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.