First at the Windward Mark
Since tomorrow we cannot sail because of the RS200 Open Meeting, some of us decided to sail with the BTYC crowd today. I was late for the first race due to heavy traffic, so I rigged my boat and went out for the second race. Light wind and quite shifty.
I got off the start line quite well, and I was beating with Ben very close to me. Then the unthinkable happened. I was the first boat around the windward mark! That was a first for me, especially with so good competition. I have to admit, that slowly, I fell back and finished 3rd or 4th if I remember right.
On the third race, I didn’t do as well, and on top of that the wind shifted a lot. At some point I was on starboard tack and was heading towards the north shore. The wind started shifting and as I followed the shift I was going towards the east, bottom, end of the Harp and as the wind shifted back I started going towards the north shore again. So, I followed a long S shaped route on the same tack.
Later on as I was on a run, I was sitting on the XD cleats and as the wind shifted the boom came my way and I couldn’t get fast enough on the other side, so I capsized. I recovered quickly and as I brought the boat upright, the boat gained speed straight away. Still, I didn’t have a good result, though.
At the end of racing, I went in, covered Bubble, had a shower and then went for a beer at the BTYC clubhouse with Pete. As we were leaving, Steve, called me and we decided to go to the Middle Nene Open Meeting tomorrow. So, there is more action tomorrow after all and the weather forecast is 12 knots of wind!