Can we get a report from someone? Please?
Just got back now. The short story is that we made a great weekend out of some pretty miserable weather.
Friday had a good steady wind for most of the day, comfortable trapezing weather with some stronger stuff in race 4. Mark and I (1-up on the Friday) were both plagued by kite troubles (and a couple of capsize incidents) in race 1, leaving Simon and Dave to fight for first. In true circus style, they lost count of the number of laps (4 is a big number) and headed off for a 5th. Meanwhile Mark went through the gate, couldn't get the kite down and would have accidentally won the race if only he'd drifted the other side of the pin.
Race 2, Dave was absolutely flying and moved from 3rd (I think) to 1st on the second beat and then proceeded to leave us behind. Meanwhile, Mark's kite problems got worse when his pole broke in two, and he headed in for some repairs.
Race 3, I got some nice clean air off the start as Dave and Simon went back as at least one of them was over. I got to the windward mark first and managed to stay there for the rest of the race. I was very pleased to rank 4th amongst the As on elapsed time.
Race 4 and the wind started to pick up. I stuck it in on the first run and barely had enough strength to get back on the boat. I headed in with bleeding hands, looking forward the arrival of The Crew. The wind then really picked up, with Dave leading Simon and Alan and Jan. Everyone was pretty exhausted by this stage, especially the singlehanders, and Dave and Simon seemed to reach a gentleman's agreement to not pull the kite on the last two laps.
Saturday saw some strong winds, and lots of umming and ahhing, and eventually a decision to not race (it was all the As' fault. We were up for it, honest <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )
We woke up this morning to yet more rain, and what looked like a lot of wind. More umming and ahhing and we decided to do it. When we eventually got enough water to launch the rescue boats and get out, it turned out to be fairly mild, if somewhat choppy. The wind was strange, but fun. No real gusts, but steadily rising and falling from the bottom of 3 to the middle of a 4, but with a decent swell for most of the race. There was even one race where it didn't rain.
Race 5 was very frustrating from where Ann and I were sitting. We got a rubbish start after failing to spot that the wind had shifted to make the line almost impossible to cross on starboard. We clawed our way up to first, only to throw away two places on the final run when we gybed into a nasty hole. Mark and Dave both managed to keep the boat speed on and got past.
Race 6 saw a great tussle between us and Mark, with a finish so close that we had to ask the race team who won. Mark had kept his cool and managed to time his dive for the line perfectly and took the victory.
Race 7 and at the start I feared that the wind was going to give up completely. Mark got a great start with us close behind. Pointing a few degrees lower meant that there was no way past on the same tack, so we tacked off, straight into a comfortable force 4. We had an absolute blast for the rest of the race, twin wiring through a modest swell and finishing first. We managed to post a respectable time against the As - another 4th, but just 2 seconds behind the 2nd and 3rd As.
The medal race was just a little lighter than race 7. The final leg was pretty close with Dave hot on our heels. The race committee were treated to to some truly choice language regarding the finer points of spinnaker technique from Blade 801 when it looked like Dave might just get us on the final sprint.
Well done to Dave - a well-deserved first overall, and consistently good sailing.
Thanks to Mark and the team at Mumbles for making a great weekend out of some difficult conditions, and especially the race and rescue boat crews who headed out in some truly uninviting conditions this morning. MYC were as welcoming as ever, and my sailing was helped by a decent hangover on both days that we raced.
Paul