We were warned. We decided to take the risk anyway and it led to an amusing day. Scott (bow) had a house warming party organised before we even started sailing the 18 so it had to go on. Jamie (sheet) went as well but left at 4.00am and managed a reasonable amount of sleep. However, when Scott arrived at the boat park, our worst fears were realised. He had under 2 hours sleep and had stopped drinking at 10.00am! His speech was blurred and every time he walked past our supply of water, we had to change the label as the alcohol content went up just from proximity!
Jamie and I rigged the boat and we managed to launch with incident. A delayed start, waiting for the wind to settle gave Scott a chance to take on more water and finally the course was set, in a shift ENE wind 10-13 knots as it flicked from gradient to sea breeze. After the poor starts of recent weeks, I had promised the team we would really mix it at the start. Watching videos of recent JJ's, it struck me that nobody ever made good start mid line, so with a pin bias, we headed deep into enemy territory. And to my surprise, we kept finding holes. We lined up, looked below, saw another hole, bore away and back up into the hole until we were 3rd boat from the pin, with a nice gap to come down into and on time. maybe we pulled the trigger a little late, but we were up and running in a lane we could live with for a while until we had a chance to flip over.
The beat was long and shifty, with variations of pressure all around. And there we were, crossing tacks with Fiat, Club Marine and other front runners. We weren't having any speed issue and for the first time, Jamie and i had our heads out the boat, looking for wind and shifts. In fact, we even managed to make a few decent tactical calls that saw us round the first mark in the top 10. For some reason, the hoist wasn't quite as smooth and fast as we were used to and we had to defend for the first part of the downhill leg. Fortunately, we were sailing windward/leewards, so were able to gybe and clear when we needed to.
The next 2 laps saw us battling for a position in the top 10, never higher than 9th but not lower than 13th. Crossing tacks with The Rag and Club Marine was great, and we never felt outclassed. In fact, we remained very pleased with our speed and also our positioning, regarding the fleet.
However, as the race went on, our shortcomings on the hoists and drops slowly took a toll until at the end of the 3rd downwind, the drop let 3 boat through. Try as we might, we couldn't get them back on the beat and the final hoist saw another through. The hoist did have its lighter side. My normal job is to call out how far the kite had hoisted and this time it went rather like this - "First spreader, second spreader, 1 metre........1 metre........1 metre........1 metre. Scott, why are you out on the wire?!! Jamie looked up and with a resigned smile said "I will get it! and finally the kite was set.
I twas a shame that we weren't sailing to the best we could because we finished less than 1 minute off 13th place and should really have been higher. Scott was very apologetic, in the funny way that only somebody who is drunk can manage. Credit to him for having survived and for not chundering until on his way home. I did have to steer the boat back under him a couple of times, but he stayed with us the whole race. If we had a substitute on board, we might have done better but that wouldn't have been good for either Scott's ego (they do better without me) or for team building.
So now we have proved we can get up there, the next task will be be to stay up there. We have 2 on the water sessions planned this week, so stand by for more news to come.
Now, what exactly does "keel hauling" consist of..............
Jamie and I rigged the boat and we managed to launch with incident. A delayed start, waiting for the wind to settle gave Scott a chance to take on more water and finally the course was set, in a shift ENE wind 10-13 knots as it flicked from gradient to sea breeze. After the poor starts of recent weeks, I had promised the team we would really mix it at the start. Watching videos of recent JJ's, it struck me that nobody ever made good start mid line, so with a pin bias, we headed deep into enemy territory. And to my surprise, we kept finding holes. We lined up, looked below, saw another hole, bore away and back up into the hole until we were 3rd boat from the pin, with a nice gap to come down into and on time. maybe we pulled the trigger a little late, but we were up and running in a lane we could live with for a while until we had a chance to flip over.
The beat was long and shifty, with variations of pressure all around. And there we were, crossing tacks with Fiat, Club Marine and other front runners. We weren't having any speed issue and for the first time, Jamie and i had our heads out the boat, looking for wind and shifts. In fact, we even managed to make a few decent tactical calls that saw us round the first mark in the top 10. For some reason, the hoist wasn't quite as smooth and fast as we were used to and we had to defend for the first part of the downhill leg. Fortunately, we were sailing windward/leewards, so were able to gybe and clear when we needed to.
The next 2 laps saw us battling for a position in the top 10, never higher than 9th but not lower than 13th. Crossing tacks with The Rag and Club Marine was great, and we never felt outclassed. In fact, we remained very pleased with our speed and also our positioning, regarding the fleet.
However, as the race went on, our shortcomings on the hoists and drops slowly took a toll until at the end of the 3rd downwind, the drop let 3 boat through. Try as we might, we couldn't get them back on the beat and the final hoist saw another through. The hoist did have its lighter side. My normal job is to call out how far the kite had hoisted and this time it went rather like this - "First spreader, second spreader, 1 metre........1 metre........1 metre........1 metre. Scott, why are you out on the wire?!! Jamie looked up and with a resigned smile said "I will get it! and finally the kite was set.
I twas a shame that we weren't sailing to the best we could because we finished less than 1 minute off 13th place and should really have been higher. Scott was very apologetic, in the funny way that only somebody who is drunk can manage. Credit to him for having survived and for not chundering until on his way home. I did have to steer the boat back under him a couple of times, but he stayed with us the whole race. If we had a substitute on board, we might have done better but that wouldn't have been good for either Scott's ego (they do better without me) or for team building.
So now we have proved we can get up there, the next task will be be to stay up there. We have 2 on the water sessions planned this week, so stand by for more news to come.
Now, what exactly does "keel hauling" consist of..............
1 comment:
Great story, keep up the posting!
Post a Comment