So, start at H, zoom up the beat to 'Y', almost first boat there (nice), off to 'K' with kite up (lovely), gybe at 'K' and broad reach to 'S', gybe at 'S' and close 3-sail reach to 'H'. We'd got quite a decent lead by this stage, but we had a bit of trouble getting the kite down due to the pole flying off round the forestay, so spent a bit of time sailing past 'H' on a broad reach towards the wall at high speed while Paul rescued all the stuff again. This allowed Pete & Serena to get past - quite a long way past in fact - and we had a bit of catching up to do.
We spent the next 4 or so laps catching up and then doing battle with the other Fireball, the B14 and our own inimitable tendency to screw up. An amusing fast gybe at 'K' nearly threw Paul out to windward with the unexpected G-forces, and the rapid abort resulted in us running by the lee, with me trying to steer and not fall out on the leeward side, boom dragging in the water, as far from 'textbook' as it gets.
Paul went on to experiment with the spinnaker pole in a bid to find out how many things he could inadvertently clip it to. Later, down at 'H' (and I agree, it's too close to the wall), a Laser capsized on top of another Laser right in front of us, which made for an interesting mark rounding. And just when we thought that flag 'S' was up and we were going to finish, suddenly it wasn't and we didn't, and had to sail round again. That's not a complaint though, it was a short lap and good fun, so why not.
All in all then, a very good evening's sail. We'd have had a reasonable turn-out too, but JT bailed out to go and help run the race (thanks John, and well done), and Martyn's boat is all wrapped up for the Worlds. Mike S was around too, and Iain might have been better off in a Fireball as it turned out.
And it's due to be windy again at the weekend too. Fantastic
No comments:
Post a Comment