Saturday, August 9, 2008

Exciting final race on day 8

Woke up this morning to sun, which soon turned into drizzle with a rising wind. We didn't need to sail today as we'd already secured 2nd place overall, but we made the decision to go out anyway. Start was on the Royal Yacht Squadron line at 1120, but we were out by 1030 to watch the class zero start. With the wind gusting up to 24 knots the first few starts were exciting to watch, even though a lot of boats were already packing up, so didn't bother coming out. By our start a heavy rain had set in and the wind was consistently 20 knots, gusting 25. We had a great start, beating West down to the first mark, staying ahead of Amey Love Shack, and soon catching up to the leader. 5 marks later we were head to head with Amey Love Shack at a bear-away mark, with a very close rounding. We got the spinnaker up, running neck and neck with Amey Love Shack with the wind gusting up to 35 knots, then after several rolls, we broached severely, with the yacht tipping almost completely horizontal, and completely submerging Greg, the Navigator, who was on the rail at the time underwater, we then crash jibed and lost the spinnaker sheets. With the spinnaker flying out in front of us and no way of getting it down, we had to send James up the mast in a sling to attach a line to the top of the spinnaker halyard. By the time we'd got James back down, and retrieved the spinnaker we'd been overtaken by the top 5 boats and exhausted ourselves, so decided to call it a day and retire. Seems like we weren't the only ones with problems as there were quite a few yachts with broken masts and tattered sails in the marinas when we got in.
Because of the retirement today we ended up with 61 points overall, retaining second place. Off to the prize giving tonight to pick up our trophy!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Another close race on day 7

Woke up this morning to a gray overcast day and a light rain. We were the second class to start, so had to be on the water by 0920 for a 1020 royal yacht squadron start. There was a lot of close maneuvering at the start, but we came out 1st and led the way up the shore. Unfortunately a bad asymmetric spinnaker call on a leg that was just slightly too tight meant we dropped 7 places, which we struggled to make back up. It was a very short race, at just under 2 hours, which didn't help us, and we crossed the line in third place behind Incognito and Amey Love Shack, just too far behind to beat then on corrected time. This gives us 18 points overall going into the last race, and a guaranteed 2nd place.

photos

Fine day and goods finish on day 6

Day 6 started off nice and sunny with a decent 10-15 knot breeze. The start was on the Squadron line at 1120, so a fairly late start, although we were close getting there because the traveller had to be rebuilt about getting it re welded last night due to some cracks appearing in the metal. We got it done though, and had a pretty good start. 1st leg was a beat up the shore out of the tide, keeping in as close as possible to the land... at one point our depth read 0.1m under the keel! We managed to keep very close in, and held off all the competition, including Amey Love Shack to get round the 1st mark in the lead. We held onto that lead for the rest of the race, building it slowly on the run down to the final mark rounding, and crossed the line over 90 seconds in front of Amey Love Shack on the water, and almost 5 minutes ahead of them on corrected time, and 0ver 7 minutes in front of Beachwood Homes! This puts us at 15 points overall, and 2nd place in our class.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Disapointing day 5

Woke up on day 5 to a very flat Solent, with very little wind. Start was by committee boat out by Portsmouth again, so we had an early start, but the race was postponed due to the lack of wind. Sat around on the water for a couple of hours while the committee moved the line around to try and get a good start line downwind, but the wind kept changing. Eventually we started about 1430, but got caught up in the middle of the fleet over the line, and had to battle up. Some very good jibe mark roundings got us up the fleet, but we just couldn't get close to the race leaders and came in a disappointing 7th. This leaves us with 14 points and joint 2nd overall with Beachwood Homes on the same points, and Amey Loveshack leading the class.

Despite the dissapointing racing we did enjoy some good apre-sail, with a cocktail party at the Royal Yacht Squadron, then a Beneteau 40.7 class party at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

2nd place from a slow start on day 4

Not a nice start today... cold, wet and not much wind from the South. Start was postponed by 10 minutes while they waited for some wind to fill in. Start wasn't great, 11th overland, but as the wind came in and got up to a fairly steady 15-19 knots we started to overtake the boats ahead. By the final mark we were up to 6th place, but then Beachwood Homes and Incognito got into fight for the places, dragging in the other boats, we sailed clear to come over the line in second behind Amey Loveshack. No sails destroyed today, so a pretty good day all round! We're still leading the class by 1 point, with a total of 7 points overall. We're also 7th overall in Black Group, (the ~500 boats in the to 20 classes).

Monday, August 4, 2008

1st in another very close race!

A very late start today on a committee boat line down near Portsmouth. It was scheduled for 1150, but was delayed until 1215 after two of the previous classes had to be recalled due to boats over the line. We got an OK start, but got caught up with a pack of boats and had to fight for a position with the first 7 boats for most of the race. Winds were 20 knots, gusting 25 to 30 at times, with some nasty waves when the tide turned. Unfortunately the number 3 jib ripped on the penultimate beat down towards Cowes, and we had to do a change to the smaller number 4 while racing towards the shore. We then pulled up the fractional kite after rounding the mark, and it blew when one of the tapes at the top separated, ripping it end to end. Two £2000 sails totaled in less than 30 minutes! But we managed to get the asymmetric spinnaker up without loosing too much time, crossing the line in 3rd place, but winning by 1 second on corrected time! This takes us to 5 points overall (1st, 3rd, 1st), and makes us class leaders again!

Wind is forecasted to be less tomorrow, and raining for most of the day, but we have a fixed line start tomorrow, so don't need to leave the marina until a little later.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Wet and windy 3rd

Got up this morning to drizzle, which kept up until well into the first race. We had a committee boat start line today, which meant an early start, then motoring for an hour out to near Portsmouth for the start. Unfortunately the large job got caught in the track on the hoist just before the start and had to be cut free, meaning we didn't have the most powerful sail for the race, and only just made the start line for the gun. But we ended up getting a reasonable start, holding 3rd place behind Loveshack and Beachwood homes for the whole race. 3rd over the line and 3rd on corrected time behind Beachwood Homes and Loveshack left us with 2nd overall so far behind Loveshack with 4 points. Two sails are with the sailmakers overnight, (jib and a broken luff line on the main sheet) but weather should be better for tomorrow hopefully.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

1st race, 1st place

Left the marina in the rain at 0930 this morning, prepared for a cold, wet sail. Rain stopped before the start, leaving a light wind, which pete used to our advantage to get what cowes radio described as the best start of thieves day! We held the lead for most of the race, only letting loveshack past while heading for home as the wind got up. Finished the race less than 1 minute behind loveshack in 28 knot winds, and won the race on corrected time!

As we came 2nd in our 1st race last year, and came 2nd overall, we're taking a 1st place as very good omen!

Friday, August 1, 2008

Training and prep

A rather windy day today (gusting 30 knots and more), so only a short practice sail, but enough to get the kite up and try some jibes. Spent the rest of the day repacking the boat and sorting out Greg's boat for the corporate hospitality. Out for some team bonding drinks tonight, then 1130 start for the first race tomorrow.