Beaten but not Bothered

The last twilight of the season saw us again reefing, one reef this time, and out into very gusty, shifty winds. We struggled a bit, only four on board and me having been at the office Christmas lunch! And we were buggered up by another boat that hit the Birkenhead mark (but then didn't do a 360 turn - we know who you are) and then again at the mark off Cockatoo where a boat that had finished forced us to tack while they were mucking about with pulling down their headsail. Not happy Jan. But it was a fun if hard sail at least for the crew, thanks Laine, Michael and Karen, winch wench extraordinaire. We came 13th! out of 16, two of who didn't finish. And 11th out of 18 in the series, having missed 4 races. When we get more drops in the second half we will do better - I hope.

Awesome Crew

Funny how I am much more inclined to blog when we win.

Today we went out in forecast 27+ knots of wind. That's quite a lot for a friendly sailing race. As it turned out we had gusts up to 38 knots.

We started at 12 and finished the shortened course at about 1.30pm. There were not a lot of boats out given the forecast.

I was thinking we might start with full sails and then reef as the wind picked up. Sensibly I was overrruled. We put in one reef in sheltered water, were nearly blown over so went for the second reef. Then we discovered that the second reef line was stuck inside the boom. Undeterred Celine secured it at the boom and with a little bit of headsail for balance we made the start line very close to the gun.

Solveig got a great start and we followed them for much of the course, almost passing them at the Goat Island mark but they called starboard on us just as we were about to round the mark. But we got them at the Birkenhead mark and never looked back.

With the sail plan we selected we were well under control, rarely in danger of broaching and only once dipped the boom in the water just at the finish line. Fortunately when Celine and I though we should let out some more jib, Jenni's reasoned voice "you're crazy" prevailed and just as well as we soon got some more big gusts.

Julie, Celine and Karen worked their butts off tacking and Jenni has a huge work out on the main. It was a well sailed race and we were very happy to come second knowing that gave us the series.

It is also good to know how well Cheshire Cat sails in those conditions.

The BSC put on a lovely Christmas lunch afterwards as well as the usual prize giving. We ended up with lots of beer and wine.

We are promised a trophy at the awards night dinner.

Not so nailing it this time

Friday night twilight in Balmain, stated with a few drops of rain which came to nothing, a nice breeze and predictions of 17 knots NE so we started with the headsail slightly furled. We had a decent start and we headed off towards East Balmain as the wind dropped, we unfurled the rest of the headsail and parked up off Yuralbin point.

  

This is what happened next. The start was at 6.10pm in dying breeze, we struggled through the hole, managed to pass several boats in the process luckily, and then without much ceremony sailed around Goat Island, around Cockatoo and back home on the shortened course.

It was a nice balmy night but frustrating in patches. Then as we were parking the boat at just before 8pm we got a bothersome lift that saw us taking a few attempts to get tied up safely.

Still, another nice night on the water. Only 8th place but third over the line in our division. And it will help the handicap after all.

We've missed a few twilights so we are not doing too well in the series. Maybe we'll get three drops and improve our spot.