Silly Achilles

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!

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....:

Winter Series 1 and a very big crash

A late start for the first of the Winter series at Weymouth Sailing Club. Sunday was Remembrance Day and we no longer sail about in the bay observing a two minute silence. IRC start was at 1340 from a replacement committee boat.

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.

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.

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...

autumn series race 4 - surf's up

Library photo. I wasn't getting my phone out in those conditions!

The forecast was getting worrying and the bay delivered. 30 knot gusts and upto 36 knots at one point. The southerly wind gave us some big waves and FarrOut loves to play in big waves.

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.

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.

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.

Frustratingly No Wind

Alice, Stephen and Adam in the sunshine

God I hate no wind days. Some people might relish the opportunity to test how good a sailor they are by spotting little whisps of air in the distance and perfecting sail trim, me I'm too grumpy for that and just hate it, I just wanna thrash around at high speed.

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.

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..

3 Lasers in Weymouth

Hopefully Moondog won't mind me nicking their photo from the JOG Weymouth in July...

Moondog, Blazer and FarrOut the other side of the harbour.

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.

Can you hear banjos? The 1m long sprit

Flying like a dream!

This is the life

The inevitable.

 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:

• 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!

We handed the spinnaker on to Daddsie to try flying it on his boat. We'll stick with the Touareg.

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.

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........

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!

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!