Medium to Light

Today I was expecting medium winds. I went to the club in the morning, rigged Bubble and went out for the first start. Then I realised that I had forgotten my watch. My start wasn’t great. At some point I thought we were about a minute from the gun and when I asked I was told we were at 30 seconds. Anyway, I started and things were looking quite OK. Pete was in front of me and I was aiming at catching him. Realistically, I cannot, unless he makes a serious mistake. Still my goal is to catch him.

Bit by bit he was slipping away. My weight was not helping me and Ben behind me was coming closer and closer. On the last downwind leg, towards the finish line, he picked up a gust and he came very close to me. He was so close that I finished just in front of him by 1 second! I was 6th out of 8.

We had a break and we went out for the second race. This time I was wearing my watch , so I had a good start. The wind was getting lighter and lighter and the best way to keep the boat moving was by sitting as much forward as possible. Upwind, I was sitting on the cleats almost facing aft and looking over my shoulder in order to see where I was going. On the downwind legs I was trying to catch the gusts and I was sitting with one leg in front of the centreboard and the other into the cockpit, while my arm was extended to hold the tiller extension. That was very uncomfortable. In the beginning of the race, Brent was in front of me, but soon I was left behind. Ben and James were safely behind me, so I finished 6th out of 8, again.

After racing I sorted out some things on my boat. I replaced the deck cleats – I use them, especially in strong winds, to cleat the mainsheet while trimming the other controls – because the old ones were worn out. I also fixed (hopefully) the self-bailer with a bailer repair kit and I spliced the primary line of my cunningham. All three primary control lines (outhaul, cunningham, kicker) are Vectran V12 and I have spliced them at both ends. This is neater than having bowlines.

Steve and Pete, took Ben and James for some coaching, so hopefully I will have some competition soon. More sailing, next Sunday. See you then.