Maintenance

Thanks to Paul White, but I changed the beer. He's right about Corona being wee.

Bad and Worse results

We've sailed a couple of times since Xmas. Results are unfortunate.

A good day out on the 8th January was marred by us (read me) failing to read the instructions properly and therefore missing the final mark of the course and being marked DNF (did not finish). That was followed by a last place in the race on the 5th February. Both days we enjoyed the sail although being three handed on the 5th meant I had to work way harder than I am used to and I was rather tired at the end of the day and very stiff the next day. But I see this race as a handicap correction measure.

A beer at the Balmain Sailing Club afterwards is a nice way to finish up even if it means climbing all those stairs afterwards.

But it is great to get out and good to keep using Cheshire Cat. Poor thing is in need of some TLC at the moment. All the canvas covers are starting to wear out and the bimini is looking particularly sad with bird poo and green mould on it where the water doesn't drain properly.

I've sailed with Charlie on Solveig in the Friday twilights couple of times as well. She is doing much better with regular podium finishes. Her handicap will get the better of her eventually though.

Spring Series Results

So we came 7th out of 12 in the Balmain Sailing Club Spring Series spite of only doing three races.

Southerly Buster

We raced on Sunday (me, Julie, Roberta, John and Paul - Terina piked after a BIG night). We started in warm, light breeze and lovely blue skies. We stated well and headed for Long Nose Point where the mark was in place this time, then west towards Gladesville and back around the islands towards Goat. The clouds were building, the south west was black and we could see the rain coming and the lightening flashes advancing towards us. Storm a'comin'

Undeterred, although Paul did keep predicting mayhem, we rounded Goat, tried and sometimes failed to fall into windless holes, and then the wind hit. Gusts of 20 knots just as a ferry was bearing down on us heading for East Balmain. But having managed to bear away we benefitted from the following wind as we headed home. North of Cockatoo we reefed the headsail and the main without mishap thanks to John's dexterity and skill and then rounded the island to find the wind had dropped off. But we decided not to risk losing time by shaking out the reef as we had so little distance left to cover.

You can see the wind spike just in the middle of the race which started at noon

Southern Aura 11 that was near us got stuck north of Goat Island and eventually decided to retire. Amon Re also retired when they ripped their headsail before the storm arrived. We got soaked but had a good race and eventually came 4th. We still don't know what the flashing blue light on the club house means. The flashing yellow was for a shortened course but was posted too late to mean anything.

Race Cancelled

It turns out that people must have complained about the missing mark off Long Nose Point. The race has been cancelled from the pointscore. Maybe there were protests against the committee. Doesn't make any difference to us as we haven't sailed enough races for it to count. But it will no doubt help someone. I am told that the buoy was laid but went missing, either run over by a power boat or washed away in the wind.

Feather Dusters

Yesterday cock of the walk, tomorrow a feather duster. Cheshire Cat's winning streak came to an abrupt end with yesterday's race when we came 8th!! from 12 boats. A windy day so we furled the headsail a bit to make the winch wenches life a bit easier. We completely missed the start, unable to hear or see the signals but managed to start a slow catch up until we fell in a hole while rounding a non existent mark near Long Nose Point. Amon Re turned before us thereby getting ahead and then our windless hole compounded the damage. Still, it was a lovely day and we enjoyed the sail. Worst part was that when we got to the Balmain Sailing Club the sausages had run out. Julie and I shared the last one. Bummer!

You can see how it was a bit windy in the middle of the day, right at race time.

Balmain Regatta Pictures

Here is the proof that Cheshire Cat rocks! We leave boats in our wake. By Goat Island we were five abreast but then we took off!




Jenny Gill's pictures.

Another Win - Who Knew

Don't you love the handicap system!

We won the race last Sunday in spite of coming second last and generally not having a great race. When my start clock stopped we had to guess the time, wimped out and tacked just as the horn blew, losing our rather commanding position. But our new crew valiantly learnt the terror of the winches and we sailed the course without any major mishaps. It was a lovely day and we did enjoy everything except the winching bit. And we decided not to go back to the clubhouse but to stay on the boat and have a beer, which was very pleasant.

And then the results were posted on the web site and there we were - winners again!

The Cat's Whiskers

We won the Balmain Regatta! at least we won our division, open yachts B, a non-spinnaker division.
No one was more surprised than me. Very surprised skipper with the trophy

I had been complaining that it was the single worst race I had ever sailed. In very light winds we were overtaken by a bigger boat on the start line as we crossed just after the gun, and we lost all our wind. That combined with a tide running out against us meant we came to a complete stop then drifted backwards "kissing" the start boat. Fortunately they were not fussed and just reminded us about the 360 rule. So we set off again, we managed to cross the line and tack up towards Birkenhead, Cheshire Cat finally gets past the start line

watching poor Solveig struggling to get moving. Solveig struggling against the tide

Then we battled fickle winds, outgoing tide and predatory boats around the islands including Goat where thankfully there was some wind. At one point there were five boats all in a line side by side between Goat and Mort Bay but good old Cheshire Cat pulled ahead aided by some excellent sail handling by the crew.
We then headed towards the Hunters Hill mark and rounded it then fell straight into irons. Thanks to some very poor helming. We then hit the mark but managed to avoid several other boats rounding behind us. So another 360 turn was made quickly while we had some wind and the crew were running on adrenaline. Finally away again we rounded the final mark and had a neck an neck race to the line with another boat, eventually pulling ahead to cross first. We were about 13th across but WINNERS on handicap!
Lucky Jenny has cemented her nickname.
Some of the old gaffers racing
Pictures are by Barbara Hamilton at BSC