30TH MAY fun race 75th anvirsary swanage sailing club

the weather the day before was windy and wet, a barbacue was put on for the evening, however i decided not to attend due to the weather.
sunday greeted us with 20 knts early morning and dropped slightly. the sea was choppy so i launched and was very wary on a new boat and a fairly novice crew on a cat.
after a few pratice gybes ad tacks i was happy. we started   a little behind the line but quickly found greg and one more 18 and had a good battle to mark 1, we rounded around the back of a few boats but overtok them on the reach, which was in fact a beat. we managed to pick up good ground by getting to the 3rd mark in the lead and then greg powered by us in the choppy reach to 4. on the next beat we re overtook and we could see straycat was good upwind. the rest of the race we spent battling the other 18 and good fun was had by all.
on reflection i was pleased i had sailed the 18 as it was more forgiving than the hurricane. and being that i was racing than doing just a procession had to be a good thing, at least it gave us something to talk about in the clubhouse. richard did very well as crew and i couldnt really fault him, gave good ideas and had plenty to banter about as we went around the course, cant wait for the next race.
FINNISHED 15TH FROM ABOUT 25 
1m 20 on handicap from greg and 20secs from nick troy

spring series 8

finally managed to get down to swanage after suffering from the flue.
set off early in order to get lots of jobs done.

boat box lid fixed, battens replaced and cut to size, crack in deck and side of hull filled. good old sikaflex for a temp repair.
after a few tips from mike about rigging i was finally ready to hit the high seas, the wind at 8am was good but when all the boats were on the beach the wind dropped to nothing. alan went out in his mirror and once i seen he had made progress i said lets go. the race was postponed for 30 mins so off we went.
there were good patches of wind  and then nothing, i did hear the hooter and thought they are actually starting this, no one was even close to the line except mark and desney. after what seemed like ages the 3 hots signallaled race abandon, every one got towed in.  i said to rich  hey the wind will fill in and sure enough it did a little and we stayed out, i let richard helm to give him some pratice. it was a nice sunny hot day, shortie wetsuit as the order of the day and a hat with plenty of sun cream.
next week marks the 75th anv of the club, a barbie on the saturday after a cup race. should be good. looking forward to it.

spring series

so far i have not competed in the spring series
race 1 AOD
race 2 predicted gusty wind not happy to sail 
race 3 launch wheels loose 
race 4 no boat sold mutley
race 5 misty and rain not happy to sail
race 6 sprint 15 nationals  did not want to sail
race 7 suffering from the flu
race 8   race abandon no wind