Too long ashore

This is what happens if you neglect your boat.

I hadn't been out to the boat for a long time and we hadn't sailed since before Christmas. So stuff started growing. I expect that on the bottom and had a diver clean the hull before the race which obviously helped our result, but I was not expecting a vege patch on the deck!

And this is a better shot of the trophy showing the nice three bridges detail on the sails.

The Cat Rules!

Cheshire Cat rocks! We won the Balmain Sailing Club 3 Bridges Race on Sunday. The race is a handicap start and the course goes past the Iron Cove Bridge, under the Gladesville Bridge
Coming up to the Gladesville Bridge

and up the Parramatta River to within sight of the Ryde Bridge. And back.
Julie on the foredeck
Julie and Terina discussing tactics - not!
Rooky crew and winch wench in training, Jenny

The skipper trying to concentrate

It was a tricky, tactical race with some luck thrown in. We had light winds but managed mostly to stay in the breeze, both passes of the Mortlake Ferry it was safely on the shore as when its in mid river it isn't safe to pass over the cables, and our tacking duel with Amon Re on the last leg saw several really excellent winching efforts by the crew so we held our lead position to finish 10 seconds ahead. Nail biting stuff. The winning team, happy at the bar!

The race is a handicap start and we were the third boat to cross the line but we quickly passed the others and held the lead all the way. Exhilarating.

And what was especially nice was that as we motored back to the mooring all the boats behind us clapped and cheered for us. Sweet.
The handsome trophy!