Sunday's race started in no knots of wind and ended up with about 4 knots! We spent the first 20 minutes (although Dayna says it was 40 minutes) on the wrong side of the start line pointing in the wrong direction, unable to turn Cheshire Cat towards the first mark. The rest of the fleet were drifting away from us at about 0.5 knots. Eventually a stink boat wake helped us turn around and we were OFF! After creeping towards Birkenhead with the headsail flapping we decided to furl it for a while and let what little breeze there was fill the main. It worked and we started to close on the back of the fleet.
Meanwhile the dinghy sailors had started and they too were drifting slowly. We eventually caught up to Amon Re, Scylla and a couple of others. The committee boat had been ferrying beer and collecting bored crew for a while. Then they came past and said the race had been shortened! Like that was a surprise.
Determined to persevere when all around us were abandoning the race we managed to pass Rogate at the corner of Snapper Island and finally found a small breeze. The wind made us forget all about the beers we were about to open. It was quite exhilarating to be clocking 2.5 knots on the speed log and we finally felt we might actually finish within the 3 hour time limit! And we did, with about 10 minutes to spare.
When we got to the club they asked if we actually did the race! The cheek of them. It was because we had furled the heady. They thought we'd decided to quit! Never! And we came 2nd which was great.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Monday, July 05, 2010
A DNF and a Win!
After a few very pleasant social sails where we just pottered out had lunch and came home Cheshire Cat is now back into racing having entered the Balmain winter series.
Julie says it's 10 months since she last raced. Her knee op had something to do with that.
So on Sunday 20th we gathered early with a plan to scrub the poor Cat who had been suffering from neglect and bad weather. But flat batteries kyboshed us getting round to Balmain Sailing Club for power and water. We still did a clean up and Alan Clarke jump started us from another battery. Thanks Alan. Lucky he was at the marina at the time.
We eventually chugged to the start line a little late and then with very light winds found ourselves on the wrong side of the line at the warning signal. That meant getting to the right side of the line, doing a 360 which we did with great skill! and starting. Given the lack of wind and the very grungy bottom we moved extremely slowly round the first leg of the course. It was a lovely day so we enjoyed ourselves. And it meant newcomer C Moore didn't have to work hard.
We were soon being lapped by the faster boats even though they too weren't going very fast. We finally approached the line in front of the club as the cut off time loomed. We didn't manage to finish even the short course! Only one boat finished (just a minute or so in front of us) the long course but results were taken from the short version. So we scored DNF.
Then on the 4th July, with new batteries and clean bottom, we set off, got to the start in time and even though I missed the warning signal we started close to the rest of the fleet. Then we started the chase. We eventually passed three other boats (Rogate, Copelia and Ambitious) by virtue of squeezing past the edge of Cockatoo Island when they all had to tack. And we held the advantage for the rest of the race, almost passing Umbakumba as well at Goat Island.
And so we won! That will bugger our handicap but we don't care. It was great to not be last for once. And the day was lovely, if a bit cold, and the sausage sizzle and beer at the club, plus the prize of a bottle of sparkling red, made it a great day.
Julie says it's 10 months since she last raced. Her knee op had something to do with that.
So on Sunday 20th we gathered early with a plan to scrub the poor Cat who had been suffering from neglect and bad weather. But flat batteries kyboshed us getting round to Balmain Sailing Club for power and water. We still did a clean up and Alan Clarke jump started us from another battery. Thanks Alan. Lucky he was at the marina at the time.
We eventually chugged to the start line a little late and then with very light winds found ourselves on the wrong side of the line at the warning signal. That meant getting to the right side of the line, doing a 360 which we did with great skill! and starting. Given the lack of wind and the very grungy bottom we moved extremely slowly round the first leg of the course. It was a lovely day so we enjoyed ourselves. And it meant newcomer C Moore didn't have to work hard.
We were soon being lapped by the faster boats even though they too weren't going very fast. We finally approached the line in front of the club as the cut off time loomed. We didn't manage to finish even the short course! Only one boat finished (just a minute or so in front of us) the long course but results were taken from the short version. So we scored DNF.
Then on the 4th July, with new batteries and clean bottom, we set off, got to the start in time and even though I missed the warning signal we started close to the rest of the fleet. Then we started the chase. We eventually passed three other boats (Rogate, Copelia and Ambitious) by virtue of squeezing past the edge of Cockatoo Island when they all had to tack. And we held the advantage for the rest of the race, almost passing Umbakumba as well at Goat Island.
And so we won! That will bugger our handicap but we don't care. It was great to not be last for once. And the day was lovely, if a bit cold, and the sausage sizzle and beer at the club, plus the prize of a bottle of sparkling red, made it a great day.
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