Friday 17 May 2013

Feeling the Pressure on a Thursday Night

I was feeling the pressure for thursday 1 race 3. I haven't been driving at all in the Spring Series and Steve took the boat out with a thrown together crew on monday night in 20 odd knots and stormed to a win. How was I going to live upto that?

A sunny evening with a chill about it, thursday had little wind, not light airs but less than 10 knots most of the time. We were just right at four crew; Adam (Bow), Jack (Pit), Steve (main) and me driving. There were about 50 boats on the race course which was excellent to see so early in the season. Race Officer Bob Turner set a triangular course which kept it hot in the event of the wind dying.

With a straight line, we considered our start options and elected for a starboard tack pin end start. Pre-start we tried to place ourselves in the "waiting room" to starboard of the committee boat. With a timed reach in what could possibly go wrong? As the horn went, another went for OCS though Adam on the bow was adamant (ho ho) that it wasn't us that was over the line. I put my trust in him and we got a front row start and drove left a little cracked off to gain space. We bravely found a slot at the windward mark by hitting it on port layline and taking the inside as Rocket messed around with their kite launch.

We'd chosen to reach on our AP symmetric kite as pre-start it looked a little too deep for the ayso after the gybe. Probably a wrong call and we changed to ayso on the second time round. A windward drop put the gear on the right side next time and we span up from the leeward mark. The fleet went out on port tack and then tacked for the committee boat. We tacked early and popped through the other races on starboard so that we could head right going up to the windward mark. Going back through the start line Z we crossed tacks with the Sigma 33 Scoline, them in front.

At the windward mark we rounded in front of them. They'd tacked underneath us and were probably pinching to make it. Down the first reach and they started gaining again however we kept in front and I stopped looking behind! For the finish we were still in front of Scoline and, hooray, still in front of Folio the MGC27. The leading group of RWH (JS9000), Jammy Dodger (J80), Rocket (Dehler 33) and Effusion (Elan 295) had the legs on us though which showed in the results in PY.

Congratulations to Gary Owens and team (Rich Veale on tactics methinks) for their second in only their fourth race with the boat. That's a bloomin' massive kite on them J80s! A great sail from Ricky Bruton's Effusion as well, didn't put a foot wrong from what I could see.


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