That's the problem with a 24" monitor - there's so much more to clean up after reading something like this with a mouthful of breakfast

I was thinking the same thing

It's OK, Im packing the oars - I will resign myself to no wind again.

I will just follow Simon around the course and pull along side in need

1st start on Sunday was very interesting. Breeze came up, visibility went down and a lot of last minute manoeuvring.

With 130 boats on the water, 9 divisions starting and everyone trying to get close enough to the start boat so you see which division flag was flying it was a credit to all on the water that there were no major collision’s. With visibility down to less than 2 boat lengths, it was necessary to keep moving a little so you could steer out of peoples way. At one stage I became totaly disorientated, not knowing which direction was up the course and which was down. Also lost track of where the start boat was on many occasions only to hear a start sequence hooter which gave you a rough direction to sail in.

Sailing into the fog for the start.... Photo courtesy of Sportscar from SA.

Thanks for posting this...What a fantastic photo

It was worth the trip just to experience that start.

Photo courtesy of smc from SA....... If you look close enough, you can see the head of a sail off his starboard bow.

One of my best sailing experiences during that start on Sunday.......thanks for the pic.

Maeve Southall took these photos still have to sort through the other 2000 she took

You weren't the only one! The most amazing sight for me was the whole Tasar fleet that lost it's direction immediately after their start and headed back through the boats waiting for their starts. They were a bit miffed that there were so many boats on their course, until they realised they were heading in completely the wrong direction.

I would say visibility was down to around 8 metres or less during that start sequence. Amazing.

Great photos, and congrats Steve for winning the fast cat division. Well done.