summer series 7

the  race was postponed but we launched when we could see wind. we had a good sail around the boats moored in the bay as richard like to take a look.
we made a pratice start and then went behind the line and stayed close to the line to set our watch. we reached down the line to then see the wind stop us, mike c and mark g and clive all did port flyers in the 1 boat lenght gap i was short of the pin, we got going and soon made up ground on the reach. going from 2-3 we lost it and the 3-4 we had a good run.
lap 2 was unexciting and then we were finished on 55mins
we made no mistakes but richard did call the shots when to tack however i trusted to my judgement than his, next week however we will do as richard calls to see if he is right. overall a nice sunny day.

summer series 5

wind started to build as usual prior to the race. we had a poor start due to me messing up my position on the start line, we went over 2 mins late, however we then caught the fleet on the reach and then left them on the run. places swapped as we watched them all gybe time after time, we didnt and gained position.
then on the 2nd lap or so my mainsheet broke and quick thinking richard tied it off so we could carry on, greg passed us in the meantime and latter on the same leg we flew past him and gave a polite wave.
latter int eh race we caught graham(solo) and pulled away only to lose it somehow. the next mistake was thinking we had finnished when we got tooted and we hadnt . lesson learned wacth for class flags and only finnish if yours flag is shown, mark g came out to tell us but in the meantime we had gone to the back of the fleet., we did the final lap pondering on what could have been. progress in the 18 fleet for us is good and we are very pleased indeed, just need a good run of no mistakes.

in the afternoon we had a cat clinis hosted by mike cemm , we had theory in the class on the boat and then on the water, upwind downwind and then reaching. we also swapped crews and had to do the same thing giving good comms to them so everyone knew how other helms worked. also we had tuition from the rib watching others as well.
richard did have ago when it was supposed to be me helming and struggled to listen to orders when doing stuff. this resulted in a bad capsize in which i hurt my leg. the rib helped us right the boat and we carried on the session, however richard was now the crew. i was angry at the time but in reflection we all have to learn sometime, my only thing i would say is if the tutor tells you do do something  do it  because he's telling you for a bloody good reason.
now i have taken my calming down pills i'm ok.

3RD JULY

sailed in the morning with a nice breexe  solo and main only. sailed all along the coast and then heaed to old harry and thought better of it when i seen the waves from behind, i turned around and heaed parralel to the bay to get back in, the waves were a bit like the bournmouth race, once in the bay it was ok.
jason came out with the hurricane so we reached up and down getting some good reaches from it, untill his rudder broke and then i headed in with him just incase he needed help.
sailing time 1h 3/4
decided not to do the durlston race as earlier on i had rounded the ledge bouy only to be spooked by it. the plan in the race was to travel into durlston 4 times, they managed only 2 or 3 because of the tide.

in the evening we had a good barbecue and listed to jim ethrington, after many pints of stofford i retired to my pit at gone midnight.

bournmouth race 3rd july 2010

wind was forcast wsw and 14knts or more

race started at 2.30pm with the tide going out . we planned that it would be a broad reach and a beat back. the wind did get up as usual before the race started making the sea choppy. i made a bad start and got into irons in the last minute of the count down, when i did start i was near the back. getting to the wind ward mark was lively and rounding was ok going onto a long run direct to bournmouth. we went under the cliffs  at ballard and then headed out to sea to make a mark off old harry, spotting the bournmouth eye we worked out that we could indeed head directly.

we overtook many boats in doing so and including greg ??

when we spotted the mark at  bournmouth we prepared for what was going to be a tough return trip beating into every wave we surfed in on. indeed it was a nightmare, the boat hit one wave cut the next and cut stopped by the next, boat speed seemed very  slow. the waves came off the winward hull right across the boat straight into my face. we tacked when we thought we could make the odm but soon realised that we were being headed by the tide. we chanegd tack and carried on and then tacked much later, we gained back all the time we lost to greg who tacked too early. we then got overtook my martin who had a tough time with pleasure boats. we almost got took out by a speedboat that was fishing and didnt know we were there, we shouted and then he avoided what would have been a severe collision. we then made the odm and then headed back to swanage bay this time keeping out and coping the wave a little better. we heaed in when we neared pevrill and then to tack a final time to finnsh off the old pier. the race was a back breaker and i suffered after.

thanks to john russ for crewing and for being a good tactician on the day.

after a good clean up and several pints of stoford press cider i retired to my pit for some well earned rest. we broke our record for 2009 by finishing in about 1h50 mins

the times for the race were messed up for some unknown reason.