren got to work with his saw and drill. We removed all of our constructions before the Autumn long distance race but had some time afterwards to play.
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| Can you hear banjos? The 1m long sprit |
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| Flying like a dream! |
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| This is the life |
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| The inevitable. |
Great stuff, but after the test we concluded the following:
- In a lot of breeze we wouldn't have enough keel or rudder to hold it.
- The permanent bowsprit would probably need to be about 75mm diameter to take the load.
- It would never be worth the rating hit.
- If you want to fly a big ayso. Sell the Laser and buy a J!
Autumn Long Distance
We were late over the line for this race, mostly due to titting around with bits of wood. We selected right hand side of the beat which was the lifting tack. By the second mark we'd overtaken Rocket and were chasing Draig. A disastrous kite call from me saw us lose some ground, however at W mark at Hamm beach Darren pulled off a lovely bow launch whilst holding all the kite in his arms.
A shifty beat back over to B saw us do quite well, one big shift putting us right on the money. We didn't see any results, definately not a win but I'd hope we were up there.
Friday 26 August 2011
The Last Thursday
Well that's it, the last thursday night race of the season, how quickly it comes around. We can now concentrate on Sunday mornings until lift out time.
Stephen drove for this one which was the last of the August series scored under PY. We had a blustery southerly that backed during the starts giving a pin end bias that we quite rightly port tacked. The good thing was that we were a few seconds late over the line meaning that we could take the transoms of all the boats coming in on starboard. If we'd have been on time it would have been a mess.
This same shift made the offwind legs unbalanced and it was far too shy for our ayso at 60 degrees apparent wind angle. Never mind it was up and putting someone on the foredeck to enable the drop would have resulted in a massive broach and anyway we needed it after the gybe! Stephen did a magnificient job of gaining the height everytime we rounded up and then driving down a little wave with the kite full. We squeaked the gybe mark, it was slow but we made it and really good experience for everyone.
Not an oustanding performance from team FarrOut but we weren't bad either.
931 handicap on a First 31.7? 913 more like........
Stephen drove for this one which was the last of the August series scored under PY. We had a blustery southerly that backed during the starts giving a pin end bias that we quite rightly port tacked. The good thing was that we were a few seconds late over the line meaning that we could take the transoms of all the boats coming in on starboard. If we'd have been on time it would have been a mess.
This same shift made the offwind legs unbalanced and it was far too shy for our ayso at 60 degrees apparent wind angle. Never mind it was up and putting someone on the foredeck to enable the drop would have resulted in a massive broach and anyway we needed it after the gybe! Stephen did a magnificient job of gaining the height everytime we rounded up and then driving down a little wave with the kite full. We squeaked the gybe mark, it was slow but we made it and really good experience for everyone.
Not an oustanding performance from team FarrOut but we weren't bad either.
Friday 19 August 2011
Thursday 18th in the Snake Pit
We were back in the groove for the August series at Weymouth Sailing Club. A guest appearance from Stuart back from Australia meant I was back in the pit.
A shifty 15 knot northerly under overcast skies saw the RO set a triangle sausage course, the shiftyness pre-start causing an unequal angle on the kite reaches making the starboard gybe leg pretty shy on the second time around.
It was quite short legs but everyone was on their game for the boat handling, though it was kind of hectic for me in the pit with no time to get cleared up. Resulting in the snake pit that we were left with at the end of the race:
The first three places were seperated by one second each on corrected time (Scoline, Crazeology, Phoebe) and we were 30 seconds off on corrected time and in forth place. This is encouraging because we lost more than this when the spinnaker halyard released from the top of the kite and we had to trawl it back in, the clip then was caught on the mainsail and we had to carefully gybe to release it and not rip the sail. Without that it was a win I'm sure.
For a sleep deprived new father it was a real workout! Team was:
Stuart Riches - Helm
Stephen HB - Main
Jez Rees - Pit/trim
Darren Aston - Spi Trim / tactics
Adam Greaves - Mast
Jack Baker - Bow
Well done to Draig O'r Mor for their 23rd placing in IRC4 in the Fastnet which they finished this morning. Probably still in the RORC bar now!
A shifty 15 knot northerly under overcast skies saw the RO set a triangle sausage course, the shiftyness pre-start causing an unequal angle on the kite reaches making the starboard gybe leg pretty shy on the second time around.
It was quite short legs but everyone was on their game for the boat handling, though it was kind of hectic for me in the pit with no time to get cleared up. Resulting in the snake pit that we were left with at the end of the race:
For a sleep deprived new father it was a real workout! Team was:
Stuart Riches - Helm
Stephen HB - Main
Jez Rees - Pit/trim
Darren Aston - Spi Trim / tactics
Adam Greaves - Mast
Jack Baker - Bow
Well done to Draig O'r Mor for their 23rd placing in IRC4 in the Fastnet which they finished this morning. Probably still in the RORC bar now!
Friday 29 July 2011
Still Waiting
We didn't go out racing this Thursday as people are away and I'm waiting for child No. 2 to arrive. Rattler weren't there either as they're down at Falmouth for JOG week.
Darren went dinghy sailing in the club 420 "Milo". I've been hanging around all week expecting the baby to come at anytime so decided that I'd pop down to the club anyway. It was such a nice evening with around a 10 knot breeze that I thought it would be fun to take FarrOut for a sail single handed.
A great night for it as it's Lifeboat week so there was the big orange boat in the bay as well as the ILB and the WSC safety rib etc.. Plenty of people to pick me up / stop the boat if I went over the side!
No spinnaker work this time, we'll have a go at that next time. I'm getting used to sailing her under the tiller pilot. You just think that you want to sail off into the distance though. Coming back onto the mooring is the hardest and where you have the potential to get into the most trouble, I got away with it but it wasn't pretty!
Darren went dinghy sailing in the club 420 "Milo". I've been hanging around all week expecting the baby to come at anytime so decided that I'd pop down to the club anyway. It was such a nice evening with around a 10 knot breeze that I thought it would be fun to take FarrOut for a sail single handed.
A great night for it as it's Lifeboat week so there was the big orange boat in the bay as well as the ILB and the WSC safety rib etc.. Plenty of people to pick me up / stop the boat if I went over the side!
No spinnaker work this time, we'll have a go at that next time. I'm getting used to sailing her under the tiller pilot. You just think that you want to sail off into the distance though. Coming back onto the mooring is the hardest and where you have the potential to get into the most trouble, I got away with it but it wasn't pretty!
Tuesday 26 July 2011
Friday 15 July 2011
Thursday 2, Race 4
Following last weekends regatta, I got to the boat early to see if we could do anything about the rig settings. We now have more of a banana mast and it seems to have improved our upwind angles.
It was a lovely night for sailing with a 10-15 knot breeze and warm sunshine. Jack had brought along Adam and Ben so we had six on board FarrOut. The start was great with all boats positioned well but in the kind of way that 6 inches either way would have meant collisions. I'm pleased to say that with the new rig settings and the weight on the rail we were fast off the line.
We managed to stay pretty much up with the fleet all the way around but once again, much to our annoyance, Scoline were on top form and comfortably winning all the way round.
A nice triangle sausage course was set by Bill Barker meaning two ayso legs with a slick outside gybe, followed by a deep symmetrical kite run with a gybe in the middle there.
Fourth on corrected time for this race - we beat Rattler though!
10 Years Ago......
I found a post on the net mentioning FarrOut in the Oban regatta in 2001. Good to see that she once went at 14.4 knots:
http://www.petestack.com/sailing/reports/2001/oban.html
It was a lovely night for sailing with a 10-15 knot breeze and warm sunshine. Jack had brought along Adam and Ben so we had six on board FarrOut. The start was great with all boats positioned well but in the kind of way that 6 inches either way would have meant collisions. I'm pleased to say that with the new rig settings and the weight on the rail we were fast off the line.
We managed to stay pretty much up with the fleet all the way around but once again, much to our annoyance, Scoline were on top form and comfortably winning all the way round.
A nice triangle sausage course was set by Bill Barker meaning two ayso legs with a slick outside gybe, followed by a deep symmetrical kite run with a gybe in the middle there.
Fourth on corrected time for this race - we beat Rattler though!
10 Years Ago......
I found a post on the net mentioning FarrOut in the Oban regatta in 2001. Good to see that she once went at 14.4 knots:
http://www.petestack.com/sailing/reports/2001/oban.html
Monday 11 July 2011
Weymouth Regatta 2011 - I'm exhausted!
It was a hard regatta on FarrOut, try as we might we were really struggling for crew especially in lots of wind on friday (upto 35 knots) and just a little bit less on saturday. Sunday started a little light and then developed into a lovely breeze and we had the correct five on board. It was the kind of breeze where Stephen on main trim could rest his arm muscles and concentrate more on the shape of the sail.
Sunday afternoon gave us our best result in IRC3 with a second to Scoline, it was fun to do a windward/leeward course and we didn't really make any mistakes.
I think after the weekend we need to check our rig tensions because we don't seem to be as fast upwind as we used to be.
Friday's long distance race was especially tough for Stephen and I double handed. The "death or glory" spinnaker hoist in that kind of wind made us lay down for a while...generally with the size of the seas and the screaming wind it was survival mode on the little lake racer!
Disaster of the weekend was ripping the clew out of the "Touareg" spinnaker. Not terminal, it will be back.
By the way... 2011 Quarter Ton Cup starts today, if they can find any wind. Check it out at http://quartertonners.wordpress.com/
Sunday afternoon gave us our best result in IRC3 with a second to Scoline, it was fun to do a windward/leeward course and we didn't really make any mistakes.
I think after the weekend we need to check our rig tensions because we don't seem to be as fast upwind as we used to be.
Friday's long distance race was especially tough for Stephen and I double handed. The "death or glory" spinnaker hoist in that kind of wind made us lay down for a while...generally with the size of the seas and the screaming wind it was survival mode on the little lake racer!
Disaster of the weekend was ripping the clew out of the "Touareg" spinnaker. Not terminal, it will be back.
By the way... 2011 Quarter Ton Cup starts today, if they can find any wind. Check it out at http://quartertonners.wordpress.com/
Wednesday 6 July 2011
Henri Lloyd Weymouth Regatta
This weekend brings our annual town regatta. Entries are down this year with only four boats entered in IRC3. Such a shame as it's always enjoyable and a well run regatta.
We'll always enter, but I wonder if it's the entry prices that put people off. We have so much "free" racing in the borough with the various club races and under the YCW banner that it comes hard for people to pay for a good weekend - something that is usual in the Solent and elsewhere. But, it's only because people volunteer that the "free" racing is available. For the keelboat regatta to survive whilst the dinghy regatta thrives it needs people to consider it their duty to enter.
It's only by offering large fleet racing that we can encourage visiting boats to take part. We have the best sailing waters in Northern Europe, we can't keep it all to ourselves can we?
We'll always enter, but I wonder if it's the entry prices that put people off. We have so much "free" racing in the borough with the various club races and under the YCW banner that it comes hard for people to pay for a good weekend - something that is usual in the Solent and elsewhere. But, it's only because people volunteer that the "free" racing is available. For the keelboat regatta to survive whilst the dinghy regatta thrives it needs people to consider it their duty to enter.
It's only by offering large fleet racing that we can encourage visiting boats to take part. We have the best sailing waters in Northern Europe, we can't keep it all to ourselves can we?
Monday 27 June 2011
Well that was the Round the Island....
What a great weekend. Friday's delivery to Cowes was a blast; Rattler, Manana and FarrOut left Weymouth together and the two MG335s Tumbarumba and Crewcut were just in front. We had a lovely sail with a powered up dead deep kite run across Christchurch bay and plenty of surfs. When we turned the corner at the needles in about 23 kts and big waves the inevitable happened in the gybe and FarrOut had a little laydown, well quite a big lay down really. It's even more exciting when you've got spiky rocks just on your right hand side. We thundered down the Solent, and as we dropped the sails outside the entrance to the Medina river at Cowes I made the mistake of not checking that we didn't have any lines in the water whilst the engine on. So, once more I've been swimming in my pants in the Medina.....after I cut the rope away we were fine.
The race on Saturday was a classic. It was blowing 30 kts from the south west so the beat to the needles was hard on everybody. I was driving so didn't get so wet but I was glad to get off the line as the start sequence was crazy, we were reaching backwards and forwards pre-start at 8 knots with hundreds of other boats. Our start was good and it took until Newtown river at least before Rattler caught up with us. We waved at the other Laser 28 entered in our class, Nemesis, only to watch as 20 seconds later she was T-boned by an Impala I think. Horrible.
By the needles, Harry the extra crewman was quite seasick but God bless him stayed on the rail. We turned the corner and hoisted the ayso for a charging blast down to St. Cats. Darren recorded the best boatspeed ever record of 13.8 kts. At St. Catherine's we had 3 being sick out the transom and so we didn't go for the symmetrical spinnaker in the deeper run. We kept it safe but still at about 9-10 knots and didn't break anything or anybody. FarrOut needed to go faster though and so I was pleased when the gybe location arrived and we could put the ayso back up for another scream up to Bembridge Ledge bouy.
We were discussing later on why it is that in a race like this big cruising boats close the distance with boats like ourselves and Rattler who are clearly on the edge of control all the time? Racing rules aside, I'd be keeping out the bl**dy way! But we didn't hit anything although we saw a lot of carnage, especially in the multi-hull fleet who seemed to be readily turning upside down.
Another beat along the top of the island balancing the fine line of cheating tide and not going aground and it was a successful race over. Hopefully Stephen has got some video footage.
Sunday's delivery back was fun as the dense fog and no wind meant that all your yachtmaster training had to come out. It's always different around the corner and as we rounded St Aldhelm's head back into Weymouth bay the fog started clearing and the breeze kicked in and we spinnakered back home. Exhausted but exhilirated.
So down to the numbers...there were 3 Laser28s in the race Zorra in the ISCRS class and ourselves and Nemesis in IRC. I'm gutted that they could be taken out of the race like that, it could so easily happen when there's so many boats racing and I expect that they had a long delivery just to get to the start line. Anyway:
We were 16/32 finishers in class IRC 3C, Zorra 16/42 finishers.
Overall results IRC:
FarrOut 197/465
Rattler 222/465
Overall results ISCRS:
Zorra 272/664
Manana 242/664
The different rating systems don't make the result credible and Mark from Zorra said that they were 11 minutes late for the start....The most interesting thing is the closeness of the elapsed time to go around the Island. The hulls must be pretty similar but the boats are set-up very differently. We also had totally different sail plans for the weather Zorra with 2 reefs in the mainsail and us with full main and No. 4 headsail.
Great Stuff, oh and well done to Snow Goose the Sigma 33 as well who were in our class and beat us. I think we can be proud, the boats ahead of us in class were mostly Sigmas which are great boats and hard to beat, and the very hot quarter tonners who are also incredibly well sailed.
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| FarrOut on her berth in East Cowes |
The race on Saturday was a classic. It was blowing 30 kts from the south west so the beat to the needles was hard on everybody. I was driving so didn't get so wet but I was glad to get off the line as the start sequence was crazy, we were reaching backwards and forwards pre-start at 8 knots with hundreds of other boats. Our start was good and it took until Newtown river at least before Rattler caught up with us. We waved at the other Laser 28 entered in our class, Nemesis, only to watch as 20 seconds later she was T-boned by an Impala I think. Horrible.
By the needles, Harry the extra crewman was quite seasick but God bless him stayed on the rail. We turned the corner and hoisted the ayso for a charging blast down to St. Cats. Darren recorded the best boatspeed ever record of 13.8 kts. At St. Catherine's we had 3 being sick out the transom and so we didn't go for the symmetrical spinnaker in the deeper run. We kept it safe but still at about 9-10 knots and didn't break anything or anybody. FarrOut needed to go faster though and so I was pleased when the gybe location arrived and we could put the ayso back up for another scream up to Bembridge Ledge bouy.
We were discussing later on why it is that in a race like this big cruising boats close the distance with boats like ourselves and Rattler who are clearly on the edge of control all the time? Racing rules aside, I'd be keeping out the bl**dy way! But we didn't hit anything although we saw a lot of carnage, especially in the multi-hull fleet who seemed to be readily turning upside down.
Another beat along the top of the island balancing the fine line of cheating tide and not going aground and it was a successful race over. Hopefully Stephen has got some video footage.
Sunday's delivery back was fun as the dense fog and no wind meant that all your yachtmaster training had to come out. It's always different around the corner and as we rounded St Aldhelm's head back into Weymouth bay the fog started clearing and the breeze kicked in and we spinnakered back home. Exhausted but exhilirated.
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| Darren and Stephen toast another 10 knot surf |
So down to the numbers...there were 3 Laser28s in the race Zorra in the ISCRS class and ourselves and Nemesis in IRC. I'm gutted that they could be taken out of the race like that, it could so easily happen when there's so many boats racing and I expect that they had a long delivery just to get to the start line. Anyway:
| FarrOut | Zorra | ||
| Elapsed Time | 08:31:46 | 08:38:18 | |
| Corrected Time | 07:38:33 | 08:33:38 |
We were 16/32 finishers in class IRC 3C, Zorra 16/42 finishers.
Overall results IRC:
FarrOut 197/465
Rattler 222/465
Overall results ISCRS:
Zorra 272/664
Manana 242/664
The different rating systems don't make the result credible and Mark from Zorra said that they were 11 minutes late for the start....The most interesting thing is the closeness of the elapsed time to go around the Island. The hulls must be pretty similar but the boats are set-up very differently. We also had totally different sail plans for the weather Zorra with 2 reefs in the mainsail and us with full main and No. 4 headsail.
Great Stuff, oh and well done to Snow Goose the Sigma 33 as well who were in our class and beat us. I think we can be proud, the boats ahead of us in class were mostly Sigmas which are great boats and hard to beat, and the very hot quarter tonners who are also incredibly well sailed.
Tuesday 21 June 2011
Round The Island Race this Saturday
Forecast isn't looking too bad at the moment. Downwind there, fairly breezy race and downwind back. Can't get better than that for us but we'll see what happens.
There are 1908 boats entered this year which is a record and a reported 16,000 sailors. I guess we'll just try not to hit anyone else and rock hop around the bottom of the island to try and stay out of foul tide.
FarrOut is going with four of us this year Stevo, Darren, Disco Dave and myself. Could probably have done with one more but maybe we'll pick up one along the way!
Two other L28s are entered, Nemesis in our class and Zorra in the ISC class.
It's always a special day so looking forward to it.
Friday 17 June 2011
Mrs Mitchell's Salver - Victory
The first ladies race of the season gave us some problems, with Tracy on the other side of the world the natural choice was Celia for the helm position being a regular crew member. Trouble was that she wanted to sail her 420 instead, after a week of trying to organise an alternative helmswoman God intervened and made it blow fairly hard. This meant Celia was able to drive FarrOut and I would be able to put my 100kg on the rail!
As it was we ended up with 8 crew, 4 of whom were under 21. This may seem a lot to fit on the side of a Laser 28 but we were sailing under PY and it turned out to be perfect. Stephen rigged a mini video camera to the boom so hopefully there will be some footage to post but it may just be dead after the dunking it got in a massive broach.
Paul Barford was race officer and set us a triangular course. Of course we had the balls to hoist the Touareg bringing on what must be the ride of the season so far. Boat speed topped out at something over 11 knots as FarrOut lifted her bow and planed in pursuit of Rattler taking lumps out. This was exactly the kind of weather you need in an L28, flat seas and 25 kts+ and everyone sitting at the back trying damn hard to keep the rudder dug in.
There's now a trophy for Celia to pick up at the prizegiving. Well done to her and everyone.
As it was we ended up with 8 crew, 4 of whom were under 21. This may seem a lot to fit on the side of a Laser 28 but we were sailing under PY and it turned out to be perfect. Stephen rigged a mini video camera to the boom so hopefully there will be some footage to post but it may just be dead after the dunking it got in a massive broach.
Paul Barford was race officer and set us a triangular course. Of course we had the balls to hoist the Touareg bringing on what must be the ride of the season so far. Boat speed topped out at something over 11 knots as FarrOut lifted her bow and planed in pursuit of Rattler taking lumps out. This was exactly the kind of weather you need in an L28, flat seas and 25 kts+ and everyone sitting at the back trying damn hard to keep the rudder dug in.
There's now a trophy for Celia to pick up at the prizegiving. Well done to her and everyone.
Friday 10 June 2011
Thurs 6/6 - Rattler wins it. Scoline gets series.
A nice bit of wind here in Weymouth at the moment the olympic hopefuls in the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta have been having a marvellous time in our bay.
We had a bit of trouble pre-start when the No. 3 luff came out of the tuff-luff and was stuck during a change down to No. 4, we did well to get the course and get to the line. Ended up OCS and had to dip back, Scoline doing to us what we did to them last week.
Stephen drove and did a good job around the square course set by the dinghy class Captain Tim Bowden. We had an issue though...a lazy spinnaker sheet managed to get itself stuck between the rudder and the hull meaning that we couldn't gybe and had to white sail one leg which effectively lost us the race. All we knew though was that there was rope stuck underneath at the stern so we daren't turn the engine on. Taz tacked us back up the harbour and we sailed onto our mooring. All fixed now.
Rattler sailed well to take the win but managed to break a few bits on the way round. Didn't get the series though as Scoline had done enough.
Next thursday is a ladies race so hopefully Darren's wife Kerry will be our helm, monday will see some more dinghy sailing for me in the club OK. I really was into it last monday - might have to get me one of them!
We had a bit of trouble pre-start when the No. 3 luff came out of the tuff-luff and was stuck during a change down to No. 4, we did well to get the course and get to the line. Ended up OCS and had to dip back, Scoline doing to us what we did to them last week.
Stephen drove and did a good job around the square course set by the dinghy class Captain Tim Bowden. We had an issue though...a lazy spinnaker sheet managed to get itself stuck between the rudder and the hull meaning that we couldn't gybe and had to white sail one leg which effectively lost us the race. All we knew though was that there was rope stuck underneath at the stern so we daren't turn the engine on. Taz tacked us back up the harbour and we sailed onto our mooring. All fixed now.
Rattler sailed well to take the win but managed to break a few bits on the way round. Didn't get the series though as Scoline had done enough.
Next thursday is a ladies race so hopefully Darren's wife Kerry will be our helm, monday will see some more dinghy sailing for me in the club OK. I really was into it last monday - might have to get me one of them!
Friday 3 June 2011
Thurs 5/6 - training
As the series is out of our grasp, we decided last week to have a bit of a change around in order to ready ourselves for the next big challenge of the Round the Island race as due to the length it pays to change the helms around. Taz was off rock climbing so Jack got to experience the foredeck in the light winds, Celia helping and flying the kite, Me in the pit, Steve on mainsheet and Darren driving.
Our start was good with Darren pushing Scoline off the line and OCS to a cheer from Rattler. We then went alright until a patch of no wind opened up on us and we saw Rattler and Crazeology sail away from us. Next thing we know we were sailing too high and too slow and Scoline got in front. Still that's training for you. Next week it's Stephen's drive...
Our start was good with Darren pushing Scoline off the line and OCS to a cheer from Rattler. We then went alright until a patch of no wind opened up on us and we saw Rattler and Crazeology sail away from us. Next thing we know we were sailing too high and too slow and Scoline got in front. Still that's training for you. Next week it's Stephen's drive...
Tuesday 31 May 2011
WSC members win trophy in double handed Figaro.
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| Us and Rattler on arrival |
In all the years that Rich and I have been sailing together we've never raced offshore with just the two of us, usually an adjudicator has been required in the past. Only the night before we'd been adversaries as he sailed Rattler fully crewed in the thursday evening IRC series against us on FarrOut.
We managed to get a start at 0830 along with RDYC boats “Wahinee Waves” and “Brown Eyed Girl”, Rattler shot off under the old Groupe Partouche spinnaker and we successfully gybed as we crossed the bay on our 152deg rhum line to Fort de l'ouest Cherbourg. The wind was high and the seas were flat, Rattler loved it, we loved it. We had an unplanned spinnaker take-down as a clip popped but the recovery was successful and we used a little bit of white sail time to make some westing in our course. The spinnaker then went up again and was only dropped at the finish line with around four broaches along the way. The boat is so well behaved though she just comes back up again, I guess this is what you want if you're a sleep deprived French single hander...
We finished in 8 hours 45 mins with all smiles. Gareth of the Royal Dorset was pleased to inform us that we had won class 1.. The Glory, The Glory!
A pleasant couple of nights in Cherbourg with a visit to the Fort de la Roule and a cracking sail back on sunday with winds in the high twenties and up and some nice waves to surf down. We tied up on her mooring near “big wellies” after another 8 ¾ hour sail! Bring on the next time.
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| Lunch Figaro style |
Friday 20 May 2011
Thursday 3. Bad 1st beat. IRC trophy
So Rattler beat us by 27 seconds last week and 26 seconds this week, we must be improving! Truth is our first beat was horrible, we went right and the rest of 'em left, that always kind of worries you. They must have had a decent lift because we rounded the windward mark in a definitive last place, the Melges 24 was in front of us and they were about 3 minutes late for the start.
Only 5 of us this week and the new guys Jack and Taz did a sterling job whilst they are on their fast learning curve, with the jobs of pit/trim and bow respectively they are certainly kept busy.
We were presented with our trophy for the IRC spring series win, the nice thing was that it was full of Thatcher's Gold cider!
Only 5 of us this week and the new guys Jack and Taz did a sterling job whilst they are on their fast learning curve, with the jobs of pit/trim and bow respectively they are certainly kept busy.
We were presented with our trophy for the IRC spring series win, the nice thing was that it was full of Thatcher's Gold cider!
Tuesday 17 May 2011
Monday night double-handed
It was blowing a little last night, about 26 knots at the top I think. Steve and I were due to continue our monday night dinghy escapades by taking an RS Feva out each, but we thought it best to both not break the kids' boats and possibly get wet.
So FarrOut was dragged out with Steve driving and me running around. No kite flying for us that night although it was perfectly possible as it turned out. We had a great time and learned some more stuff about the boat with no bodies on the rail.
We were pleased to get a fourth place on corrected time in PY. Scoline did a good job of winning, Folio in 2nd and Sole Bay in 3rd.
The French Olympic team have moved into Weymouth Sailing Club in force, great to see them and I think they'll enjoy their training week in our bay in advance of the olympics next year. The forecast is for decent wind until the middle/end of the week and light shifty stuff after that so that should be perfect for them.
So FarrOut was dragged out with Steve driving and me running around. No kite flying for us that night although it was perfectly possible as it turned out. We had a great time and learned some more stuff about the boat with no bodies on the rail.
We were pleased to get a fourth place on corrected time in PY. Scoline did a good job of winning, Folio in 2nd and Sole Bay in 3rd.
The French Olympic team have moved into Weymouth Sailing Club in force, great to see them and I think they'll enjoy their training week in our bay in advance of the olympics next year. The forecast is for decent wind until the middle/end of the week and light shifty stuff after that so that should be perfect for them.
Friday 6 May 2011
Thursday 1 - fun with Rattler
The first thursday night race at WSC only had 4 boats in the IRC class which was a disappointment but I guess 2 entrants were taken out of the game by Sunday's collision I just hope that the same was not the case for Snow Goose (still smarting over that one).
We were up against the Melges Crazeology, Scoline and (ta da da) the Figaro 1 Rattler! In all the years that I've been friends with Richard this is the first time that we'd sailed against each other helming our own boats. As you can imagine this made the race pretty special, particularly at the first windward mark as we crossed in front of their bows. They were coming in on the starboard lay line and we flopped on top of them in tight cover only to pull ahead to the mark, hoist the Touareg ayso and away. A short lived lead as they're a faster boat and soon got in front. Not far(r) enough though and we were pleased to beat Rattler on corrected time and with a 2nd place to Crazeology who were miles ahead by the end of the two laps of triangle sausage course.
Really pleased to see Rattler out on the race course and I think that they all enjoyed themselves. They'll probably whoop our backsides next week.......
We were up against the Melges Crazeology, Scoline and (ta da da) the Figaro 1 Rattler! In all the years that I've been friends with Richard this is the first time that we'd sailed against each other helming our own boats. As you can imagine this made the race pretty special, particularly at the first windward mark as we crossed in front of their bows. They were coming in on the starboard lay line and we flopped on top of them in tight cover only to pull ahead to the mark, hoist the Touareg ayso and away. A short lived lead as they're a faster boat and soon got in front. Not far(r) enough though and we were pleased to beat Rattler on corrected time and with a 2nd place to Crazeology who were miles ahead by the end of the two laps of triangle sausage course.
Really pleased to see Rattler out on the race course and I think that they all enjoyed themselves. They'll probably whoop our backsides next week.......
Tuesday 3 May 2011
Vice Commodore's Cup
Bank Holiday Monday afternoon and it's the Vice Commodore's Cup, an early season cup race at WSC. After a morning re-gelcoating the dink on the bow after Sunday's mishap and tinkering with the engine I sat in the club out of the rain as a thunderstorm came through. The storm had the effect of tempering the crazy wind to something more manageable if not too light in the big seas, but still the turnout was poor for the race.
We had no chance of winning an all in PY race as the squibs will take care of that but we entered a short-handed crew of Stephen, Steve Dadd and myself. We were all quite busy in the short course with two laps sailed finally. Lovely work with the Touareg kite though including the best gybe we've ever done with it I think!
Fun times.
We had no chance of winning an all in PY race as the squibs will take care of that but we entered a short-handed crew of Stephen, Steve Dadd and myself. We were all quite busy in the short course with two laps sailed finally. Lovely work with the Touareg kite though including the best gybe we've ever done with it I think!
Fun times.
Sunday 1 May 2011
Bash, Crash, Crunch - Spring Series Finale....
A muscely 20knots+ from the east greeted race 5 and 6 of the YCW spring series and brought with it some sizeable seas. For some reason Farr Out loves this kind of weather. Bashing to weather in the smallest boat in the fleet didn't seem to be a problem and once again we were able to do a good job at keeping with the fleet just to turn round marks to surf away and make gains on the bigger boats.
We were gunning for the title and Scoline and Sapphire were our rivals. Scoline unfortunately only had two of them to crew the boat so couldn't properly compete which was a great shame. We then had the sickening sight of Sapphire laying right over on being T-boned by the other, and first time out, Dehler 33 Rocket after a port/starboard bear away that didn't quite work. Nasty damaging stuff.
Farr Out didn't escape, as late in the second race after some great tussling with Snow Goose after they shut us out at the start and we caught up, we were surfing past to leeward of them and a following wave spun the boat out and we broached in a long curve which ended with a damaged stantion, lifeline and rail for Snow Goose and a crunch on the bow for Farr Out. Horrible, first time I've hit another boat and don't fancy repeating it.
At the end of all this exhilirating racing, and a top boat speed today for us of 10.3 knots, I'm pleased to report that Farr Out has won the YCW Spring Series 2011. We worked hard and our happiness would be complete if we hadn't have had that crunch at the end.
Bring on the rest of the season - evening racing starts this thursday.
We were gunning for the title and Scoline and Sapphire were our rivals. Scoline unfortunately only had two of them to crew the boat so couldn't properly compete which was a great shame. We then had the sickening sight of Sapphire laying right over on being T-boned by the other, and first time out, Dehler 33 Rocket after a port/starboard bear away that didn't quite work. Nasty damaging stuff.
Farr Out didn't escape, as late in the second race after some great tussling with Snow Goose after they shut us out at the start and we caught up, we were surfing past to leeward of them and a following wave spun the boat out and we broached in a long curve which ended with a damaged stantion, lifeline and rail for Snow Goose and a crunch on the bow for Farr Out. Horrible, first time I've hit another boat and don't fancy repeating it.
At the end of all this exhilirating racing, and a top boat speed today for us of 10.3 knots, I'm pleased to report that Farr Out has won the YCW Spring Series 2011. We worked hard and our happiness would be complete if we hadn't have had that crunch at the end.
Bring on the rest of the season - evening racing starts this thursday.
Monday 25 April 2011
Spring Series 4 - Long Distance. FarrOut first.
Easter sunday saw the long distance race of the YCW spring series. As we got to the boat the wind was peaking at 20 knots from the north with the potential to die from there. And so it was in a fickle breeze that we beat up to H off the seafront, reach off to O at the end of the pleasure pier and what should have been a nice ayso reach at 90 degrees over to R at Ringstead just kept going forward. We held the touareg at 60 degs as long as we could but we knew we had to go to white sail in order to launch the symmetrical kite for the run over to G off Grove Point on Portland. The crew of FarrOut kept working and kept us moving the right way. We chased the two Sigmas down to the beach, every time it went light we gained and as soon as they had a puff they went away again. As we reached H to turn for the line we managed to get in front of Snow Goose but they soon overtook again as we blundered a pressured kite hoist.
We'd stayed with the fleet and over almost 3 hours our rating was enough to give us the win. this puts ourselves, Scoline and Sapphire all on six point as we come into the final two races of the series next sunday. We could do this......it would be a great way to start the season, but I won't pretend it's not going to be difficult.
Iain Jones took some photos from Spindrift, this one as we were coming up to G.
We'd stayed with the fleet and over almost 3 hours our rating was enough to give us the win. this puts ourselves, Scoline and Sapphire all on six point as we come into the final two races of the series next sunday. We could do this......it would be a great way to start the season, but I won't pretend it's not going to be difficult.
Monday 18 April 2011
Race 2 and 3. Light Airs Drifting
A gorgeous sunny day but no wind to speak of. My team talk on the mooring went something like this "We have to be on the money at the start or we've already lost. Today will all be about how tall your rig is and we've got the shortest one in the fleet!".
Race 2 was a decent start which put us to windward of the fleet, we were the first boat to tack to the right which I think paid for us, a couple of ayso reaches and a beat back to the line and it's all over. Third on corrected time.
Race 3 we had a lovely start at the commitee boat, the pin end bias sent the rest of the fleet that way keeping our air clear. The wind had filled just for this first beat but once we were around the corner it was difficult to keep the kite full. This time we were chasing Scoline who went deep looking for mark C and initially we followed although the GPS told us they were going the wrong way. We corrected and gybed back which probably gave us a better angle into the mark (if we'd have had the Touareg up and not the red symmetrical). Scoline had her big genoa and the next leg went close reach/fetch/beat as we went back to finish at the windward mark. This was the time in light airs when dropping the genoa from our sail inventory was a bad move....It was painful upto the line at sub 2 knots of boat speed. Forth on corrected time.
Not bad results, FarrOut now has 9 points with half of the 6 race series complete and 2 discards allowable.
Next week is the long distance race, so if we can stay up there then the longer the time racing then the more our rating can help us. Let's start praying for wind now. The beer locker is nice and full though!
Race 2 was a decent start which put us to windward of the fleet, we were the first boat to tack to the right which I think paid for us, a couple of ayso reaches and a beat back to the line and it's all over. Third on corrected time.
Race 3 we had a lovely start at the commitee boat, the pin end bias sent the rest of the fleet that way keeping our air clear. The wind had filled just for this first beat but once we were around the corner it was difficult to keep the kite full. This time we were chasing Scoline who went deep looking for mark C and initially we followed although the GPS told us they were going the wrong way. We corrected and gybed back which probably gave us a better angle into the mark (if we'd have had the Touareg up and not the red symmetrical). Scoline had her big genoa and the next leg went close reach/fetch/beat as we went back to finish at the windward mark. This was the time in light airs when dropping the genoa from our sail inventory was a bad move....It was painful upto the line at sub 2 knots of boat speed. Forth on corrected time.
Not bad results, FarrOut now has 9 points with half of the 6 race series complete and 2 discards allowable.
Next week is the long distance race, so if we can stay up there then the longer the time racing then the more our rating can help us. Let's start praying for wind now. The beer locker is nice and full though!
Sunday 10 April 2011
YCW Spring Series - Race 1. You can't get closer!
A gorgeous sunny day with a light NE airflow was predicted to give us problems being the slowest boat in the IRC fleet and a dying breeze meaning that the faster boats would finish with more wind than we had. Luckily the wind died from the start so it was a problem for everyone.
Our starting tactics were good but backfired being shut out by Spindrift and subsequently by Wildfire. This meant that we were last over the line but it got better from there as we sailed directly to the windward mark. The windshift and lack of wind troubled our pre-start asymmetric kite choice but as there was no wind it didn't really matter, the well considered gybe however put us on a tight reach upto mark H - perfect. The next, and final, leg was white sail and Darren called our tack perfectly to lay the line. Farr Out was 2nd by one second corrected time to Scoline.
A good start to the series and well done especially to Dave for his first time on the boat and a good job in the pit and Taz for his first time on the bow.
Link to results: http://www.weysailclub.org.uk/race-results
Our starting tactics were good but backfired being shut out by Spindrift and subsequently by Wildfire. This meant that we were last over the line but it got better from there as we sailed directly to the windward mark. The windshift and lack of wind troubled our pre-start asymmetric kite choice but as there was no wind it didn't really matter, the well considered gybe however put us on a tight reach upto mark H - perfect. The next, and final, leg was white sail and Darren called our tack perfectly to lay the line. Farr Out was 2nd by one second corrected time to Scoline.
A good start to the series and well done especially to Dave for his first time on the boat and a good job in the pit and Taz for his first time on the bow.
Link to results: http://www.weysailclub.org.uk/race-results
Monday 4 April 2011
FarrOut hits the Water
Saturday evening saw a smooth launch for FarrOut and Sole Bay in advance of the planned sunday morning launch. All went very well apart from the rubber from the cradle pads sticking to the anti-foul a little but we had some time to paint over these.
She looks nice sitting on her new mooring in the cove at Weymouth Harbour. I'm hoping that this mooring is going to make parking short handed really easy.
Sunday 10th April is the start of the YCW spring series and we're entered into the IRC class. Better get all the sails and stuff back on board then!
She looks nice sitting on her new mooring in the cove at Weymouth Harbour. I'm hoping that this mooring is going to make parking short handed really easy.
Sunday 10th April is the start of the YCW spring series and we're entered into the IRC class. Better get all the sails and stuff back on board then!
Sunday 13 March 2011
It looks nice but does it work?
The most recent maintenance task has been applying the new anti-foul to FarrOut. We've gone for SeaJet Emperor 034 which is a self polishing type. It's white in colour and is supposed to stay that way as it's copper free. It certainly looks nice when applied so I just hope that it's successful and keeping the weed, slime and critters off the hull and makes us nice and fast.
And for those that don't believe it (Iain!) that's Stephen working on his boat....
Thursday 24 February 2011
Past Glory
On my Blogger list is the Scoline blog which is kind of static at the moment so there's not a lot of posts to view, however my eye was caught by Dave's post about one of the monday night races last august:
"Behind us we watched FarrOut hoist the 'Touareg', their SB3 spinnaker, as we watched it flogging, and pulling them sideways we laughed out loud.....we had visions of them pulling that thing back in in shreds! Next time we look over our shoulder they had halved the gap, the wind had dropped by nearly 10kts and we were massively underpowered, FarrOut was on a sleigh ride and easily passed us just before B, they had managed to bank enough height to go very wide around us, which was a wise choice, if they came in close I think we would have taken them to the Spyglass for a pint!! Given the drop in wind we had no choice but to hoist the kite for the leg from B to M, but there was no chance of us passing Farr Out with that Assy. We would have to wait until the upwind leg.
We had height and speed over Farr Out on the slug back up to the finish line, but Sapphire had height and speed on us, forcing us into a tack to avoid getting squeezed out to the port layline. A few nice close tacks between us, Sapphire and Farr Out followed, with positions changing all the way up to the finish line, we just got the advantage crossed the line ahead of both of them, and watched Farr Out sail an extra 300yds or so to cross the line at the pin end, however, they had done enough, having the kahunas to hoist the assy in 25+kts of breeze made up for it and they took an easy and well deserved win ahead of RWH (who we didn't even see after the start!) and us in 3rd. "
Stuff like that makes me enthusiatic for the new season! It's a lovely sunny day here in Weymouth today and you can really feel springtime.
Monday 7 February 2011
February Update
It's a quiet time for FarrOut as she sits on her cradle sheltered from the gales that are around. Over the past few weeks there has been some tinkering and gradually it is all coming together ready for launch day on 3rd April.
Steve and I have just spent the weekend on an ISAF/RYA sea survival course jumping in and out of liferafts in fully oilies. I'm pleased to say that the "visitors" lifejackets that we used both inflated perfectly with their 2003 vintage gas bottles. They will now be serviced ready for the new season. It was a good course run by Poole Harbour Sea Survival and you always learn a bit more even though it's my second time of doing it.
It's regrettable that the team seems to have broken up with Stu away to Australia with work and Dave deciding to try some other boats to see if he can find some more and different shouting. Still, a new season with new opportunities we'll see how it develops.
Steve and I have just spent the weekend on an ISAF/RYA sea survival course jumping in and out of liferafts in fully oilies. I'm pleased to say that the "visitors" lifejackets that we used both inflated perfectly with their 2003 vintage gas bottles. They will now be serviced ready for the new season. It was a good course run by Poole Harbour Sea Survival and you always learn a bit more even though it's my second time of doing it.
It's regrettable that the team seems to have broken up with Stu away to Australia with work and Dave deciding to try some other boats to see if he can find some more and different shouting. Still, a new season with new opportunities we'll see how it develops.
Tuesday 18 January 2011
Thursday 6 January 2011
New Year 2011
We missed the new year's day race being already out of the water but it looked like they were having fun out there even though there wasn't much wind. I took some pictures on my phone, some not bad ones of Draig as they were coming down the harbour:
FarrOut is booked with a berth in Cowes for the J P Morgan Round the Island Race on 25th June. Regular crew please keep this date free!
FarrOut is booked with a berth in Cowes for the J P Morgan Round the Island Race on 25th June. Regular crew please keep this date free!
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