Ready for the 2012 J P Morgan Round the Island Race

Foregoing racing last night we put some final preparations together before next weekend's race. Steve and I dived the boat in the lovely warm waters of Weymouth Bay and polished her bottom nicely. I was surprised by the amount of barnacles on there.

We then went for a sail and launched the new kite held out there with the new pole. All very satifactory. The crispness and slipperyness really help out in those gybes. Seemed fast but I guess we need to line up with some other boats with it.




Delivery to Cowes on friday is looking a wet and windy affair at the moment. Joy.

IRC division 3C - not a division I'd want to be in given the choice. With the Quarter Ton Cup running this week in Cowes all the quarter tonners are in this division. We will have to be happy with our IRC overall position, because we stand little chance of getting enough distance between us and those rocket ships with pop star crews!

Coutts Quarter Ton Cup

I'm very enthusiastic about the quarter tonners at the moment, it seems to me that this class is the kind of Grand Prix yacht racing that penniless can thrashers like myself can aspire to. I've just watched the video of race 1 on the unofficial Quarter Ton Blog http://quartertonners.wordpress.com/

We could have entered when we had the GK24 but it's not really the ship to use, and we couldn't afford the brand new North sails that everyone seems to be sporting. Saying that, there's alot of hard work put in by the owners to restore these fine machines of yesteryear and with multiple ownership I guess it all becomes a bit more possible to race at what appears to me a very high level. It's also a class and type of sailing that has UK sailors out front and that's where we should be.

I'd never sell FarrOut but perhaps we can find an old quarter behind somebody's shed. But after sailing a Laser 28 it might have to be a Farr......chances of finding one of those? Where's Nenufarr?

Post Script: A disparaging remark on Sailing Anarchy this morning related to a quarter tonner laying flat after a broach. Maybe they think the fun of sailing is all about doing well....they obviously don't appreciate a good high speed crash like we do on FarrOut!