Rock Stars

Yes we have had another win!

We had a big weekend. Two races with the ASCC on Saturday, a night sleeping over in Blackwattle Bay and then the final Balmain Winter series race on Sunday.

Blackwattle Bay

Saturday was ideal conditions with bright sunshine and northerly winds 10 - 15 knots - Cheshire Cat's favourite conditions. And the crew feels the same. We blitzed both starts leaving even Jo's 36ft Bavaria in our wake. She caught us both times eventually but we finished within a minute of her both times which is pretty amazing. In race 2 we passed her on the run with ease. But upwind she is faster, and points a bit better as well. It was fun to be so close and so competitive and even better to find out selves so close to a boat that was bigger, newer and one we would have though was a faster boat. Laine and Costa were sailing very close races behind us with only minutes between them.

After stopping off at Cobblers for very delicious mulled wine and some nibbles, and losing Terina to Jo's boat briefly, we headed for Blackwattle to rendezvous with Helen and Deirdre coming by car and Charlie and Ange in their boat. With the two boats secured to the public pontoon, if not exactly legally (except that we were picking up and dropping off people as allowed) we had a very lovely BBQ dinner and way too much wine. After dinner Deirdre offered to take all the dishes back to her place and put them in the dishwasher which was a great relief to us all.

We went to bed very tired but hoping to be pumped for the big race on Sunday. That didn't go quite to plan as a few sore heads were had in the a.m. Julie's alarm went off around 6 which was a bit of a shock but we all went back to sleep til closer to 9am when Jenni started cooking bacon and eggs and hash browns. And it was another sunny morning so we ate on deck, still nicely tied up to the pontoon. Eventually a dog walker came and told us we weren't supposed to be there so long. Other than that no-one came near us or the pontoon until a couple of boys in a little yacht pulled up, picked up another couple of boys and cruised away.

And so did we, to collect Jen and Nicki from the Balmain Sailing Club ready for the race. As we were a bit early we picked up a rather skanky empty mooring. And just as well. There was a nasty looking black cloud headed our way. As it passed there was thunder, lightening, hail and 30+ knot winds. It was very close to the start of the race and next thing we knew the cancellation/postponement light came on at the club. The crew all disappeared below but I was worried that the mooring might not hold so stayed on deck with the motor running just in case.



As you can see from the Seabreeze graph (seabreeze.com.au) it passed as fast as it came and we hoisted the main sail, but cautiously with a reef in it, ready for the start. As the wind dropped away we realised we needed to shake out the reef. This made us slow off the start but was a good call. We had a great race, again close to some other boats which always makes it more interesting. A few big gusts around Goat Island, along with a ferry in the way, slowed us a bit. And with bigger winds we reefed the headsail a bit to keep some control. Even then we broached a couple of times but not too badly. And the boats around us got away from us.

We were last across the finish line and we weren't hopeful of a decent place. We dropped off the crew at the club with all the luggage and took Cheshire Cat to our mooring. By then the wind was back up to 20 knots and gusting more so it was a struggle to get secure. I couldn't see or hear what Jen and Jen were saying and stupidly came up to the mooring from the wrong side which made it even harder for them. But eventually we were sorted and I rowed ashore as penance.

Back at the club we were having a beer and a sausage as they read the results. As the other boats close to us in the point score were read out the tension was palpable. Again we thought they'd forgotten us. But no - we won! Again.

The blokes from Ambitious, who we passed and who retired to the bar instead of finishing the race (not very ambitious of them) were fulsome in praise of us all girl crew. Rather too fulsome in a couple of cases!

We were all exhausted but stoked at what a great weekend it had been. But we also wanted very badly to get home for a hot shower and a lie down.