Blast

Well, it was windy! Gusting up to 30 knots meant we seriously considered racing with the storm jib, but we went with the number 3 which turned out to be the right move. We even got the spinnaker up twice, although we took it down to jibe. We joined the first race of the day and lead from start to finish giving us another 1st place to add to our training record. Unfortunately the second race of the day was canceled due to the tide turning and kicking up the waves, but we'd got a good couple of hours of sailing in by then, (and bowman Andy had got nicely soaked!) so we called it a day. Now can't wait for August and Cowes Week!

Windy day

Got up this morning to see the wind's got up quite a lot overnight.
hoping to do two races today, so looks like we're going to get wet!
all good practice though.

A fine day on the water

Got down to Anticipation at 1030 (after Pete the Kiwi had watched NZ beat England at the rugby!). Nice 10-15knot wind, a bit overcast with occasional breaks of sun and showers. Spent a couple of hours practicing jibes and getting a feel for the boat, then entered a race which we proceeded to win! Hopefully a good omen for Cowes week. To more races tomorrow, but off to the pub now for a well earned drink!

Pete's Pad

Arrived in Cowes at 2000 last night after missing the earlier ferry due to Friday traffic. Drove up to Peter's (the skipper/owner) place in Gurnard and met up with the rest of the crew. Some old faces from last year and some new, but we all bonded over dinner and a pint in Pete's local. Not sure what the sailing's going to be like today - winds are light at the moment, and it's supposed to rain on and off - but we're going for a practice sail this morning, and then hopefully join a race this afternoon and tomorrow.

The next challenge!

I'll be driving down to Cowes in a couple of hours for the SailForCharity Cowes Week 2008 training weekend, the first and only training we'll get as a full team (almost - Greg's still on Eclipse somewhere between the Azores and Cowes). This'll be a big deal for us as we've got a lot to live up to, 2nd place in our class and 15th overall last year, and obviously we'll want to do as well or better this year! Just hope my main sheet trimming won't be too out of practice.